The Summer Edition of theSteam Game Festivalis the latest summer event that’s been delayed.Summer Games Festorganizer Geoff Keighley made the announcement Friday afternoon on Twitter, stating that the festival is now scheduled for June 16 and will last through June 22. The Steam Game Festival was originally scheduled to begin on June 7 and end on June 14. Assumedly, the Steam Game Festival will otherwise remain unchanged.
No reason was provided for the delay, oddly enough. Many of the other gaming events planned for early June, likeSony’s PS5 game eventand EA Play, were delayed for a specific reason, that being that the game companies wanted to show solidarity with the ongoing protests in the United States regarding racism and police violence. While Geoff Keighley has expressed similar sentiment, Valve has remained notably quiet on the issue. As such, this may be unrelated and could just be a logistics-based delay.
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A logistics issue would be perfectly understandable. For the first time, the Summer edition of the Steam Game Festival is going to be shared across bothSteam and Xbox platforms. How it’ll work isn’t exactly clear, but Microsoft has already confirmed its involvement. If all remains according to plan, the Steam Game Festival will launch on both Steam and Xbox on June 16.
TheSteam Game Festival, for those who aren’t familiar, is intended to be a showcase of in-development games. But it’s not a presentation or a press conference. Instead, the Steam Game Festival makes available playable demos so gamers can try out what they like. Developers put together these demos in the hopes that they’ll persuade gamers to check out their games later.
Up until now, the Steam Game Festival has been entirely indie games. Games put together by small teams and individuals that may not have the marketing opportunities that larger publishers have. The Steam Game Festival offers them a lot more visibility, but also the possibility of catching the eye of a publisher or investor. It’s a great idea for all involved parties. And the more developers join in the fun, the bigger the games that may start putting out demos —Obsidian’sGroundedbeing one such example.
Up until now, there have been only a couple of Steam Game Festivals. The first was directly associated with The Game Awards 2019, but the excitement led toGeoff Keighleyrunning another event in March. The reception has continued to be great, leading to the upcoming event, too. TheSteam Game Festival, or whatever name eventually sticks, is looking like it’ll be a fixture for a very long time. Gamers will be able to check it out for themselves starting June 16.
