Steam Game Festival: Summer Edition Has Begun!

The third Steam Game Festival has begun, and it's an order of magnitude bigger than any of the previous offerings. In addition to developer livestreams and interviews, there are over 900 game demos playable during the event's duration. Considering that the previous event barely topped 50, it's clear that the event is running at a higher gear than ever before. Better choose wisely; the event only lasts for one week (16th - 22nd June) and there's little hope for playing all 900 demos during that time.

In lieu of any official games industry events this year—no E3, Gamescom or GDC—various figures and organisers have worked to ensure that the news and coverage normally seen at those events is handled elsewhere. A variety of virtual events from all corners of the industry are picking up where the physical events have fallen. It's clear from the Steam Game Festival's extraordinary growth this year that the event is serving a more important role than it previously intended to. Whereas before it was merely a fun event to showcase a few indie games and developers, it's now a significant promotion platform for hundreds of indie studios that would otherwise be missing out on their chance to get noticed.

If you're a PC gamer, check out Steam this week. Who knows? Your game of 2020 might be hiding somewhere in that 900-strong pile of unreleased treasures...