Today, Valve announced the return of the Steam Game Festival which will be coming in June but under a new name. “We’ve renamed the Steam Game Festival to more directly communicate its focus: Announcing Steam Next Fest, a multi-day celebration of upcoming games. Explore and play hundreds of game demos, watch developer livestreams, and chat with the teams about their games in progress, coming soon to Steam,” Valve said. Steam Next Fest will take place from June 16- June 22.
The Steam Game Festival started two years ago that was created by Geoff Keighley, producer of The Game Awards. It was created as way to take the next step after the creation of The Game Awards as a way to celebrate gaming. The Steam Game Festival or as it is now called, Steam Next Fest is a completely digital approach to the consumer event space as not everyone could attend a physical trade show or consumer event. That is especially so right now as we are still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. The Steam Festival returned in the Spring, Summer, and Fall of last year, each offering a wide selection of games.
Steam Next Fest will be taking place during the return of E3. The event was canceled last year. E3 2021 will be digital event. The ESA said that they will be transforming the experience with multiple two-hour-long keynotes and an award show as well as smaller streams from game companies and partners. They will also be releasing demos during the E3 window for people to test at home. It may be the Steam Next Fest or something from E3 itself. More details will be shared at a later date.
E3 2021 is set to take place from June 15-17. Steam Next Fest is happening right in the middle of E3 2021 starting on June 16 through June 22.