Steam Next Fest 2026 starts today, offering PC players a chance to get their hands on a staggering number of playable demos. With the full count coming to more than double last year's event, concerns about generative AI 'slop', plagiarism, and discoverability are circulating
The Steam Next Fest 2026 press page breaks down the full scope of this digital deluge of demos, with the full count currently sitting at 8,202. On the surface, this looks to be a great opportunity for people to discover a cool new game before the GTA 6-dominated month of November hits.
However, the everpresent shadow of generative AI continues to loom over the storefront. Last June, roughly 17 percent of the Steam Fest demos disclosed the use of generative AI, a substantial figure that may be larger due to the possibility of undisclosed gen AI use. The popularity of this software has not waned in the past 12 months either; if anything it's become more prevalent.
The issue of generative AI in games on Steam has evolved somewhat, too. The software has been used to clone games, and a troubling trend of up-and-coming indie games being copied and oozed onto Steam is a factor smaller developers have to contend with now. Alliance Arts suddenly cancelled the release of their upcoming spooky horror game Drunken Goddess Reflux Steam Fest demo because of this.
In a statement announcing the move, the developers of Drunken Goddess Reflux expressed concerns that the demo would be: "used to quickly imitate or replicate the game's presentation and gameplay with AI or other tools, and that such works could be released before our launch." These fears have merit. Another hot indie game - Needle in a Haystack - is now suffering a flood of quickly made copies.
There's also another consequence of this influx of games: discoverability. An indie developer making a demo in hopes of enticing people to their upcoming project has to fend off a mountain of other demos attempting the same thing.
It's a tricky problem, and a consequence of the propagation of generative AI tools. Whether these Steam Next Fest events - which have been excellent occasions to discover new games - will remain as useful an event for developers and gaming enthusiasts alike remains to be seen.
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