In its new and upcoming online festival, Steam will be celebrating digital tabletop games in an attempt to discover more of what lies beneath the exciting blend of physical and digital entertainment. Steam game festivals have already become an excellent way of bringing additional attention to some great titles.
The nearest Autumn Game Festival, which is about to start next Wednesday, will feature a plethora of playable demos of many upcoming new video games. The celebration will focus on titles that are expected to release within the next seven months. This is a perfect opportunity for indie developers to promote their projects while players will get the chance to try new titles out and see if there’s anything to look forward to. There will likely be pre-order bonuses and discounts for featured video games, which means the festival is totally worth attention.
Steam Digital Tabletop Fest will focus on a slightly different pattern. Instead of offering countless demos, the event will feature informative panels with developers playing their tabletop titles and detailing the peculiar properties of the genre. Various streaming activities from the development teams behind such titles as Tharsis, Mars Horizon, Plague Inc, Otherside, and others are expected to be featured during the almost week-long celebration. According to the official announcement on Steam, developers from several renowned studios will discuss their games, share news about any upcoming content, and delve deeper into how impactful tabletop titles have become. There will be at least two themed online panels with the first one being dedicated to projects about Mars, and the second one detailing the hugely popular Cthulhu titles. Additional details will be announced at a later date as the event gets closer to start. Steam Digital Tabletop Fest will launch on October 21 and run through October 26.
Highlighting specific genres and titles is one of the key reasons Steam festivals are launching in the first place as demonstrated, for instance, by the Tiny Teams Festival back in August. Not only the event focused on particular releases but also served as a local sale offering discounts for such popular titles as Stardew Valley, Hollow Knight, and Papers Please among others. Another exciting example of utilizing Steam as a dedicated festival platform was the Spring Edition back in March with over 40 free demos releasing in Valve’s digital store for everyone to take advantage of. The initiative was launched after GDC 2020 got cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns.
It feels like this particular Steam Fest is taking on more of an educational route rather than a straightforward promotion of indie games as done previously. The chosen topic of tabletop games, however, serves an additional purpose as people around the globe love gathering with their friends to play physical copies of popular board titles. With the COVID-19 pandemic still being a major threat though, this kind of pastime has become a huge risk. That’s where digital tabletop games can come in handy keeping long-distance friendships alive.
Source: Steam