The discourse is swirling around Steam Next Fest. This fall's event has just started, and it's chock-full of AI-assisted releases and such, raising questions about its usefulness for promotion. One of the lead developers on Palworld has weighed in, speaking on the reality of what such a platform offers to developers.

On Twitter, John 'Bucky' Buckley, the head of publishing and communications at Palworld studio Pocketpair, went long on Next Fest and its ultimate role for devs. "The number of Next Fest games that get almost no attention has always been very high," he points out.

"Even long before this AI slop era," he continues, gesturing towards the rise in gen-AI. "Steam randomizes the games heavily for the first few days, but even then Next Fest typically settles into a rhythm after the first 24 hours where all the discourse tends to be about the same 25-ish games."

In his mind, one constant is that "the cream rises to the top," meaning if your game is the right confluence of good and trendy, it'll find its audience. Sage wisdom, with some element of truth. Debut games and clever releases are consistently finding communities on Steam, whether through Next Fest or other channels, because people are always looking for fun new experiences.

"Next Fest five or six years ago was a much more niche event," he says. "There were fewer games, but there were also fewer players.

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