How to broadcast 24/7 during Steam Next Fest

Updated 26 Oct 2026 · 5 min read

Why broadcasting during Next Fest matters

Next Fest has its own section for livestreams of participating games, and a store page broadcast plays at the top of your page, above the screenshots, in the week your page gets the most visitors before launch. A static store page simply can’t compete with a page that is visibly live.

Test before the festival

Valve asks you to test your livestream before Next Fest starts: once you have streamed to your store page, you repeat the same setup during the festival. Have your video encoded and your Steam stream key ready before 22 Feb so you are not scrambling on day one.

What to stream

A polished trailer or a representative gameplay loop. You do not need a live human on camera: a strong looping video carries the whole week and never gets tired.

Keep it live the entire week

Next Fest runs for days. A home PC streaming non-stop is fragile: one crash, power blip or internet hiccup and your store page goes dark at the worst possible time. Running from a datacenter with automatic restart means a dropped frame never means a dead store page.

Valve's own Next Fest tips for the stream

Valve keeps a Next Fest tips page. These are the points that touch your broadcast and the store page around it:

Test it a few times. Valve expects it to take a few attempts to get a livestream working, because there are a lot of small settings, and says to try it well before the fest. If you stream your demo, read Valve's demo broadcasting page too, as it works differently from a regular stream; our demo broadcast guide covers the App ID trap.

Open the chat by default. When you set the stream to appear on your store page, you can have the chat window open by default, so players see someone is there. Valve suggests answering questions from the chat, asking your audience questions and telling stories. If nobody can watch the chat all week, appoint moderators before it starts.

Use a tool that supports RTMP. Valve says it gives you more control over the stream and lets you show your webcam.

Make the demo easy to find. Add the demo button to your base game's store page under Edit Store Page, Special Settings, and tick "display above purchase options". A stream that sells the game needs a visible next step.

Check your categories and tags. Next Fest sorts games by the up to 2 categories you chose when you registered, then by store tags. With no categories, your game cannot appear in the "By Genre" or "By Feature" sections.

February 2027 dates that matter for the stream

From Valve's February 2027 event page, all times PST:

10 January: registration deadline. 18 January: submit your demo build and store page for review if you want the demo live for the Press Preview. 1 February: every required item must be in for review. 11 February, 10am: the Press Preview starts. 22 February, 10am: Next Fest starts; set your demo live before then. 1 March: the fest ends and the Wrap-Up launches.

That gives you from mid-January to 22 February to run test streams on your store page while nothing is at stake. Have the stream working before the Press Preview on 11 February, and it is one less thing to fix during the week itself.

What it costs for a 7-day fest

Sources: Steam Next Fest: February 2027, Steam Next Fest overview, Livestreaming a game demo. Checked 26 Oct 2026. Valve updates these pages; the Steamworks docs always win.