Official Group for Steamworks Development Support

The Great Steam Demo Update, 2024

With thousands of new playable game demos launching every year, often as part of Steam Next Fest, we've noticed some trends in feedback from developers and players about changes they'd like to see made to the process and functionality. So, we've put together an update based on that feedback.

We've made a few updates to how demos appear and behave within the Steam Library. Here are the key items:

• You can add demos to your library without immediately installing them. You'll find an 'add to library' button appearing for demos now that let you add to your library from the mobile app or other places where you may not be ready to install them immediately.
  
• Demos can be installed even if you already own the full game. Primarily, this will make it easier for developers to test demos, but it will also help players more easily manage installing/uninstalling demos.
  
• Demos can be explicitly removed from account by right-clicking > manage > remove from account.
  
• When a demo is uninstalled, it will automatically get removed from your library.

By default, your free demo appears as a button on your base game's store page. But if you want to have a separate store page for your demo, you can now enable that in the 'edit store' section for your demo. Enabling a separate store page for your demo will give you space to better describe the contents of the demo, add screenshots, upload a trailer, and specify supported features.

Stand-alone demo store pages will automatically display both the demo install button as well as a widget linking back to the full game for players interested in wishlisting or purchasing the full game.

If you choose to enable a store page for your demo, you will also be enabling players of your demo to post user reviews that appear on your demo. These reviews and review score will appear on your demo store page just like reviews for any other free game on Steam. If you choose to not have a store page for your demo, then user reviews will not appear for your demo.

The Steam store will treat your demo mostly the same way whether you have enabled a stand-alone store page or not. One factor that may come in to play is if your demo ends up having a bunch of negative reviews it might be less appealing to potential players and may get filtered out of some views if the review score is too low. Of course the flipside can be true too; if players are loving your demo, the positive review signal to other players may boost interest.



Demos now behave more like free games and can appear in all the same sections and lists. For example, demos can now appear on the Steam homepage in charts such as the "New & Trending", on the "New on Steam" page, and on relevant tag and category pages. This means that launching a new free demo for your game will behave similarly as launching a free stand-alone game on Steam.

We've now also made it so that when releasing your playable demo, Steam can send email to wishlisters of your base game and followers of your developer/publisher. For people that are already looking forward to the release of your game, this gives them a taste of the game's experience and reminds them to tell their friends.

Note that you have some control over when this email goes out, as well as some limitations. For example, you may want to delay the email by a few days if you plan to release your demo during the Steam Next Fest Press Preview, but want to wait to notify your wishlisters until the Next Fest officially starts. Check out the updated Demos documentation for more details.


Let us know your thoughts in the Steamworks forums.



Q. What is the deal with the Demo icon? Is that a plate? A vinyl record?
A. That classic icon, my friend, is from the days when demos were commonly distributed through the post office, contained in a bound package of game journalism printed on dead trees and imprinted on circular media known as Compact Discs.

Q. My demo is already released. Can I also enable a visible demo store page?
A. Yes. Once you select the tick-box to enable a separate store page for your demo, you might need to complete some additional requirements before you can publish. For example, your store page will need a full written description, screenshots, and tags before it can work as it's own store page.

Q. If I change my mind, can I disable the visible demo store page?
A. Yes, you can disable the stand-alone page for your demo by simply returning to your 'edit store' section for your demo and de-selecting the checkbox, saving, and publishing those store page changes.

Q. Can I still disable and re-enable my demo?
A. Yes, as has been the case with demos for a while now, you can disable and re-enable as you wish.

Q. I have a question not listed here. Where can I get an answer?
A. Please hit the 'support' link at the top of Steamworks and fill in a ticket to send us your question or feedback.