Steam Demos Are Dead For Indies

Steam Next Fest just had 8,000 demos and a lot of them were AI clones, so are Steam demos dead for indies? Thanks to https://krast.io/ for sponsoring this video! Grab my FREE game design doc template here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_CbooMpVaD6CWFsFki-k3cPFCxF0IYBvp6hx_q0XowI/edit?usp=sharing ** FOLLOW ME: ** Twitter: https://x.com/timruswick Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/timruswick/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@timruswick Join our Discord: https://discord.com/invite/cYMGA77 Links featured in this video: https://x.com/omar__swag/status/2112312587920478334/photo/1 https://x.com/OnlyGerier/status/2112299275388395827/photo/1 https://x.com/therealcliffyb/status/2114125354742772163/photo/1 https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/10/ai-game-clones-are-making-indie-developers-afraid-to-show-their-work/ https://x.com/battlelabgames/status/2114799115905495387 https://x.com/kihuroi/status/2114362757155864944 https://x.com/samtechcoded/status/2113358656930816162 https://x.com/VGTimes/status/2112865676813558218 https://x.com/IntCyberDigest/status/2114076964789338595 https://x.com/IndieGamesWTF/status/2112909434015899837 https://x.com/UnrealEngine/status/2113347611080151105 https://x.com/Giulio6686/status/2114295923153011004 https://x.com/Aftermath_site/status/2113415350440120534 https://x.com/kiaran_ritchie/status/2114868609390727381 Timestamps: 0:00 (Intro) 0:36 (Next Fest Wishlist Numbers From Indies) 1:29 (8,000 Demos in One Next Fest) 1:49 (Steam's AI Disclosure Form) 2:25 (Where Code Fits in Steam's Disclosure) 3:25 (Who Actually Discloses AI on Steam) 4:50 (Tim Sweeney on Steam's AI Label) 5:27 (Clones That Copy the Name and the Art) 6:23 (Steam Demos and Cloning) 7:07 (The Future of Steam Demos) 7:40 (AI for Code vs AI for Art) 8:09 (Krast.io) 9:06 (Should Valve Stop the Clones?) 11:11 (How AI Is Changing Game Distribution) 12:25 (Where Indie Dev Goes From Here) 13:20 (What Can We Actually Do?) 15:08 (Indies Already Earning on Steam) 15:26 (Advice for New Game Devs)