Indie Game Fans Are Upset As Kingdom Hearts’ Gigantic Banner Completely Overshadows Steam Next Fest

Steam Next Fest, which is a week-long event held by Valve’s video game storefront Steam, will be around for another couple of days, but some fans and developers feel like the event is being overshadowed by the recent release of Kingdom Hearts.

For any other form of event, this might not be much of a problem, but the purpose of Steam Next Fest is to promote upcoming indie games that might otherwise struggle to promote their games. Titles like The Alters, Once Human, and Tactical Breach Wizards are just some of the games that are now trending on Steam thanks to the platform’s event.

While the community often praises Steam Next Fest for putting the spotlight on lesser-known indie games, the platform has found itself in hot water with some fans due to the promotion of Kingdom Hearts. Promotion that some believe is completely unnecessary due to the game’s already massive player base.

Last month, Square Enix announced that Kingdom Hearts would finally be coming to Steam after its exclusivity deal with the Epic Games Store came to an end. When that deal came to an end on June 13, three Kingdom Hearts bundles were released on Steam, which are Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5+2.5 ReMIX, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, and Kingdom Hearts III + Re Mind (DLC).

To celebrate the release of Kingdom Hearts on Steam, the platform opted to replace the Steam Next Fest banner that was on the top of the storefront with a gigantic promotional image of Kingdom Hearts. While this might not seem like much of an issue, some Steam users believe that the banner is merely overshadowing the Next Fest event.

PR Specialist for Pirate PR, known on X as ‘Bloody Good Reviews’, took to the platform to express their dissatisfaction with Steam’s decision to overshadow the Next Fest event. “To me, this week belongs to upcoming games and their demos. Not a big AAA title getting even more attention,” they said.

The user also noted that this wasn’t the first time that it had happened, with a previous event experiencing a similar situation.

Numerous indie games, such as Weyrdlets, chimed into the topic, saying, “This is pretty upsetting. It is our first time joining Steam Next Fest too.” Another indie game developer, who was hoping to promote their upcoming game, Eve of Calamity, said, “I was wondering what happened to our newfound incredible traffic when I checked Steamworks this morning.”

While Kingdom Hearts’ re-release isn’t exactly a game that needs much promotion, it’s unlikely to see the banner change anytime soon. When it does change, Steam Next Fest will either already be over or coming to an end, which sucks for indie developers looking to promote their upcoming titles.

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