The October 2026 edition of Steam Next Fest started on October 19, allowing users to explore Steam’s massive catalog of games with free playable demos. Millions of PC gamers logged on but on…
If you ask me the huge jump in committed demos is very likely due to vibe coding quickly becoming the de facto standard over the summer and turning out massive amounts of code in a few hours. I assume many “developers” have already accepted that this is how things are done for the moment and don’t even declare AI use anymore. “I haven’t written a single line of code last month!” is something I keep hearing lately. Even from indie devs who have already launched somewhat successful games on Steam. Some of them seem so happy about it that I wonder if they have any critical thinking skills at all because them essentially not working anymore means they’re all out of the job soon.
Making a game involves a lot more work than just coding. You don’t necessarily have to be out of work due to that. Some people may even be in work due to that, if they had a good strong vision for a game and it’s mechanics but we’re lacking coding skills. Still, it’s a complicated situation so it’s not black and white.
I’m pretty sure its companies capitalising on the hype.
They shit out a 75% complete game, then use AI to wrap models on a skeleton to make a “game”, that makes a good demo. Unfortunately the original company only wrote so much original code, so all these demos really can’t get past that (which makes an insane sales pitch, your hard work finally made your dream come true - just pay us $12.99 a month!).
If you ask me the huge jump in committed demos is very likely due to vibe coding quickly becoming the de facto standard over the summer and turning out massive amounts of code in a few hours. I assume many “developers” have already accepted that this is how things are done for the moment and don’t even declare AI use anymore. “I haven’t written a single line of code last month!” is something I keep hearing lately. Even from indie devs who have already launched somewhat successful games on Steam. Some of them seem so happy about it that I wonder if they have any critical thinking skills at all because them essentially not working anymore means they’re all out of the job soon.
Making a game involves a lot more work than just coding. You don’t necessarily have to be out of work due to that. Some people may even be in work due to that, if they had a good strong vision for a game and it’s mechanics but we’re lacking coding skills. Still, it’s a complicated situation so it’s not black and white.
I’m pretty sure its companies capitalising on the hype.
They shit out a 75% complete game, then use AI to wrap models on a skeleton to make a “game”, that makes a good demo. Unfortunately the original company only wrote so much original code, so all these demos really can’t get past that (which makes an insane sales pitch, your hard work finally made your dream come true - just pay us $12.99 a month!).