Steam Next Fest is now live, featuring ‘thousands of free demos’

Valve has kicked off the latest edition of Steam Next Fest.

The week-long digital event, which offers access to “thousands” of free PC game demos, is running until October 21 at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm GMT.

In addition to demos, Steam Next Fest includes dozens of livestreams and will give players the chance to chat with developers about their upcoming games.

Valve recently launched Steam Families, its new solution for sharing games between groups of players.

A Steam Family can consist of five members and lets them purchase a title once, giving every member of the group access to that game. Developers can choose whether or not to support this feature.

Steam recently began informing players that they are only buying a license to play a game during the checkout process.

While this has always been the case, such warnings have previously been reserved for terms and conditions pages.

The update follows California Governor Gavin Newsom’s signing of a bill that will forbid digital storefronts from using terms like “buy” unless customers are explicitly warned that they are paying for a license to a game which may expire at any time.