The Steam Game Festival: Summer Edition, which was originally set to run from June 9 to June 14, has been delayed by one week, with Valve reportedly not keeping in touch with publishers and developers regarding the date change.
The summer Steam Game Festival will feature titles that are expected to launch over the next year, with free, limited-time playable demos and interactions with their developers. The event is part of the Summer Game Fest, a four-month digital gaming festival that was organized by The Game Awards founder and showrunner Geoff Keighley.
Valve did not provide an explanation for the delay of the showcase, and Digital Trends has reached out to the company for clarification. However, it is widely believed that the postponement was due to the social unrest in the United States in the wake of the tragic death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police offer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on Floyd’s neck.
The one-week delay of the summer Steam Game Festival follows similar moves from other companies in the video game industry, including Electronic Arts’ postponement of its EA Play Live, Blizzard’s shelving of its World of Warcraft: Shadowlands showcase, and Sony’s decision to push back a PlayStation 5 event, among others. However, unlike other video game companies, Valve has not yet made a statement on the Black Lives Matter movement.
Valve reportedly kept developers, publishers in the dark
Valve, however, led developers and publishers involved with Steam Game Festival: Summer Edition to believe that the event would happen on its original date, right up until the announcement of the postponement, GamesIndustry.biz reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Sources told GamesIndustry.biz that several publishers were planning to release demos at the PC Gaming Show and the Future Games Showcase, which were both delayed to June 13. This resulted in concerns over the choice to include a demo in the Steam Game Festival, or to reveal new games at one of the two showcases.
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