You’re a game developer unicorn who values actually collecting player input via playtesting instead of selling early access. You also don’t really like having to manage your own mailing list to mail out access keys. And you’ve got your eyes on launching via Steam. What do you do? You take advantage of the new Steam Playtest feature, which lets developers invite users to their game’s playtest from right within the platform.
Steam Playtest grants devs the tools to manage how many are invited into a game’s test build, with signups hosted from the game’s Steam page and access granted to players via the Steamworks page — no Steam keys necessary. When devs are ready to end their playtest, they simply deactivate it, which automatically removes the signup option from a game’s page and removes the playtest build from players’ libraries.
This new feature is currently in beta and is free for devs to use right now, provided that they sign up to be included in the feature’s beta. A launch date for Steam Playtest isn’t announced, but the post notes that testing of its features will continue in the months ahead until they’re at “a point where they are fully self-serve.”
