Opti Games has officially launched its Steam Next Fest demo for indie 4v4 sports brawler Sparkball, giving everyone an opportunity to try out the competitive title for free until June 16 while potentially earning an exclusive skin in the process.

What’s New in Sparkball’s Steam Next Fest Demo?

The release of the limited time Steam Next Fest demo marks the return of ranked matchmaking in Sparkball, so you can now queue up for fast-paced matches and experience core gameplay features as you attempt to unlock the new exclusive ‘Beach Day’ Inksy skin.

Ranked matchmaking kicked off on Monday, June 9 and runs all week from 9 AM to 9 PM PST, according to details revealed in the game’s official Discord server. This means that you have until June 16 to unlock the ‘Beach Day’ Inksy skin by simply playing at least 10 matches. This skin is made in celebration of Sparkball’s partnership with Somnia, though it’s not stated whether there will be an option to mint this Somnia-themed skin as an NFT in the future or not. Eligible players acn expect to have the skin unlocked for the upcoming Season Zero. Inksy is a burst-oriented mage and one of the 6 strikers you can choose to currently play as in this early version of the game. She is capable of dealing significant burst damage and creating powerful combos with her abilities, starting off with her primary Spray and Slay attack in which you spray a cone to apply Paint stacks to all enemies that are hit, making her other abilities, such as her AoE skill Da Bomb, way more effective.

Aside from playtime, no other requirement is given to earning the exclusive skin, and since it’s only possible to earn during this public demo, you may want to start racking up matches right away while attempting to climb the ranked ladder. Each match is a best of 3 rounds and lasts 10-20 minutes on average, so if you can find a good time when players are actively queuing up, it probably won’t be too difficult to play the required amount. Every round lasts about 5 minutes, with the winner of each round determined by the amount of goals scored.

The more matches you play, the better for the indie gaming studio working on this quality title too, because if enough players play 10 matches, the team will actually unlock bonus funding to help them continue developing the game and “go full steam on growing Sparkball its true potential,” according to the event page on the wiki.

Outside of the designated timeframe for online matchmaking, you can still open up the game and enjoy Challenge Modes through which you can practice playing with unique heroes to find your favorite main character. There are a total of 6 different strikers, 3 tanks, and 2 supports to choose from at the time of writing, each with their own distinct abilities that can prove crucial to your team’s victory.

How to Play Sparkball During Steam Next Fest

Anyone can play Sparkball for free during Steam Next Fest by simply creating a Steam account and heading to the official store page to download the game on a Windows PC.

Once you’re in, you’ll want to do the quick 2-minute tutorial to learn how to play this strategic MOBA and sports hybrid. After that, you should head to the Target Practice course and try to hit under 30 seconds with a couple of heroes in order to find your main before playing your first ranked match. While you can skip all this and dive into matchmaking, you will learn the ropes of the game faster and avoid feeling too overwhelmed by all the action going on if you do these helpful introductory sessions first.

If you’re a fan of MOBAs and/or sports games, then Sparkball could very well be right up your alley. It’s been referred to as League of Legends meets Rocket League before, and if you like the sound of that, then now’s a great time to play and earn the exclusive skin while helping the developers create an engaging web3 gaming experience.

These are the currently listed system requirements:

  • OS: Windows 10
  • Processor: Intel i5, 1.8 Ghz or better
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
  • Graphics: GeForce GTX 980 Ti or higher
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 6 GB available space

This demo is a part of Sparkball’s Preseason phase, during which you can collect Friendship points to win potential rewards that we now know to be S0 currency, S0 Battle Pass, Ascended Kana Skin, and a raffle entry for the Founder’s Pass, according to the new wiki page.

Sparkball is slated to launch as a free to play title in Q4 2025. After the Steam Next Fest event is over, the next plan is to launch Season Zero, kicking off the game’s first ever Battle Pass and rewards campaign.

Last week, it was announced that Somnia is powering Sparkball’s next phase with real-time web3 infrastructure.