Steam Sale and Next Fest Dates 2026-2027: The Developer Calendar

Valve publishes its event calendar months ahead, and almost every date on it changes what a developer should be doing. This page collects every seasonal sale, Steam Next Fest and themed fest Valve has announced for 2026 and 2027, with the registration deadlines that close weeks before each event. Every date comes from Valve’s Steamworks documentation and was last checked on October 6, 2026.

Use the deadline tracker to see what is due next, and the checker to find out when your game can discount and which sales it can join.

Steam sale and Next Fest dates at a glance

All of Valve’s seasonal sales and Next Fests start and end at 10am Pacific.

How seasonal sales work for developers

Seasonal sales are opt-in. You choose a discount in Steamworks, inside Valve’s limits of 10 to 95 percent, and your game is discounted for the duration of the sale. Two rules decide whether you can take part.

The 30-day release cooldown applies. No product can be discounted in its first 30 days after release, whether that release is Early Access or 1.0. If your game launches within 30 days of a seasonal sale, you sit that sale out. That is why the table above shows a “release by” date for each sale. The only way to discount at launch is the optional launch discount, which you have to configure before release.

The discount-to-discount cooldown does not. Normally a product cannot be discounted within 30 days of another discount. Seasonal sales are exempt in both directions: a recent discount does not block you from a seasonal sale, and a seasonal sale does not start a new cooldown. A price increase is different. It locks discounting for 30 days in every case, seasonal sales included.

Being in a sale is not the same as being featured in it. Plan your discount around your own audience and wishlist count, not around the hope of front-page placement.

Steam Next Fest: what each deadline means

Next Fest is Valve’s free demo showcase, run three times a year. For a game that qualifies, it is one of the biggest wishlist opportunities on the platform, and the work starts about two months before it.

1. Registration deadline (six to seven weeks out). Miss it and you wait for the next edition. October 2026 closed on August 31; February 2027 closes January 10; June 2027 closes April 25.
2. Trailer pull (five to six weeks out). Valve pulls trailers for the official Next Fest trailer, so your store-page trailer needs to be your best footage by then.
3. Press Preview submission (four to five weeks out). Submit your demo build and store page for review by this date if you want the demo live when press and creators get early access.
4. All items submitted (two to three weeks out). The final deadline for everything Valve needs to review.
5. Press Preview (about 11 days out). Journalists and creators can browse and play registered demos before the public.
6. The fest itself (one week). Demos are public, and Valve features games across the event.

To qualify, the store page must be public, the demo must be playable when the fest starts, and the game must release after the fest ends. It cannot be a prologue or chapter one of an existing game, and every game gets exactly one Next Fest, so pick the edition closest to your launch that you can be ready for. Planning the demo itself is covered in how to plan a game demo for Steam Next Fest.

Themed fests

Between the big events, Valve runs themed fests built around a genre or idea, such as Cooking Fest, Steam Scream, Rhythm Fest, Racing Fest and the Real-Time Strategy Fest. They are opt-in for games that genuinely fit the theme. A themed fest is a smaller stage than a seasonal sale, but it puts you next to directly comparable games, and that audience converts. The full 2026 and 2027 list is in the calendar above; check Steamworks for each fest’s eligibility and registration window.

Steam’s discount rules in one table

Store page and review timing

Coming Soon minimum. A new product needs a Coming Soon page live for at least two weeks before it can release. Treat that as a floor, not a plan: a page that has been up for six months has been collecting wishlists for six months.

Review windows. Valve reviews both your store page and your build, each typically in three to five business days. Submit the store page at least seven business days before you want it public, and plan at least seven business days for the build.

Choosing a launch date around Steam events

A few patterns hold up regardless of genre.

• Do not launch inside a seasonal sale or Next Fest. The store is busy with sale and demo traffic, and your launch competes for visibility it does not need to.
• Mind the 30-day trap. Launching two or three weeks before a seasonal sale means you cannot join it. Either launch with a launch discount or move the date so the sale falls after your cooldown.
• Launch after your Next Fest, not long after. The fest has to end before you release. A launch while those new wishlists are fresh is a common and sensible pattern.
• Launch on a weekday. Have the whole team available for the first 48 hours.

To build these dates into a full production plan, use the game development schedule planner. To estimate what your wishlists are worth at launch, use the Steam wishlist calculator, and for the launch itself, the indie game launch checklist.

Sources

• Steamworks: Upcoming Events
• Steamworks: Steam Next Fest
• Steamworks: Discounting
• Steamworks: Coming Soon
• Steamworks: Review Process