The last Steam Next Fest of 2025 has come and gone, but our first 2026 date has been announced, and gamers will want to pay attention for sure. With a host of demos going live that give you the chance to try out some of the most exciting upcoming PC games and upcoming indie games, these events are always a great opportunity to see what new games are still ahead and build up your wishlist.
As our roundup of the best Steam Next Fest Demos from June 2025 can attest to, the previous events from this year brought us an incredible lineup of games to try out, from whacky walking sim, Baby Steps - which you can read more about in our Baby Steps review - to survival game, Prologue: Go Way Back, the Danganropa-like Kumitantei: Old-School Slaughter, and so much more.
What is Steam Next Fest?
Steam Next Fest is a week-long event that celebrates upcoming games by letting players download exciting new demos and watch live streams of future titles from developers.
It's during this event that Steam users will get the chance to populate their wishlists and potentially join more communities to support the release of their favorite games discovered during the multi-day time period.
This is also a recurring event that happened three times throughout 2025. Steam Next Fests appear just before the Steam Spring sale, Summer sale, and Winter sale, so by the time discounts start coming in, you have a clear idea of all the games you'll want to pick up when the time comes.
When is Steam Next Fest?
The next Steam Next Fest starts February 23, 2026, and runs until March 2.
That's right, the 2025 Steam Next Fests are officially over since the October event recently wrapped. However, Valve has already got its sights on 2026, so at least we can all rest easy knowing that the Fests will be back soon. To participate in future Next Fests, you'll of course need to have a Steam account (which is free to create). So, if you plan on installing a bunch of demos this year, make sure that you're signed up by February next year and get ready to install plenty of demo goodness.
To see an overview of all the events we've seen throughout the year, you can find all the Steam Next Fest dates below:
- February 24 - March 3, 2025
- June 9 - June 16, 2025
- October 13 – October 20, 2025
- February 23 – March 2, 2026
Are demos free during Steam Next Fest?
The good news is that all the demos during Steam Next Fest are free. All you need to do is sign into your Steam Account and click the green "download" button on the game you wish to investigates store page.
There is no limit to the amount of demos you can play during the event, and you can also replay demos as much as you want without worrying about encountering some kind of paywall. Keep in mind, though, that while the demos may be free, the full game probably won't be once it releases in the future.
Is Steam Next Fest a sale?
Technically, Steam Next Fest isn't a sale. However, we do normally see some discounts go live during this time. Steam Next Fest is focused on devs showcasing their future games and giving space for players to see the title's progress and potentially wishlist new games after installing demos.
Any discounts that are typically around Next Fest are unrelated and more likely due to the opportunity to garner more sales as teams know that there will be more active users exploring the Steam Store page during the week-long event.
The next big Steam sale will be the Winter sale, which begins on December 18, 2025. So, if you are after discounts instead of free demos, mark your calendar for then. In the meantime, you can check out our list of all the best free Steam games currently available to play today.
For more titles, read our list of the best PC games ever made, or check out our ranking of the best laptop games of all time.
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