Steam Next Fest 2026 and beyond: all the dates, details, and everything else you need to know

Steam Next Fest banner showing October dates - Oct 13 - Oct 20 at 10am Pacific — (Image credit: Valve)

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What is Steam Next Fest?
Dates & times
Are demos free?
Is Steam Next Fest a sale?

The first Steam Next Fest of 2026 has been announced, and gamers will want to pay attention for sure as we welcome the new year. 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 2025 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. With that in mind, 2026 should also be a great year for us all.

The Steam Winter Sale is officially over, which means that Valve has already started releasing more mini Fests, new Steam Sales are on the way, and Steam Next Fest demo extravaganzas galore are fast approaching. So, it's worth keeping track of all the dates we currently know about for 2026, so you can snap up some of the best Steam games for less immediately. We also keep this page regularly updated, making sure that as soon as new dates are announced, they'll be listed here. So, for a full breakdown of everything you need to know about the upcoming Steam Next Fests, read on below.

What is Steam Next Fest?

A screenshot of the upcoming Steam Next Fest page. — (Image credit: Valve)

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?

A screenshot of the Steam store page's special events section. — (Image credit: Valve)

The next Steam Next Fest starts February 23, 2026, and runs until March 2.

That's right, 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, make sure that you're signed up by February and get ready to install plenty of demo goodness.

To see an overview of all the confirmed events coming our way so far, you can find all the 2026 Steam Next Fest dates below:

February 23 – March 2, 2026

Are demos free during Steam Next Fest?

A screenshot of the updated library for Steam. — (Image credit: Valve)

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?

A screenshot of the Winter Steam Sale during 2023. — (Image credit: YouTube via Valve)

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 is the Spring sale, which begins on March 19. So, if you are after discounts instead of free demos, be sure to check it out before it ends on March 26, 2026. 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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