Valve reveal the Steam sales and events for the first half of 2026

While we're nowhere near done with 2025 yet, Valve have revealed the first lot of sales event for 2026 so here's what you need to know.

Valve do a lot of events outside of their big seasonal sales, including plenty for specific genres. They give the dates out ahead of times, so developers can prepare for them. Helps us too, since we know when to save for. For next year, Valve also said they're "experimenting with running Spotlight Fests, which let us go deeper with more niche themes over a shorter period of time". These will appear in the Discounts & Events section on the front page.

Here's the list of 2026 events currently:

January 2026:

• Detective Fest: January 12 - January 19

• Board Game Fest: January 26 - February 2

February 2026:

• Typing Fest: February 5 - February 9 (Spotlight Fest)

• PvP Fest: February 9 - February 16

• Horse Fest: February 19 - February 23 (Spotlight Fest)

• Steam Next Fest - February 2026 Edition: February 23 - March 2

March 2026:

• Tower Defense Fest: March 9 - March 16

• Steam Spring Sale 2026: March 19 - March 26

• House & Home Fest: March 30 - April 6

April 2026:

• Hidden Object Fest: April 9 - April 13 (Spotlight Fest)

• Medieval Fest: April 20 - April 27

May 2026:

• Deckbuilders Fest: May 4 - May 11

• Ocean Fest: May 18 - May 25

And the events still to come for 2025:

• 4X Fest: August 11 – August 18

• Third Person Shooter (TPS) Fest: August 25 – September 1

• Political Sim Fest: September 8 – September 15

• 2025 Steam Autumn Sale: September 29 – October 6 (Please note this is a different time frame compared to previous Autumn Sales)

• Steam Next Fest - October 2025 Edition: October 13 – October 20

• Steam Scream 4: October 27 – November 3

• Animal Fest: November 10 – November 17

• Sports Fest: December 8 – December 15

• 2025 Steam Winter Sale: December 18 – January 5

Source: Valve