The second Steam Next Fest officially came to a close back in June, but we happily have another event to look forward to this year. With the third demo extravaganza on Steam coming our way in October, we'll once again have the chance to try out some new upcoming PC games to add to our wishlist, and no doubt plenty of upcoming indie games, too.
The June Steam Next Fest brought us an incredible lineup of new new games for 2025 and beyond to try out ahead of release, with everything from the likes of whacky walking sim, Baby Steps, to survival game Prologue: Go Way Back, to the Danganropa-like Kumitantei: Old-School Slaughter.
Alongside the Steam Next Fest event, we also have more Steam Sales to look forward to that will bring us some of the best Steam games for a discount throughout the year. Exciting times are ahead for users of Valve's PC platform. For a full breakdown of everything you need to know about the future Steam Next Fest, read on below.
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 will happen three times throughout 2025. Steam Next Fests will appear just before the Steam Spring sale, Summer sale, and Winter sale, so by the time discounts start coming in, you'll have a clear idea of all the games you'll want to pick up when the time comes.
When is Steam Next Fest?
The new Steam Next Fest starts on October 13 and will run until October 20, 2025.
With the June Steam Next Fest now officially over, we'll have a bit of a wait for the next one to roll around this October, but the week-long event is sure to be worth the wait, with yet more demos set to come our way that will shine a light of some upcoming releases and give us a chance to check them out. To participate in the October Next Fest, 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 before October 13 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
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 Steam sale will be the Summer sale, which begins on June 26, 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.
