Steam Next Fest opened on 19 October at 10:00 PDT and closes on 26 October at 10:00 PDT (UTC-7), which is 17:00 UTC, according to Valve’s Steamworks page for the October 2026 edition. The event lives on Steam’s Next Fest page.

Valve describes the fest as a place where fans can try demos, chat with developers and watch live streams.

Developer livestreams sit in a separate tab, and Valve’s Steamworks overview says they are optional for developers, who may focus on the demo instead. There has been no official Valve livestream since the October 2024 edition, when Valve also dropped the old genre tabs and reorganised the page.

When it ends

The closing hour matches the opening hour. Demos stop being part of the fest at 10:00 PDT on 26 October, 17:00 UTC, and the edition page lists that day as the one on which the fest “concludes”.

Demos can only come from games that have not yet been released.

To take part, a game must have a public store page and a publicly playable demo before the fest begins, and it must release after 26 October 2026, according to the edition page. Prologues, first chapters and other short versions of games already on Steam are not allowed, and each title may join only one Next Fest.

How Steam picks which demos you see

Valve’s overview, written for developers, sets out how the page is ordered. For the first few days, placement is “completely randomized in all locations except for explicitly named lists and personalized segments”, the page says, with those segments based on a user’s play behaviour. Valve says the intent is to give visibility to all participating titles.

After a few days the ordering changes for anyone who is signed in.

Logged-in users then see carousels “personalized by an algorithm that’s based on user behavior during Next Fest”, according to the overview. Valve says this lets it deliver recommendations based on what similar users have been playing. Developers also choose one or two primary categories at registration, which Valve uses alongside Steam tags to sort each game.

Valve says the exact organisation of the page varies between editions.

After 26 October

On 26 October Valve launches a Wrap-Up page featuring the games with the most played demos of the fest, according to the edition page. The overview says the page goes live shortly after the event concludes, and that Valve emails the developers whose titles earn a place on it.

Whether a demo stays playable after the fest is the developer’s decision.

Valve’s overview encourages developers to consider leaving demos up beyond the end of the fest they joined. “Many players have expressed disappointment when demos disappear immediately,” the page says, and it asks developers who plan to deactivate a demo to tell players so they can plan their time.

Developers may also update a demo at any point after it passes build review, the overview says, though Valve does not review the update.

Valve runs Next Fest three times a year, in February, June and October, according to the overview. Games that opt out of one edition may join a later one if they remain unreleased. The edition page says the next Next Fest is planned for February 2027.

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