Valve just announced every Steam sale date from now until Summer 2026 — here's exactly when you can save big bucks on the best PC games

Valve's PC gaming platform Steam stands tall as one of the most globally popular storefronts in the industry, with the client enjoying over 132 million monthly active users and uncontested dominance on PC since its creation way back in 2003.

One big reason for its success is its frequent sales that introduce major discounts on many of the best PC games, with major events like the Steam Summer Sale famous for their tendency to swell the size of player backlogs. And now, thanks to a new announcement from Valve, we know exactly when the next year's worth of sales are coming.

In a new Steam blog post shared on Thursday morning, the publisher revealed a list of every sales event from now until Summer 2026, complete with specific dates for each. For your convenience, I've listed the full schedule below, with everything sectioned by month and Valve's big seasonal sales italicized.

• August 2025
  • 4X Fest: August 11 – August 18
  • Third Person Shooter (TPS) Fest: August 25 – September 1
• September 2025
  • Political Sim Fest: September 8 – September 15
  • 2025 Steam Autumn Sale: September 29 – October 6
• October 2025
  • Steam Next Fest - October 2025 Edition: October 13 – October 20
  • Steam Scream 4: October 27 – November 3
• November 2025
  • Animal Fest: November 10 – November 17
• December 2025
  • Sports Fest: December 8 – December 15
  • 2025 Steam Winter Sale: December 18 – January 5
• 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

In addition to Steam's usual seasonal and genre-specific sales events, Valve is also planning to try "Spotlight Fests" in 2026; in the firm's words, they "let us go deeper with more niche themes over a shorter period of time," and will focus on typing, hidden objects, and, uh...horses, among other things. Cool.

Notably, the publisher also shared a Steamworks page where developers can find details on how to register their games for these events, so check that out if you're interested. As for future sales coming in the latter half of 2026, Valve says the rest of the schedule will come "in the coming months."

Honestly, I wasn't aware that Valve revealed the schedule for its Steam sales long in advance like this until today, but I'm glad that it does. It gives users an idea of when titles from their favorite genres are slated to get major discounts, which is incredibly useful if you're trying to plan out a budget — something that's increasingly important to do with the cost of living unfortunately rising.

In regards to upcoming Steam sales to keep an eye on, I'm definitely going to be combing through the store during the Third Person Shooter (TPS) Fest that runs from August 25 to September 1. I'm always after interesting new shooters to play, and if you don't yet have Helldivers 2, it'll likely be an excellent time to pick it up — especially with reinforcements from the Xbox version coming in hot at the same time.

As a gigantic medieval arms and armor nerd, another event I'm looking forward to is April's Medieval Fest. While it's running, you can probably look forward to big deals on titles like Warhorse Studios' phenomenal open-world RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Chivalry 2, Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, and Manor Lords, among others.