What’s the next Steam Sale for 2025? Gamers eagerly anticipate the start of the next Steam Sale, while simultaneously dreading its impact on their wallets.
Steam Sales have become an annual event, offering discounts on various titles, including major releases. As a result, they have become a landmark moment for gamers, who eagerly countdown their arrival.
To make the most of the sale and avoid overspending, it’s essential to plan. Here is our anticipated Steam Sales schedule for 2025, allowing you to prepare for the discounts and make informed purchasing decisions.
The Next major Steam Sale is the Winter Sale on December 18, 2025.
Steam Sale Dates 2025 - When is the next Steam Sale in 2025?
Several Steam Sales occur throughout the year, allowing players to complete their collections at a discounted price.
Some Steam sales begin on Thursdays at 10 AM PDT/7 PM GMT; however, there have been exceptions in the past. Regardless of when they start, countdowns usually begin weeks before those dates, and we can only blame the draw of cheaper games.
In recent years, the schedule has regularly changed due to the introduction of Steam Next Fest, which occurs three times per year, alongside various smaller festivals dedicated to specific genres or niches.
Here’s a quick look at when we expect the next 2025 Steam Sales to occur. We’ll further detail each of them in this Steam Sale Timeline article.
Steam Sale list for 2025
- Steam January Sale 2025 - January 8 - January 15
- Steam Pirates vs. Ninjas Fest 2025: January 22 - January 29
- Steam Next Fest #1 2025: February 5 - February 12
- Steam Remote Play Together Fest 2025: February 12 - February 19
- Steam Dinos vs. Robots Fest 2025: February 26 - March 4
- Steam Spring Sale 2025: March 13 - March 20
- Steam Deckbuilders Fest 2025: March 25 - April 1
- Steam Puzzle Fest 2025 - April 24 - May 1
- Steam Sports Fest 2025 - May 15 - May 22
- Steam Next Fest #2 2025 - June 19 - June 26
- Steam Summer Sale 2025 - June 26 - July 11
- Steam Simfest 2025: July 22 - July 29
- Steam Visual Novel Fest 2025: August 7 - August 14
- Steam Strategy Fest 2025: August 28 - September 4
- Steam SHMUP Fest 2025: September 25 - October 2
- Steam Next Fest #3 2025 - October 9 - October 16
- Steam Halloween Sale 2025 - October 28 - November 1
- Steam Black Friday Sale 2025 - November 27 - December 5
- Steam Winter Sale 2025 - December 18 - January 5, 2025
Here’s our expected schedule of Steam Sales for 2025, including the Spring, Summer, Halloween, Autumn, and Winter Sale dates. These times should give you a good indication of when the Steam Sales begin, although you’ll also find details about when we expect a variety of festivals to go live, highlighting specific genres.
Steam January Sale 2025
Active between: January 8 - January 15
The Steam January Sale kicks off with a focus on games released in 2024 but also features a variety of hit titles and indie gems, ensuring there’s something for everyone. It’s a general sale to start the year on a high note.
Steam Pirates vs. Ninjas Fest 2025
Active between: January 22 - January 29
Steam’s Pirates vs. Ninjas Fest 2025 may not provide a definite answer to the age-old question of who would win in a fight between a pirate and a ninja, but it should highlight a fair few upcoming titles that feature either or both factions while discounting others that are already out.
Steam Next Fest #1 2025
Active between: February 5 - February 12
Steam Next Fest makes its 2025 debut in February. Although less of a sale and more of an opportunity to learn about a plethora of upcoming titles, it has slowly become a reliable way of adding awesome-looking games to our ever-growing wishlists with playable demos and missions.
Steam Remote Play Together Fest 2025
Active between: February 12 - February 19
If you enjoy playing games with your friends remotely, the Steam Remote Play Together Fest 2025 focuses on titles that support the eponymous feature, which has been around for a while now.
Steam Spring Sale 2025
Active between: March 13 - March 20
Introduced in 2023, Steam’s Spring Sale is confirmed to return in 2025, receiving the same amount of support as its autumn, summer, or winter counterparts. Expect discounts on titles big and small, as it’s the first significant sale of the year. It replaced the Lunar Sale.
Steam Deckbuilders Fest 2025
Active between: March 25 - April 1
Suppose you are building and managing decks of cards, whether to smite down monsters or outwit human opponents. In that case, the Steam Deckbuliders Fest 2025 is your best shot at discovering the next significant addition to your library. Its discounts should also make it easier to get into the niche if you’ve been eyeing it from the sidelines.
Steam Puzzle Fest 2025
Expected to be active between: April 24 - May 1
The Steam Puzzle Fest 2024 highlights all sorts of titles that either mainly revolve around solving puzzles or prominently feature them. In the past, games such as Baba Is You, We Were Here Forever, and Escape Simulator were discounted.
Steam Sports Fest 2025
Expected to be active between: May 15 - May 22
The Steam Sports Fest 2025, as you probably expect, is all about sports-focused titles. Last year, you could find discounts and demos for games such as FIFA 23, Golf With Your Friends, Blood Bowl 2, and others, covering a wide palette that caters to both casual and competitive gamers.
Steam Next Fest #2 2025
Expected to be active between: June 19 - June 26
It’s unclear if Steam Next Fest’s second edition remains slated for June 2025 at the moment, but it certainly is coming our way later during the year. As its predecessor, it’s an excellent time to discover a multitude of upcoming games to add to your wishlist and also try out a sizeable amount of demos. While less of a sale than the other entries on this list, it’s a great opportunity to prepare a wishlist for future sales.
Steam Summer Sale 2025
Active Between: June 26 - July 11
The Steam Summer Sale 2025 is the only significant mid-year opportunity for grabbing several titles at a discounted price. Its previous iterations featured deals for games like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the Dead Space Remake, and Hogwarts Legacy. In addition, exploring your discovery queue each day would get you a card from the sale’s limited-time set. This is a big one, we hope you’ve been saving!
Rain World, Palworld, iRacing, Disney Dreamlight Valley, Supermarket Simulator, Kebab Chefs! Restaurant Simulator, Manor Lords, Stellaris, The Planet Crafter, Content Warning, Party Animals, Ultimate Chicken Horse, Roboquest, and Batman: Arkham Knight were all listed on a teaser trailer for the Summer Sale last year.
You will also see discounts on hardware, with 15% off Steam Deck 64GB LCD and 512GB LCD models. It all comes to an end on July 11th.
Steam SimFest 2025
Expected to be active between: July 22 - July 29
If you’re all about simulation and looking after cities, the start of Steam’s Simfest 2025 is a clear reason to celebrate. While it’s live, you can pick up games that either revolve around simulation and city building or include it as a viable playstyle. Past editions saw Cities Skylines, Against the Storm, Anno, and many others having their prices slashed.
Steam Visual Novel Fest 2025
Expected to be active between: August 7 - August 14
Early August was a time to discover more visual novels and celebrate heavily narrative-driven experiences. The genre has exploded in popularity in recent years, and this 2024 Steam sale could see games like AI: The Somnium Files and STEINS; GATE being available for a lower price.
Steam Strategy Fest 2025
Expected to be active between: August 28 - September 4
Whether real-time or turn-based, grand or small, the Stream Strategy Fest 2024 allows us to complete our collection with titles that can easily eat up tens of hours. Last year, older games like Civilizations VI and newer titles such as Age of Wonders 4 counted among those discounted.
Steam SHMUP Fest 2025
Expected to be active between: September 25 - October 2
After all the intense strategizing, Steam’s SHMUP Fest 2025 lets us unwind by giving us deadly weaponry to wield while mowing down entire hordes of opponents. Cryptark, Brotato, Enter the Gungeon, and many others counted among the titles we could grab at a discount while the event was live in the past. Look closely and, as with other events, you should also see demos that let you try the games before spending your hard-earned cash.
Steam Next Fest #3 2025
Expected to be active between: October 9 - October 16
If you missed it the first two times it was around or happened to be too busy playing other games, Steam Next Fest’s third edition marks one last chance to find plenty of great new games to add to your wishlist for future Steam sales throughout 2025 and beyond.
Steam Halloween Sale 2025
Expected to be active between: October 28 - November 4
The Steam Halloween Sale 2025 will likely focus mainly on horror games. If you’re a fan of the genre or want some extra spooks, this is the time to check out both nifty discounts and participate in multiple in-game Halloween events. That being said, its past iterations have also brought discounts for some of those non-horror titles on our wishlists, so nobody gets left out.
Steam Black Friday Sale 2025
Expected to be active between: November 27 - December 5
The Steam Autumn Sale 2025 is timed to coincide with the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping events, ensuring that PC gamers have the chance to score some great deals. In addition to game discounts, the Steam Black Friday Sale 2025 also offers players the opportunity to nominate their favorite games for the annual Steam Awards.
Steam Winter Sale 2025
Active between: December 18, 2025 - January 5, 2026
The countdown to the Steam Winter Sale 2025, the storefront’s final big event of the year, is always marked by excitement and anticipation. This emptier of wallets and grower of libraries boasts the most significant discounts, alongside voting for the yearly Steam Awards. In previous years, each new Winter Sale came with a minigame of its own, but this stopped being the case starting with 2020. Thankfully, we still get free daily stickers and cards from its limited-time set.
This year’s notable discounts include games like Borderlands 4, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, Battlefield 6, Hades II, Split Fiction, and many more.
Also, check out our Epic Games Store 2025 sale schedule to keep track of more opportunities to buy cheaper games.
For the latest gaming news, follow GameWatcher on BlueSky, check out our videos on YouTube. We sometimes include affiliate links in our posts, which grants us a small commission, thank you. Please support independent Games Media. ❤️
