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Steam event · Valve (Steam)

Steam Next Fest February 2027: dates and deadlines

Register your game in Steamworks by 10 January 2027, 23:59 PST. For your demo to be in the press preview from 11 February, submit it and the store page for review by 18 January. Everything else is due in review by 1 February, and the fest runs from 22 February to 1 March 2027.

Every date below is from Valve's Steamworks page for this edition, read on . Valve gives times in PST (UTC-8); we add UTC next to them.

The dates, in order

  1. · Live Q&A with Valve on Zoom (optional)

    10:00 PST · 18:00 UTC

    An hour of questions about this edition, 10:00 to 11:00 PST. Valve posts past sessions on YouTube.

  2. · Registration closes

    23:59 PST · 07:59 UTC, 11 Jan

    Register the game in Steamworks by 23:59 PST. To be considered for the official event trailer, have the store page and trailer up to date by this day too; Valve writes shortly after to the games it is considering.

  3. · Valve pulls trailers for the official Next Fest trailer

    No time given, so treat the day as the deadline

    Only if Valve told you your game is being considered: have your newest trailer on the base game's store page.

    · Demo and store page in review, if you want the press preview

    No time given, so treat the day as the deadline

    For your demo to be live when the press preview starts, submit the demo build and the store page for review by this date. The store page needs a review even if the demo has no page of its own.

  4. · Everything required is in review

    No time given, so treat the day as the deadline

    The last day to submit all required items for review, so that Valve can prepare your game for the fest.

  5. · Last day to opt out of trailer use

    No time given, so treat the day as the deadline

    If you opted in to Valve using your trailer and changed your mind, this is the deadline to opt out.

    · Press preview starts

    10:00 PST · 18:00 UTC

    Every demo opted in to the press preview is included from 10:00 PST.

  6. · The fest starts

    10:00 PST · 18:00 UTC

    Set your demo live before 10:00 PST, or opt out if your plans changed.

  7. · The fest ends

    10:00 PST · 18:00 UTC

    The fest closes at 10:00 PST. Valve's wrap-up of the most played demos launches the same day.

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Can your game join?

Valve lists these conditions for this edition:

  • the game is not released yet, and comes out after the fest ends on 1 March 2027;
  • its store page is published and public;
  • it has a publicly playable demo by the time the fest begins;
  • it is not a prologue, a chapter 1 or another demo version of content players can already buy;
  • it belongs to a Steamworks developer account in good standing.

A game can be in Next Fest only once, so pick the edition that fits your release. The next one is Steam Next Fest June 2027, 14-21 Jun 2027, registration by 25 Apr 2027.

The fest week is when streamers play your demo

In the October 2026 edition we saw 1,658 demos streamed on Twitch, and 926 of them had three or more different streamers (preliminary count). The October 2026 numbers. Twitch keeps a recording for 7, 14 or 60 days, depending on the streamer's account, and 91% of the indie game VODs we checked were on the 7 or 14 day clock. Streams from 22 February can be gone by mid-March, so watch them during the fest.

Other Steam events from January to March 2027

All Steam events of 2027, with who can join each

Overheard is not affiliated with Valve. Names and dates are Valve's; check the official page before you act on them. Calendar entry · Report a correction · How we check