Steam sales start at 10:00 AM Pacific Time. The Autumn Sale 2025 on Steam, also known as the Steam Black Friday Sale, will begin on 29 September 2025 – 17:00:00 UTC.

Seasonal sales are created and managed by Steam. When selecting titles to fill these front-page promotional slots, Steam tries to be as fair as possible and select titles that customers are most interested in and will result in the most happy customers. While there aren't strict rules, as a base guideline Steam tends to focus on the top 10-20% selling games on Steam that are positively reviewed and have otherwise proven to be successful.

There are several sale events per year, which publishers and developers may have the chance to participate in. Some of these, like the Summer Sale or Winter Sale, are open to all publishers. Some may be only open to products of a certain category, like Anime or VR.

Steam regularly hosts themed sale events (typically designated as Fests) to showcase various genres and categories of games. Note that a discount is not required to participate in these events, though the event page will most prominently feature discounted games.

Each themed sale event has different eligibility criteria built around the core theme of the event, usually determined by the primary mechanic(s) of the game. For each event, Steam will automatically select and invite eligible games where the primary theme or mechanic of the game is in alignment with the theme of the sale. Partners usually have six weeks or more to register for the event and enter any desired discounts.

Steam Next Fest is a multi-day celebration where fans can try out demos, chat with developers, watch livestreams, and learn about upcoming games on Steam. For developers, Steam Next Fest is an opportunity to get early feedback from players and build an audience for a future launch on Steam. Steam typically hosts three editions of Steam Next Fest each year, which take place in February, June, and October.

Steam Fests are not sale events, as participating games are NOT required to go on sale. However, Fests usually do feature discounts.

Game publishers set the discounts, and they can choose any discount they want. You can look up any game on our site and look at its price history to determine which previous sales the game was discounted in. If a game appeared in all previous major sales, it's pretty safe to say it will be discounted again.

We do not know what specific games will be discounted in an upcoming sale, what prices will be, or what discounts they will have. Thematic sales are limited to games the sale is about.