Steam Fests

Fests hub

• Top block. While a Next Fest is on, it says Live now, with the time left and a link to the fest’s table. Otherwise it shows the next developer deadline, the days left and Add to calendar.
• Calendar. Upcoming events by default; Past year and All go back in time. The chips turn Next Fest, Sales and Themed fests on and off. ○ marks the end of registration, ◆ the deadline for the final demo and store page. Dates are in UTC.
• Event card. Dates and length, deadlines with the days left, events that overlap it, a link to the rules on Steamworks and Add to calendar, plus the way to the Next Fest table, the fest’s page or its results.
• Banner. A themed fest gets a banner here and on Home from two days before it starts to two days after it ends, with the number of games signed up and a link to its page. Not every fest has one.
• Next Fest editions and the last sale. For each edition: the lineup, how many demos had players, the players at places 10 and 100, how many demos reached 1,000 at once, the record and the games released within 90 days. For the last seasonal sale: how many games were discounted, the median discount and how many reached the Top Sellers 100.

A themed fest

Every themed fest has a page with the games that signed up for it. It opens once the first games have signed up.

• Lineup. Every game Steam lists for the fest, checked daily: in total, released, coming soon and how many of those have a demo, and with a generative AI disclosure.
• Who the fest is lifting. From three hours after the start: players of the fest’s released games over the last 24 hours against the same hours a week earlier, how many grew, the median change and the 15 biggest gains with their discount. Games of the fest’s genre that are not in it are compared the same way, for reference.
• Fest days against the week before — the same comparison day by day, for the fest and for the genre outside it.
• Biggest games, Most anticipated, What the fest is made of — released games by players, unreleased ones by their Top Wishlists place, and the tags the lineup shares most.
• After the fest the page keeps the result, counted over the fest’s full days.

Next Fest

Every demo of a Next Fest ranked by players, refreshed hourly. The table opens two weeks before the fest and keeps the final standings until the next one.

• The place is the most people playing the demo at once over the last 24 hours. 6 h and 24 h show how many places it gained ▲ or lost ▼ since then; new means it had no players then.
• What a place takes, Fest pulse. The players of the last demo in the top 10, 100 and 500 and the top 10%; then players across all demos hour by hour, with the opening and day 3 marked.
• What stands out, Climbing Top Wishlists, Genres. The biggest climbs among the first 500 places, the demos climbing Steam’s wishlist chart, and the genres that take a bigger share of the top 100 than of all demos.
• The table. 100 places by default, up to 1,000. Sort by players, now, 6 h, 24 h, fest peak or wishlists: the Top Wishlists place with an estimate of the wishlists. A tag filter narrows the table; places stay counted among all demos.
• Switches. 18+ demos are hidden until you show them. The AI switch — All, Highlight, No AI, With AI — uses the developer’s disclosure on the game or its demo. Neither changes the places.
• Find your game by name; Enter filters the table, 18+ demos and demos without players included.
• Share the top makes an image of the top 10, 20 or 30 as a post or a link preview, dark or light, with the table’s filters. Your game is highlighted, and if it is outside the top, it follows the top with its place.
• Game card. Click a row: the place overall and in its genre, players, fest peak, the Top Wishlists place, the place hour by hour since the opening and the demos just above and below.
• Live rank badge — a button on the card: the demo’s place for your site, press kit or forum post, in three sizes and two themes, with code for HTML, Markdown and BBCode. It updates hourly.
• After the fest. How the fest ended: the record and who set it, how many demos reached 1,000 and 10,000 players at once, the median peak and who held #1 longest. Biggest climbs over the fest compares each demo’s final place with its place at the opening.

Worth knowing

• The place in the Next Fest table is by players. It is not the order Steam shows demos in inside the fest.
• Steam does not publish wishlist counts: the figure next to the Top Wishlists place is our estimate from the place. Demo players are measured from Next Fest Autumn 2026; earlier editions show a dash.
• Who the fest is lifting compares with the same hours a week earlier, because players follow a weekly rhythm. It shows growth during the fest, not proof that the fest caused it.
• No AI means the developer filed no generative AI disclosure on Steam; the game has not been checked.