The Steam Game Festival Returns February 2021

Another Steam Game Festival Arrives Next Month


Published: January 28, 2021 3:53 PM /

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Steam Game Festival February 2021 cover

The Steam Game Festival February 2021 Edition has been announced, bringing another batch of game demos for people to play along with yet another sale.

The last year has seen the debut of multiple "festivals" on Steam, a digital distribution platform run by Valve and one of the biggest markets for PC gaming in the world. Each of these events allows players to try out demos of upcoming games and score some neat discounts — and now a new one is on the way!

You can get a quick rundown of what's coming in this brand-new trailer.

How Will the Steam Game Festival February 2021 Edition Work?

The Steam Game Festival February 2021 Edition will work much like the previous events: hundreds of demos will be made available on Steam and can be downloaded and freely played by everyone. Many (if not most) of these demos will only be available during the festival, so it's certainly something you don't want to miss.

You might be worried about seeing some repeats from previous festivals, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen — Valve has outlined the rules for games that can participate in the festival. Each game needs to meet the following criteria:

  • Part of a Steamworks developer account in good standing.
  • A game on Steam with a release date set between February 10, 2021 and September 1, 2021.
  • A publicly visible Coming Soon page at the time of opt-in.
  • A publicly playable demo by the time the festival begins.

Games may only participate in one of the following game festivals: Autumn 2020, February 2021, or June 2021.

This little tidbit of text tells us several important things. Firstly, we're not going to have any repeats from the most recent Steam Game Festival; this (and the lack of any seasonal branding) suggests that Valve may be aiming to make it a more frequent event in the future.

Secondly, any game featured as part of this latest festival is targeting a release date of no later than September 1, 2021. It is, of course, entirely possible that some of the games may have to push back their release dates — goodness knows that we've seen a lot of that in the last year - even with developers getting more used to the unusual times we live in.

Finally, this developer page pretty much confirms that the Steam Game Festival is here to stay, at least for now: the next one will be arriving sometime in June 2021.

Steam Game Festival February 2021 slice

When Does the Steam Game Festival February 2021 Edition Start?

The Steam Game Festival February 2021 Edition begins on February 3, 2021, at 1:00 PM EST. The festival will last for a week in total, ending on February 9, 2021, at 1:00 PM EST.

For now, there isn't much else to do but wait. Don't forget to set a reminder for this event on its official web page so you don't miss out!

What games would you like to see in the next Steam Game Festival? What was the coolest game you discovered in previous editions of this event? Let us know in the comments below!

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


A photograph of TechRaptor Senior Writer Robert N. Adams.
| Senior Writer

One of my earliest memories is playing Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo Entertainment System. I've had a controller in my hand since I was 4 and I… More about Robert N