When the big PC game sales happen in 2026, and how to plan for them
PC games are on sale all year, but a few events concentrate the biggest discounts. Knowing roughly when they come tells you whether to buy now or wait a few weeks. For exact dates, use the sales calendar: stores announce their dates shortly in advance, and the calendar follows what they have published.
Steam's seasonal sales
Steam runs four large seasonal sales a year, in autumn, winter, spring and summer, and Valve publishes their dates for developers well ahead. In 2026 the autumn sale ran from 1 to 8 October and the winter sale starts on 17 December; the spring and summer ones follow in March and June 2027. Each covers a large part of the catalogue and lasts from about a week to more than two. Steam also holds themed events (Fests), such as Steam Next Fest for demos and a horror Fest at the end of October, and shorter weekend sales for a publisher or a genre. Not every event discounts everything, so a "fest" is not always a sale. The exact dates are on the Steam sale dates page.
Epic and the other stores
The Epic Games Store has its own sales, including a spring one and a holiday one, and sometimes adds a coupon on top of the usual discounts. GOG, Fanatical, Humble, Green Man Gaming and the other shops run their own promotions, often timed to match Steam's and sometimes between them. That is one more reason to compare: a quiet week on Steam can be a good week at another store.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Black Friday is the day after US Thanksgiving, which makes it 27 November in 2026, and Cyber Monday follows on 30 November. On Valve's published schedule there is no Steam-wide sale in Black Friday week in 2026: the autumn sale was in early October and the winter sale starts on 17 December. The shops' own offers around the day are another matter, and Steam still discounts single games, so it is a good week to compare prices rather than to wait for Steam. Our Black Friday page follows the deals as they appear.
What is worth waiting for
- Older games are discounted often and deeply, and usually reach a good price in the next big sale.
- New releases are normally discounted little in their first months. If you want one now, the comparison across stores matters more than the calendar.
- Games you will play this week are rarely worth waiting for. The saving from waiting is small next to the weeks you do not play.
A sale is not always the lowest price a game reaches, and it is not always lower than a shop's quiet-week price. That is why looking at the price history first, as in how to tell if a deal is good, beats waiting by habit.
How to be told instead of checking
- Add the calendar to your phone. The calendar page has a link that subscribes your phone's calendar to the dates, and it updates as stores announce new ones.
- Check your wishlist. Paste your Steam profile link into the wishlist checker and it lists which of your wishlist games are on sale now and where they are cheapest. Your wishlist has to be public.
- Set a price alert on a game you want: one email, or a browser notification, when its price drops.
- Get the week's deals by email. The Sunday email lists the week's best-reviewed deals and the free games to keep.