Official Group for Steamworks Development Support

Third-Party Sales Events on Steam

Steam regularly enables tools for third-parties to host sales events on the Store.

Unlike the Steam-hosted events (such as Next Fest or the Autumn Sale), third-party sales events are organized by gaming-industry groups outside of Steam and they can focus on a wider range of topics, including:

• Publisher Sales Events - like the Super Giant Publisher Sale, the Kalypso Anniversary Sale or the Hooded Horse Publisher Sale.
  
  
• Franchise Sales Events - such as the Fallout Franchise Sale or Bruce Wayne's Birthday.
  
  
• Gaming Showcase Events - for example The Game Awards, gamescom or PAX.
  
  
• Regional Sales Events - such as Games from Turkey or Games Made in New Zealand.
  
  
• Themed Sales Events - such as TactiCon, the Cozy Games Celebration, or LudoNarraCon.

We believe that when they’re well run and well implemented, third-party sales events can accomplish several important goals at once. They make the Store a livelier and more-engaging place for players, they help developers find new audiences for their games, and they help event organizers connect with the Steam-portion of their online communities.

All in all, we're happy to see third-party sales events gaining popularity on Steam. Since the sales event tools were first introduced to partners in 2020, almost 3,000 sales events have been released on Steam, with the total number in 2024 on pace to grow 20% relative to 2023.

As third-party sales events continue to gain momentum, developers have been asking more questions about how to get involved, and event organizers have been submitting a wider range of event ideas. To help meet the growing interest, we recently outlined new documentation on the processes involved in joining and hosting these kinds of events.

This new documentation is divided into two broad categories:


Do you have a game that would like to join a third-party sales event? More details on how this works can be found in the link below. Since these events are hosted by organizations outside of Steam, you’ll need to reach out to the event host for an invite, but this documentation outlines what to expect after your game has been invited:

> Participating in Third-Party Sales Events


Are you an event organizer with interest in bringing a sales event to Steam, or growing your off-Steam gaming event with an on-Steam presence? If so, the following link outlines the steps involved, from submitting your event proposal to releasing your event’s approved sale page.

This new documentation also details the factors the Steam Team uses to decide which sales events to feature in the Store. The guiding principle, as always, is that customer interest and player data should drive such decisions, but more context and additional considerations for event organizers are shared below:

> Hosting Third-Party Sales Events

We look forward to hearing more about your event ideas in 2025 and beyond.