Steam Free Weekend

Steam Free Weekend — Play Free This Weekend

Every week Steam opens up selected paid games to play completely free over the weekend. You do not get to keep them, but you can play the full content, and your progress and saves stay on your account. Below are the free weekend games in progress as of July 16, 2026.

Full game all weekend Saves and achievements kept Usually on sale too

Contents

Free weekend games in progress
How to join
Tips to make the most of it
FAQ

Steam free weekends in progress 17 min ago · 0 games

No free weekend is running right now. Free weekends usually start Thursday morning Pacific time and end Monday morning, with new games every week. Bookmark this page to catch them the moment they start.

See games you can claim free today Check the next Steam sale dates

How to join a Steam free weekend

All you need is a Steam account — no sign-up beyond that.

Open the free weekend game page

Click a game in the list above to open its Steam store page. Games with an active free weekend show a "Play Game" (free) button.

Install and play right away

Press "Play Game" and it is temporarily added to your library and starts downloading. For large games, install before Friday evening.

Buy at a discount if you like it

Most free weekends run alongside a deep discount. If you buy, your weekend saves and achievements carry over seamlessly.

Tips to get 200% out of a free weekend

⏰ Know the start and end times

Free weekends usually run from Thursday 10 AM Pacific to Monday 10 AM Pacific — roughly four days of play time.

💾 Your saves are not lost

When the weekend ends, your play records, achievements and cloud saves stay on your account. Buy the game later — full price or on sale — and continue right where you left off.

🛒 Use it to decide a purchase

It is the most reliable way to try a game for a few hours before buying. Playing more than 2 hours during a free weekend does not affect refund rules — you have not bought anything yet.

📥 Pre-download

Download servers get crowded right after a popular free weekend starts. Queue the install as soon as it appears, and spend the weekend playing.

FAQ

A recurring Steam promotion that lets you play a paid game for free, without limits, over a weekend. Unlike a demo, you get the full game content.

No — once the period ends you can no longer play. For giveaways you keep forever, see the home page and Epic freebies.

Usually 50–90% off at the same time. Trying it on the free weekend and buying at the discount is the smartest pattern. Current sales are on the Steam sale calendar.

Not every single week, but typically two to four times a month with rotating games — often tied to major updates, DLC launches or sale events.

Same concept. Xbox calls it Free Play Days, Steam calls it Free Weekend. The Xbox side is covered on the Xbox Game Pass page.