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We’re heating things up over on Steam now until July 7th (at 10am PT) with savings on tens of thousands of games across all genres!

As if scoring deals wasn’t fun enough, this year one of our friends acquaintances paid us a visit and just might have offerings of his own. Think trading cards, badges, and good old-fashioned funny business from our sort-of-buddy Clorthax, someone we hope to never see again.

Check out the official Steam Summer Sale trailer above, then head on over to the sale itself, where the deals and the fun are HOT HOT HOT.

Too many summer references for one blog post? Probably. Too much fun for one sale? NEVER.

Start browsing the Steam Summer Sale HERE.

Have fun!
-The Steam Team (and, sigh, this guy)

With our latest Next Fest coming to end and our annual Steam Summer Sale ready to go live later this week, we have a perfect window to unveil Steam's Top Releases for the month of May. As always, we look at every game released during the month, highlighting the Top 20 games and Top 5 DLC releases based on their first two weeks of revenue. We also highlight the top 5 free-to-play games, ranked by the number of unique players they acquired after launch.

The Top Releases of May 2022

With about a third of May's Top Releases incorporating sandbox elements or modes, it's safe to say that many players appreciate the freedom to set their own pace with their own creative agendas. This comes as no surprise considering that the sandbox tag itself is named after the original place where many of us developed our own unique ways of playing. From digging with toy machinery, building sandcastles, or even eating handfuls of the earth, there was no wrong way to sandbox. That spirit is alive and well with this month's selection of Top Release sandbox games. Whether lost in deep space, commanding the battlefields of history, or exploring brand-new fantasy locales, we're thrilled to see the many different ways that players are enjoying these Top Releases. 

This month's Top Release list also comes on the five year anniversary of Steam Direct making its debut on the platform. When launched in 2017, the primary goal for Steam Direct was pretty simple: streamline the game submission process making it easier for developers to get their creations into the hands of players. There are obviously more specifics to the design and its evolution, but the fun part comes when browsing the variety of success stories in each month's latest Top Releases: polished franchise releases like Sniper Elite 5, Early Access surprise hits like V Rising, hidden gems from small development teams like SUNNY SIDE UP, along with a host of other content from studios around the world. 

Finally, we'd like to congratulate the teams who are shipping a game on Steam for the first time. A huge amount of work goes into to making a Top Release, and these teams did it with their first launch on Steam. A big welcome and congrats go out to these successful Steam debuts.

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If you're curious about previous months, here are more Top Release lists:

• November 2021
  
• December 2021
  
• January 2022
  
• February 2022
  
• March 2022
  
• April 2022

Check out Steam Next Fest



Steam Next Fest is here! Next Fest is a multi-day celebration of upcoming games where you can Play What's Next from first-time and veteran developers alike.

Today through June 20 @ 10am PT, we're showcasing over 1,000 demos for the newest upcoming games across every genre from teams all over the world! You'll have the opportunity to try these unreleased games for free throughout Next Fest – no expo halls, no queues.

New for this edition of Next Fest: a Steam badge that levels up with each Next Fest demo you play.

Join us today starting @ 11am PT to catch our own live show to kick off the event, and stick around for developer-hosted livestreams and chats throughout the week.

With so many amazing games to choose from, it can be hard to know where to start. We've got your back, with lots of easy ways to explore Next Fest!

• Browse by category, or a game’s primary tags, to find demos in your favorite genre; you can even search by sub-genres or specific features.
  
• Check out the Event Schedule for developer-hosted livestreams and chats to see who you might like to connect with.

Check out Steam Next Fest

#SteamNextFest

Note: This update was re-released on June 7 to fix some regressions in Remote Play.

Remote Play

• Greatly improved desktop capture quality on Windows, now supporting variable framerates
  
• Fixed crash on Windows when the stream resolution is changed
  
• Fixed streaming connections failing after Steam has been restarted
  
• Fixed Remote Play Together dialogs occasionally not resizing correctly
  
• Fixed color quality when streaming from Linux to Steam Deck

macOS/Linux

• Fixed game install/update failing for Steam libraries installed on a filesystem that does not support preallocation (e.g. ExFAT, FAT32)

Continuing our monthly series, we're happy to unveil Steam's Top Releases for the month of April. As always, we look at every release for the month, highlighting the Top 20 games and Top 5 DLC releases based on their first two weeks of revenue. We also highlight the top 5 free-to-play games, ranked by the number of unique players they acquired after launch.

The Top Releases of April 2022

As students around the world prepare for their spring graduations, April's Top Releases include a number of games making prominent Early Access graduations of their own. From the superb balance between relaxation and strategy in Dorfromantik, to the master class on destruction in Teardown, all of these 1.0s demonstrate how much the Early Access model can shine. Players can take the opportunity to directly participate in the evolution of their favorite games and franchises, while developers gain insights and observations into how their games are actually being experienced. The result is a mutually beneficial development journey yielding polished releases on graduation day. A big tip of the cap (and gown) to each of April's Early Access Graduates.

With each month's Top Release list, we continue to be amazed by the variety and originality that is incorporated into well-known genres and franchises. Whether slicing by theme, mechanic, genre, or aesthetic, April's Top Releases prove yet again that players appreciate this variety with some extra variety on top. Looking for a game within a game? April has horse racing in Winning Post 9 2022, baseball in Out of the Park Baseball 23, and pachinko in Peglin. How about a journey to fabled fantasy universe? Visit Arrakis in Dune: Spice Wars, a Galaxy Far Far Away in LEGO® Star Wars™: The Skywalker Saga, or the fabled Round Table in King Arthur: Knight's Tale. April may have failed to settle the age-old question of “What’s the BEST genre?”, but players seem to be pretty happy that the debate will go on.

Finally, it wouldn't be a Top Release list without congratulating the teams that are releasing a product on Steam for the very first time. A big welcome and congrats go out to these development teams on their successful Steam debuts.

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If you're curious about previous months, here are more Top Release lists:

• October 2021
  
• November 2021
  
• December 2021
  
• January 2022
  
• February 2022
  
• March 2022