Free to Play: upcoming dates

Recent

• Gaming10/03/2026@GameDesk

  Aniimo Launches Free-to-Play on PC and Consoles on 16 September

  Hangzhou, Zhejiang, ChinaPawprint Studio

  

  Starts 09/16/2026CONFIRMEDDate confidence: CONFIRMEDStated as firmHow firmly the source words the date: confirmed, scheduled, estimated, delayed or unverified.Show all CONFIRMED pins82% CONFIDENCEOverall confidence: 82%How well the pin's source and references back up its dates.Weighted average of how firmly 5 references, the source included, support the pin's start and end times; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newestShow all pins at 75% confidence or better17 days agoPawprint Studio announced the 16 September launch at Gamescom (Inven Global^[1][5], 25 Aug), Insider Gaming^[3] gives 10 a.m. China time on 16 September confirmed by the PlayStation site and SteamDB, Inven reported the launch, and Steam's release timestamp is 16 Sep 2026 01:51 UTC.

  Pawprint Studio's open-world creature-catching RPG Aniimo launched worldwide at 10 a.m. China time on 16 September 2026 on Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, with no early access, and reached mobile on 23 September. It is 19th on Steam's chart for the week to 2 October 2026, with a peak of 104,176 concurrent players.

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• Gaming10/03/2026@GameDesk

  Marvel Rivals Launches Free-to-Play on Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S

  Guangzhou, Guangdong, ChinaNetEase Games

  

  Starts 12/06/2024CONFIRMEDDate confidence: CONFIRMEDStated as firmHow firmly the source words the date: confirmed, scheduled, estimated, delayed or unverified.Show all CONFIRMED pins82% CONFIDENCEOverall confidence: 82%How well the pin's source and references back up its dates.Weighted average of how firmly 4 references, the source included, support the pin's start and end times; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newestShow all pins at 75% confidence or better1.8 years agoNetEase's launch time was 00:00 UTC on 6 December 2024 per Shacknews^[1] and Esports.gg^[4], Wikipedia^[3] gives 6 December 2024, and Steam's release timestamp is 6 Dec 2024 00:00 UTC (the store page displays 5 Dec in US Pacific time).

  NetEase Games' free-to-play 6v6 Marvel hero shooter launched at 00:00 UTC on 6 December 2024 (the evening of 5 December in the Americas) and reached 10 million players within 72 hours. It is 17th on Steam's chart for the week to 2 October 2026, with a peak of 75,875 concurrent players.

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• Gaming10/03/2026@GameDesk

  Counter-Strike 2 Launches on Steam as a Free Replacement for CS:GO

  Bellevue, King County, Washington, United StatesValve

  

  Starts 09/27/2023CONFIRMEDDate confidence: CONFIRMEDStated as firmHow firmly the source words the date: confirmed, scheduled, estimated, delayed or unverified.Show all CONFIRMED pins87% CONFIDENCEOverall confidence: 87%How well the pin's source and references back up its dates.Weighted average of how firmly 4 references, the source included, support the pin's start and end times; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newestShow all pins at 75% confidence or better3.0 years agoWikipedia^[3] gives the release date as 27 September 2023, and Stuff^[4] South Africa's report of the full release, posted the next day, describes the switchover as happening the previous evening, on Valve's CS account at about 22:40 CEST; PC Gamer's^[1] launch report carries the same date.

  Valve released Counter-Strike 2 on 27 September 2023, replacing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on the same Steam page as a free update built on the Source 2 engine. It is Steam's most-played game this week, with a peak of 1,160,588 concurrent players in the week to 2 October 2026.

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• Gaming10/03/2026@GameDesk

  Overwatch 2 Launches on Steam on 10 August 2023 With the Invasion Update

  Irvine, California, United StatesBlizzard Entertainment

  

  Starts 08/10/2023CONFIRMEDDate confidence: CONFIRMEDStated as firmHow firmly the source words the date: confirmed, scheduled, estimated, delayed or unverified.Show all CONFIRMED pins87% CONFIDENCEOverall confidence: 87%How well the pin's source and references back up its dates.Weighted average of how firmly 6 references, the source included, support the pin's start and end times; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newestShow all pins at 75% confidence or better3.1 years agoSteam's store page lists 10 August 2023. Blizzard's July 2023 announcement, reported by Windows Central^[6], named 10 August as the Steam launch date, and IGN's^[4] 14 August report and Wikipedia^[1] describe the launch as the preceding week.

  Blizzard's free-to-play hero shooter, then called Overwatch 2 and renamed Overwatch in February 2026, arrived on Steam on 10 August 2023 and peaked above 75,000 concurrent players. It ranks 14th on Steam's most-played chart, peaking at 75,899 in the week to 2 October 2026.

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• Gaming10/03/2026@GameDesk

  Limbus Company Launches Free-to-Play on Steam, iOS and Android

  Seoul, South KoreaProject Moon

  

  Starts 02/26/2023CONFIRMEDDate confidence: CONFIRMEDStated as firmHow firmly the source words the date: confirmed, scheduled, estimated, delayed or unverified.Show all CONFIRMED pins87% CONFIDENCEOverall confidence: 87%How well the pin's source and references back up its dates.Weighted average of how firmly 4 references, the source included, support the pin's start and end times; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newestShow all pins at 75% confidence or better3.6 years agoWikipedia^[3] gives a worldwide release on February 26, 2023, Steam's release timestamp is 26 Feb 2023 23:25 UTC (the store page shows Feb 26, 2023), and Pocket Gamer^[1] and MeinMMO^[4] covered the launch on 28 February 2023.

  Project Moon's free-to-play gacha action RPG Limbus Company, the third game set in its dystopian City after Lobotomy Corporation and Library of Ruina, launched worldwide on 26 February 2023. It is 18th on Steam's chart for the week to 2 October 2026, with a peak of 97,603 concurrent players.

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• Gaming10/03/2026@GameDesk

  Apex Legends Launches on Steam, Arriving With Season 7

  Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, United StatesRespawn Entertainment

  

  Starts 11/04/2020CONFIRMEDDate confidence: CONFIRMEDStated as firmHow firmly the source words the date: confirmed, scheduled, estimated, delayed or unverified.Show all CONFIRMED pins87% CONFIDENCEOverall confidence: 87%How well the pin's source and references back up its dates.Weighted average of how firmly 4 references, the source included, support the pin's start and end times; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newestShow all pins at 75% confidence or better5.9 years agoSteam's store page lists 4 Nov 2020; GamesRadar's^[1] report of the Switch delay (24 Oct 2020) says the Steam version launches on 4 November, and Wikipedia^[3] gives the same date, the same day as Season 7.

  Respawn's free-to-play hero shooter Apex Legends reached Steam on 4 November 2020, almost two years after its console and Origin launch, with cross-play and the start of Season 7. It is fifth on Steam's chart this week, with a peak of 205,986 concurrent players in the week to 2 October 2026.

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• Gaming10/03/2026@GameDesk

  PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Launches on Steam Early Access

  Seoul, South KoreaPUBG Studios

  

  Starts 03/23/2017CONFIRMEDDate confidence: CONFIRMEDStated as firmHow firmly the source words the date: confirmed, scheduled, estimated, delayed or unverified.Show all CONFIRMED pins87% CONFIDENCEOverall confidence: 87%How well the pin's source and references back up its dates.Weighted average of how firmly 4 references, the source included, support the pin's start and end times; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newestShow all pins at 75% confidence or better9.5 years agoGuinness World Records^[1], DualShockers^[4] and Wikipedia^[3] all give 23 March 2017 for the Steam Early Access launch; the official Steam Early Access launch trailer was posted to YouTube that day. Steam's store page now shows the 1.0 date (21 Dec 2017) instead, since that is the full release.

  Bluehole released PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds on Steam Early Access on 23 March 2017; it sold a million copies in 16 days and is now the free-to-play PUBG: Battlegrounds. It is Steam's third most-played game this week, with a peak of 605,728 concurrent players in the week to 2 October 2026.

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• Gaming10/03/2026@GameDesk

  Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege Launches on PC and Consoles on 1 December 2015

  Montreal, Quebec, CanadaUbisoft Montreal

  

  Starts 12/01/2015CONFIRMEDDate confidence: CONFIRMEDStated as firmHow firmly the source words the date: confirmed, scheduled, estimated, delayed or unverified.Show all CONFIRMED pins88% CONFIDENCEOverall confidence: 88%How well the pin's source and references back up its dates.Weighted average of how firmly 5 references, the source included, support the pin's start and end times; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newestShow all pins at 75% confidence or better10.8 years agoSteam's store page lists 1 December 2015, Wikipedia^[1] gives the same date for PC, PS4 and Xbox One after Ubisoft delayed it from 10 October, and PC Gamer's^[5] December 2015 review lists the release date as 1 December 2015.

  Ubisoft Montreal's tactical team shooter launched on 1 December 2015 for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One at $60 and later went free-to-play with Siege X. It ranks 15th on Steam's most-played chart, peaking at 77,603 concurrent players in the week to 2 October 2026.

  $59.99

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• Gaming10/03/2026@GameDesk

  War Thunder Launches on Steam as a Free-to-Play Game on 15 August 2013

  Budapest, HungaryGaijin Entertainment

  

  Starts 08/15/2013CONFIRMEDDate confidence: CONFIRMEDStated as firmHow firmly the source words the date: confirmed, scheduled, estimated, delayed or unverified.Show all CONFIRMED pins90% CONFIDENCEOverall confidence: 90%How well the pin's source and references back up its dates.Weighted average of how firmly 5 references, the source included, support the pin's start and end times; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newestShow all pins at 75% confidence or better13.1 years agoSteam's store page lists 15 August 2013 and Wikipedia^[1] gives the same date citing it; DSOGaming^[5] published Gaijin's announcement that the game was now available on Steam on 15 August 2013. PCGamesN^[3] and StopGame^[4] covered it a day later. The game itself had been in open beta since November 2012.

  Gaijin Entertainment's free-to-play vehicle-combat MMO arrived on Steam on 15 August 2013 during its open beta, after passing Steam Greenlight that February. It ranks 13th on Steam's most-played chart, peaking at 84,009 concurrent players in the week to 2 October 2026.

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• Gaming10/03/2026@GameDesk

  Dota 2 Leaves Beta and Launches on Steam

  Bellevue, King County, Washington, United StatesValve

  

  Starts 07/09/2013CONFIRMEDDate confidence: CONFIRMEDStated as firmHow firmly the source words the date: confirmed, scheduled, estimated, delayed or unverified.Show all CONFIRMED pins82% CONFIDENCEOverall confidence: 82%How well the pin's source and references back up its dates.Weighted average of how firmly 4 references, the source included, support the pin's start and end times; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newestShow all pins at 75% confidence or better13.2 years agoKotaku^[1] reported the official launch on 9 July 2013, Wikipedia^[3] gives 9 July 2013 for the Windows release (18 July for OS X and Linux), and Steam's store page lists 9 Jul 2013.

  Valve took Dota 2 out of its two-year beta and released it free to play on Steam on 9 July 2013. It is Steam's second most-played game this week, with a peak of 790,564 concurrent players in the week to 2 October 2026.

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