Running a Game Event

An event is a campaign with a date on it: a group of creators, all covering your game inside the same window. It goes draft → published → running → ended → settled, and you control every step except the last one's clock.

Why it works this way

Because a coordinated window beats a slow trickle. Ten videos spread over two months is background noise; the same ten inside one window is a spike — in Steam traffic, in wishlists, and in the chance someone sees your game twice in a week from two people they follow. That's the whole point of the format, and it's why the publish window is a property of the event rather than a suggestion in a chat.

Because nobody gets a head start. Everyone in the event publishes inside the same window, so no creator's coverage is buried by someone who posted three weeks earlier. It also means creators can plan: they get their key on approval and know exactly when to post.

Because a draft is private. A new event is a Draft — invisible in Browse, no notifications, no fan-out. You can build it, sleep on it, and rewrite it, and nobody knows it exists until you publish.

And because publishing is a promise. The moment it's live the publish window is locked and every reward-package change is recorded. Creators are arranging their schedule around your dates; the platform stops you moving them afterwards.

Before you start: one event at a time

You can have one event in flight per game — a draft counts. And after one ends there's a cooldown before the next: 30 days on Free, 10 on Pro, counted from the event's end date. The Events tab tells you when the next one is available.

The limit is deliberate. Back-to-back events train your partners to ignore them.

Create the draft

Game hub → Events → create. Four steps:

1 · Name your event — title and description. This is what creators decide on, so lead with what they'd be signing up for.

2 · Set the schedule — Publish window opens and Publish window closes. The window must start at least 7 days out, because creators need time to play a game before they can post about it. Also here: an optional cap on how many creators you'll approve (off = unlimited).

3 · Add reward packages — same shape as your game's packages, scoped to this event. What they get for taking part.

4 · Review & launch — a preview of the card creators will see.

The last button is Save as Draft. Nothing has left the building yet.

Publish it

From the draft, publish. The confirmation spells out the two things that change:

• The publish window cannot be changed once the event is live.
• From that point, any change to a reward package is recorded in its history — protection for both sides.

Publishing makes the event live immediately and notifies your long-term partners and creators who match the game. Applications open, and the event appears in Browse.

While it runs

The event has its own hub — Overview, Participants, Community, Keys — separate from the game's.

• Participants works like the game's Partners tab: applications to accept or reject, and a recruiting list to invite from. Approved creators get their key straight away, so they can start playing.
• Keys has its own group for this event, so an event's stock can't eat your long-term keys.
• Community is a group room for everyone taking part — the thing creators tend to remember about an event.
• Close applications on Overview stops new ones without touching who's already in.

Participants are reminded automatically: one week before the window opens, and again the day before. You don't have to chase anyone.

End and settle

Most events end on their own when the window closes. End Event on Overview ends one early — it asks for confirmation, and it cannot be undone.

Ending doesn't slam the door. The event moves into a 30-day settlement window where the hub stays writable, so submissions can be reviewed, rewards sent, keys sorted, and conversations finished. After that it becomes read-only history, and the cooldown for the next event runs from the real end date.

Who can do this

Creating and running events is the Events permission. Approving participants is Partners, and keys and rewards are Rewards — an event touches all three, so check who on your team has what before you publish.

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