Steam free weekend with ARC Raiders, Core Keeper and Squad 44 from 8 to 12 October 2026

The end times do not line up. According to the source, one title follows the usual Monday deadline, while the other games have a different end time.

Steam Free Weekend is a recurring format in which paid games are temporarily made free to play. The source says this is often followed by a discount, but no confirmed discount percentages are mentioned here.

What happened

Steam has launched a Free Weekend promotion featuring ARC Raiders, Core Keeper and Squad 44. The provided source ties the event to 8 to 12 October 2026, giving players a chance to try the three premium games without buying them first. The source explicitly names all three titles as part of the same Free Weekend lineup, making this a limited promotion with multiple games running at once.

The source notes that the exact end times differ per game. As a result, the supplied information does not specify the exact time each title ends. It does state that the Free Weekend list applies to the 8 to 12 October 2026 window and that the end times are “somewhat scattered.” That means the promotion does not end at the same moment for all three games.

Steam Free Weekend is a recurring format in which paid games are temporarily made free to play. The source explains that these events are often followed by a discount after the free period ends, but no concrete discount percentages are given in this case. The provided information also does not confirm any separate price changes for ARC Raiders, Core Keeper or Squad 44.

ARC Raiders is one of the three highlighted games in the source and is linked to Embark Studios. That gives the title renewed visibility in Steam-related news, alongside the other two games included in the same promotion. Core Keeper and Squad 44 are also named as part of the same Free Weekend event, but the supplied text does not include additional details about their publishers, discounts or individual end times.

Background

ARC Raiders is one of the three highlighted games and is named in the source as a title from Embark Studios. The game has already appeared in Steam-related coverage before and now gets renewed visibility through this Free Weekend event. That makes ARC Raiders the most specifically identified title in this context, since the source mentions both the game and the studio.

Core Keeper and Squad 44 are mentioned in the same source as part of the same promotion, meaning Steam is making three different premium games temporarily accessible in one weekend. The source does not provide extra technical or content details about these two titles, but it does confirm that they are included alongside ARC Raiders in the same Free Weekend lineup.

The source also explains how Steam Free Weekend usually works: a paid game is temporarily made free to play and often receives a discount afterward. For this specific event, however, no percentages, no separate store listings and no confirmed end times per game are given. That leaves only the general structure of the promotion: three games, a limited period and non-uniform end times.

The supplied context ties the event to 8 to 12 October 2026. Within that window, 12 October is the stated end date, but the source stresses that the exact stop times vary by title. In other words, the Free Weekend in the source is mainly a time-limited Steam promotion with multiple games, without further detail on price cuts or separate schedules per title.