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Steam Maintenance explained: When is it and why do Valve do it?

Nil Steam ahead!

The old Steam Mascots Cyl, Tappet and Sir Roderick Bodkin.

Valve

Published: Tuesday, 28 April 2026 at 12:38 pm

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We get it; you want to play games, but ol’ Steam isn’t responding. Fortunately, it should be back up soon, but whilst you’re waiting, we’ve got Steam Maintenance explained, including when it is and why Valve does it.

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Judging by all the hardware announcements Valve has made, including unveiling the Steam Controller release date, you might be surprised that anyone at the company even has time to work on Steam, but given that the platform recently hit 41 million users online, you best believe that levers are being pulled.

Perhaps the eventual arrival of the Steam Machine and Steam Frame will help bump those numbers up. Certainly, Valve made PC gaming more accessible and easier to pick up and play with the Steam Deck. Perhaps the Steam Deck 2 will push that number up even higher.

But as for all things Steam Maintenance, read on!

When is Steam Maintenance?

Steam Maintenance typically takes place on Tuesday between 9pm GMT to 11pm GMT.

Steam maintenance itself only lasts for around ten minutes, though sometimes it can be upwards of an hour. During this time, Steam functionality can go down, such as the Steam Community, online services and multiplayer.

As for why Valve opts to do Steam Maintenance during inconvenient hours for Europeans, on the Steam Support page, Valve says "Our peak user load is around 12:00 PT (Pacific Time), and our lowest user count is around 23:00 PT", which is between 8pm GMT and 7am GMT.

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What is Steam Maintenance?

Steam Maintenance is Steam getting maintained (mic drop).

If you play games such as Fortnite, you’ll know that they typically go offline for a short while in order to implement patches, fixes and new content, and Steam is no different!

Unlike Fortnite, however, there are usually no flashy new features added to Steam. Speaking to this, Valve said "Sometimes, we take the servers down in order to perform maintenance. We might be patching software for security issues, updating operating systems or drivers, or installing new hardware, for example. These activities don't result in new features, but allow Steam to continue to run stably and efficiently."

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Authors

Cole Luke wears a black T-shirt and is looking at the camera, smiling. There is a shelving unit in the background

Cole LukeFreelance Writer

Cole Luke is a freelance journalist and video producer who contributes to Radio Times Gaming. He also has bylines for Digital Foundry, PC Gamer, Network N and more.

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