The annual Steam Winter Sale is back with some deep discounts

By Tomas Franzese Published December 19, 2024

A pilot standing in front of a titan with a sword in the ground. — EA

2024’s Steam Winter Sale kicked off earlier today, bringing a vast number of deep discounts to PC games big and small between now and January 2.

At the end of every year, Valve holds a massive Steam Winter Sale on its PC gaming launcher and storefront. For two weeks, developers have a platform to discount their games on Steam; we often see all-time-low prices for high-profile games during this event. This year’s Winter Sale runs concurrently to the 2024 Steam Awards, where Steam users can vote for their favorite titles in categories like Game of the Year and Best Game on Steam Deck. Voting for the 2024 Steam Awards ends at 10 a.m. PT on December 31, while the Steam Winter Sale will run until 10 a.m. PT on January 2, 2025.

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While I recommend looking at your own Steam Wishlist and checking out the store pages of games you’re interested in to see if they’ve been discounted, Steam’s Featured Deep Discounts roundup for the Winter Sale is also a good place to start. The Featured Deep Discounts page highlights massive discounts for beloved PC games. This time around, titles like Titanfall 2, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Metro Exodus, State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition, The Forest, Firewatch, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, Stellaris, Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition, Assassin’s Creed Origins, and Tales from the Borderlands have all been discounted by 90% and now only cost a few bucks.

Regardless of what you want to get during this sale, if you’ve been saving money to buy some PC games this year, now’s the time to spend it before the Steam Winter Sale ends on January 2, 2025.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

A former Gaming Staff Writer at Digital Trends, Tomas Franzese now reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…

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Gaming

When is the next Steam sale?

Custom art in a Steam library.

If you're a PC gamer, Steam is your best friend. Valve changed how the best PC games were bought and played when it created this platform and we've never looked back. Others like Epic and Ubisoft have tried to create their own launchers, but the hardcore gamers will never abandon Steam. It isn't just for convenience, either. Steam sales offer the best deals in the entire industry, with massive games regularly seeing discounts of 50%, 60%, 70% or more. Most of us hold off on buying upcoming PC games we're excited about in hopes that the price will be slashed in an upcoming Steam sale. But how long will you need to wait until the next sale? Steam sales come regularly, but if you're looking to save up for the next one, here's how long you have.
When is the next Steam sale?

After the Spring Sale kicked things off, the next time Valve is turning up the heat on sales is the Summer Sale. This event is right in the middle of the hottest months of the year and runs for two weeks rather than just one, starting on June 26 and ending on July 10. That's a lot of time for to grab all the games on your wishlist so plan ahead and save some cash because there are sure to be some deals that are just too good to pass up.

Gaming

Get one of the best games of the last decade for $2 in Steam’s Summer Sale

Key art for Celeste.

During every Steam Summer Sale, tons of great indie games get massive discounts. For just a couple of dollars, you can pick up some of the best games the video game industry offers. Looking at the Featured Deep Discounts for this year's Steam Summer Sale, one indie game that stands out from the rest of the bunch is Celeste.

Released by Maddy Makes Games in 2018, Celeste is one of the best indie games of the 2010s; it even earned a rare five-star rating from Digital Trends when it launched. I had the pleasure of playing this game ahead of its wide release then, and I was completely taken aback by how it cleverly reinforces its poignant narrative themes through gameplay, which tasks players with mastering the controls and learning the layout of platforming challenges bit by bit to overcome a massive obstacle. If you haven't checked out Celeste yet, it's a steal at just $2, a 90% discount from its typical $20 price tag.

Gaming

Prepare for Civilization 7 with this $3 Steam Summer Sale deal

Three Civilization 6 leaders standing above a board with the Eiffel tower on the left.

One of the most exciting announcements for PC gaming fans during Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest live stream this year was for Sid Meier's Civilization VII. It's the next entry in a long-running turn-based strategy game series about building up and thriving as a civilization from scratch. Although Sid Meier's Civilization VII does not come out until next year and doesn't even get a full gameplay reveal until August, this year's Steam Summer Sale provides players the perfect opportunity to catch up on the series.

Navigate to the Featured Deep Discounts section of the Steam Summer Sale and you'll find that Sid Meier's Civilization VI from Firaxis and 2K is available for just $3, a 95% discount from its typical $60 price tag. If you've never played a Civilization game before or want to familiarize yourself with the core tenets of the series ahead of its next entry, this Steam Summer Sale deal provides an optimal opportunity to check it out.