Steam Winter Sale 2025 is Live
Winter might be cold and miserable outside, but on PC it is easily one of the best times of the year. The 2025 Steam Winter Sale is now live and it brings big discounts on some of the biggest games of the year along with plenty of classics you might have missed.
This is Steam’s flagship event to close out the year. It runs until January 2 at 10 am PT or 1 pm ET, giving you a solid window to pad your library and sort out your backlog for the months ahead.
One of the headline deals is Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, which was picked as PC Gamer’s 2025 Game of the Year. It is now half price, the lowest discount it has seen so far. If you have been waiting to dive into its detailed medieval world, this is a strong time to jump in.
Steam’s promo trailer highlights a long list of notable PC games on sale, including both fresh releases and big name franchises:
- Marvel's Spider Man 2
- Borderlands 4
- Dune Awakening
- Dying Light The Beast
- Kingdom Come Deliverance 2
- Assassin's Creed Shadows
- Elden Ring Nightreign
- Hades 2
- Deltarune
- Dispatch and more indies and smaller titles
These are just a small sample of what is discounted. The full sale covers thousands of games, from massive open world adventures to tiny experimental indies.
Steam Awards and Your 2025 Replay
The Winter Sale is not just about slashing prices. It also brings two yearly traditions that many PC players look forward to: the Steam Awards and the Steam Replay.
The Steam Awards feature 11 different categories where players can vote on their favorite games of the year. The nominees are now live, and your votes can be cast throughout the duration of the sale. Once the sale ends, Valve will tally everything up and announce the winners on January 3, 2026.
Voting in the Steam Awards is a simple way to support the games that impressed you most, whether that is a huge triple A release or a surprise indie hit. Often, some of the more creative categories highlight titles you might have otherwise missed, so it can double as a discovery tool when you are browsing the sale.
Alongside the awards, Steam has also rolled out its year end Replay feature. Steam Replay is a personalized breakdown of your entire year of PC gaming on the platform. It shows which games you played the most, how many hours you put in, and how your habits compare to the wider player base.
One interesting insight this year is how much time players still spend on older games. Only about 14 percent of all Steam playtime went to new releases. In other words a huge chunk of PC gamers are still happily grinding away in long running titles and back catalog favorites rather than chasing every brand new launch.
Your own numbers may look very different of course. Some players spend the majority of their time trying new releases, others stick to a small number of core games they play all year. Steam Replay can be a fun way to reflect on your habits, share stats with friends, and maybe even be a little alarmed at how many hours disappeared into your favorite multiplayer grind.
Other Stores and Free Game Giveaways
Even though the Steam Winter Sale is the biggest event, it is not the only place worth looking if you are trying to stretch your budget. Other PC storefronts are running their own holiday promotions and in some cases they can beat or complement Steam’s offerings.
The Epic Games Store usually cannot match Steam’s deepest discounts on every title, but its rewards system can sometimes make purchases more attractive. During Epic’s holiday period the store is also running its traditional free game giveaway campaign. There are 17 free games being given away over the course of the event so it pays to log in regularly and claim anything that catches your eye.
GOG is also holding a winter sale that is especially tempting if you like DRM free downloads and older PC titles. One fun way to browse GOG is to set a very low maximum price and see what pops up. Because GOG curates a lot of classics and lesser known gems, you can often find dozens of interesting games for just a couple of dollars total.
All of these overlapping sales and giveaways make the end of the year an excellent time for PC gamers to stock up. Between Steam’s massive catalog, Epic’s freebies, and GOG’s retro friendly library, you can easily build out a strong collection without overspending.
With the 2025 Steam Winter Sale running until January 2 there is still time to compare prices, check out community recommendations, and zero in on the deals that fit your tastes and hardware. Whether you are chasing the latest Game of the Year winners or filling in your backlog with cheap indie hits, this is the moment PC gaming wallets have been waiting for.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/steam-winter-sale-2025-live/
