By Jon Scarr
Steam is rolling straight into its final major seasonal sale of the year. The Steam Winter Sale officially runs from December 18 through January 5, bringing store-wide discounts that carry the sale from late December into early 2026.
The timing comes shortly after the Steam Sports Fest 2025 sale, which wrapped up earlier this month with a focused week of sports-themed deals. The Winter Sale shifts back to a broader approach, opening up discounts across the entire Steam store and covering a wide range of genres, play styles, and release windows. Steam describes this as its last major seasonal sale of 2025, giving PC gamers a longer stretch of time to browse during the holiday period.
Steam also leaned into a bit of playful messaging around the dates, joking about a sale that spans “two years.” In practice, the format will feel familiar. The Winter Sale begins on Thursday, December 18, and runs through Monday, January 5, giving you time to explore deals without daily flash sales or rotating time-limited offers.
Games Shown in the Steam Winter Sale Trailer
Alongside the announcement, Steam released an official trailer highlighting the variety of games included during the Winter Sale window. Rather than calling out specific discounts, the video focuses on range, reinforcing that this is a full-store seasonal event rather than a genre-driven promotion.
Games shown in the trailer include Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, Dynasty Warriors: Origins, Borderlands 4, Dune: Awakening, Dying Light: The Beast, The Last of Us Part II Remastered, Rematch, Slime Rancher 2, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, Megabonk, Digimon Story Time Stranger, R.E.P.O., Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, RV There Yet?, Escape From Duckov, Dispatch, Deltarune, Elden Ring Nightreign, Hades II, and Drive Beyond Horizons.
The mix spans action-focused releases, story-driven adventures, cooperative games, and lighter experiences. The trailer keeps the spotlight on variety, leaving the details to the store once the sale goes live.
Steam’s Year-End Sale Window Explained
The Steam Winter Sale runs from December 18 through January 5, covering the holiday stretch and extending into the new year. While the announcement played up the calendar crossover, the structure itself follows the same pattern as previous Winter Sales.
After themed events like Steam Sports Fest, the Winter Sale returns to an open format. Discounts apply across the store, with pricing set by individual developers and publishers. That setup gives you time to browse wishlists, revisit recent releases, or check out games you may have missed earlier in the year, without the pressure of rotating daily deals.
The Steam Winter Sale kicks off December 18 and runs through January 5. Are you planning to grab something that slipped by earlier this year, or are you heading in just to see what turns up?