Steam Winter Sale 2026: dates, rules and how to prepare

All dates on this page were checked on November 13, 2026. Other sales of the season, from Black Friday to Epic's holiday giveaway, are collected in the holiday gaming hub.

Steam Winter Sale 2025: Official Trailer (official Steam channel)

Steam Winter Sale 2026 dates and start time

Valve's page for developers, "2026 Winter Sale", gives December 17, 2026 to January 4, 2027 at 10am Pacific and describes the event as being "all about shopping for great games and voting for your favorites in the 2026 Steam Awards". The same dates appear on Valve's seasonal sales page and in PC Gamer's Steam sale calendar. 10 a.m. Pacific is 6 p.m. in London and 7 p.m. in Berlin or Warsaw.

Two other Steam dates often get mixed up with the Winter Sale. The Autumn Sale is long over: it ran from October 1 to October 8, 2026, after Valve moved it to early autumn in 2025. And there is no Black Friday sale in Valve's calendar on November 13, 2026; see our Black Friday dates page for what other stores are doing.

How the sale works now

• One price for the whole sale. Valve dropped daily deals and flash sales starting with the 2015 Autumn and Winter sales (PC Gamer reported it on November 20, 2015). A discount you see on day one stays until the end, so there is no reason to refresh the store at midnight.
• Recommendations change, prices do not. Valve's seasonal sale rules say the front page refreshes featured games throughout the sale instead of the old 24 hour spots.
• Stickers and Points Shop. Last year (2025) Valve's post let you earn three stickers by going through your Discovery Queue and added new Winter Sale items to the Steam Points Shop. Valve has not said what 2026 brings.
• Steam Awards voting. The Winter Sale is where the final round of the Steam Awards happens. More on that below.

The 2026 Steam Awards

The Steam Awards run in two rounds. In the nomination round, everyone with a Steam account nominates one game per category. In the final round, during the Winter Sale, you vote among the finalists, one category per day as it unlocks. Last year (2025) nominations ran from November 24 to December 1, 2025 in 11 categories, from Game of the Year to Best Game You Suck At, and Valve announced the winners on January 3, 2026.

For 2026, Valve's Winter Sale page confirms the final vote during the sale. Two outlets (3dnews on November 6, 2026 and Critical Hits on November 7, 2026) report nominations from November 23 to November 30, 2026 with 14 categories, but on November 13, 2026 Valve itself had not posted those dates, so treat them as reported.

How to prepare before December 17

1. Fill your wishlist now. Valve sends a wishlist email or mobile push when a game is discounted by 20% or more, the discount lasts over 8 hours and covers the cheapest package. You need a verified email address on your account.
2. Know the refund rule. Steam refunds a game for any reason if you request it within 14 days of purchase and have played it for less than two hours. Wallet funds and DLC follow similar rules.
3. Top up the right way. Valve announced in June 2026 that physical Steam gift cards are leaving retail stores, with shops expected to be out of stock by the end of 2026. Digital Steam gift cards continue. Details in our gaming gift cards guide.
4. Free up disk space. Big free games like World of Tanks ask for 120 GB on Steam. Clear room before the sale, not during it.
5. Gift with a schedule. Steam lets you buy a game as a gift and schedule delivery up to 12 months ahead, so you can buy during the sale and have it land on Christmas morning.

Free-to-play games worth installing during the break

You do not need to buy anything to have a full holiday on Steam. These free games are on Steam today, with the requirements Valve's store pages print. For a longer list with phone games, see the best free games for Christmas.

World of Sea Battle is the easiest install on this list: a free sailing MMO from Thera Interactive that asks for 2 GB of RAM and 2 GB of disk space on Steam, in Early Access since October 21, 2025. You captain one ship with a squadron behind it, trade between ports, hunt NPC fleets, fight players and build your own island. It suits long winter evenings because progress is slow and satisfying, and it is rated Playable on Steam Deck.

Where Winds Meet is the big one: a free wuxia open world RPG from Everstone Studio and NetEase, with cross-play and cross-progression to PS5 and mobile according to its store listings. It needs a strong PC (16 GB of RAM, GTX 1060 6 GB, 130 GB on an SSD is recommended), and Valve marks it unsupported on Steam Deck.

Free holiday extras inside Steam games

The Winter Sale is not only about discounts. Free-to-play games on Steam run their own Christmas events at the same time, and some hand out free DLC through the Steam store. Last year (2025) World of Warships gave away a free Steam DLC called "Holiday Present" with a flag, a festive container and a camouflage, and World of Sea Battle ran its Christmas event from December 23, 2025 to January 5, 2026, with snowball ammunition for sinking "Sea Elves" and a free commemorative flag for every player. On November 13, 2026 the World of Sea Battle team lists its 2026 Christmas and New Year event as "in the works", and Wargaming has previewed a December holiday update for World of Warships. Every date we know is in our Christmas events calendar.

After the sale

The Winter Sale ends on January 4, 2027 at 10 a.m. Pacific. If you missed a deal, Valve's next confirmed dates are Steam Next Fest from February 22 to March 1, 2027 and the Spring Sale from March 18 to March 25, 2027. If you bought games as gifts, remember that the recipient has 30 days to accept a Steam gift before it is refunded to you. Meanwhile, free games keep giving: our December giveaways guide tracks Epic's free games, Prime Gaming and the subscription lineups.

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