Gird your wallets, gamers: The Steam Winter Sale is now live
The best/scariest moment of the holiday season has arrived: the annual Steam Winter Sale.
For the next week and a half -- until 1 p.m. ET on Jan. 2 -- most of the games sold in Valve's online store will have their prices slashed by varying amounts. New games, old games, even add-ons ... if you can pay for it on Steam, it's probably cheaper than usual.
The 2016 sale also marks the kickoff of Valve's first official Steam Awards. Starting on Dec. 22, users will be able to vote in eight different categories, once per day until Dec. 29. Then, on Dec. 30, voting will commence in four "community write-in" categories created by Steam users.
The winners in all 12 categories will be announced on Dec. 31 at 1 p.m. ET. There's no mention of additional price drops for the winning games, only "eternal fame as winner of the first ever Steam Awards."
For those invested in Valve's achievement-style progression system, each vote cast earns you one Steam Award Trading Card. Four of those can be crafted into a Steam Award badge until Feb. 2.
You can check out all of the award categories -- Thursday's is "Villain Most in Need of a Hug" -- on the Steam website or in your Steam client. And if you're just interested in the sale, here are some extra-cheap 2016 games that you might want to check out:
Tom Clancy's The Division | $24.99 (down from $49.99)
Doom | $19.79 (down from $59.99)
Owlboy | $19.99 (down from $24.99)
Rise of the Tomb Raider | $29.99 (down from $59.99)
Inside | $13.99 (down from $19.99)
The Banner Saga 2 | $14.99 (down from $19.99)
Tilt Brush (VR painting app) | $20.09 (down from $29.99)
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided | $19.79 (down from $59.99)
Orwell | $7.99 (down from $9.99)
Watch Dogs 2 | $40.19 (down from $59.99)
Dishonored 2 | $40.19 (down from $59.99)
Dark Souls III | $29.99 (down from $59.99)
Street Fighter V | $19.79 (down from $59.99)
Darkest Dungeon | $12.49 (down from $24.99)
Hitman (complete first season) | $29.99 (down from $59.99)
Topics Gaming
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
