Since 2020 is nearing its conclusion, Valve’s digital storefront Steam has finally started its Winter Sale and is now allowing users to start casting their votes for the annual Steam Awards. Just like all the other seasonal deals such as the Autumn Sale from a few months ago, the Steam Winter Sale offers incredible discounts on a multitude of games.
This year has seen Steam breaking records, as the total number of nomination votes from this year’s Autumn Sale exceeded the ones from the previous years. Steam has chosen over forty games for players to vote on, divided across ten different categories.
If you decide to participate in this year’s Steam Awards and cast your vote, you will be given a Winter Sale trading card for every vote you make. It may not be much, but those who enjoy collecting Steam’s trading cards will most likely be pleased by this as they can increase their collection.
This year’s Steam Winter Sale will run from December 22, 2020, through January 5, 2021 (10 AM PST). The ability to vote for the Steam Awards, however, will only run until January 3, 2021 (9 AM PST). The winners will be revealed thereafter.
You can only vote on one game per category, with each category providing five different game options to choose from. The different categories for this year’s Steam Awards are the following:
- Game of The Year
- Outstanding Story Rich Game
- Best Game You Suck At
- VR Game of The Year
- Best Soundtrack
- Labor of Love
- Most Innovative Gameplay
- Outstanding Visual Style
- Better With Friends
- Sit Back And Relax.
These different categories have a variety to them, as they are a mix of AAA titles and indie ones to spice things up a little bit. Some of the nominated games may be familiar to you, as they include popular titles such as Red Dead Redemption 2, Doom Eternal, Hades, and Among Us. Of course, there is a myriad of other titles too.
As for the highly-anticipated Steam Winter Sale, many titles available on the storefront have prices that have been drastically reduced thanks to the sale’s considerable discounts which range from 20% to as high as 90%.
Some of the discounted titles among the thousands include The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Raft, and Control, so definitely check the digital storefront when you have the time. Apart from reducing the prices of individual titles, the Winter Sale also offers lowered prices for entire franchises as well, including popular series such as Resident Evil, DragonBall, and Star Wars.
Among other things, Steam’s winter update also includes other features such as the new reactions for Steam chat. Those users who utilize the chat feature to talk with Steam friends will now be able to reply to messages with animated reactions.
This new functionality can be used across different platforms, whether you chat on desktop, mobile, or web. It may not be a super interesting new feature, but it makes a chat thread more fun and lively.
Major Steam sales may take place more than once in a year, but we will never stop looking forward to it each time.
