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As we approach the end of the year, many PC gamers are getting ready to open their wallets for Steam’s final major sale of the year, the Steam Winter Sale 2023.
Steam of course holds several sales across the calendar year, but the Steam Winter Sale is often the most eagerly anticipated by the fanbase. A big reason for that is as we come to end of the calendar year, and the vast majority of the most popular titles of the year are now out – so often there’s the biggest selection of recent games to potentially get discounts – we’ve got our own wishlist of games we’d like to see in the Steam Winter Sale 2023 here. More often than not, the storefront also offers a fun tie-in event to encourage people to hunt for bargains, including offering things like Steam badges, profile cosmetics and some fun missions and rewards for the community. But of course, the main event is the discounts, the great deals and the price cuts on many of your favourite games. And with the Steam Deck OLED’s release just recently, you can bet there’ll be plenty of people itching to expand their Steam libraries with the latest sale.
But when exactly should you start getting that wallet ready for? Well, we’ve got you covered here.
When is the Steam Winter Sale for 2023?
The Steam Winter Sale is scheduled to start on Thursday, December 21 2023. It will run for a couple of weeks, ending on Thursday, January 4, 2023.
While previously Valve (who run Steam) would keep the exact date of sales under wraps until a big announcement just before they kicked off, the company has changed their tune as of this year, announcing every single date for their 2023 sales as far back as February this year in a public Steamworks post to developers.
Steam Winter Sale 2023 Predicted Start Time
While the time the sale starts hasn’t been officially confirmed by Valve just yet, it usually starts at the same time as the daily Steam refresh. That occurs at 10am PST, 1pm EDT or 6pm GMT so that’s when we predict the Steam Winter Sale will start.
The event finishes around the same time of day – 10am PST, 1pm EDT or 6pm GMT – so that’s when we’d expect the sale to end on January 4 as well.
Here’s how that breaks down per region:
Steam Winter Sale 2023 predicted start time US
- December 21 at 10am PST
- December 21 at 1pm EDT
Steam Winter Sale 2023 predicted start time UK
Steam Winter Sale 2023 predicted start time EU
Steam Winter Sale 2023 predicted start time Australia
Steam Winter Sale 2023 predicted start time New Zealand
Steam Winter Sale 2023 Countdown
Here’s a handy timer letting you know exactly when the Steam Winter Sale starts – it should automatically adjust to your local clock, so don’t worry about conversions.
Is the Steam Holiday Sale the same as the Steam Winter Sale 2023?
Yes. The Steam Holiday Sale is the same thing as the Steam Winter Sale. The official name is the Steam Winter Sale, as it’s named after the season. Steam also holds an Autumn sale the last week of November, which covers Thanksgiving, while the Winter one goes over the last couple of weeks of the year, therefore it made more sense to call this one by the season, rather than just one sale for the entire Holiday period.
For more on the Steam Winter Sale 2023, check out our wishlist of what we expect to see in the Steam Winter Sale this year. Or get your rig ready by taking a look at our Best Cyber Monday gaming PC deals in 2023.
