Go ahead and complain the discounts aren't as steep as they used to be, but Steam just had its biggest year ever for seasonal sales

Gabe Newell in a Valve promotional video, on a yacht.
(Image credit: Valve software)

Valve has posted its annual Steam Year in Review for 2024, which boasts that "2024 was our biggest year ever for the seasonal sales, with a 10% increase in revenue compared to 2023." The four seasonal sales are always noteworthy events, with the current Spring Sale having its own trailer, free stickers to earn by going through your discovery queue, and, oh yeah, deep discounts on various games. (Like Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous for 90% off.)

2024 was also the company's biggest year for its smaller themed sales, which focus on an individual genre or niche. These have been running since 2019, when there were just six of them. This year there are going to be 18 themed sales, and you'll need Steam's 2025 upcoming events calendar to keep track of them.

Next up is the City Builder & Colony Sim Fest, which will run from March 24 to March 31. That'll be followed by the somewhat smaller pigeonhole of the Sokoban Fest, which focuses on puzzle games inspired by the classic Japanese warehouse-keeping block-pusher. Later in the year Steam will host the Zombies vs. Vampires Fest, as well as the Fishing Fest, the Political Sim Fest, and Steam Scream 4 Fest in time for Halloween.

So yeah, 2024 certainly was a big year for Steam, which crossed the 39-million-concurrent-players line in December. This year it broke 40 million, so expect to see next year's Year in Review post once again filled with good news for Gabe and co.

Steam sale datesEpic Store free gamesFree PC games2025 gamesFree Steam games

Steam sale dates: When's the next event?
Epic Store free games: What's free right now?
Free PC games: The best freebies you can grab
2025 games: This year's upcoming releases
Free Steam games: No purchase necessary

Jody Macgregor
Weekend/AU Editor

Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015, and since then he's written about why Silent Hill belongs on PC, why Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is the best fantasy shopkeeper tycoon game, and how weird Lost Ark can get. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.

Read more
Steam sale - A cropped image of a gallery of discounted Steam games, overlaid with a Steam logo and discount percentages.
Steam sale dates: When is the next Steam sale?
2024 Steam Winter Sale screenshot
Steam's 2024 Winter Sale is live
After years of running awkwardly close to the Winter Sale, the Steam Autumn Sale will start 2 months early this year
A selection of games in the 2025 Steam Spring Sale
The Steam Spring Sale 2025 is here
Gallica and the protagonist from Metaphor: ReFantazio.
The best deals in the 2025 Steam Spring Sale
Balatro
Steam Replay shows how your 2024 gaming habits compare to the average user
Latest in Gaming Industry
Gabe Newell in a Valve promotional video, on a yacht.
Go ahead and complain the discounts aren't as steep as they used to be, but Steam just had its biggest year ever for seasonal sales
Pirate Bay co-founder Carl Lundstrom
Pirate Bay co-founder and far-right politician found dead after plane crash
Flag of Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia buys Pokémon GO maker for $3.5 billion with a 'B'
Vice President, Games at Netflix Mike Verdu speaks onstage during TechCrunch Disrupt 2022 on October 18, 2022 in San Francisco, California
4 short months after saying 'We'll have to adapt and change', Netflix's AI games VP adapts and changes into a person who isn't working there anymore
Astarion, a beautiful vampire spawn in Baldur's Gate 3, looks dubiously at the player character.
'What do you mean real actors?': Astarion's VO, who shared an awards category with Idris Elba after Baldur's Gate 3, remembers the dark ages of mocap
Yoda Luke and R2 in Lego form.
Lego is going to make its videogames in-house from now on, says it would 'almost rather overinvest'
Latest in News
Gabe Newell in a Valve promotional video, on a yacht.
Go ahead and complain the discounts aren't as steep as they used to be, but Steam just had its biggest year ever for seasonal sales
Valve Steam Deck OLED handheld PC
'The future of hardware at Valve is bright': Valve celebrates the success of Steam Deck and Steam OS
Key art of the videogame Lunacid, showing a pale, long haired knight in purple armor contemplating a purple, flaming sword surrounded by the different phases of the moon.
One of my favorite indie RPGs is getting a follow-up made with FromSoftware's 25-year-old Super Mario Maker for first person dungeon crawlers
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 image - Henry riding a pink and blue striped horse while holding a fish
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 now has Steam Workshop support, and of course one of the first mods lets you adjust the 'jiggle physics'
Still image of Bastion holding a bird, taken from Microsoft's Copilot for Gaming reveal trailer
Microsoft unveils Copilot for Gaming, an AI-powered 'ultimate gaming sidekick' that will let you talk to your console so you don't have to talk to your friends
Erenshor - A player and two simulated MMO party members stand on a plateau in front of a yellow landscape
This RuneScape-looking 'simulated MMORPG' has all the nostalgia without the drama because all the other 'players' are NPCs