Steam Lunar New Year Sale dates have leaked

Valve rarely announces Steam sale dates in advance, but that's not really a problem for most thrifty videogame shoppers because the dates regularly leak well in advance anyway. I vaguely recall that it used to be a pretty big deal, way back when: A date would slip out from the darkest shadows of the internet, and we'd all huddle around to debate the likelihood of its accuracy, what we might buy, and whose head would roll when the leaker's identity was discovered.

It's not quite such a dramatic thing these days, thanks largely to the ubiquity of Steam sales and proliferation of other online storefronts—not to mention Valve's apparent indifference to the whole thing—but even so, it's good to have some advance notice on these things, especially if you're still recovering from the recently-ended Steam Winter Sale. 

Which brings us to the point: According to Steam Database, which has a pretty solid record with this sort of thing, the Steam Lunar New Year Sale 2021 will begin on February 11 and run to February 15.

Steam's Lunar New Year events aren't quite the elongated blowouts that the Winter and Summer sales are, but there are deals, and it's a safe bet that Lunar New Year items will turn up in the Points Shop. Last year's sale had its own Night Market, where you could turn in earned points for profile backgrounds, chat room effects, chat stickers, and that sort of thing, but that was prior to the launch of the permanent Points Shop and so my assumption is that it won't make a re-appearance this year.

Of course, this is all unofficial and unverified, but it's probably not coincidence that the 2021 Lunar New Year also begins on February 12. Whatever the actual date is (and if I was a betting man, I'd say February 12 is it), we'll let you know when the sale gets underway. For all the Steam sale leaks we know about, keep an eye on our list.