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Steam's Christmas sale rumoured to start December 18th

by Ryan Martin on 12 December 2014, 16:45

Tags: Valve

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Christmas just wouldn’t be the same if it wasn’t for the excuse to acquire an unfathomable number of PC gaming titles at knock-down prices, but whether they actually get played or not is an entirely different matter. This year’s Steam Christmas sale is what we’re referring to, of course, and its start date has been leaked, although it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise for most.

PayPal is once again the leaker of the start date, and this year it’s the Japanese branch at fault. In a promotional email sent by PayPal Japan to its subscribers the start date of the Steam 2014 Christmas sale is stated as December 18th, which is one day earlier than last year’s December 19th start.

Other reports have clarified the exact start time and end date of the sale: Thursday, 18th December 2014 at 6pm GMT until the end of Friday, 2nd January 2015. Thankfully there should still be surprises a-plenty as the deals that will be available during the two-week extravaganza have not been revealed thus far.

In the run-up to the Christmas sale Steam is running its 'holiday auction' where users can trade inventory items, such as trading cards, for currency called gems that are used to bid for full games like Civilization: Beyond Earth and This War of Mine. The Steam holiday auction has started immediately and runs through till December 18th, further reinforcing the likelihood of this being the Christmas sale start date. It is, however, worth noting that Valve has already temporarily closed the holiday auction after an exploit was revealed that allowed some users to create almost-limitless amounts of gems, thereby bidding legitimate Steam users out of the auctions.

Most people may have already picked up most of what they need in Steam’s summer sale or the recent Black Friday to Cyber Monday sale, but it’s worth mentioning that the Steam Christmas sale is the longest and biggest PC Gaming sale of the year.

GOG and Humble are also hosting their own Christmas sales if Steam doesn’t appeal. Which PC games are you hoping to pick up in this year’s Christmas sales?



HEXUS Forums :: 30 Comments

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I've still got a bunch from last Christmas to play! lol.. I may get a couple still though.
I have around 20 games on my steam wishlist that have not been discounted enough yet.

Dynasty Warriors 8
Viscera Cleanup Detail
Farcry 4
This war of mine
Shadow of mordor
Metal gear rising revengeance
Alien Isolation
Road Redemption
Wolfenstein The new order
Deadfall Adventures
Sniper Elite 3
Metro Last Light Redux

And so on and on.
Some Christmas events have already started, with gems being created from items like backgrounds, and can be used to buy booster packs of cards, or towards bids in auctions for games. Most of the bids are already way over the top though. The winter sale trading cards can now be crafted and sold too.
License not buy - Steam is a retailer of software licenses and perhaps a lot less than that with DLC - Gateway Host Provider and Advertiser more like. This Santa has nothing in his sack, does not own what is being sold and never accepts a return on faulty goods.
DemonHighwayman
I have around 20 games on my steam wishlist that have not been discounted enough yet.

Dynasty Warriors 8
Viscera Cleanup Detail
Farcry 4
This war of mine
Shadow of mordor
Metal gear rising revengeance
Alien Isolation
Road Redemption
Wolfenstein The new order
Deadfall Adventures
Sniper Elite 3
Metro Last Light Redux

And so on and on.

What price level are you looking for? Some of these are pretty cheap already if you shop around.

Metro Last Light Redux is 50% off at £8.49 right now on the Steam store, same for Metro 2033 Redux.
Alien: Isolation is £11.98 at UGS http://www.unlimitedgamestore.com/alien-isolation-nostromo-edition-steam-global-cd-key-pre-order.html?search=alien%20isolation
Shadow of Mordor, £14.27 http://www.unlimitedgamestore.com/middle-earth-shadow-of-mordor-day-one-edition-steam-global-cd-key-pre-order.html?search=shadow%20of%20mordor
Wolfenstein is £14.38 via the cheapest reseller at Kinguin http://www.kinguin.net/category/6602/wolfenstein-the-new-order-steam-key or again, UGS has it at £15.85

I won't carry on hunting the others, but it's a good idea to keep an eye on all the other shops for Steam keys. I'd understand if you're not so keen on a G2A/Kinguin/UGS options due to the occassional controversies and rumours, but I've never had a problem with them - just make sure you keep an eye on the region you're buying for, and double-check that it doesn't require a Russian VPN to activate.

Aside from them, watch:

The Humble Store https://www.humblebundle.com/store
Bundlestars (entire Batman series for £7.79, the lot) http://www.bundlestars.com/
Green Man http://www.greenmangaming.com/