when does steam winter sale start 2025

The Steam Winter Sale 2025 is scheduled to start on Thursday, December 18, 2025, at 10:00 AM Pacific Time (around 18:00 UTC), and run until January 5, 2026.

Main dates and times

• Start date: December 18, 2025.

• Start time: 10:00 AM Pacific Time (about 6:00 PM UTC).

• End date: January 5, 2026, same approximate end time.

In many European regions this means the sale begins in the early evening of December 18 (for example, around 6–7 PM in the UK and central Europe).

How this lines up with past years

Steam’s big seasonal sales, including the Winter Sale, typically launch in mid‑December and run for just over two weeks into early January, and the 2025 schedule follows that same pattern. Major gaming outlets and Valve’s own promotional trailer also confirm the December 18–January 5 window as the final big sale of the 2025 calendar year.

Quick planning tips

• Clean up and prioritize your wishlist before December 18 so you can quickly spot the best discounts once the store updates.

• Expect the store to be slow or briefly overloaded during the first hour after 10:00 AM PT, so checking a little later can be smoother.

• If you buy regionally priced games, remember that the sale flips on at the same instant worldwide; only the displayed local clock time changes.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.