Hello Steamville citizens, Mayor Carol here! The 2019 Winter Sale and Steamville Event are now in full swing, with amazing savings to be had by all! Thank you for your civic engagement and enthusiasm.

The people of Steamville have spoken, and we hear you loud and clear! The power of our Holiday Cheer is greater than silly rules! The members of Town Council have gathered ‘round the yule log and unanimously voted to reverse course on a few Steamville bylaws. Effective immediately, yule be happy to hear, they are amended as follows:

Any funds added to your Steam Wallet or purchases made with non-Steam Wallet payment methods in the week before the sale* will earn you Festivity Tokens. If you’ve purchased items during the sale using Wallet funds added in this timeframe, check your Festivity Token balance: you have already received these Tokens! Read our Event Details for additional ways you can earn Festivity Tokens.

Animated Stickers are far too much fun and will no longer expire. Hooray!! The people of Steamville have voted with their Festivity Points, and we're thrilled to report Happy Yule Log, Angry Yule Log, Bulb Dance, and Snowman Goodbye are your favorites so far... Be sure to check out all the good Stickers in our Holiday Market.



Consumable Chat Effects are now also free from expiration dates! Now you can hoard those snowballs in your freezer all year long. Or throw them now.


Merry Merry,
Mayor Carol


P.S. Whoever stole the snowman from the grounds of Town Hall, please return it immediately, no questions asked. Thank you. Now where in the name of tinsel did I leave my eggnog?

*Any time after Dec 12 2019 @ 10am PST

Welcome to Steamville, where the holidays are in full swing! From now ‘til January 2nd*, snap up deals on thousands of your favorite games, while earning festivity tokens and completing holiday quests along the way.

We know shopping this time of year is all about the spirit of giving, but don’t you deserve a little something too? While you’re here, explore our Holiday Market, and use the festivity tokens you earned from your purchases to get a little something for yourself. Which brings us to:

Earn Festivity Tokens when you shop on Steam, and use them in the Holiday Market to grab some shiny new items for yourself! Inside the market you’ll find festive goods, like:

• The Winter Sale Coupon
  
• New Chat Stickers
  
• New Chat Room Effects
  
• Lots of Egg Nog

OK, just kidding about the Egg Nog—Steamville Mayor Carol likes to keep that to herself. But you will find the rest of that list, and more, in our Holiday Market! Oh, and there’s one more way you can earn Festivity Tokens to use in the Market:

Complete Holiday Quests and earn more Festivity Tokens! A handful of quests will be available on Day 1 of the Winter Sale; check back throughout the duration of the sale to discover a new Quest each day.

Happy Holidays and Happy Gaming from all your friends in Steamville! Now, if you’ll excuse us, we must light the Yule Log in preparation for all the fun- and pry Mayor Carol away from her Nog before she has too much of it.

*Discounts end January 2nd at 10am PST, unless otherwise noted.

As we near the end of 2019, we're continuing our look at popular monthly releases on Steam. With this post, we'll be looking back at the top 20 products released in November, measured by revenue generated during the first two weeks following release. We've also gathered the top 5 free-to-play releases, measured by peak concurrent player count in the two weeks following release.

With each month's list, we often highlight similarities between some of the month's top products. But this month, we noticed an exciting contrast between established franchises from well-known developers and fresh entries from newly created teams. Seeing franchises like Age of Empires, Sniper Ghost Warrior and Football Manager alongside newcomers like FrenzyRetribution, Ratropolis, and Lost Ember is really a testament to the variety of tastes present in the Steam community. Players certainly enjoy familiar content, but there is always room for unexpected surprises.

Another theme that stands out this month is the significant representation of prominent fan-favorite universes. These are names that need no introduction, as they are popular all over the world, not only in games - Gundam, Game of Thrones, Terminator, Warhammer and Star Wars. The success of these titles shows just how much excitement can be generated by huge universes that span across artistic mediums. Whether its comics, music, film or TV, we are definitely looking forward to seeing more universes make their way to games. Who knows, the franchise from your favorite book or movie just might end up on a future top release list.

Finally, we'd like to congratulate the teams that are releasing their very first product on Steam. Some of these teams have been making games for a while on other platforms, while some are recent college grads making their first commercial product. We're happy to welcome these 10 development teams that are new to Steam: Blueside, FrenzyZoneGameworkshop, YOUZU (SINGAPORE) PTE. LTD., Mobile Technologies LLC, ALLM Co., Ltd., 2x2 Games, UMEO Studios, Respawn Entertainment, Cassel Games and Mooneye Studios.

Here is the full list of November's top releases ordered by release date (we've organized this list on a handy sale page too):


Ratropolis - Cassel Games


Planet Zoo - Frontier Developments


Pistol Whip - Cloudhead Games


ROMANCING SAGA 3™ - Square Enix & ArtePiazza


Kritika:REBOOT - ALLM Co., Ltd.


Unity of Command II - 2x2 Games & Croteam


The Legend of Bum-Bo - Edmund McMillen, James Interactive & Ridiculon


Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Forgotten Empires & Tantalus Media


Command: Modern Operations - Warfare Sims


Terminator: Resistance - Teyon


STAR WARS Jedi: Fallen Order™ - Respawn Entertainment


Kingdom Under Fire 2 - Blueside


Football Manager 2020 - Sports Interactive


Automation Empire - DOG HOGGLER


BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle - Arc System Works


This Land Is My Land - Game-Labs


Farmer's Dynasty - Toplitz Productions & UMEO Studios


Lost Ember - Mooneye Studios


Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts - CI Games


SD GUNDAM G GENERATION CROSS RAYS - TOM CREATE - 株式会社トムクリエイト

--



Kritika:REBOOT - ALLM Co., Ltd.


Stay Out - Mobile Technologies LLC


Game of Thrones Winter is Coming - YOUZU (SINGAPORE) PTE. LTD.


Warhammer: Chaos and Conquest - Hunted Cow Studios


罪業狂襲FrenzyRetribution - FrenzyZoneGameworkshop

--

If you're curious about previous months, here are more Top Release links:

• The Top Releases of May
  
• The Top Releases of June
  
• The Top Releases of July
  
• The Top Releases of August
  
• The Top Releases of September
  
• The Top Releases of October

One more little reminder - The Steam Winter Sale begins on Thursday the 19th.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

The nomination phase of the 2019 Steam Awards is complete, and the final nominees will be revealed over the coming eight days (one per category). Beginning today with the nominees for Outstanding Visual Style, the award nominees will be featured in a daily video reveal until the finalists for Game of the Year are revealed next Wednesday, December 18 (PST).

The Awards feature a total of eight categories, four of which are new this year. Community voting opens Thursday, December 19 (PST) when the annual Steam Holiday Sale begins. And the Winners are planned to be announced on New Year’s Eve.

This is the fourth year of the Steam Awards, with all nominees and winners decided by community voting.

To check out the nominee video reveals, please visit store.steampowered.com/steamawards/2019/

About this year’s Award Categories:

Maybe it was its immersive gameplay, or its gripping story... its well-crafted characters, immaculate design, or addictive multiplayer. Whatever the reason, the winner of 2019's Game of the Year Award is an instant classic.

When it comes to breaking new ground in games, there is no greater pace of advancement than in VR. If we had our way, all VR devs would get an award for building the future of immersive games and experiences unparalleled by any other medium. But since there’s only one trophy, it’s up to you, Steam Awards Selection Committee member, to crown just one as the best of 2019.

This game has been out for a while. The team is well past the first unveiling of their creative baby, but being the good parents they are, these devs continue to nurture and support their creation. This game, to this day, is still getting new content after all these years.

There are some games out there that just aren't the same when you play by yourself. Maybe you need to have a friend to watch your back. Maybe you need to have a friend that you can stab in their back. Either way, mirth is awaiting those who gather friends to play these games.

This game is at the front lines of experimentation, pushing the boundaries of the medium with exciting, novel interactions and brain-breaking surprises. This game thinks outside the box, and pulls you out with it!

Some days, only a narrative-heavy game will hit the spot, and this one packs a wallop. It's as gripping as any soap opera, and as well-tuned as a prestige-TV screenplay. Bravissimo -- for making us feel things!

Games have a way of pushing us past any limits we thought we had. Like a montage sequence, we put in work, training our fingers to be quick and nimble, mastering timing and placement over weeks and weeks. At the end of the gauntlet, we're rewarded with profound beauty and a deep sense of personal growth. Unless you hurled your monitor through a plate-glass window on the first day.


These devs are the Willy Wonka of eye candy. Visual style doesn't aspire to real-world graphical fidelity (though a noble goal in itself)… it describes a distinctive look and feel that suffuses an entire game. This game displays visual cohesion and expression that not only fit the game's world, but make our world look paltry by comparison.

The 2019 Steam Autumn Sale ends in 24 hours.* Don't miss out on the great deals across the Steam catalog.
 
Open nominations for the 2019 Steam Awards end soon. Make sure to nominate, and help determine the finalists in all eight categories. In December, you can vote on the winners for each category during the Steam Winter Sale. Learn more about the Steam Awards here.
 
*Offers end Tuesday, December 3rd at 10am Pacific.

If you enjoyed the front page art for this year's Steam Autumn Sale and would like a desktop wallpaper version of it, you can download them below, along with category artwork for the 2019 Steam Awards.

Download the Steam Autumn Sale & Steam Awards 2019 Wallpapers

The 2019 Steam Autumn Sale continues through Cyber Monday*, with great deals across the Steam catalog.
 
Alongside the Steam Autumn Sale are open nominations for the 2019 Steam Awards. Your nominations across eight categories will help determine the finalists in each category – and you can earn profile XP and badges for participating. In December, you can vote on the winners for each category during the Steam Winter Sale. Learn more about the Steam Awards here.
 
*Offers end Tuesday December 3rd at 10am Pacific.

The 2019 Steam Autumn Sale is now live, with great deals across the Steam catalog through Black Friday and Cyber Monday*. Check in each day to see the new featured titles on the front page, plus personalized recommendations.
 
In addition to the thousands of great games that are on discount, join us in our fourth-annual Steam Awards and nominate your favorite games across all eight categories, and earn profile XP and badges for participating! Your nominations will help determine the finalists for each category. In December, you can vote on the winners for each category during the Steam Winter Sale. Learn more about the Steam Awards here.
 
*Offers end Tuesday December 3rd at 10am Pacific.

Another month is in the books, and with it we take a look back at the top products released in October on Steam. This list will look at the top 20 releases of October measured by the revenue they generated during the first two weeks following their release. We also included the top 6 most popular free to play releases, measured by peak concurrent player count following release.

We have quite a bit of fun watching different trends and themes develop as new products release from month to month. We've consistently touched on some of these themes in our past lists, and they are worth summarizing this month as well:

• 4 games either leaving or entering Early Access.
  
• 10 developers bringing a product to Steam for the first time.
  
• 13 different countries represented by developers this month.
  
• 13 games with some level of controller support.

This month we decided to take a more detailed look at the communities playing these games and investigate whether players play more than one of the games on this list. When we looked at the people playing these games from the Top Releases list during October, the first glaring stat is just how many people played Destiny 2 – The game peaked at nearly 300,000 concurrent players just a few days after release, putting it among the most played games on all of Steam at launch, and it has remained there ever since - https://store.steampowered.com/stats/.

Destiny 2 appears again when we look at players that have played any other game on the Top Releases list – nearly 20% of players that played other games in the top 20 also played Destiny 2. This overlap is no surprise with the sheer popularity of Destiny 2, but it's reassuring to also find an overlap between other products. While the numbers are not as high, the overlap in people playing more than one game from the Top Releases list presents some interesting correlations worth highlighting. For example, we found a lot of players enjoying both Atelier Ryza & Indivisible, which are both anime RPGs featuring turn-based combat and female protagonists. We found similar overlap in players across We Were Here Together and Trine 4, which both incorporate heavy use of puzzles with an emphasis on cooperative gameplay. Crossroads Inn & Autonauts have very different themes, but both games utilize building and simulation. For players who enjoy games with similar themes or mechanics, there is an exciting amount of choice when it comes to deciding what to play on Steam. But these examples also show that players don’t always have to choose; they often play more than one.

For the coming months, we've been playing with some ways to present these lists in a more accessible and interactive way. Stay tuned, and as always, let us know what you think!

*Update – 11/25/2019* Our initial list did not include one of the top free releases this month: NGU IDLE. This announcement and respective store page have been updated to reflect this, and now include the top 6 free releases of October.

Here is the list of October's top releases ordered by release date (we've organized this list on a handy sale page too):


Destiny 2 - Bungie (US)


Indivisible - Lab Zero Games (US)


Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince - Frozenbyte (Finland)


DORAEMON STORY OF SEASONS - Marvelous Inc. & Brownies Inc. (Japan)


MISTOVER - KRAFTON, Inc. (South Korea)


GRID - Codemasters (UK)


Pine - Twirlbound (Netherlands)


We Were Here Together - Total Mayhem Games (Netherlands)


POSTAL 4: No Regerts - Running With Scissors (US)


Chernobylite - The Farm 51 (Poland)


Disco Elysium - ZA/UM (UK)


The Jackbox Party Pack 6 - Jackbox Games, Inc. (US)


ArcheAge: Unchained - XLGAMES (South Korea)


Autonauts - Denki (UK)


Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition - h.a.n.d., Inc. (Japan)


WWE 2K20 - Visual Concepts (US)


Crossroads Inn - Kraken Unleashed (Poland)


Richman10 - Softstar Technology (Beijing) Co.,Ltd (China)


Secret Neighbor -Hologryph (Ukraine) & Dynamic Pixels (Russia)


Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout - KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. (Japan)

--



Destiny 2 - Bungie (US)


NGU IDLE - 4G (Canada)


Breeders of the Nephelym: Alpha - DerelictHelmsman (US)


Walking Zombie 2 - Alda Games (Czech Republic)


Legend of Keepers: Prologue - Goblinz Studio (France)


War Selection - Glyph Woods (Russia)

--

If you're curious about previous months, here are more Top Release links:

• The Top Releases of April
  
• The Top Releases of May
  
• The Top Releases of June
  
• The Top Releases of July
  
• The Top Releases of August
  
• The Top Releases of September

Cheers!
-The Steam Team

Nov 20, 2019 -- After roughly one month in beta, Steam Remote Play Together is now released to all Steam users. With this feature, local multiplayer gaming is now extended to iOS and Android devices. Remote Play Together enables cross-platform play among friends across Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, and Android.

Up to four players, or even more in ideal conditions, can instantly join in the fun. Only the host needs to own and install the game, while additional players connect through Steam Remote Play streaming technology using their PC or the Steam Chat and Steam Link mobile apps.

In celebration of the release, Steam is hosting a Remote Play Together Sale & Streaming Event featuring streamers from around the world sharing games using Remote Play Together. In addition, hundreds of games that leverage the new feature are on sale through November 25th at 10AM PDT.

For more information, please visit https://store.steampowered.com/together.

A hearty thank you to everyone who tried out the Library during the beta. We’ll continue shipping improvements and new features based on your feedback and requests.

As an added bonus, this update also expands the Remote Play Together Beta to all Steam users.

Here’s a recap on the Library update:



The new Steam library was built with the belief that our libraries are valuable to us – for some customers, they contain more than fifteen years of games. From your absolute favorite AAA title that all your friends are playing, to that solo indie art project that only you seem to love, your Steam library represents your gaming history.

But, a good library shouldn't just be dusty shelves, it has to be a fun place to explore and find whatever it is that you're looking for. Whether you want to keep up to date about what's happening with your games, find a game to play with your friends, or explore what's happening in your game's community, your library should support you.

Today we want to introduce you to some of the biggest new library features and explain how they’re going help do just that.



The first thing you'll probably notice is that we're launching a gorgeous new landing page for your library. The new library home gives you quick access to game updates, recently played games, friends activity and your collections.



We're making it easier for you to stay on top of the changes happening to your games and who is playing what. One of things we know you love about Steam is being able to engage directly with your games as they evolve over time. The new library makes it simple to see not just if a game has been updated but, with the new events feature, what that update is and why you should boot it up and give it a shot.



We're also making it easy to see what your friends have been up to and which games they are currently playing. You can find out what games your friends have been playing right on the library home page, and see what games they are currently playing from your games list. With all this new information, you shouldn't miss out on the tantalizing water-cooler conversation about everyone's weekend replay of Portal 2.

Odds are, you've got games in your library that had incredible updates or limited-time events and you never even knew. Well, those days are over. We wanted to strike a balance between an in-library event feature that let you know about all the great things happening with the games you already own without bombarding you with notifications.



Showcasing these updates is valuable to players and also developers. If you’re a dev, it hasn’t been easy to let someone know that you've just shipped a big update to your game, especially if they've moved on to something else. Now it is. Starting today, developers will have access to all new event creation tools that will feed directly into the new library (you can read more about the new event tools here).

Not every event needs to be a big update, though. The new event tool gives you the ability to connect with players and share other things like a developer live-stream or a community challenge, or even highlight interesting fan art.

-The Steam Team