Today's Steam update launches an entirely new set of 12 Community Awards you can choose from to show your appreciation for the reviews, guides, forum posts, and other community content posted by folks in the community. This update also makes a few changes to how Community Awards work and how many Steam Points they cost. Read on for details.

(Need a primer on how Steam Community Awards work? See Community Awards instructions)

This update retires the set of awards that have been around since the beginning of the Community Awards program. We're replacing them with this fresh new set of 12 awards, lovingly illustrated and animated for maximum gratification when giving and receiving!

Just as before, you can purchase these awards using your Steam Points (earned by buying games), and use them in Steam Community to show your appreciation for things like user reviews, forum posts, guides, screenshots, artwork, Workshop mods, or even directly on your buddy's Steam profile. 

When we originally created Steam Community Awards, the idea was for them to not only look cool but to also grant a small number of Steam Points to the recipient, meaning they could be used as a tip of sorts for people who create and share amazing content with the Steam Community. However, we found that this encouraged and rewarded a narrow set of attention-grabbing content and didn't allow the focus to be as much on a broader pool of thoughtful, well-considered creative content. 

Because of this, we're refocusing the system: The Second Edition of Steam Community Awards won't transfer points. Instead, the goals of the system will be solely about conveying the appreciation of the viewer to the content creator, and as a signal to others that someone appreciated the piece of content.

Any pending point transfers will complete like normal, but new award applications will not convey points.

We've also made Community Awards all cost the same number of Steam Points, making it less confusing to choose an appropriate reaction. Now each Community Award costs 500 Steam Points.

The new Second Edition Community Awards will be included in the Awards Showcase that you can add to your Steam Profile. 

If you want to show off the fact that you are generous in your giving of awards, or how much appreciation you've received for the cool stuff you've created, the Community Awards showcase features both of those numbers. This number will include all awards given and received, whether they were First Edition or Second Edition.

To add this showcase to your profile, visit your Edit Profile page (https://steamcommunity.com/my/edit/info)

Q. I've got 3,141,592,653,589 Steam Points. What do I do with them all?

A. Show your appreciation for the fine content shared in the Steam Community by giving Community Awards. Each time you see a user review, forum post, guide, screenshot, artwork or other Steam community post, click the little AWARD icon and select a thematically-appropriate award to grant that content.

Or visit the Steam Points Shop and get cool items to deck out your Steam Community profile, get cool stickers and emoticons to spiff up your conversations, unlock new profile showcases, or level up the Seasonal Badge.

Q. Do Community Awards impact the sort order of content?

A. Nope. User generated content posted to Steam is typically ordered by how recent it is or by the number of helpful votes it has received. The number or type of Steam Community Awards applied to a piece of content does not cause that content to appear higher or lower on lists. Though we expect that a piece of content with a bunch of awards may be more likely to catch your eye, and thus may get more helpful ratings indirectly.

Q. What happened to my favorite Community Award?

A. The Second Edition set of Community Awards is intentionally a smaller set of awards, each one meaning something distinct from the others. This set is designed to make it quicker and easier to choose and keep the vibes positive.

The First Edition awards cannot be granted anymore.

Q. Is there a Second Edition badge?

A. First Edition series of Community Awards had two associated badges, the Community Contributor and Community Patron badges, which leveled up with each award given or received. These badges will remain on profiles that had granted or received First Edition Community Awards, but will not include Second Edition awards. If you are looking to count up the number of awards that you have given or received, you can find that count by visiting your Awards Summary page.

Steam Detective Fest is all about cracking cases, with detective games on sale all week long. From now through January 19th, snoop around for deals on games that have you investigating everything from mysterious ships to crimes of the 1970s.

Detective games aren't all the same, either: You'll find puzzle games, psychological thrillers, and Lovecraftian adventures among many, many more.

Pull out your magnifying glass and search for deals: Steam's Detective Fest is on now through January 19th!

What a year! With 2025 coming to a close, it's time to unveil some awesome lists showing the unique ways players enjoyed gaming on Steam.

From most-played to top new releases and more, check out Steam's Best of 2025 lists! You'll find notes at the bottom of each list explaining the criteria that went into forming and organizing them.

Happy Holidays and here's to more gaming fun in 2026 and beyond!

-The Steam Team

The Steam Winter Sale is so huge, it spans TWO YEARS! OK fine, that's a technicality; it's two weeks long but TECHNICALLY starts in one year and ends in the other: The Steam Winter Sale is December 18th 2025 through January 5th 2026.

There are lots of fun ways to browse the store; you can even earn 3 stickers by going through your Discovery Queue. And we have all new Winter Sale items available for purchase in the Steam Points Shop!

The Winter Sale also means it's time to cast your votes in the 2025 Steam Awards. We'll announce the winners January 3rd 10 a.m. Pacific.

No matter what kind of gamer you are, no matter what kind of games you love; you'll find them on sale, with discounts by the thousands. Check out our trailer for a peek or just head straight there-- er, HERE-- and get started.

Are you good at sports? Doesn't matter: Steam Sports Fest celebrates sports in games, and that's where you come in:

Be a pro at soccer (football?), basketball, tennis, or hockey. Manage a team. Train a group of athletes for the Olympics. Turn into an expert at mini-golf, skateboarding, mountain biking, and all kinds of other things.

Challenge someone to a duel.*

You'll find discounts on sporting games of all kinds between now and December 15th at 10 a.m. Pacific: Steam Sports Fest awaits you!

*Not in real life, please. Just in a game, if you want. Or don't!

The annual Steam Awards are coming this December, and nominations are open now through December 1st.

Nominate your favorites in each category:

• Game of the Year

• VR Game of the Year

• Labor of Love

• Best Game on Steam Deck

• Better with Friends

• Outstanding Visual Style

• Most Innovative Gameplay

• Best Game You Suck At

• Best Soundtrack

• Outstanding Story-Rich Game

• Sit Back & Relax

Make your nominations here until December 1st at 10AM Pacific. Earn a 2025 Steam Awards Nominations badge by nominating a game in at least one category, and level up by:

• Nominating in all 11 categories

• Playing a game you've nominated

• Reviewing (or updating your review) for a game you've nominated.

Vote for the finalists in each category (based on your nominations!) starting December 18th!