Time to Go Broke, PC Gamers: Steam’s Holiday Sale 2013 is Here

When it comes to its mega sales, Valve rarely slips up. Just a couple of weeks ago, it kicked-off its big autumn sale right on schedule, and now comes the ultimate, the biggest, the bestest, the most important of the year: Steam Holiday Sale 2013.

As has become a common theme across the summer and winter sales, nine main games are featured on the front page each day that tend to have the most considerable discounts (in term of value / demand), while underneath that are 4x “flash” sales that rotate every 8 hours.

While the autumn sale didn’t feature a tie-in to the trading card system, this one does. Spend cash, follow a checklist that Valve lays out (voting on a new special deal every 8 hours – something I always slip on), and you should have enough cards at the end to craft a badge. Even if you don’t have enough cards in the end, you can trade your spares for what you need (or spend the $.10 or so it will cost per card at the end of this sale through the marketplace).

To help kick off this winter sale in style, Valve is offering a number of fantastic games at expected deep discounts. Here’s a quick taste:

• Batman: Arkham Origins – $24.99 (-50%)
• BioShock: Infinite – $9.99 (-75%)
• Dead Island: GOTY – $4.99 (-75%)
• Dishonored – $7.49 (-75%)
• Monaco – $5.99 (-60%)
• Space Hulk – $10.19 (-66%)

In addition to the normal mechanics Valve has behind its sales, this one takes full advantage of the massive popularity of free-to-play games. If you play anything listed on this page, you’ll want to continue to do so and earn  special items that can be both traded and tossed onto the marketplace. 

Unlike the autumn sale, which was over in a quick week, this holiday sale will run all the way until January 3rd. More than anything, your wallets will know it (unless you have some serious self-restraint, for which I commend you).