Summary
- Valve celebrates Steam's 20th anniversary with a sale on its best titles, along with a nostalgic green-themed update to its storefront and a trip down memory lane.
- Steam users who have been with the platform for 20 years earned special badges, highlighting the platform's evolution from launching Counter-Strike to becoming a major gaming storefront.
- The Steam 20th Anniversary Sale offers deep discounts on Valve's games and other top-selling titles, such as Half-Life 2 and Resident Evil: Village, giving gamers a chance to save money.
In observance of the 20th anniversary of Steam, Valve celebrated the occasion with a sale on some of the platform's best titles over the years. In addition to the sale, Steam also changed its storefront's home page to look straight out of 2003 with a green background, yellow buttons, and a brief overview of what happened on and off the platform during each year observed.
Just two days before Valve kicked off the anniversary promotion, a select number of Steam users earned 20 Years of Service badges for being among the first to use Valve's client. In 2003, Steam was the client used to launch Counter-Strike long before it became the ubiquitous PC gaming storefront it is today. Since then, Steam has traded its green backgrounds for blue motifs and has launched products such as the Steam Deck and the Valve Index VR headset and controllers. To observe the occasion, Valve took users on a trip down memory lane with a special web page and a sale on some featured titles.
From now until Tuesday, September 19, the Steam 20th Anniversary Sale will feature deep discounts on all of Valve's titles and some of the top-selling Steam games from 2003 to 2023. Among Valve's titles that got major discounts is Half-Life 2, which had a remaster revealed during Gamescom 2023. The sale brings Half-Life 2, along with the Episode One and Episode Two DLCs, to $0.99 each. In addition, titles from the Counter-Strike, Portal, and Left 4 Dead series are available for 99 cents apiece.
In addition to Valve's titles, games such as Resident Evil: Village, Valheim, and Mass Effect: Legendary Edition were discounted to under $20 each. This gives PC gamers who have been waiting to pick up some of these bestsellers a chance to do so and save some money. In addition to the discounts, Steam's special site dedicated to the service's 20th anniversary mentioned which games sold well on the platform in their respective release years, and referenced moments in popular culture that happened in each year, from the launch of the first generation of iPhones to the COVID-19 pandemic. Steam also released a short YouTube video to thank users for 20 years of continued support. On YouTube, Steam users sent their thanks in response, and some users shared memories of their time with the platform.
From Starfield to Skyrim and beyond, Steam continues to be the top platform for PC gamers globally. It remains to be seen what Valve will do with the service in the years to come.
Source: Steam