Steam users have until December 1 to cast their ballots for the 2025 Steam Awards across 11 categories, such as Game of the Year, Best Game on Steam Deck, and Best Visual Style. Steam will then announce the finalists for each of the 2025 Steam Award categories on December 18, during the annual Steam Winter Sale, and the award winners will be announced on January 3, 2026.
Some of the categories that Steam users can vote for include evergreen categories like Game of the Year and Best Soundtrack, with RPGs like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Digimon Story: Time Stranger among the nominees. However, categories like VR Game of the Year are more stringent in determining eligible nominees. Except for the Labor of Love award, each game that can be nominated for the 2025 Steam Awards must have been released on Valve's platform within the past year. Ergo, despite releasing in February 2024 as a timed exclusive for the PS5, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is eligible for this year's Steam Awards since it launched on Valve's storefront in January 2025.
A Valve engineer confirms the rumors that the Steam Machine will not have a subsidized MSRP and explains why...
