The Steam Awards
Awarded forUser-voted favorites on Steam
First awardedDecember 31, 2016; 7 years ago (2016-12-31)
Websitestore.steampowered.com/steamawards/

The Steam Awards are an annual user-voted award event for video games published on Valve's Steam service. Introduced in 2016, game nomination and voting periods are concurrent with Steam's annual autumn and winter holiday sales, centered around the holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Format

The Steam Awards are selected in two phases. In the first phase, Valve selects a number of categories, atypical of those used in gaming awards, and allows any registered Steam user to select one game available on Steam for that category. Valve subsequently reviews the nominations and then selects the top five games for final voting. These nominations are then presented to Steam users, giving them the opportunity to vote in each category. Following this, Valve announces the winners.[1] Game nomination and voting periods are concurrent with Steam's annual autumn and winter holiday sales, centered around the holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas.[2][3]

Awards

2016

The nomination process took place from November 23–29, 2016.[2] The voting took place from December 22–30, 2016, with the winners announced on December 31.[1][4] The awards received around 15 million nominations.[1]

The 'Villain Most In Need Of A Hug' Award The 'I Thought This Game Was Cool Before It Won An Award' Award
The 'Test of Time' Award The 'Just 5 More Minutes' Award
The 'Whoooaaaaaaa, dude!' Award The 'Game Within A Game Award' Award
The 'I'm Not Crying, There's Something In My Eye' Award The 'Best Use Of A Farm Animal' Award
The 'Boom Boom' Award
(community created) 		The 'Love/Hate Relationship' Award
(community created)
The 'Sit Back and Relax' Award
(community created) 		The 'Better With Friends' Award
(community created)

2017

The nomination process took place from November 22–28, 2017.[5] The voting took place from December 20, 2017, to January 2, 2018, with the winners announced on January 3.[6][7]

The 'Choices Matter' Award The 'Mom's Spaghetti' Award
The 'Labor of Love' Award The 'Suspension of Disbelief' Award
'The World Is Grim Enough Let's Just All Get Along' Award The 'No Apologies' Award
The 'Defies Description' Award The 'Cry Havoc And Let Slip The Dogs Of War' Award
The 'Haunts My Dreams' Award The 'Soul of Vitruvius' Award
The 'Whoooaaaaaaa, Dude! 2.0' Award The 'Best Soundtrack' Award
(community created)
The 'Even Better Than I Expected' Award

2018

The nomination process began on November 21, 2018. Finalists were revealed in December, with the winners announced during a live broadcast on Steam.tv on February 8, 2019.[8][9][10]

The "Game of the Year" Award The "VR Game of the Year" Award
The "Labor of Love" Award The "Best Developer" Award
The "Best Environment" Award The "Better With Friends" Award
The "Best Alternate History" Award The "Most Fun with a Machine" Award

2019

The nomination process began on November 26, 2019. Finalists were revealed starting on December 11, 2019, with one category a day. Unlike previous years, eligibility for awards was restricted by release date, with only games released after November 2018 able to be nominated, except for the "Labor of Love" category.[11][12] Users were able to vote from December 19–31, with the winners announced on the final day.[13]

The "Game of the Year" Award The "VR Game of the Year" Award
The "Labor of Love" Award The "Better With Friends" Award
The "Most Innovative Gameplay" Award The "Outstanding Story-Rich Game" Award
The "Best Game You Suck At" Award The "Outstanding Visual Style" Award

2020

The nomination process began on November 25, 2020, with winners announced on January 3, 2021.[14] Nominees for each category were announced daily starting on December 17, 2020, with voting commencing between December 22 and January 3.[15]

Game of the Year Award VR Game of the Year
Labor of Love Award Better With Friends
Outstanding Visual Style Award Most Innovative Gameplay Award
Best Game You Suck At Award Best Soundtrack Award
Outstanding Story-Rich Award Sit Back and Relax Award

2021

Nominees were announced on December 22, 2021, with voting commencing until January 3, 2022.[16][17]

Game of the Year VR Game of the Year
Labor of Love Better With Friends
Outstanding Visual Style Most Innovative Gameplay
Best Game You Suck At Best Soundtrack
Outstanding Story-Rich Game Sit Back and Relax

2022

The nomination process took place from November 22–29, 2022. Nominees were announced on December 18, 2022, with the voting process taking place from December 22–29 while the winners were announced on January 3, 2023.[18]

Game of the Year VR Game of the Year
Labor of Love Better With Friends
Outstanding Visual Style Most Innovative Gameplay
Best Game You Suck At Best Soundtrack
Outstanding Story-Rich Game Sit Back and Relax
Best Game on the Go

2023

The nomination process took place from November 21–28, 2023. Nominees were announced on December 17, with the voting process taking place from December 21, 2023 to January 2, 2024.[19][20] Journalists highlighted some winners, such as Red Dead Redemption 2 (awarded for ongoing support despite the game receiving no major updates since 2020) and Starfield (awarded for innovation despite being received poorly on Steam);[21][22][23][24] some suspected the votes were sarcastic or ironic, while others considered them a symptom of fan voting.[25][26][27]

Game of the Year VR Game of the Year
Labor of Love Better With Friends
Outstanding Visual Style Most Innovative Gameplay
Best Game You Suck At Best Soundtrack
Outstanding Story-Rich Game Sit Back and Relax
Best Game on Steam Deck

References

  1. ^ a b c Donneley, Joe (December 22, 2016). "Valve reveals Steam Awards nominees". PC Gamer. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
  2. ^ a b Sarkar, Samit (November 23, 2016). "Valve introduces Steam Awards, chosen by the community". Polygon. Retrieved December 31, 2016.
  3. ^ Chalk, Andy. "The Steam Autumn Sale has begun, Steam Award nominations are now being taken". PC Gamer. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  4. ^ Good, Owen (December 31, 2016). "Steam Awards names its first-ever winners". Polygon. Retrieved December 31, 2016.
  5. ^ Chalk, Andy (November 22, 2017). "The Steam Autumn Sale has begun, bringing back the Steam Awards". PC Gamer. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
  6. ^ Saed, Sherif (December 21, 2017). "Steam Awards 2017 nominees announced". VG247. Retrieved December 25, 2017.
  7. ^ Chalk, Andy (January 3, 2018). "The 2017 Steam Awards winners are revealed". PC Gamer. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
  8. ^ Frank, Allegra. "Steam Autumn Sale is live, along with Steam Awards nominations". Polygon. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  9. ^ Chalk, Andy. "Steam Winter Sale start date confirmed, Steam Award nominees announced". PC Gamer. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  10. ^ Tarason, Dominic. "Steam Lunar New Year sale offers extra discounts for big spenders". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  11. ^ Chalk, Andy (December 11, 2019). "Steam Holiday Sale date confirmed, award nominee reveals begin today". PC Gamer. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
  12. ^ Devore, Jordan (November 26, 2019). "The 2019 Steam Awards are looking for nominees". Destructoid. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  13. ^ Watts, Steve. "Steam Awards 2019 Winners Announced". GameSpot. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  14. ^ Macgregor, Jody. "Red Dead Redemption 2 is Steam's game of the year 2020". PC Gamer. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  15. ^ "The Steam Awards". store.steampowered.com. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  16. ^ Murray, Sean. "Valve Announces Steam Awards Nominees". TheGamer.com. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  17. ^ "Steam Awards 2021 Winners Announced". GameSpot. Red Ventures. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  18. ^ Fragen, Jordan (January 3, 2023). "The Steam Awards 2022 announces winners". VentureBeat. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  19. ^ "The Steam Awards 2023 shortlist has been revealed - here's what Steam players think are 2023's best games". Eurogamer.net. 2023-12-16. Retrieved 2023-12-18.
  20. ^ Dicarlo, John (2024-01-02). "Steam Announces Winners of 2023 Steam Awards". Game Rant. Archived from the original on 2024-01-02. Retrieved 2024-01-02.
  21. ^ Jackson, Claire (January 3, 2023). "So, Uh, What's Up With The Steam Awards?". Kotaku.
  22. ^ Robertson, Joshua (January 2, 2023). "Red Dead Redemption 2 Has Somehow Won Steam's Labor Of Love Award". TheGamer.
  23. ^ Nelson, Will (January 3, 2023). "Red Dead Redemption 2 wins surprising Steam award, everyone hates it". PCGamesN.
  24. ^ Koselke, Anna (January 3, 2023). "Starfield doesn't win Steam GOTY, snags surprising award instead". PCGamesN.
  25. ^ Smith, Graham (January 2, 2024). "Players voted for some of the worst choices possible in the Steam Awards". Rock Paper Shotgun.
  26. ^ Valentine, Robin (January 2, 2024). "Steam's 2023 GOTY nominations are extremely weird, and I guess that's your fault". PC Gamer.
  27. ^ Jones, Ali (January 3, 2024). "As Starfield and Red Dead Redemption 2 claim controversial prizes, doubt is being cast over the value of The Steam Awards". GamesRadar+.

External links

Valve
Categories