Online retailer Steam will begin it's annual winter sale event on December 22nd, according to a promotional image from PayPal. Though Valve did not officially make the announcement, previous reveals from PayPal have accurately foretold Steam sales, and the date is consistent with past timing of the event.
For this sale, as with the previous Fall Sale, there will be no flash sales or daily deals. Instead, each developer will offer one discount price which is to be the lowest it's game will be sold at throughout the sale. Each day Valve will feature different games on their front page giving a variety of games display opportunities. The Fall Sale of 2015 also did not feature any game elements that some previous sales have featured, like the monster clicker game of this last summer. The Fall Sale was still quite successful even compared to the summer sale, bringing in over $100M in revenue, and this adjustment may be the new format for all future sales.
Valve characterized the changes as improving the customer's value, and in a message to Steamworks developers said: "We’ll still be highlighting top games on the front page for 24-48 hour spans, but those products will stay at their most competitive discount, before and after being featured. It’s not a major change, but it does make the sale a lot more valuable for customers, and it allows us to build sale tools that highlight and recommend products all sale long, instead of just during front page features."
No word so far on what games will be featured this year, but it's likely that many of the year's biggest award-winning titles will be making an appearance. 2015 has been a remarkably good time for games, whatever else the year has wrought in the meantime. Catching some of these titles at the Steam Winter Sale before the new year offers the chance for one last hurrah without spending all your Christmas cash at once.