A significant outage is affecting Steam and Valve, rendering the digital storefront and gaming services inaccessible during a peak holiday period. Reports indicate that the problems began shortly after 1:00 PM ET, with user complaints surging to over 6,000 within 15 minutes, according to DownDetector.
The outage impacts not only the Steam Store but also community features and essential web APIs, disrupting gameplay for popular titles such as Team Fortress 2, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike 2. Users attempting to access Steam via mobile apps are experiencing similar difficulties.
Despite some reports of intermittent service restoration, the platform remains largely down, prompting concerns about the timing just before Christmas. Valve has yet to publicly address the issue, which follows a series of previous outages, including a notable incident last October.
As the situation unfolds, users may find themselves with unexpected free time, potentially affecting last-minute holiday shopping plans. Additionally, some speculate that employees may have to forgo holiday breaks to resolve the ongoing issues.