Which Steam sale is the best? Six sales, measured game by game
Davit Darchiashvili · Oct 12, 2026
Every Steam sale gets announced as the big one. Which Steam sale is the best, though, is a question you can actually answer with data, because Valve's discounts are logged. We took Steam's price history for the 752 most popular paid games we track and measured the deepest discount each one carried in the last six seasonal sales, from Summer 2025 to the Autumn Sale that ended on 8 October.
The short version: the Winter Sale is narrowly the best, the Autumn Sale has not become a weaker sale since it moved, and for about seven games in ten it makes no difference which big sale you wait for.
Which Steam sale is the best, by the numbers
| Sale | Games discounted | Median discount | Matched the game's Steam low |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summer 2025 (26 Jun – 10 Jul 2025) | 94% | 67% | 45% |
| Autumn 2025 (29 Sep – 6 Oct 2025) | 92% | 67% | 43% |
| Winter 2025 (18 Dec 2025 – 5 Jan 2026) | 95% | 67% | 47% |
| Spring 2026 (19 – 26 Mar 2026) | 92% | 70% | 40% |
| Summer 2026 (25 Jun – 9 Jul 2026) | 95% | 70% | 44% |
| Autumn 2026 (1 – 8 Oct 2026) | 92% | 70% | 39% |
Share of the most popular paid games discounted on Steam during each sale, the median discount among those, and how many of those hit the lowest Steam price on record for that game. Steam price history via IsThereAnyDeal; sample and analysis by Playze, 12 October 2026.
Three things stand out. Every big sale discounts roughly nine games in ten, so "will it be on sale?" is almost always yes. The median discount barely moves between sales. And the Winter Sale leads on the measure that matters most to a patient buyer: it had the largest share of games sitting at their lowest Steam price ever, and it was level with Summer 2026 for the widest coverage.
The Winter Sale put more games at their Steam low than any other sale. Official trailer from the Steam channel.
Sale to sale, the price is usually identical
For games discounted in two consecutive sales, we compared the two discounts directly:
| From → to | Deeper in the later sale | Exactly the same | Shallower |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summer 2025 → Autumn 2025 | 18% | 73% | 10% |
| Autumn 2025 → Winter 2025 | 31% | 62% | 7% |
| Winter 2025 → Spring 2026 | 16% | 69% | 15% |
| Spring 2026 → Summer 2026 | 27% | 65% | 8% |
Games discounted in both sales of each pair.
Most of the time, the discount is simply repeated. Publishers set a sale price and reuse it. The Winter Sale is the one that most often goes deeper than the sale before it: against the 2025 Autumn Sale it was deeper for 31% of games and shallower for only 7%. That is the real basis for its reputation. It is not that every game is cheaper in December. It is that the extra cuts land there more often than anywhere else.
Hogwarts Legacy went from 85% off in the Summer Sale to 90% off in the Autumn Sale. (Official Steam screenshot)
Autumn 2026 against Summer 2026
The Autumn Sale moved to the start of October in 2025, and the obvious question is whether it is a lesser sale now. Our data says no. Of the 670 games discounted in both the Summer 2026 and the Autumn 2026 sales, 70% carried exactly the same discount. 14% went deeper in autumn and 15% were shallower. Some of the movements in both directions:
| Game | Summer 2026 | Autumn 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| ARC Raiders | 25% | 50% |
| Skyrim Special Edition | 75% | 90% |
| Hogwarts Legacy | 85% | 90% |
| Starfield | 20% | 40% |
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 90% | 50% |
| Valheim | 50% | 10% |
| The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth | 90% | 25% |
| Monster Hunter Wilds | 58% | 25% |
Deepest Steam discount during each sale.
The shallower cases are worth noticing. A game's deepest cut is not repeated every sale, and the Witcher 3 at 90% in summer and 50% in autumn is a good example of why. If a game you want hits its usual floor in one sale, there is no guarantee the next sale matches it. A small number of games sat out one of the two sales entirely. Valve's cooldown rules are one reason, which we explained in the games the Autumn Sale cannot discount.
The Witcher 3 was 90% off in the Summer Sale and 50% off in the Autumn Sale. (Official Steam screenshot)
The Autumn Sale, 1 to 8 October 2026. Official trailer from the Steam channel.
The factor bigger than the season: time
The strongest pattern in the data is not which sale, but which year. Comparing the same game in Summer 2025 and Summer 2026, the 2026 discount was deeper for 40% of games and shallower for only 9%. Games get cheaper as they age, and the deepest cut a game ever gets usually arrives a year or more after launch. A sale does not change that. It only sets the date on which the next step down appears.
That has a practical consequence. If a game has already hit a price you are happy with, waiting a season for a slightly deeper cut is a weak bet: about seven times in ten, the next sale repeats the same number. If a game is new, waiting a year is a strong bet, whichever sale it lands in.
Newer games such as Baldur's Gate 3 move in small steps from sale to sale. (Official Steam screenshot)
Valheim went the other way: 50% off in the Summer Sale, 10% in the Autumn Sale. (Official Steam screenshot)
How to use this
- Wait for the Winter Sale only if the game is not already at its usual sale price. Each game page shows the lowest price on record, so you can tell in a second.
- Do not skip the Autumn or Spring sales. Most games carry the same discount in all of them.
- For new games, think in years, not seasons. The deeper cuts come with age.
- Check other stores, too. Steam's sale price is not always the cheapest during a Steam sale; other official stores and key shops often undercut it. Our Steam sales calendar lists the remaining 2026 dates, and every game page compares the stores.
The bottom line
If you have to pick one, the Winter Sale is the best Steam sale: it puts the largest share of games at their lowest Steam price, and it goes deeper than the sale before it more often than any other. But the gap is small. For about seven games in ten, one big sale offers the same discount as the next, and the biggest saving comes from a game's age rather than the season. The next one starts on 17 December.