Steam experienced a service disruption on Christmas Eve, briefly going offline and leaving many users unable to access the store. While the platform appeared to recover shortly afterward, reports indicate that issues persisted for a significant number of users even after service was partially restored.
According to user reports, the outage occurred around 11 AM PST, when Steam services began experiencing widespread problems. Downdetector recorded a large spike in outage reports during this period, suggesting that the disruption affected a broad portion of the user base. Although the storefront came back online relatively quickly, access remained inconsistent, with some users continuing to encounter loading failures and connectivity problems.
At the time of writing, the exact cause of the outage has not been identified. Users attempting to browse the Steam Store reported pages failing to load properly or not loading at all. In addition to store-related issues, some players experienced difficulties launching games, particularly those that rely on an active online connection to start. As a result, several users reported switching Steam into offline mode as a temporary solution to reliably access their libraries.
Reports also indicated that users already logged into Steam, including those playing on the Steam Deck, were not entirely unaffected. Even with active sessions, some players encountered interruptions that required offline mode to bypass service instability. This suggests the issue was not limited solely to new logins or store traffic, but impacted multiple aspects of the platform.
The timing of the disruption drew additional attention due to its occurrence on Christmas Eve, a period when user activity traditionally spikes. Steam remains one of the most widely used PC gaming platforms, with over 132 million monthly active users and a catalog exceeding 117,000 titles. Valve, which owns and operates Steam, reached a record milestone in October 2025 with 41.6 million concurrent users, underscoring the scale of demand placed on the service during peak periods such as holiday sales.
Steam is also closely tied to Valve hardware initiatives, including the Steam Deck, a Linux-based handheld PC launched in February 2022. Users on Steam Deck were among those affected by the outage, further highlighting how service interruptions can ripple across both software and hardware ecosystems. As of December 22, 2025, Valve has discontinued the entry-level LCD Steam Deck model, focusing entirely on higher-capacity OLED versions.
Despite the disruption, Steam services did not remain offline for an extended period. However, the lingering access issues reported by users indicate that the impact extended beyond the initial outage window. Valve has not issued an official statement addressing the cause of the downtime or the ongoing problems, leaving users to rely on workarounds while monitoring service stability.
