2020 Steam Awards and the Steam Autumn Sale are now live

Steam’s annual Autumn Sale is going on right now alongside Steam’s annual Steam Awards nominations for event. There’s discounted games and a special profile badge available to players just for participating, and Valve’s FAQ hints that there could be even more in store.

The Autumn Sale isn’t the biggest or the best of Steam’s annual sales, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a sale worth watching. Some exellent games are 50% off, making this a nice time to grab something off a player’s wishlist. But the bigger news comes from the start of Valve’s annual Steam Awards nomination event.  The Steam Awards are a big deal in the gaming community, and it all starts with each year’s nominations in November before ending with the actual voting a month later. But while it sounds like a simple “choose the best” awards process, Valve’s event is truely unique thanks to how the nominations process works.

Steam Awards come with new rewards in 2020

Players can nominate any game for any catagories with a few simple restrictions.

• Games must have come out after December 3, 2019 to be eligible for all catagories, except “Labor of Love.”
• Any game can be nominated for “Labor of Love” except for Grand Theft Auto 5 and Warframe. GTA has won the catagory twice and Warframe took home the award in 2017.
• Once a user nominates a game for a catagory, they cannot nominate that same game for a different catagory. 

Valve has also cracked down of what amounts to virtual voter fraud for 2020’s awards. This year, Valve requires accounts to have spent a total five dollars on the Steam Store in order to nominate a game. It wouldn’t be a Steam event or seasonal sale without rewards, and this year comes with the customary “Steam Nomination Committee” Badge plus Steam Points store items in the form of an Autumn sale profile background, a miniature background, and two avatar frames. 

Each year Valve mixes things up with new catagories and a collectible profile badge, and 2020 isn’t any different. With Steam’s recent upgrades that allow users to customize their profiles more than ever before, it isn’t out of the question that after the event ends players won’t get a special background or display to commemorate the occasion.

What are the Steam Awards 2020 rewards and when does it end?

This year’s catagories range from the classic “Game of the Year” and “Labor of Love” to this year’s “Best Game You Suck at Award.” Rewards include backgrounds, profile icons, and animated avatars, along with a new golden seasonal profile that players can preview before they drop the heft 5,000 points on the 30-day exclusive background.

Nomiations are open until December 1, and that’s likely when both the badge and backgrounds will disappear. The autumn sale is a great time to grab a game or two and clean out the wishlist.