Steam Goes Dark On Christmas Eve, Ruining Holiday Gaming Plans

On a day meant for joy and festivity, Steam, the popular online gaming hub, inexplicably went dark on Christmas Eve. The outage, which began in the mid-afternoon ET, left countless gamers frustrated and disappointed, their holiday gaming sessions cruelly curtailed. According to Downdetector, a reliable tracker of site outages, the disruption was immediate and widespread.

As the hours ticked by, gamers took to social media to express their dismay and disappointment. On Bluesky, a user wryly observed the cruel timing of the outage, noting that just as they were about to enjoy a new game or gift, Steam’s servers had failed them. The user’s post, a humorous yet exasperated commentary on the situation, read: “You got a gift on Steam! * cool ‘Steam is down’ * cool.” The outage was all the more galling given the timing, coming as it did on a day when many gamers had time off to relax and enjoy their favorite hobby.

For those who had received gaming gifts or were looking forward to unwinding with a marathon gaming session, Steam’s sudden and unexplained downtime was a bitter pill to swallow.