Steam Lunar New Year Sale Begins Soon: Start Date And Time Revealed

For PC gamers, Steam sales are the best times of year to snag new and older games for great prices, so they tend to be highly anticipated events. And while Steam doesn't announce the dates for these sales ahead of time, we always know roughly when to expect each one. For example, the Steam summer and winter sales always tend to kick off around the end of June and December, respectively. On top of that, Steam sale info somehow manages to "leak" ahead of time on a consistent basis, and the tradition continues with the next Steam sale, the 2021 Lunar New Year Sale. [Update: The Steam Lunar New Year sale is now live.]

The Steam Lunar New Year Sale will likely begin today, February 11 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET and run until February 15. The dates were first reported by Steam Database (@SteamDB) on Twitter back in January, and Steam sales nearly always begin at 1 PM ET. Lunar New Year starts on February 12 in Asia (and February 11 in the West), so the dates make sense.

The dates reportedly leaked from an email to Steam partners. For context, Steam Database is an account unaffiliated with Valve that tracks various updates related to the platform, and it has a history of accurately reporting upcoming Steam sale dates--but as always with rumors, take this info with a grain of salt.

You can expect all sorts of games to be discounted during the Lunar New Year Steam sale--here are some of last year's best deals from the sale for an idea of what to expect. The Lunar New Year theme mainly comes into play with the various activities and freebies Steam offers during the sale. Last year, there were Year of the Rat Tokens you could earn to spend toward seasonal items in the Lunar New Year Night Market. The sale only runs for a few days, so you'll want to be ready to check it out when it goes live on February 11.