What’s better than bragging about your favorite game winning an award? Getting a discount on it. Lucky for you, you might be able to do both soon. Valve has announced that voting for the Steam Awards kicks off on Dec. 20, the same day as its annual Winter Sale.
Steam sales may be a long running tradition, but the awards aspect is relatively new, having only started up in 2016. Back then, they were a little tongue in cheek, featuring categories like “Villain Most In Need Of A Hug,” and “Best Use Of A Farm Animal.” This year seems a bit more straightforward, with categories for Game of the Year, Best Developer and Better with Friends.
There’s also some fuzzy math involved — PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds may have officially hit version 1.0 this year, but thanks to Steam Early Access, it’s been available since 2017.
Either way, here’s the full list of contenders and categories:
Nominees for Game of the Year
Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds
Monster Hunter: World
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Hitman 2
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
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Nominees for VR Game of the Year
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR
VRChat
Beat Saber
Fallout 4 VR
Superhot VR
Nominees for Labor of Love
Dota 2
GTA V
No Man’s Sky
Path of Exile
Stardew Valley
Nominees for Best Environment
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Subnautica
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Far Cry 5
Dark Souls III
Nominees for Better with Friends
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege
Payday 2
Dead by Daylight
Overcooked! 2
Nominees for Best Alternate History
Wolfeinstein II: The New Colossus
Assassin’s Creed® Odyssey
Hearts of Iron IV
Sid Meier’s Civilization® VI
Fallout 4
Nominees for Most Fun with a Machine
Euro Truck Simulator 2
Rocket League
Nier: Automata
Factorio
Space Engineers
Nominees for Best Developer
CD Projekt Red
Ubisoft
Bethesda
Rockstar Games
Digital Extremes Ltd.
Square Enix
Capcom
Paradox Interactive
Bandai Namco Entertainment
Klei
As for the Steam Sale, Valve hasn’t given any official clues as to what the discounts will be — but it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise to see some of the award nominees go on sale during the week.
Watch this: The best games of 2018: CNET’s top picks
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