Valve has officially opened the nomination process for the Steam Awards 2025. The annual game awards ceremony will be held on January 3, 2026, but nominations will close on December 1, after which voting will commence to decide the winner. As with previous years, there are several categories to nominate games in, totaling 11 for this year: Game of the Year, VR Game of the Year, Labor of Love, Best Game on Steam Deck, Better with Friends, Outstanding Visual Style, Most Innovative Gameplay, Best Game You Suck At, Best Stoundtrack, Outstanding Story-Rich Game, and Sit Back and Relax.

The popular nominees for Game of the Year include some repeat visitors from The Game Awards, like Split Fiction and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, but there are also some interesting nominees, like Peak and RV There Yet? Dispatch also makes repeat appearances in the frequent nominees list, as do F1 26 and Marvel Rivals. Although there are some similarities between the recently revealed list of nominees for The Game Awards, the popular nominees featured on the Steam Awards page appear to be quite different to those that appeared in the other yearly game show.

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