Games

Steam Outage Disrupts Store, SteamDB Shows Game API Failures

Steam Partial Outage

Key Takeaways:
Steam experienced a partial outage beginning around 1 PM ET on Dec. 24, affecting the Store, Community and Web APIs.
Unofficial monitoring from SteamDB and DownDetector recorded thousands of reports; Valve did not immediately issue a public statement.
By about 4 PM ET services began to recover and by 6 PM ET most clients were functional, though some game APIs and matchmaking remained sluggish.

What happened

On Dec. 24 the Steam platform and several Valve online services suffered an outage that prevented many users from accessing the Steam Store, Community features and Web APIs. The interruption also impacted APIs used by Valve multiplayer titles including Team Fortress 2, Dota 2 and Counter-Strike 2.

How the outage was tracked

Valve did not publicly acknowledge the incident as it unfolded. Independent monitors stepped in: SteamDB’s unofficial Steam Status page showed the Store, Community and Web APIs offline, while DownDetector logged more than 6,000 user reports around 1:15 PM ET.

Recovery timeline

Reports indicate the platform began to rebound around 4 PM ET. By 6 PM ET the main PC, mobile and Mac clients were largely functional, though users still encountered occasional errors. SteamDB noted that parts of Valve’s online game infrastructure remained down or only partially operable even after the platform recovered.

Services and games affected

The outage hit both storefront functions and backend APIs. That included purchase and browsing capabilities in the Steam Store, social features in the Steam Community, and web-facing APIs used by third-party tools and games.

Impact on Valve multiplayer titles

Online features for Team Fortress 2, Dota 2 and Counter-Strike 2 were reported as impacted, with some matchmaking and in-game services failing or running slowly. Mobile Steam apps also experienced accessibility issues during the outage window.

Why this matters

Steam is a central distribution and matchmaking platform for millions of PC players. Outages can prevent purchases, block multiplayer sessions and disrupt developer operations that rely on Steam Web APIs.

How to check status and workarounds

For live updates consult SteamDB’s status page and DownDetector. If the Steam client is unstable, players can try offline mode for single-player games or check game-specific servers and developer announcements for status notes.

Valve has experienced similar incidents before — a short outage in October and a high-traffic disruption tied to the launch of Hollow Knight: Silksong in September — highlighting ongoing risks when store traffic or backend services spike.

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Steam Outage Disrupts Store, APIs & Valve Games

Steam Outage Hits Store and Valve Multiplayer APIs

• Key Takeaways: * A partial Steam outage began around 1PM ET on Dec. 24, affecting the Steam Store, Community and Web APIs. * SteamDB and Downdetector reported thousands of user reports; Valve did not publicly acknowledge the disruption. * Online features for Valve titles (Dota 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike 2) were impacted;