Steam Awards 2026 Celebrates Its 10th Anniversary With New Categories

Valve has shared the first details of The Steam Awards 2026. For the ceremony's tenth anniversary, two returning categories and two newcomers will join the 14 familiar awards. The centerpiece is a special Hall of Fame of the Hall of Fame vote, pitting previous Game of the Year winners against one another. The lineup includes PUBG, Sekiro, Red Dead Redemption 2, Resident Evil Village, Elden Ring, Baldur's Gate 3, Black Myth: Wukong, and Hollow Knight: Silksong.The anniversary award is shaping up to be a genuine showdown across a decade of gaming. Players will pick their favorite from the previous winners of the top category, stretching from PUBG in 2018 to last year's Hollow Knight: Silksong. The anniversary category is titled Hall of Fame of the Hall of Fame in English-language coverage of Valve's announcement.Two categories are returning from the early ceremonies. Just Five More Minutes, first featured in 2016, is for games you simply cannot put down. Defies Description, from 2017, recognizes the games that defy any reasonable explanation of why you love them. A new category, This Is My Job Now, honors the sort of game that demands so many hours it starts to feel like a full-time occupation.Nominations for all 14 standard categories run from November 23 through November 30, with final voting opening on December 17, the same day as the Steam Winter Sale. According to preliminary dates, the sale will continue until January 4, 2027, and the winners will be announced in the new year. Valve has also refreshed the awards' visual design for the anniversary.