There was a time when you could win all games on Steam. Valve used to be quite generous

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I still remember when Steam first came out in 2003, but it really blew up for me in 2004 when Half-Life 2 became exclusive to the platform. Since then, it’s become *the* place to buy PC games, honestly. It hasn’t been perfect – there have been issues over the years with bad software and content policies, even with some tricky games staying available – but Steam keeps getting better, adding things like tools to check how well your PC is running games. It’s amazing to think it’s been around for 22 years! We all love the big Seasonal Sales, but did you know there was once a promotion where one person actually won *every* game on Steam? That was wild!

A 2011 Holiday legend

Looking back at the 2011 Steam Holiday Sale, it was a really big deal, especially considering how many fewer games were available on the platform back then. While Steam now has a lot of clutter – like repetitive games and titles copied from other sites – it still represented a massive sale event at the time.

The event took place every day from December 19th to January 1st. Each day, players were given six challenges to complete, and succeeding earned them either a reward or a ‘lump of coal’ added to their Steam inventory. Rewards included games or discounts, and collecting seven lumps of coal allowed players to create a gift. Players could then trade these gifts and coal with friends or simply give them away.

On January 2nd, players who had saved coal in their inventory could participate in the Epic Holiday Giveaway. Your number of entries depended on how much coal you had, and you needed at least 10 games on your Steam Wishlist to be eligible. The prizes were fantastic, ranging from the “Valve Complete Pack” (the contents of which were a mystery) to winning 5–10 items from your Wishlist. However, the grand prize was incredible: every game on Steam! Back then, there were only around 2,500–3,000 games available.

Honestly, I have no idea who won, but can you *imagine* getting all those games? We’re talking Portal, Batman: Arkham City, Deus Ex, the whole Civilization and StarCraft series, Mass Effect 2, a bunch of Resident Evil, Bioshock, Fallout, and both Skyrim and Oblivion! That’s just a taste of what was up for grabs. A giveaway that big would be insane today, but man, if I’d won that, I’d be set for life!

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2025-10-08 12:32