Valve unveils Steam "early holiday sale"

By Tom Bramwell Published 26 November, 2009

Awesome games for amazingly little.

Valve has announced its "early holiday sale" on Steam, where it plans to offer a different set of discount deals every day for the next week.

Highlights of the first day include the LucasArts Premier Pack reduced from nearly 90 quid to £34.99, which is enough gaming to last you until next Christmas, let alone this one.

There's also the THQ Complete Pack, a similarly extravagant bundle that features Red Faction: Guerrilla, Dawn of War II, Company of Heroes, STALKER and countless others for a frankly bonkers £26.49. That one actually looks like an error, it's so cheap.

There are individual bargains to be had, too, including Dragon Age: Origins for 23 quid, Far Cry 2 for a tenner, Batman: Arkham Asylum for 15 and Race Driver: GRID for a ludicrous £3.74.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (39) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • bad09 #1 2 years ago

    Found out about this last night \o/

    Sadly the stuff I want on day one I already have or done with (Grid, Batman, FC2), but I've had my eye on GTA4 and Shift so I'm hoping they are in there. Man if they just got the new game pricing a bit lower Steam would rule the world - and my heart.

    / hugs Steam
    / watches countdown

  • RumpyStumpy #2 2 years ago

    Some good offers here but unfortunately my pc is about as capable as a chocolate teapot.

    Waits for Microsoft to do something similar with GOD (does not hold breath)
    Edited by 1 at 26/11/09 @ 08:39

  • ignatiusjreilly #3 2 years ago

    I already have DOW 1 and 2 and Stalker, but I'm tempted by that THQ pack just to get the complete Company of Heroes series for £26.49.

    GRID at £3.49 is a no-brainer (picked that phrase just for EarlBassett).
    Edited by 1 at 26/11/09 @ 09:24

  • KiLlerKnight #4 2 years ago

    Great prices....in pounds.
    In euro they are shit as always.
    50 for THQ
    45 for Lucasarts
    37,5 for Dragon Age
    25 for Batman

    Fuck off Valve, your exchange rate is even worse than that of Play.com

  • Skurmedel #5 2 years ago

    They are shit Killer, but the THQ pack is still good value... you can't deny that. I agree though, the Dragon Age offer isn't that great in Euros... gone from much more expensive than retail to cheap retail price.
    Edited by 2 at 26/11/09 @ 09:33

  • penhalion #6 2 years ago

    Nice deals and I have every blasted one of the good games already.

  • Grump #7 2 years ago

    Steam hates me - I bought 2 of those games this weekend for full price :(

  • Krusty #8 2 years ago

    Superb, just bought Grid, Batman (loved the demo but waited for sale), FC2 and Osmos!

    The two packs are great deals, but I've already bought similar deals in the past so have most of them :D


    /waits for timer to expire
    /agrees GTA4 might be nice, since never get on the 360 now days

  • RedSparrows #9 2 years ago

    god damned broken PC >:(

  • StooMonster #10 2 years ago

    Loved Batman AA to pieces, that's a great deal.

  • GreatUncleBaal #11 2 years ago

    Osmos is a lovely game, well worth a paltry £2. Hypnotically relaxing at times.

  • Brainboy #12 2 years ago

    GRID for under 4 quid? Tempted. :/

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #13 2 years ago

    I have never seen such value!

    I feel a pillock for paying £3.50 for STALKER three weeks ago, now. I wonder if I buy the THQ pack, whether I'll get a copy to give out as a gift?

  • itsfuzzy #14 2 years ago

    Why cant Microsoft at least try to get games on demand to this level?
    With their mad prices im surprised if anyone has purchased a game.
    Steam makes them look like a bunch of of out of touch losers every single time one of these articles are published.

  • Skurmedel #15 2 years ago

    Mentalist you should... I bought some Valve-thingy and got HL2 to give away since I already had it. Same with some other game.

  • Irien #16 2 years ago

    Don't know if it is a special, but Dragon Age: Digital Deluxe is 29.99 which might be tempting?

    PS, like others, I feel a mug for spending 3ukp on a THQ game the other week. Sigh.
    Edited by 1 at 26/11/09 @ 10:53

  • FooAtari #17 2 years ago

    Can you use Steam expansions with the retail version of a game.

    For example can I use the Company of Heroes and Dawn of War expansions with retail version of the CoH and DoW?

  • StueyBoy16 #18 2 years ago

    As some people have previously stated, Osmos is an essential purchase at just £2.

    I bought that when it was first released. It's absolutely beautiful.

    OSMOS

  • JayG #19 2 years ago

    That THQ pack finally sold me on steam. More games I got no time to play.

  • ignatiusjreilly #20 2 years ago

    I wonder if I buy the THQ pack, whether I'll get a copy to give out as a gift?

    No, you don't unfortunately. Bit unfair really, if you've bought 2 copies of a game you should be able to give one to a friend.

    The HL2 Orange Box thing was different because it was the only way to buy Episode 2. I still have HL2 and Ep 1 to give as a gift - if anyone wants one PM me :)

  • mkreku #21 2 years ago

    Oh great. I just bought Red Faction: Guerilla alone for more than that :/

  • Bagpuss #22 2 years ago

    Its at times like this that one wants to shoot ones self for being on a 40Gb monthly usage allowance.........

    Serioulsy, to download all the stuff i want would take up nearly 5mths usage....


  • geeza2020 #23 2 years ago

    This is how you do a digital delivery service Microsoft!!! Are they watching? Do they even care?

    Probably not......

  • FooAtari #24 2 years ago

    @Bagpuss
    Do you not get free useage at night or something?

    I've always gone with an ISP that allows at least some free usage. So many times I've heard people say "why do you need all that allowance unless you are pirating?"

    Well, there you go...

  • Caimbeul #25 2 years ago

    GRID is simply a must buy for £3.74! you would actually be a fool not to. Batman AA is another truly awsome game...shame my save backup didnt work when i rebuilt my Win7 machine :-( now i have to start again.

  • Baranga #26 2 years ago

    For those that are waiting for GTA4 - it's 10 pounds on Direct2Drive.

    http://www.dir ect2drive.co.uk/holiday/

  • agparrot #27 2 years ago

    £26.49 for all those THQ games!

    That is crazy value - I may even actually spend money on Steam, just for the ones that will run on my PC.

  • Bagpuss #28 2 years ago

    "@Bagpuss
    Do you not get free useage at night or something? "


    Nope...40Gb end of story.

    Lol, anyway, just realised i havent got enough storage space on my 500Gb Hdrive left anyway...so id have to add another £45 (inc SATA cable) onto the cost of any Steam purchase once i go past 70Gb in downloads.

    Oh well.....

    Physical media still has its advantages.....


  • FooAtari #29 2 years ago

    @Caimbeul

    GRID is simply a must buy for £3.74! you would actually be a fool not to.

    what if you think GRID isn't that great?

  • General_Zod #30 2 years ago

    @FooAtari

    The cost of GRID was the same as a rather disappointing pork and stuffing sandwich I got earlier today. Even if its not that great its still worth a punt at that price.

  • mattipatti #31 2 years ago

    >For example can I use the Company of Heroes and Dawn of War expansions with retail version of the CoH and DoW?

    you can, but it's not the most intuitive way. you have to uninstall the original CoH first. then download the expansion, and add your original cd-key to your profile in the expansion. In CoH atleast the expansions include all the original content, so it is possible.

    ...but since the THQ pack includes all the CoH Keys, you could just uninstall the original, and give it to a friend. CoH multiplayer with friends is still some of the best gaming around.

  • dudefella #32 2 years ago

    Everyone who doesn't own Dragon Age or Batman - BUY THEM, YOU FOOLS. Both easily top 5 games this year.

  • FooAtari #33 2 years ago

    @General_Zod

    True it's dirt cheap. But I know I would never play it personally. I did not enjoy the demo at all. I'd rather put that 3.50 towards something else.

  • HappyChimp #34 2 years ago

    woo, picked up THQ Pack + Osmos + Plants vs. Zombies for not much over £30 all in

    Fuck knows when I'll get time to play them, but tricky to resist such a mega bargain

  • ignatiusjreilly #35 2 years ago

    Yeah, Plants vs. Zombies isn't in that list of holiday sale stuff, but it's half-price at the moment and a really nice deal at at £3.49.

  • davisorle #36 2 years ago

    Why do you always give the damn prices only in "£"? Its Eurogamer not UK gamer. You know you have ppl from all over europe checking out your website. This just made again another article totally uninforming for me. Oh well whenever I have the time i'll search elsewhere eitherway. :p

  • Ryuken #37 2 years ago

    So, where's the newspost about Impulse's Thanksgiving deals? Too small for EG to care? Want to keep the big guys big enough?

  • Zapatero #38 2 years ago

    ...Aye, the Sword of the Stars bundle on Impulse is pretty good value

  • blanka #39 2 years ago

    That is soo true when they offer deals they are amazing deals but when they are gone they are trully gone ... coff 39.99 for MW2 anyone ... lolz MW1 i still 29.99 ffs ..... so yeah expensive when they sure as hell want to be. Altho' Acti control them prices tho'.

    Think about it in general why the hell am I paying through my nose for a digital copy of a game ... there is no substance in my hand. NOTHING TO STICK on me media shelf .... seriously .... I know digital $$$ was dangerous on its long term inceptions and applications but this takes the piss out of disposable income.