Steam återhämtar sig efter en hel dags avbrott medan Epic Games Store står inför pågående servicefel

Service disruptions affected several major online gaming platforms on December 24, cutting into peak holiday traffic and leaving millions of players without reliable access to store, login, and matchmaking services. Steam, the largest PC game distribution platform, experienced intermittent outages throughout the day before stabilizing late in the evening. At the same time, the Epic Games Store reported major failures that remained unresolved hours later.

By approximately 11:00 pm ET, Steam services appeared to be operating normally. Store access, community features, and general account functionality were restored after repeated interruptions earlier in the day. The recovery followed hours of instability in which different parts of the platform dropped in and out without warning. While functionality returned, the duration and uneven nature of the disruption left open the possibility of further issues.

Earlier in the afternoon, Steam appeared to be almost entirely offline. Independent tracking services reported widespread websocket errors, while the Steam store, community pages, and web API failed simultaneously. Page views on SteamStat surged, a common signal that users were checking service status rather than accessing games or storefronts. Downdetector showed a sharp rise in user reports shortly after 1:00 pm ET.

During the outage, locally installed games remained largely playable. Players reported being able to launch and continue single-player titles without interruption. The primary failures centered on network-dependent features. Community discussions, user profiles, friend lists, charts, and external links embedded in Steam all returned error messages. Matchmaking services for Valve-operated multiplayer games were also unavailable for much of the day.

Valve did not immediately provide an explanation for the outage. No confirmation was given on whether the disruption was caused by internal technical failure, external traffic spikes, or malicious activity. Steam has previously experienced downtime linked to distributed denial-of-service attacks, but no such claim was made in this case. As of late evening, the company had not issued a public statement detailing the cause or scope of the incident.

While Steam recovered, attention shifted to the Epic Games Store, which encountered its own wave of failures. Epic’s official status page reported major outages affecting both login systems and matchmaking services. Users attempting to access games tied to online authentication or multiplayer infrastructure were unable to connect.

Epic Games chief executive Tim Sweeney acknowledged the situation publicly, apologizing for the disruption and attributing it to extreme server strain.

“The servers are melting down.” — Tim Sweeney

The timing compounded the impact. The day before Christmas traditionally sees elevated activity across digital storefronts as players install newly purchased hardware, redeem gift cards, and download seasonal updates. Outages during this window place pressure not only on infrastructure but also on customer support and operations teams working through the holiday period.

Other platforms showed signs of strain as well. Reports indicated intermittent issues affecting Xbox Live and EA’s online services, though neither appeared to suffer outages as extensive or sustained as those experienced by Epic. The clustering of problems across multiple services suggested a broader stress event rather than an isolated failure, though no common cause was confirmed.

The incidents underscored the fragility of centralized online ecosystems during peak demand. Even when games themselves remain accessible offline, modern PC gaming depends heavily on account authentication, cloud services, and matchmaking systems. When those components fail, large portions of the experience disappear regardless of local hardware performance.

As the evening progressed, Steam users gradually returned to normal activity. Epic’s recovery timeline remained unclear, with service alerts still active hours after Steam stabilized. Monitoring sites continued to record elevated complaint levels, reflecting ongoing access problems.

With millions of players logging in simultaneously and limited public information from service operators, the situation highlighted how quickly disruptions can ripple through the gaming ecosystem. Whether the outages were caused by traffic surges, technical faults, or external interference, the result was the same: a holiday evening defined by error messages instead of downloads.

Read also, old Divinity games have seen a renewed surge on Steam after Larian Studios revealed a new Divinity role-playing project at The Game Awards 2025, driving players back to earlier entries in the series.