Gamers Took Less than a Second to Crash Steam

The Steam Summer sale has started today, had you heard? Everybody else had heard as well, and as soon as the countdown timer above Alice: Madness Return his 0:00:00, Steam was forced to give up under the weight of hundreds of thousands clamouring to see what bargains might be on offer.

What bargains were on offer? Absolutely nothing, as it took nearly ten minutes for the sale to go live. That didn’t stop everybody sitting at their computer, hitting the “store” button over and over again though.

The Steam sale is best known amongst gamers as an opportunity to get the newest, best games at a fraction of their usual price, sometimes even as much as 90% off their original price point. It’s no wonder that it’s one of the most important times in the gaming calender, although it always, without exception, starts off rather slowly.

By around ten past the hour, everything sorted itself and things are now more or less working as they should be. The offers are on display (although some might argue they’re a little underwhelming) and the “Steam is experiencing heavy load” message seems to have by and large disappeared. 

There’s a pretty big focus on trading cards this time around, so if you’re ready to get addicted to Steam’s latest meta-game, you’re going to be well looked after. Still, it never ceases to amaze me how many people want to access the Steam summer sale at once.