How To Enter Valve's Game Awards Steam Deck Giveaway
Besides waving the banner for your console of choice and tuning in to ensure your favorite game doesn't get snubbed from a deserving award, the 2022 Game Awards Show will offer another compelling reason to tune in. Valve is one of the major sponsors of this year's show, and the company is giving away thousands of dollars worth of its handheld gaming machine — known as the Steam Deck — to solidify that honor.
Taking place December 8 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, The Game Awards will feature dozens of nominees across multiple categories, including genre-defining titles and honors awarded to industry-adjacent figures, like esports pros. It's something fans in the industry look forward to every year for the polarizing discourse alone, but with 150 Steam Deck units available — enough to give one away for each minute of the event's duration — the pot is more than sweetened. All entrants will get an animated Steam Pal digital sticker, so at least there's some consolation prize if your luck eventually runs thin.
How to enter the Steam Deck giveaway
Valve makes it pretty easy to enter the giveaway, but the entry requirements might throw some off:
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You must live within the United States, Canada, the U.K., or the E.U.
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You had to have purchased a game on Steam between November 14, 2021 and November 14, 2022.
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Your Steam account needs to be in good standing — meaning no bans or account locks.
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You'll need to watch the show via the Steam Store or Steam TV.
If you can check all those boxes, then the actual registration process is really easy:
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Go to the Steam Deck giveaway's promotion page on Steam.
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Sign into your Steam account if you aren't already logged in.
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Click the blue "Register" button.
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Optionally, set reminders and add the event to your calendar of choice.
Once December 8 hits, tune in (the show is slated to run from 5:00 p.m. PT) and watch for your name to be called in the chat window as winners are announced. Valve will reach out to winners via email to collect their shipping information.
Other ways to enter the Steam Deck giveaway
There is one alternative method of entry, and that's by post. You can mail in a self-addressed 4x6 note card with your name, mailing address, Steam account name, email address, phone number, and the text "The Game Awards 2022 Giveaway" somewhere on the card, and it needs to be mailed in an envelope postmarked no later than December 8, and arriving no later than December 19. Make sure the text on your card is completely legible, and note that it must be mailed to the following address (no emails or faxes allowed):
Valve Corporation, P.O. Box 1688, Bellevue, WA 98009-1688
Valve will select winners from that specific pool no later than December 23, the odds of which will match the odds of the primary entry method based on how many people participate. You can find full details on how and where to mail your entry at the official giveaway rules page here.
What else you need to know
Looking into the fine print, we thought it necessary to call out a couple of things that could trip you up. For starters, you should know that you can only win one Steam Deck per household, which is standard for this sort of stuff.
But one weird caveat in Valve's official rules is that "your entry in the giveaway must have been made in good faith, as determined by Valve in its sole discretion." We're not exactly sure what that means, and it leaves the door wide open for interpretation on what's considered "good faith," as well as how the company goes about determining that. We imagine it's covering the bases to deter cheating, duplicate entrants, or attempts to enter the giveaway from an ineligible region, so just enter the giveaway like normal to stay on the safe side.
Also, check your email as often and as soon as you can. If you're a winner and you don't claim your prize by December 16 (for digital entrants), Valve will select an alternative winner. Good luck!