Three Standout Examples of Exceptional PC Game Development in 2025

Recent updates: As of 11:00 pm ET, Steam appears to have stabilized, with store and community features functioning normally again. Services were fluctuating throughout the day, however, so further disruptions remain possible. For now, Steam users appear to be back online.

The Epic Games Store has not fared as well. Epic is currently reporting major outages affecting both login and matchmaking services. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney addressed the situation publicly, apologizing for the disruption and stating that “the servers are melting down.”

Other major gaming services also appear to be experiencing problems. Reports indicate issues with Xbox Live and EA’s online services, suggesting a wider disruption across multiple platforms. It’s shaping up to be a frustrating night for both players and IT teams.

We’ll continue monitoring the situation and provide updates as more information becomes available. In the meantime, players can check the live status of online services through tracking sites such as Unofficial Steam Status, Epic’s official status page, and DownDetector.

Original story: On the day before Christmas, Steam unexpectedly went offline, leaving players unable to access the platform. Shortly before 2:00 pm ET, the outage began and did not resemble routine maintenance.

The Unofficial Steam Status site reported websocket errors and indicated that the Steam store, community features, and web API were all offline. At the same time, SteamStat page views surged, a reliable sign that users were experiencing widespread issues.

DownDetector also showed a sharp increase in reports beginning shortly after 1:00 pm ET, further confirming the scale of the outage. With Steam going dark at such a busy time of year, many players were left scrambling for alternative ways to spend their holiday gaming time.

While Steam has since recovered, the outage served as a reminder of how dependent modern gaming has become on always-online services—especially during peak holiday periods.

For now, players can only hope the recovery holds and that the remainder of the holiday period passes without further large-scale disruptions.