The Best Steam Deals Right Now — 2026-09-12

$14.99 shows up twice on today’s Steam deals list, and both times it’s a bargain. Call of Duty: Black Ops III just crashed from $59.99 to $14.99 at 75% off, while Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced landed at the exact same price from half that starting point. When two very different games converge on the same number, that’s your signal to pay attention.

This is Skeldrift’s daily deals briefing for September 12, 2026 — ten discounts, sorted and judged, with honest calls on what to grab now and what to leave in the cart. Some of these are no-brainers. Others are the kind of token discounts publishers slap on right before a real sale.

One caveat before we start: Steam prices move fast, and I can’t guarantee every discount here survives the day. Verify the price on the store page before you commit, and remember Steam’s refund window — 14 days and under 2 hours of playtime — is your safety net if a game disappoints.

All 10 Steam Deals Today, Ranked by Discount Depth

Today’s list spans a wide range: from a massive 75% off on a AAA shooter down to token 10% cuts on fresh indie releases. Here’s the full board, sorted so you can see the discount tiers at a glance.

The pattern is easy to read once you’ve watched Steam for a few years. Deep cuts (50%+) on older games are usually at or near their historical lows. Shallow cuts (10–20%) on newer or early-access titles are teasers — the publisher is testing demand before a bigger seasonal sale arrives.

A quick rule of thumb: anything under 30% off is rarely the best price that game will ever see. There are exceptions, but September sits between the summer and autumn sale windows, which means bigger discounts are rarely more than six weeks away.

The Four Deals Actually Worth Buying Today

Four of today’s discounts clear the bar: Black Ops III, No Man’s Sky, Ready or Not, and GTA V Enhanced. Each one is either at its historical-low territory or close enough that waiting saves you pocket change, not real money.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III at $14.99 (75% off) is the headline. The zombies mode alone — with its dark, atmospheric maps and co-op chaos — has kept a loyal community alive for a decade. If you’ve ever wanted to see what the fuss is about without paying full retro pricing, this is the moment. One warning: the multiplayer population lives mostly in zombies and co-op modes these days, not competitive multiplayer.

No Man’s Sky at $23.99 (60% off) remains one of gaming’s great redemption arcs. What launched as a punchline is now a genuinely gorgeous universe of exploration, base-building, and quiet wonder — floating through an alien atmosphere at sunset is still one of the best feelings in the genre. Years of free updates mean you’re buying a much bigger game than the 2016 box suggested.

Ready or Not at $24.99 (50% off) is the tactical shooter pick. Slow, tense, methodical door-breaching with friends. It’s brutal and unforgiving by design — check the content warnings and the M (Mature 17+) rating, because it leans hard into dark subject matter.

GTA V Enhanced at $14.99 (50% off) is the easiest impulse buy on the list. If you somehow still don’t own Los Santos, this Enhanced version includes the current-gen visual upgrades. Fair warning: GTA Online is free but aggressively monetized, and the single-player story remains the best part of the package.

Why the Six Smaller Discounts Can Wait

The remaining six deals share one trait: the discounts are historically shallow, which means better prices are almost certainly coming. Steam’s own sale history backs this up — games almost always hit deeper cuts during the major seasonal events, and we’re weeks away from the autumn window.

inZOI at 20% off ($31.99) is the most tempting of the wait-list, because the life-sim buzz is real. But a 20% cut on a $39.99 game is a publisher saying “we know you want it” without actually committing to a sale. If it follows the pattern of comparable life sims, 30–40% off is plausible within a few months.

The indie quartet — Gamble With Your Friends (38%, $4.95), Wanderburg (35%, $9.74), Anime Shop Simulator (15%, $12.74), Drag’n Wash (10%, $13.49), and Welcome to Elderfield (10%, $16.19) — are all impulse-priced already. Five bucks is five bucks. But indie games routinely hit 40–50% off once they’re six months past launch, so unless one of these is already on your wishlist, patience pays.

Rule of thumb: a 10% discount on Steam is a courtesy, not a sale. Wishlist it and let Steam email you when the real price drop hits.

The exception is if a friend group is buying in tonight. Gamble With Your Friends at $4.95 is cheap enough that coordinating a group purchase for a game night beats waiting months to save two dollars. Social timing beats discount math sometimes.

What Steam Deck Players Should Know Before Buying

For handheld players, three of today’s four recommended picks run well on Steam Deck, and the big one is the awkward one. No Man’s Sky is the standout Deck pick — it’s fully supported, runs smoothly at 30fps with tuned settings, and the pick-up-and-play exploration loop is perfect for couch or commute sessions.

GTA V Enhanced is a complication. The Enhanced edition targets modern hardware with ray tracing and upgraded visuals, and reports around its launch indicated it was not Steam Deck Verified — the original GTA V remains the better handheld choice if you can find it. Before buying, check the green checkmark on the store page; verification status can change with patches, so treat any claim about Deck performance as a snapshot, not a permanent fact.

Ready or Not is playable but demanding — expect lower settings and shorter battery sessions on a game that’s already slow-paced enough to survive the frame hit. The smaller indies (Wanderburg, Anime Shop Simulator, Drag’n Wash) are almost certain Deck candidates given their scope, but verify each store page, since small games occasionally skip controller support entirely.

One habit worth building: filter your Steam store by “Great on Deck” before every sale purchase. A $14.99 game you can’t comfortably play on your chosen device isn’t a deal — it’s a donation to your backlog.

How to Check Whether Today’s Price Is Actually the Best Price

Before buying any discount, spend sixty seconds verifying it’s a real low and not a dressed-up regular price. Steam doesn’t show you price history, but free third-party trackers do, and they’ll tell you instantly whether Black Ops III has ever dipped below $14.99 (spoiler: 75% is its established sale floor, so you’re safe).

Here’s the routine:

1. Paste the game’s store page URL into a price tracker like SteamDB or IsThereAnyDeal to see its full discount history.
2. Check the historical low — if today’s price matches it, buy. If it’s within a dollar, buy unless you’re extremely patient.
3. Set an alert for your target price on anything that’s currently above it.
4. Wishlist the game so Steam emails you when any discount lands.
5. Remember the refund window: under 2 hours played and within 14 days of purchase, no questions asked.

That last point deserves emphasis. Steam’s refund policy applies to sale purchases the same as full-price ones, which effectively turns every purchase into a two-hour trial. Bought No Man’s Sky and bounced off it in ninety minutes? Refund it and wait for a deeper cut. This is the single most underused consumer protection in PC gaming.

One scam warning while we’re here: never buy Steam keys from unsolicited third-party sites claiming extra discounts on top of sale prices. Stick to the official store. A “deal” that arrives through a gray-market key reseller can end in a revoked game and an empty wallet.

Timing Your Purchase: September vs the Autumn Sale

September is one of the trickier months to buy games on Steam, because it sits in the dead zone between the summer sale clearance and the autumn/Black Friday window that historically launches in late November. That timing shapes today’s entire list — it explains why the deep cuts are on older catalog titles and the shallow cuts are on newer releases.

The logic works like this. Publishers discount older games aggressively in September because there’s no competing sale event to save inventory for. Newer releases get token 10–20% cuts now, then bigger slashes when the autumn sale arrives and they’re competing for attention against everything else on the storefront. So today’s smartest split is: buy the old, wait on the new.

Concrete version: if you buy Black Ops III, GTA V Enhanced, No Man’s Sky, and Ready or Not today, you spend $79.96 total. If instead you buy inZOI and the five smaller indies today, you spend $89.10 on games that could plausibly total $60 or less after the autumn sale. Same wallet, very different outcomes.

The one scenario that overrides all timing logic: a game you’ll play this weekend with friends. A saved $5 three months from now buys you nothing tonight. Buy joy when joy is scheduled.

Frequently Asked Questions

When do the next big Steam sales start after September 12, 2026?

Steam’s major seasonal sales follow a predictable annual rhythm: the Autumn Sale typically launches in late November, followed by the Winter Sale in late December. Exact dates are usually announced a few weeks ahead. If a game you want is only 10–20% off today, waiting for the autumn sale is usually the better bet.

Is Call of Duty: Black Ops III at 75% off a good deal?

Yes — 75% off ($14.99 from $59.99) is Black Ops III’s established historical sale floor. The zombies and co-op modes still have an active community, though competitive multiplayer populations have thinned over the years. It’s rated M (Mature 17+) for intense violence and strong language, so plan accordingly for younger players.

Can I refund a game I bought on sale if I don’t like it?

Yes. Steam’s refund policy applies to sale purchases identically to full-price ones: you can request a refund within 14 days of purchase as long as you’ve played under 2 hours. This effectively makes every sale purchase a two-hour trial, which is the best consumer protection in PC gaming.

Do GTA V Enhanced and the other deals run on Steam Deck?

No Man’s Sky is fully Steam Deck supported and the best handheld pick on today’s list. GTA V Enhanced launched without Steam Deck Verified status due to its upgraded visuals targeting modern hardware — check the store page before buying, since verification can change with patches. The small indie titles are likely fine but verify controller support on each page.

How do I know if a Steam deal is the lowest price it’s ever been?

Use a free price tracker like SteamDB or IsThereAnyDeal. Paste in the game’s store page URL and you’ll see its complete discount history at a glance. If today’s price matches the historical low, buy with confidence; if not, set an alert for your target price and wishlist the game so Steam notifies you when it drops.

Conclusion

If you do one thing with today’s list, make it this: grab the four big discounts, wishlist the six small ones, and set price alerts. The September dead zone rewards exactly that split — old games at their floor, new games waiting for autumn.

And that $14.99 coincidence from the top? That’s really what deal-hunting on Steam comes down to. Two games, one price, both worth it. The question isn’t whether you can afford them — it’s whether your backlog can. Prices refresh daily, so check back tomorrow; the board changes, but the rules don’t.