Steam Summer Sale dates leak, kicks off towards the end of next month - rumour

Steam Summer Sale returns, like an annual plague where the symptoms include bleeding money and gentle hysteria.

Steam's annual Summer Sale will kick off at 9:50am PT June 22, according to the latest rumour.

The start date comes from the Steam Reddit (via PC Gamer) where a purported screenshot from a developer-only post has been shared.

It could certainly be nonsense; Steam posts aren't hard to fake. But the Steam Summer Sale dates leaked last year - actually, more than once. The Steam Holiday Sales dates also leaked last year, and in fact it seems to happen with every major Steam sale. It's as much a tradition now as the sales themselves. It also fits in pretty well with the usual timing of the Steam Summer Sale.

According to the screenshot, the Steam Summer Sale will end at 10:05am PT July 5, so if you want to abstain you need only avoid all Internet devices and cancel your credit card for the space of two weeks. You can do it! We believe in you! You're saving for [insert desired thing here]!

Does it really matter exactly when the annual wallet harvesting begins? Do you need to set your calendar to be first in line to partake in whatever meta-game will fill your library with unplayed games and extract your cash in lung-sized chunks?

Yes, of course you do. Well, we'll enable you; it is our duty and our burden in this life. Expect us to keep a running log of the best deals, as we did for the Steam Summer Sale last year, or perhaps something even more delightful.

See you all in a few weeks for the Steam Summer Sale, when all of us will rail against our fate even as we suck air over our teeth and say "gosh, that's super cheap".