If you have a bank account/credit card that's just getting over the effects of Steam's Autumn (Black Friday) sale, here's some news that will make your heart sing and your wallet weep: the Steam Winter sale starts on Thursday.

The reveal date has, yet again, come about via a PayPal tweet. The payments firm also unveiled the Summer Sale date earlier this year, though it did so with Valve's blessing. The previous two occasions when it revealed dates - 2015's Autumn and Winter events - were "accidental."

PayPal is using an interesting promotion method to reveal the upcoming launch. To find out the date, Twitter users have to hit an embedded button within the company's Tweet, which in turn sends out a tweet from their own account containing the #WinterSale hashtag.

The December 22 start date is the same as last year's Winter sale, so Steam isn't breaking with tradition. No word yet on the end date but it's rumored to be January 2, meaning there'll be 11 whole days to spend a fortune on games, 50 percent of which you'll never get round to playing.

The removal of the flash sales and daily deals may have resulted in less exciting events for Steam users, but they are unlikely ever to return, especially as the overall number of game sales has increased since Valve got rid of them.

Starting Thursday, expect to see the usual deep discounts on newer games, with even more money off older titles. Virtual reality games and hardware are also likely to be discounted. If you want to get the most out of the event, make sure to check out our 7 useful tips to save on Steam games and sales feature.