Archive · 17 Dec 2025
Steam Faces Second Outage in 24 Hours
Steam, a popular gaming platform, had two big problems in one day.
On December 15, many users couldn't log in or use features like discussions and workshops.
The next day, December 16, there was another problem with over 41,000 users reporting issues.
The main problem was that the servers weren't working properly.
Users saw an error called E502 L3, which means the servers couldn't talk to the users' computers.
People were upset because they couldn't play games or use Steam's features.
Valve, the company that runs Steam, didn't say much about the problems.
Users tried to fix it by restarting Steam or clearing the cache, but the problems were on Steam's servers, so Valve had to fix them.
Steam experienced a second major outage on December 16, 2023, less than a day after the first outage on December 15.
Over 41,000 users reported issues on December 16, primarily due to server connection failures.
The E502 L3 error, indicating a server-side Bad Gateway fault, was a common issue during the outages.
Core Steam features like community discussions, Steam Workshop, user profiles, and login services were affected.
Users expressed frustration on social media, noting that Steam's routine maintenance is usually scheduled for Tuesdays.
- Who
- Steam users and Valve
- What
- Second major outage within 24 hours
- When
- December 15 and 16, 2023
- Where
- Global
- Why
- Server connection failures and infrastructure issues
- Date of First Outage
- December 15, 2023
- Date of Second Outage
- December 16, 2023
- Error Code
- E502 L3
- Primary Issue
- Server connection failures
- Affected Users (Second Outage)
- Over 41,000