Steam down: Thousands of users complain about issues; how to fix E502 L3 error | Hindustan Times
Updated on: Dec 16, 2025 06:47 am IST
Thousands of users complained about facing problems with their Steam accounts, with many seeing the E502 L3 error message.
Steam, the digital distribution platform for PC games, appeared to run into problems on December 15 as thousands of users complained about facing issues. At the time of writing, Downdetector showed over 2,400 people were facing problems.
Steam appeared to run into problems and users complained on social media.(Steam)
According to the site, most people had troubles with server connections. Downdetector noted that users were facing problems since 7:59 PM EST.
Many appeared to see the E502 L3 error message.
Steam is yet to comment on the outage.
How to solve E502 L3 error message?
The E502 L3 error message usually indicates a server or connection issue.
Some of the quick ways to solve the E502 L3 issue are as follows –
- checking the Steam status
- restarting the PC or router
- clearing Steam cache
- allowing Steam through Windows Firewall
- changing the DNS to 8.8.8.8, or ensuring a stable internet connection
- If none of these work, try reinstalling Steam or running as admin
However, given the number of complaints, it appears to be an issue on Steam’s side so a user fix will most likely not solve the problem.
Reactions to Steam outage
Several people reacted to Steam being down. “Steam discussion boards are down :(,” one person noted on X. Another added, “Is steam down,” while another remarked “steam down.”
Yet another person noted “steam is down and its not tuesday between 1 and 3 pm,” referring to the scheduled downtime due to maintenance.
On the Downdetector page people lodged complaints as well. “Profile, achievements and game cards won’t load,” one person said. Another added, “none of the Steam discussions are working.” Yet another said, “steam workshop wont load or gives error pages.”
A person complained about the error screen, saying “The steam workshop wont work, keeps giving me error screens.” Yet another noted that it was Monday and maintenance was slated for the next day. “whys steam down its monday :(,” they said. However, problems seemed to ease for some gamers after a while. “Nvm, the workshop is working again,” a person commented.
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