Valve is changing Steam sales

[Phynaz]

No more Daily Deals...

http://steamed.kotaku.com/valve-is-changing-steam-sales-1743858102

 

[Artorias]

I wonder if we are going to see the same deep price cuts like we have in the past, having a game at 75% for 48hrs is different than a full two whole weeks.

Supposedly there is an Autumn sale happening next week, I guess that will be the first test with this new system.

 

[irishScott]

I imagine significant numbers of gamers finally caught onto the scheme.

I imagine the old routine served to get more eyeballs looking at the Steam sale for specific games, and even if the customer didn't buy that particular game they might be willing to buy something else that caught their eye. Now most probably know to wait and see. Might as well just sell as many copies at the fully discounted price as possible.

 

[JujuFish]

I wonder if we are going to see the same deep price cuts like we have in the past, having a game at 75% for 48hrs is different than a full two whole weeks.

Supposedly there is an Autumn sale happening next week, I guess that will be the first test with this new system.

You say supposedly as though it hasn't happened each of the last six years.

 

[HeXen]

imo, often their sales and especially daily deals are just for what I would call crappy games, old games or older games I already own but I'm a picky gamer more into traditional, higher production value games but I'm not going to check just to see all these weirdo titles like "I am Bread" go on sale so this has no effect on me.

 

[Subyman]

I would think they are doing this because they see a tapering off of views during the middle/end of the sale. A lot of people hear about the steam sale, check it and then never come back. Certain customers stick around through the whole thing, but a more casual crowd is not checking in every day. Throw it all out there at the beginning and they will potentially get more sales from the people that do not closely follow it.

 

[JujuFish]

I'd like to see more bundles. Seems like they used to have tons of bundles during their major sales.

 

[darkswordsman17]

I'm all for this as them trying to limit things was just stupid (if I'm not mistaken you could always just wait until like the last day when they'd run all the deals at their best).

I might be wrong, but Steam Sales have gotten worse the past couple of years. Seemed like we used to see bigger discounters on more popular games, but those max out at like 33% off now (thought they used to be 50% often), and tons of stuff for 75%+.

Will be interested to see what this does. I'm curious if it will see more or less sales as in a lot of ways I think it'd bring more as people buying a bunch of games at once. But then that might also convince people to not buy some games they might normally if they bought on impulse, by seeing the total amount they're spending, they might go "I don't really need these 5 games at $5 a piece".

 

[darkswordsman17]

I'd like to see more bundles. Seems like they used to have tons of bundles during their major sales.

The bundles are nice but they've become a bit of a clusterf*** with games that have DLC packs and Season Pass and stuff like that. How they handled that on Borderlands 2 for instance has kinda soured me on that franchise unless they simplify it. I was gifted the base game, then bought the Game of the Year, and then still had a bunch of DLC that I'd have to purchase separately because they didn't even have a "buy everything" version.

 

[balloonshark]

I'm fine with them dumping the flash sales. I missed most of them anyways. If those were the ones people voted on they were usually worthless.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Looks like a good change.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Positive change for the customers, as people would often buy games on deal only to find they go in a better deal the next day.

Incidentally Valve said is a perfectly valid to create refund requests on games you've recently bought but not yet played because it went on deal shortly after you bought it, so I suspect this move was partly in line with stopping a flood of refunds hitting their customer service over Xmas. Also they tend to have pretty extreme bandwidth issues around Xmas time, I can't help but think this will stop people hammering the store constantly trying to catch the daily deals and all that stuff.

 

[TeknoBug]

Hopefully Projec tCARS gets a discount during the autumn sale next week, then I can go trade in my PS4 version for something else.

 

[Subyman]

I agree that the sales haven't been as good lately. 50% off of a $60 game won't cut it IMO. They used to have all the way down to 85-90% off of some games. I remember never spending over $10 a game during the steam sales because they were so cheap. The past few have just felt like GMG VIP sales.

 

[JumBie]

Sorry guys but they did this to combat their new refund policy. If they allowed for flash sales then someone who bought the game for a more expensive price at the beginning of the sale would be able to refund the game and then purchase it for the cheaper price during the flash sale. Pretty simple.

 

[brianmanahan]

hopefully it will have been worth the weight

 

[Aikouka]

I might be wrong, but Steam Sales have gotten worse the past couple of years. Seemed like we used to see bigger discounters on more popular games, but those max out at like 33% off now (thought they used to be 50% often), and tons of stuff for 75%+.

I don't think it's really Steam. Prices are usually set by the publisher, so if a price is terrible, that's most likely their fault. An example of this would be GTA V's silly bundle from earlier this year. Another issue is that Steam sales were the "mecca" of PC gaming sales, but that's not really the case anymore. There are other sites with their own sales that can usually meet or beat Steam on certain games, and that's sort of stealing Steam's limelight as our go-to place for sales.

 

[sweenish]

They've all but stopped the publisher complete packs, though. The sales of about six years ago were much better than they are now.

Stupid, overly-complicated metas that require checking in at least twice a day (the idle game they ran last time was such a chore), mini-games that always got hacked or easily bypassed, and the constant waiting as shown in the picture above.

I never participated in the sales out of excitement. It was tedium to make sure I didn't leave money on the table.

As people have said, it's just refund-protection, but I think it's long overdue.

 

[Subyman]

Sorry guys but they did this to combat their new refund policy. If they allowed for flash sales then someone who bought the game for a more expensive price at the beginning of the sale would be able to refund the game and then purchase it for the cheaper price during the flash sale. Pretty simple.

I don't see why that matters. They are now simply giving the lowest price right away.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I would think they are doing this because they see a tapering off of views during the middle/end of the sale. A lot of people hear about the steam sale, check it and then never come back. Certain customers stick around through the whole thing, but a more casual crowd is not checking in every day. Throw it all out there at the beginning and they will potentially get more sales from the people that do not closely follow it.

imo, often their sales and especially daily deals are just for what I would call crappy games, old games or older games I already own but I'm a picky gamer more into traditional, higher production value games but I'm not going to check just to see all these weirdo titles like "I am Bread" go on sale so this has no effect on me.

Yeah This is about where I fall as well. I don't check every day and I don't buy everything that is on sale for $5 knowing I'll never play it all.

 

[gorcorps]

I wonder if we are going to see the same deep price cuts like we have in the past, having a game at 75% for 48hrs is different than a full two whole weeks.

Supposedly there is an Autumn sale happening next week, I guess that will be the first test with this new system.

That's up to the devs (or maybe publishers?). Looking at the notice Valve sent out in the OP link, it references that devs/publishers give Valve a max allowable sale amount. So if the discounts aren't as good, it's because Valve wasn't allowed to discount it any further.

Anyway, I like the change. I didn't have time or a strong desire to keep checking the flash sales. If everything is posted day 1, I know I can grab what I want when I see it without worry it'll be cheaper later.

 

[sweenish]

I don't see why that matters. They are now simply giving the lowest price right away.

Having their refund process not swamped, and not creating ill-will with fluctuating prices during a sale is not that hard to understand.

 

[Subyman]

Having their refund process not swamped, and not creating ill-will with fluctuating prices during a sale is not that hard to understand.

He was speaking to someone getting a lower price later, not the mechanics of the process on Valve's side.

 

[sweenish]

I was replying to you, I know what the person you quoted said.

 

[JumBie]

I don't see why that matters. They are now simply giving the lowest price right away.

Thats the reason why they are giving you the lowest price right away. Its because now that they have the refund policy they would be flooded with people wanting a refund for games that initially cost more during the sale.