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The changes mean developers will be able to reduce their prices more often and easily.
Valve has revealed the dates of all the Steam sales coming in the first half of 2022, including the big Summer Sale in July, and is also making some changes to its sale policies that will hopefully make life a little easier for developers—and give gamers more opportunities to spend their money.
First things first, the upcoming roster of Steam’s seasonal and thematic sales:
This isn’t a comprehensive list of Steam events coming in the first half of the year. Valve said it will be hosting more themed sales throughout 2022, » to shine a light on many of the interesting themes and genres prevalent on Steam,» and there will also be regional sales and others organized by external groups for events like PAX and Gamescom.
Valve is also making changes on the developer side that it hopes will «make discount eligibility more predictable and allow for more participation opportunities throughout the year.» Under the current rules, there must be a six-week cooldown period between discounts on games, aside from the big seasonal sales; effective March 28, that cooldown will be reduced to 28 days, with exceptions for the seasonal sales being maintained.
Here’s the full rundown of the new rules:
It’s not a seismic shift from the gamer perspective, but it does mean that games can be put on sale more often over the course of the year, and that you will thus have more opportunities to throw your money at them. Because if there’s one thing we’re all suffering from, it’s a shortage of Steam sales, right?
Steam is currently in the midst of its Lunar New Year Sale for 2022. It runs until February 3.
Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.
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