How does steam sales work? :: Steam Discussions

All Discussions > Steam Forums > Steam Discussions > Topic Details

Ash//Fox Feb 11, 2016 @ 12:47pm

How does steam sales work?

Who is in charge of what games go on sale or when? Does a publisher call of Gaben and declare they'd like to offer a free weekend on tree simulator or does Gaben call them up and declare that tree simulator will be having a free weekend whether they like it or not. Or is there some kind of negotiation but if that's the case how do they consistently have 2 or 3 titles lined up to go on sale every single weekend as well as for every mid week madness?

< >

Showing 1-8 of 8 comments

Forcen Feb 11, 2016 @ 12:51pm

The only thing I know for sure is that the publishers/devs can have sales when they want for whatever reason they want for their own games.

Also I bet the no game is required to be on sale ever, valve probably asks around and plan the big event sales from there.
Same with free weekends.

Last edited by Forcen; Feb 11, 2016 @ 12:51pm

Carolynne Feb 11, 2016 @ 12:52pm

As far I'm aware the publishers contacts Valve, not Gaben directly clearly, he have got staff for that. They suggest that the game goes on for a discount, and for how long.

Valve only have full control over their own games, other titles they're merely just a reseller of.

Quint the Alligator Snapper Feb 11, 2016 @ 3:02pm

Originally posted by The Exile:
Who is in charge of what games go on sale or when? Does a publisher call of Gaben and declare they'd like to offer a free weekend on tree simulator or does Gaben call them up and declare that tree simulator will be having a free weekend whether they like it or not. Or is there some kind of negotiation but if that's the case how do they consistently have 2 or 3 titles lined up to go on sale every single weekend as well as for every mid week madness?

Valve decides on the general sale traditions/structures/timing, such as Midweek Madness, Weekend Deal, and major sales events (such as summer and winter sales) and semi-major sales events (such as the Lunar New Year Sale going on right now).

I think for sales events, Valve sends a message to publishers asking who wants to participate, and stating any conditions (e.g. need something Halloween/horror themed for the Halloween sale). Publishers then submit their desired discount levels, and Steam implements them when the sales event happens.

Steam is a big enough platform that generally speaking publishers are dying to get publicity on it. A weekend deal featuring them is a big publicity booster.

If you have too many applicants for a particular weekend, Valve probably turns some of them down.

On the other hand, there is an active and strong incentive for publishers to find "unused" weekends to put their stuff on sale, so they get more attention.

cinedine Feb 11, 2016 @ 3:21pm

http://imgur.com/lHQCbLE

It's a screenshot of the new discount system FAQ. You have control over your own games and can apply a discount whenever you want (note that not all discounted games are associated with the weekend, midweek or weeklong sales). On going an future promotions (like this lunar new year sale or weeklong sales) are shown 2 months up front and you can chose to paticipate or not.
The featured Midweek Madness/Weekend Deals are probably still chosen by Valve.

HLCinSC Feb 11, 2016 @ 3:56pm

They probably have submission system where for example every month each pub submits titles and the discount their willing to give for the dealn if they want to be part of a highlighted/promoted daily, mid week, or weekend deal. Then they pick from those submissions and map out the advertised sales for the month.

Of course as others have said devs/pubs are free to make their own sales though they won't necessarily be featured on the store home page

wuddih Feb 11, 2016 @ 5:02pm

Valve announces the sales they plan to do internally among all devs and devs have a form if they wanna participate and at what discount.

in addition to these sales hold by Valve, the dev can put his products on sale everytime they want but not more then once every 8 weeks, the saletime is also limited to 1 week. if you participate in a weeklong sale, this is like you would have put it on sale on your own.

so you cannot be on sale by your own choice the entire time but the sales Valve holds are not counting towards that 8 week limitation, so sometimes there is the impression that some titles are on sale the entire time.

as an example, i always use this game, because the sellout is real:
https://steamdb.info/app/242800/
it is probably on sale the most possible time and also had several overall price changes 10->5->4, price changes have to be requested manually and i don't know if there are rules for it.