Steam recently announced new discounts rules coming to its store next month. With the Steam Deck confirmed to release with Elden Ring on February 25, the company is set to have a big first quarter of 2022. New discount rules mean more Steam transitions and the ability for developers to sell their games at cheaper prices more frequently.
Prior to the announced Steam changes on February 2, game developers had to wait a total of six weeks before the studious could start another discount for its games. This, of course, didn't include the yearly holiday sales: Lunar New Year Sale, Summer Sale, Autumn Sale, and Winter Sale. Moreover, the original six-week period (42 days) where developers had to wait to put their games on discount has now been reduced down to a four-week waiting period (28 days). This change will make Steam's most popular 2022 games more accessible to players, for cheaper prices. Additionally, there are some specific discounting rules being brought in, and users will want to know about those as well.
Steam's new 2022 sale change will allow game developers to make its games more readily discounted, which means cheaper games for players and more revenue for studios. Since the pandemic began, more people have incorporated video games into their regular routine, and there's no doubt that Steam's discount change is due in part to the growth of the industry over the past two years. Some developers were frustrated with waiting six weeks to put games back on sale, so this will fix that issue.
Steam's Specific Discounting Rules Will Allow For More Game Sales
Steamworks Documentation has already released an official layout of the upcoming discount and sale changes beginning on March 28. In short, once games finish a discount campaign, 28 days (essentially a month cycle) will need to pass before that particular game can be discounted again, unless it's a Halloween, Autumn, or Winter Steam sale. This is much quicker than the past month and a half cycle that it was on. Also, games can no longer be discounted for less than 10% or more than 90% of the original price. This is good for buyers because it guarantees a fixed price range for all games on sale, and it gets rid of the rare 5% discounts that aren't really worth buying any more than the full price.
It looks like most discounts won't last more than two weeks but will have to be at least two days long once the new rules are implemented. Overall, these new discount and sale changes will boost sales on Steam and provide better opportunities for players to get games that they want for a good price. Steam has recently also added in new smaller features - like finally showing required space before downloading games. Once these new rules have been implemented for a while, the community may see an update to them if they're not working out for the benefit of everyone, like Steam is likely hoping it'll do.
Source: Steamworks Documentation