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Steam changes up discount rules

Steam changes up discount rules

Valve has made some alterations to how price cuts on Steam are handled.

In an update on Steamworks, the firm said that as of March 28th, developers and publishers will be able to do discounts on their titles every 28 days. Previously, the time between price cuts was six weeks.

The only exceptions to this rule are the four sales event that Valve holds on Steam every year; the Lunar New Year Sale, Summer Sale, Autumn Sale and Winter Sale.

Valve has also said that developers and publishers are also unable to discount their game for 28 days after increasing the price in any currency, likely to curb false price cuts.

It is also not possible to discount a game by more than 90 per cent or by less than 10 per cent.

"We know that being able to plan ahead is really important for running your business. Today we have news of a few items we’ve designed to help schedule and manage pricing discounts," Valve wrote. 

"We’re announcing some new policies around the timing of discounts. These will be taking effect on March 28 and are intended to make discount eligibility more predictable and allow for more participation opportunities throughout the year." 


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.