12-20-2012, 01:05 PM
TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT
What the fuck is this?
Around most holiday seasons, Steam has massive sales wherein games sell for up to 90% off their original prices. Sure enough, today marks the first of 16 days of steam sales: December 20th through January 5th. This thread is for the discussion of sales: Hidden deals, evaluations of games that are on-sale, recommendations, and so on.
But don't we already have a game deals discussion thread?
Shut the fuck up! I mean, it's better to have a dedicated thread for this for organization's sake. Also, new threads tend to garner more attention, which is good considering the short-notice nature of these sales, which change every day, or even every few hours.
How are the sales structured?
There are a few different types of sales. There are "Daily Deals", which go up at 12pm CST every day, and stay there for 48 hours. These tend to be the biggest titles & best sales, but not always. There are "Flash Sales" which tend to last for only 10 hours, so check often for those. There are also "Publisher packs", which contain just about all of the games a publisher has put on Steam. These are arguably the best value, but chances are you already own some of the included games (extra copies are rarely transferable on Steam). Lastly, almost all steam games will have some low, constitutive discount on them (maybe -25% off), but these aren't usually advertised on the steam front-page. Oh, and there are also deals that users can vote on.
How can I make the most of this?
First, set a budget aside for yourself. If gaming is your primary source of entertainment, I don't think it's unreasonable to budget $100 or more...but I tend to go overboard. Update your wishlist, as Caffeine suggests below. Not only will this make receiving gifts easier, but Steam will now also inform you when your wishlisted games go on sale. Once you've done that, just check twice a day and look at what's being offered. There will be 16 days of sales, the longest yet, so don't spend all your cash in one go. In fact, save a bunch of cash for the last day, and do not buy games that aren't featured in a daily deal or flash sale until that last day. So, if you see Witcher 2 for -25% off now, but it's not advertised anywhere, wait. It may come up -75% later. If not, buy it on the last day.
Shoutout to Boney for being a huge gaylord
What the fuck is this?
Around most holiday seasons, Steam has massive sales wherein games sell for up to 90% off their original prices. Sure enough, today marks the first of 16 days of steam sales: December 20th through January 5th. This thread is for the discussion of sales: Hidden deals, evaluations of games that are on-sale, recommendations, and so on.
But don't we already have a game deals discussion thread?
Shut the fuck up! I mean, it's better to have a dedicated thread for this for organization's sake. Also, new threads tend to garner more attention, which is good considering the short-notice nature of these sales, which change every day, or even every few hours.
How are the sales structured?
There are a few different types of sales. There are "Daily Deals", which go up at 12pm CST every day, and stay there for 48 hours. These tend to be the biggest titles & best sales, but not always. There are "Flash Sales" which tend to last for only 10 hours, so check often for those. There are also "Publisher packs", which contain just about all of the games a publisher has put on Steam. These are arguably the best value, but chances are you already own some of the included games (extra copies are rarely transferable on Steam). Lastly, almost all steam games will have some low, constitutive discount on them (maybe -25% off), but these aren't usually advertised on the steam front-page. Oh, and there are also deals that users can vote on.
How can I make the most of this?
First, set a budget aside for yourself. If gaming is your primary source of entertainment, I don't think it's unreasonable to budget $100 or more...but I tend to go overboard. Update your wishlist, as Caffeine suggests below. Not only will this make receiving gifts easier, but Steam will now also inform you when your wishlisted games go on sale. Once you've done that, just check twice a day and look at what's being offered. There will be 16 days of sales, the longest yet, so don't spend all your cash in one go. In fact, save a bunch of cash for the last day, and do not buy games that aren't featured in a daily deal or flash sale until that last day. So, if you see Witcher 2 for -25% off now, but it's not advertised anywhere, wait. It may come up -75% later. If not, buy it on the last day.
Shoutout to Boney for being a huge gaylord