Steam Getting New Discount Rules: No More Discounts of More than 90% or Less than 10%

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Image: Steam

Valve has confirmed via a Steamworks page that it will be implementing new discounting rules for Steam beginning on March 28, 2022.

Developers and/or publishers will no longer be allowed to discount a game by more than 90% beyond that date, a seemingly disappointing change for gamers who lean toward historical lows and have the patience to wait for the cheapest possible price for a game. That said, developers will also no longer be able to discount a title by less than 10%, which, as some folks at r/pcgaming have pointed out, is beneficial in that companies won’t be able to get their titles on Steam’s Specials page just by setting measly discounts, some of which might be as insulting as just 5% or less.

Valve’s Steamworks page on discount rule changes also echoes previous coverage of Steam’s cooldown period for sales changing on March 28. Instead of six weeks, companies will have the option of putting their games on discount every four weeks (28 days), with one exception being major store-wide seasonal sales

Discount Rule Changes, March 28, 2022 (Steamworks)

Policy Change Overview

  • Starting on March 28, 2022, the time between discounts run on Steam will change from six weeks to 4 weeks (28 days). This means a minimum of 28 days between the end of one discount and the start of another discount.
  • This discount cooldown period applies to all types of promotions and discounts across Steam, with the only exceptions being our four major store-wide seasonal sales: Lunar New Year Sale, Summer Sale, Autumn Sale, and Winter Sale.

Specific Discounting Rules

  • You can run a launch discount, but once your launch discount ends, you cannot run any other discounts for 28 days.
  • It is not possible to discount your product for 28 days following a price increase in any currency.
  • Discounts cannot be run within 28 days of your prior discount, with the exception of Steam-wide seasonal events.
  • Discounts for seasonal sale events cannot be run within 28 days of releasing your title, within 28 days from when your launch discount ends, or within 28 days of a price increase in any currency.
  • You may not change your price while a promotion is live now or scheduled for the future.
  • It is not possible to discount a product by more than 90% or less than 10%.
  • Custom discounts cannot last longer than two weeks, or run for shorter than 1 day.
Tsing Mui
News poster at The FPS Review.

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