Years ago, my crew looked forward to Steam sales, not for the insipid minigames but for the flash sales. They constituted a minigame all on their own, as we checked back on Steam over and over, hunting for the best deal.
Of course, as VG247 points out, plenty of people hated these sales, suffering from buyer’s remorse if the game they got for 50% off was 66% off the following day. Consequently, many people just waited until the last day of the sale to buy anything, and then sometimes missed out. Then when Valve made refunds much easier, it did away with these types of events altogether, presumably because it figured people would refund and rebuy to get a lower price.
But I’m a bargain-hunter, so I loved it, and I loved the camaraderie that swirled around sharing the deals too. Without those sales, I make my list of Steam sales on the first day for MOP, buy a couple of things, and never go back or even think about the sale again.
And if you’re on my side, you’ll be intrigued to hear that Valve might be bringing back the flash sales; if the rumors are true, devs will apparently be able to select flash sale blocks from six to 12 hours, “making the sales feel more like an event again.”
I've just been informed that @steam_games Flash Sales are returning, with a twist. Devs can chose for the sales to last 6, 8, 10 or 12 hours, shaking up sales almost every hour, and making sales feel more like an event again. pic.twitter.com/zbGtKYQBCt
— Tyler "Passionate Gamer" McVicker (@Tyler_McV) August 3, 2018
As we wrote earlier this week, Steam is experiencing a surprising decline in active users in 2018; this could certainly shake things up.
