How to Get the Best Deals During Steam Sales
Big Steam sales can be a great way to save on games, but it’s not always a guarantee you’re getting the best deal on a given game during a given sale. Here’s how to ensure you’re getting the most for your money.
The seasonal Steam sales—especially the big Summer Sale—have been a great way to save money on games since they were introduced over a decade ago.
But just like when you’re looking at a markdown price tag at your local department store, sometimes what looks like a great sale isn’t always a great sale—or even a sale at all. Let’s look at some simple strategies to ensure you’re not wasting your money.
Lots of different retailers have wishlist functions and you might have gotten used to ignoring them. Steam’s wishlist function is actually pretty useful, however.
It’s not just a place to park things and forget about them, Steam actively monitors the list and fires off an email when games on your wishlist go on sale.
This is particularly useful because it’s not dependent on big sales, the wishlist notification will trigger for any discount, not just when a game is discounted for the Summer Sale or such. When Double Fine Productions released Psychonauts 2 in August of 2021, for example, the developer deeply discounted the original Psychonauts as part of a new-release promotion—but independent of any major sale.
The default Steam list doesn’t track prices—it won’t tell you that something is one sale right now but it was on a better sale three months ago—but it’s first-party and the most reliable way to get notified when a game you’re interested in on Steam is on sale.
The nod to Psychonauts is a good place to point out the money-saving power of publisher sales and bundles.
Publisher sales are when a publisher discounts games
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