I think everyone knows there is a severe level of diminishing returns on their big sales recently. I've only been a PC gamer for a year and a half and I'm already sick of the games that go on sale, always the same games and usually at the same prices. I know new games come out all the time and they'll probably be in the Summer Sale I presume they're going to do, but how many of those games can 1 person actually hope to be interested in, even at sale prices. I can think of maybe 8 games I want that have come out since the Christmas Sale that I'd be interested in. Hell I haven't been excited about a Midweek Madness or Weekend Deal in about 2 months. And some games just never go on sale, I have some niche games in my wishlist but I've never been alerted that they're on sale, that's probably more on the developers side than Steam but it still bugs me, I can't even get excited that those games will be in the next sale because I know there's zero chance they will....

Last sale I tried to keep up with the 8 hour flash sales but i don't think I'll even bother this time.So does anyone else feel disillusioned about Steam Sales?

PS. I know its kind of dumb to complain about discounts but shouldn't we expect better?

We shouldn't encourage a race to the bottom through sales just because we've all been overzealous at one time or another buying games we don't have the time to play, just so we can buy more.

Buy less, play more is my plan.

I still pay attention, but after you've gone through your first few sales, there isn't much left to buy other than what's come out in the last year or so.

They have enough events/prizes/dumb stuff going on that I still enjoy them though.

I think the sales were a lot better when they focused on publisher/indie bundles, I guess humble bundle has filled that void nicely though.

Umm I love the sales, I love that I was able to grab Arma 3 for 35 bucks, between Steam Sales and the Humble Bundle I have a fuckton of games on a platform that I can put on any of my computers.

I love sales, I'm able to get my hands on way more games then I would otherwise.

Between past Steam sales and my console collection, I have so many games to play that Steam sales have pretty much completely lost their magic. And any new new games that get released, I just buy those at regular price right when they come out. I don't think I even checked the frontpage of Steam during the last few big sales because I couldn't think of anything I would buy even if the sale price was dirt cheap. I already had anything I gave a shit about and I'm done buying games just for the hell of it.

I've completely tuned out the Steam store at this point. I buy games I've already decided to buy, but I never ever browse. There's just too much going on, the only category that's even mildly useful is top sellers, but even that gets filled with garbage. Haven't bought a single game from any of their big sales in years, in fact at this point I find it more annoying when they run the big sales as it just adds another layer of shit I have to wade through to find the game I'm looking for.

I get that they're making a bunch of money on it, but man...

I personally don't feel that way at all. I adore the sales as it allows me to play more games then I would normally be able to. When a big sale hits, I usually only buy around 5-10 games that I REALLY want to play. I stay away from buying games just for the sake of them being cheap. I might even let a few slip until next time. Because of this, I never feel like there's a lack of games on sale that I'm interested in. Also, like you said, new games come out all the time that are inevitably going to go on sale. This only makes each new big sale worthwhile for me. I suppose if I bought everything I saw, or were sent games for free like members of the game's press, I might feel the same way. I just can't relate to that mindset, though.

I've bought most of what I want already and there isn't much left. At this point it's just spending money for the sake of it.

I have like 30 games on my wishlist that are waiting for price drop to buy so yea, still like the sales. Only suckers buy games day one when they are, and have proven to be unfinished.

yes im so sick of these constant sales GAAAAAAAAAAWD

i demand everything be full price and NOOOOOOOOW

i dont want my money at AAAAALLLLL

@pinner458: It sound like there just aren't a lot of games you want. So obviously, games you don't want... for less money, is still uninteresting.

I, and I'm sure many others, have a ton of older games I want to play, and a limited budget, so I'm absolutely looking forward to the Summer Sale.

I bought The Witcher 2 yesterday for like 3 bucks and I'm not ashamed of it. :)

Someone else mentioned it, but I pretty much already bought all the games I'm interested in from past steam sales. There's a few games that will come out and I'll wait until a sale to get sure, but the general buzz and excitement of "oh boy! the steam sale!" has well and truly gone for me.

O GOD YOUR LIFE IS SO HARD.

YOUR PROBLEMS SO IMMENSE.

ALL THESE GAMES ON SALE I ALREADY OWN.

sorry but this op is alllll asshole.

ive got a MASSIVE backlog, and i think i could probably literally buy nothing else for the next two or so years and keep myself fulfilled. that said, it either low attention span or need to collect or OOH IT'S CHEAP or something that compels me to keep picking up things, een if i'll barely or never play them. one thought is the money i may save from not buying shit for a few months could help towards a kickass new computer, and i'll have plenty to play in the meantime.

that said, my buying habits have drifted more towards buying stuff through the year on daily sales, rather than in huge gluts during seasonal sales.

If a game comes out and I know I want it, I pay full price. If a game comes out and I'm not sure about it but the general buzz is good, I wait for a sale. If a game comes out and I don't want it, I don't buy it.

I dunno, sales are cool.

Some people are in dire need of self control.

Complaining that you already own everything that goes on sale is crazy. Complaining that only new games that came out since the last major sale are new to being on sale for the next major sale is crazy. What is Valve supposed to do? Materialize hundreds of new games out of thin air to continue having hundreds of new games on sales every time?

Being less excited because you don't have as much to buy this time around is inevitable as time goes on but complaining about Steam for it is so fucking petty.

You should be. That game is fantastic and it's worth a lot more than 3 bucks.

Yes. Why would I no longer want games for less?

Also, I see games on my wishlist go on sale all the time, still.

I don't think they should go away. I don't personally participate in them, at least in part because I have a ton of unfinished games laying around and in part because I don't have a ton of money laying around, but having so many sales is a perk for PC gamers.

I still care about Steam Sales because I've now been conditioned to only buy the games I'm most excited for on sale and the rest when they're dirt cheap.

@pyrodactyl: I agree and I would probably pay full price for that game like I did for the first one. But hey, it's a sale and I don't feel bad about it. :)

Instead of launching an attack on me personally why don't you just shoot the idea down since there are other people agreeing with me.

I still like sales, but I must admit that I have been having more success with Green Man gaming for good deals on new releases while heading over to GOG for older games.

What bothers me most about Steam sales recently is their huge push of Early Access titles. I find it kinda shady that a bunch of unfinished titles are trying to suck people in with super low prices. I feel like it ends up being detrimental to the developers of these titles as well because you have people buying into these games because they are on sale and not because they necessarily want to support the game and are 100% familiar with the concept of buying an unfinished game.

https://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1920&bih=955&q=first+world+problems&oq=first+world+problems&gs_l=img.3..0l10.1921.4803.0.4890.20.15.0.5.5.0.304.1810.7j7j0j1.15.0....0...1ac.1.45.img..5.15.897.kCeAWTMEXBU

The hasn't been a proper Steam sale for a while, still get super hyped when the is one, but now that so many stores do them and the rise of Humble Bundles they don't seem as special anymore.

What?

It's a store. Just like every other store on the internet you find what you want by using the search. Why are you wading through shit?

No freaking kidding.

I bought it when it was on sale about a month or two after release for 40 bucks, and even I thought that was stealing. It's easily one of the best games I have played in the past 5 years.

I recently got a PC worth talking about so I've missed out on the steam sales. I personally can't wait for the next one! I'm sure there's a lot of people like myself who are just getting into PC gaming.

As any other store it operates with a "display". Yes, if you know exactly what you want you can go in and find it (as I do), but the quality of the "display" determines how likely you are to pick up something you hadn't already decided to get. A few years ago taking a browse through things like their new releases or coming soon categories (or even just opening the frontpage) actually had a decent chance of revealing something interesting.

i dont mind the sales. i check em and if i find something that i dont have and want ill get it then sometimes i find something i have never heard of at such a low price that i might as well buy it.
and also i sometimes discover a game that i diddent know was on steam and had not thought about in a very long time. like marc echo's getting up and i buy it.
lastly if i take myself out of the equation. it gives people who dont have an extreme amount of funds to buy games a chance to get a buch of games. and try older games.
like i bought tropico 4 because it was on sale never tried it. never really gave it a thought. i loved it so much and it was the sole reason i bought tropico 5.
so i kinda dont get your point. other then the sale it self feels meaningless the more you have bought but still

Yes. People still care.

Yes. People still care.

I check the first couple pages of the specials tab every day. Just, y'know. In case. I'm not at all shy about pulling the trigger when something pops up, but I will at least agree in part that Early Access games only dilute the quality of the experience. I would sooner have a list of five real games be on sale that I already own than 100 F2P content packs and early access nonsense. There should be a toggle in steam to just turn everything flagged Early Access off, because I'm sure as hell not going to pay for it.

The easy answer is duh. There will always be new games coming out and new games going on sale, that people will want to but. I think its kind of a silly question to ask. I do think Steam hit a sweet spot a couple years back with their sales. I think it was because there weren't as many game bundles and other deals going on at the time. Now I get weekly emails of so-and-so's new bundle or some sale.

But really it just sounds like you just don't like the games going on sale on Steam.

I don't even OWN a Steam sale!

*tips fedora, fades back into shadows*

I'm sure it's been said already, but your first and maybe second Steam sale are the best ones. It seems incredible. Everything after seems lame, because you probably already have everything you want already. Also you have sites like GMG that have better offers IMHO, though less selection.

Yes absolutely, even tho I already own 99% of everything I would want to on Steam, occasionally new games come out that I just don't think are worth the full asking price at release, but somewhere down the road when there is little else to play I'll pick up that B tier probably severely flawed curiosity for 5 bucks and not give a shit if it turns out I don't like it, if I do - bonus.

Not really... I got all the old games I want and I get the new ones when they come out. Generally I use the sales for games I'm only a little interested in and want to try out at a reduced price.

Your first few Steam sales are always the best, because you end up buying publisher packs and getting like 30 games for $40, etc. Once you've gone through a couple you probably have most of what you want, and then the sales just become hoping that the specific games you want end up going on sale.

There's nothing wrong with that, though. As far as I know Steam is still enjoying a 100% year-to-year growth in the number of users, so there will always be people who are seeing their first Steam Sale event. The last few have been pretty lame with the focus on trading cards and badges, but I used to love the sales from 5 years ago where they'd do all the meta achievements for games and stuff. Also, I don't buy games for more than $20, so there are always still games that have either come out in the last year and haven't been on sale yet, or were on sale but not cheap enough for me to buy. I have 700 games on Steam and I still have 100 on my wishlist.

TL;DR Steam sales are what you make of them.

Serious question

What would be better?

Well, yeah. I have no money.

I demand all games be 1 dollar forever. Seriously though, there needs to be some kind of return on investment for Steam, they don't make a ton of money on some $5 game.

I have steam in offline mode at all times.

The constant bombardment of deals and pretty much ruined pc games for me. I have to many games that I have invested no money in that makes me feel like there is no reason to play them since I have invested so little. For example if I spend 60 on a game I am going to play the shit out of that game so that it was worth it. But I have so many games on steam that I haven't even installed, they look fun but I feel like why bother if there is nothing to gain or lose.

I am defiantly on the side of people that think all these sales maybe is not a good thing. If a bunch of people bought my game then that's great, but it means nothing if there is no community around the game people actually playing and engaging.

The only reason they are less interesting to me now is because I already own 500 steam games sobit's harder for me to find awesome deals. That said though i still find games to buy every sale.

I usually only have just enough to buy just what I am able to play even sales are going on, so If I have money and there is a sale, you bet I'm gonna take advantage of it if its a game I like.