LogInValve has provided detailed information on changes in its discount policy confining the game makers to offer a minimum discount of 10% and maximum discount of 90%.
Valve is making changes to its rules regarding games sales and discounts. At the beginning of February, the company announced that starting March 28 the discount cycles will be reduced to 28 days, meaning that 28 days must pass before the game will be eligible for a new sale. Recently, Valve has provided further information on its discount policy revealing the full list of rule changes.
- Developers can run a launch discount, but when it ends, they cannot run any other discounts for the 28 days period.
- If a price increases in any currency, the game makers won't be able to discount their product for 28 days following this increase.
- Discounts can't be run within 28 days of the prior discount, with the exception of Steam-wide seasonal events including Lunar New Year Sale, Summer Sale, Autumn Sale, and Winter sale.
- Seasonal sales discounts can't be run within 28 days of releasing the game, within 28 days from when the launch discount ends, as well as within 28 days of a price increase in any currency.
- The devs are not allowed to change the price while a promotion is live or scheduled for the future.
- Discounts on games cannot exceed 90% or be less than 10%.
- Customized discounts cannot last longer than two weeks or run for shorter than one day.
The bottom line is that the game makers will be able to run discounts more often. At the same time, the new discount policy seems to be aimed to prevent anti-consumer behavior as the new documentation reads that "it is not possible to discount a product by more than 90% or less than 10%." Previously, the devs could apply any discount, for instance, just 1% as the only rule was that it wasn't allowed to discount a product 100%. The new rules suggest more fair conditions confining developers and publishers to offer a minimum discount of 10%.
You can read Valve's full announcement here. Also, don't forget to join our new Reddit page, our new Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, where we are sharing breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.