Valve's annual Steam Autumn sale is live but there's a twist

Shawn Knight

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The annual Steam Autumn sale – this year, dubbed the Exploration Sale – is now live. Before rushing over to check out the deals, you’ll want to know that Valve is taking a different approach with this year’s sale.

As usual, shoppers can expect discounts on hundreds of different games including half off Life is Strange: Episode 1 (normally $4.99), Spintires (usually $29.99), The Crew (also normally sold for $29.99) and Cities: Skylines (down from $29.99 to just $14.99).

Also of interest is the 3D Realms Anthology, a 32-game mega collection of classic Apogee / 3D Realms games that can be had for $9.99, or 75 percent off. This could be one of your last opportunities to buy the collection as it will no longer be offered after the New Year.

What’s different this year is the fact that Valve has retired its revolving selection of daily and flash sales. Instead, all discounts will remain the same throughout the sale, regardless of whether or not they’re featured on the front page.

This is sure to upset some as the perception will be that developers will be less inclined to offer their games at a mega discount for the duration of the sale. On the other hand, consistent pricing means you won’t need to continually refresh the front page to see hot deals – time that can be spent doing other things, like playing the games you’ve just purchased.

The Steam Autumn Exploration sale runs through 10 am PST on December 1.

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Based on this information, it seems that if nothing shows up today then I could ignore the whole sales?
 
Kinda thorn between both worlds really. it was thrilling to come back every 12 hours and check what wonderful games will have ridiculous sales and then consider buying them now or later.

On the other hand now its calm and you don't have to fear that its gonna be cheaper tomorrow. So you can do all your purchases at once. I should be glad but somehow... I dunno... I miss the thrill.
 
Thanks Steam, because everybody hates when the game they want gets a 90% off discount...
Pressing F5 every 4 hours was practically a sport for some of us, now it's gone.
Based on this information, it seems that if nothing shows up today then I could ignore the whole sales?
Yes it does.
 
It's a sore spot for those who would like to come back, see a really insane deal and then try to nab it. Just I find this is sorta fair for those, that might otherwise want some time to think about it. Also this will be the same for the Winter sale, which is supposed to be around the 22nd of December or so. I'm welcome to the idea we don't need to be eagle eyed, and up every so often as to not miss a really amazing deal.

Yes we now have mobile Steam which means, you don't have to be at home for such things. Still it's not always something, you can just pull the trigger on without some sort of thought. Especially with the sales of a game / bundle that might drop said price lower, leading you to being upset over spending that bit extra.
 
Are the minimum specs for Wolfenstein New Order really core i7 CPU? That seems extreme.....
 
The trouble with this new style of Steam Sale is that there's a very good chance I won't be making any impulse buys. If I've got to manual go look for games, it's unlikely I'll come across something new that I would otherwise have purchased if it was shown to me on the front page.

Never mind. I still have four games in my basket at the moment.
 
Since they are giving now 2 weeks time to rethink your buying decision (full refund if you didn't play for 2+ hours), they just reduced their own tedious money returning work.
 
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