With the infamous, bank account destroying, life ruining Steam Summer Sale finally upon us, I figured it would be wise to give you all some insight into making the best of the deals Valve makes available.
Firstly, if it’s not a Daily Deal, Flash Sale, or Community Choice item, DON’T waste your money. These are the best deals around and most if not all Sale games, especially AAA titles end up in one of the sales by the end of the sale (July 22nd).
Second, buy everything as a gift item. This puts all of your purchases into your gift inventory and gives you the option of redeeming games for your account or just having the code and being able to sell or give it to another Steam user via forums and Ebay. This helps prevent that “darn, I bought a game and was on a flash sale for cheaper” moments where you’re stuck with a game you could have gotten for cheaper.
Thirdly, there are A LOT of games on sale during the Steam Summer Sale. As of writing this, there are currently over 1,600 different items on sale via Steam. Use these sites to find hidden gems that Steam might not be plastering all over the featured games tab:
Here’s a hand infographic I found on Reddit in case you’re having trouble following these guidelines:
creddit: Steam Summer Sale Guidelines
One more thing to mention is to browse gaming forums and Ebay for posters selling codes as A LOT of people will buy up 10 or 15 copies of a game and then sell it after it’s removed from the Summer Sale at a moderate or comparable discount.
All things considered, despite the absence of developer bundles from previous Steam Sales, this year’s sale is off to a big start with AAA games like Bioshock: Infinite and Borderlands 2 going for 50% and 66% off retail price.
Let us know of any good deals you come across in the comments and be sure to buy wisely!