A new feature is coming to Steam which will allow game developers and publishers to create their own discounts for games at any time and for whichever price they choose. Until now developers wishing to sell their games on discount via Steam had to coordinate with Valve and work within set timetables for sales. With this new option custom discounts will be available, with sales lasting up to two weeks.

The details about this upcoming feature, which first appeared on Reddit, are from a private Steamworks Development forum.

"With new Steamworks tools, you can configure your own discounts for custom sale periods or opt in to take part in upcoming weeklong sales. Once configured, the discounts will automatically start at the time specified.

You can currently configure these types of discounts for your title:

Weeklong Deals

If you wish to participate in an upcoming weeklong deal, you can select from the upcoming promotions, up to two months ahead of time. You will then just need to enter your desired discount percentage.

Custom Discount

You can also configure your own custom discount amount and date, up to two months in advance. You will be asked to enter in the dates it should run, up to a two-week maximum, and the percentage to discount by.

To configure your own discount:

First, navigate to the landing page for the product you intend to discount by selecting the product from your Steamworks home page.



On the landing page, you will see a section of store packages listed near the top.



Select the package you wish to discount.



On the package detail page, click 'Edit discounts' in the package pricing section.



You will be taken to a page that shows current pricing, past discounts, any scheduled upcoming discounts, and let you create a new discount for that package.



If you have multiple packages that sell your product (such as a deluxe edition pack), you will need to configure the same discount for each package."

The custom discounts aren't available yet, but judging by all the info, we could start seeing these developer-created sales very soon. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to scrounge up some loose change in preparation for the flood of sales that may come when this feature goes online.



Via Gamasutra.