Steam Summer Sale hasn't even started yet, but its new "Deep Discounts" category boasts 95% off reductions and has my wallet quaking

Steam Summer Sale is coming back to haunt our wallets with a ridiculous amount of reductions on games big and small, and a new "Deep Discounts" category threatens to bankrupt us all.

Valve announced that the annual Steam Summer Sale would return this Thursday, June 27, at 10am PT/ 6pm BST to bring massive discounts on literally "thousands" of games. The trailer below promises price tag slashes for the incredible survival platformer Rain World, monster-tamer/monster-exploiter Palworld, the year's biggest city-builder Manor Lords, and social media satire Content Warning, among others.

Now that we're past the summer solstice, it's time for us to announce the Steam Summer Sale! Starting this Thursday at 10am Pacific, check out thousands of sunny discounts, a brand new set of (seagull!) stickers, new profile goodies, and the return of the cat.See you Thursday! pic.twitter.com/JTfBdv0Dq2June 24, 2024

What stood out to me the most, however, was a terrifying tease at the end. "Plus, wait until you see the fun new category we're doing of Summer Sale Deep Discounts," the trailer's voiceover says, alongside 90-95% off tags flying over games such as Celeste, Batman: Arkham Knight, and Borderlands 2.

Article continues below

Some Redditors are guessing that Valve might resurrect its retired Flash Sales where, in addition to standard discounts in any given sale, some games would get further price cuts for a limited time. A game might be 25% off for the entire Steam Summer Sale and then fall to 75% off for a few hours, for instance. Others reckon it'll just be a tab featuring historically low prices or a bargain bin sale situation. Either way, it's menacing as hell.

My wallet is definitely quaking regardless. Adding a bunch of $4 games to the cart seems harmless at first. $4 is almost nothing. It won't hurt me to lose $4. It'll help the economy or the indie devs who made these discounted games, right? Right. Until the cart is practically toppling over with $4 games that I won't have time to play for another six months. But that's the eternal struggle we gamers have to live with.

Steam Summer Sale starts on June 27 and runs until July 11.

For more, check out the Steam Next Fest cosy town-builder about “doodling castles” that just rocketed past one million wishlists.

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.