Valve giving devs option to set own discounts on Steam

Steam developers can now set sales periods and discounts on their own, Valve has revealed.

The news broke originally when an anonymous developer posted an image of the new tools on Reddit, with Valve subsequently confirming the leak.

"As with the addition of a ‘Recently Updated’ section to Steam, this is another effort to shorten the distance between developers and customers," Valve’s Doug Lombardi told Polygon.

"This new Steamworks tool allows developers to configure discounts for their own products, on their own schedules. They can define custom sale periods or opt in to regularly scheduled sales. This will enable developers to better coordinate their promotions with events, announcements, or major updates they are planning for their products."

Steam’s week-long sales can be opted into up to two months in advance, and self-created sales can also be set up to two months prior for up to a two-week period.

Prior to the new Steamworks tool, Valve and developers had to work together to create individual sales and coordinate ahead of Steam’s popular seasonal promotions.