Valve says that from early 2027, Steam's Discounts & Events area will move away from manually scheduled placements towards something more dynamic and personalised, with each player seeing a different set of discounted games. Unlike the dynamic and elastic pricing currently being tested by Xbox and PlayStation stores respectively, Valve's approach isn't about changing prices. It's more about which games get shown to you.
Valve has been experimenting with these dynamic discounts for the past few months, swapping some curated spots for personalised recommendations. According to the company, that has let it show ten times more games to customers in a single day, along with noticeable bumps in store page visits, wishlists, and cart additions.
The company hasn't given a firm date, saying it is still tuning the details and doesn't expect things to be perfect straight away. What it has said is that the curated calendar will be fully retired sometime early next year. Scheduling of curated placements, including Weekend Deals, Midweek Deals, and Daily Deals, has already been paused, and developers are getting new and updated tools to manage their own discounts and sales.
Some developers are already seeing the effects of a more dynamic Discounts and Events section. Hooded Horse CEO Tim Bender said the section used to lean heavily on best-sellers but now surfaces indie games with anywhere from under a hundred to a few thousand reviews. By his account, some small games went from essentially zero visits to a few thousand, while a couple of larger titles saw more mixed results, with one gaining traffic and another dropping compared with earlier months.
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Valve's pitch is that developers can focus on making good games and deals rather than trying to convince someone at the company to feature them. For anyone who scrolls past the current sales section without a glance, a storefront that actually knows your tastes is a fair trade. Just don't expect it to be flawless on day one.
