We’re a few weeks away from the Steam Summer Sale, which after so many years I’ve come to think of ‘let’s build a backlog’ sale. Not everything is crazy good, but there’s so much that is, that I’ve developed an interesting habit.

The Steam wishlist sends me emails when something goes on sale. I’m so accustomed to this now that I rarely buy anything at 50% off, because there’s bound to be a better sale in the future. Star Wars Outlaws goes on 50% sale every month. Is it really a sale or are you just paying a higher price because you can’t control your impulse?

The Summer + Winter sales tend to be even larger, so within a month or so I tend to simply wait. It’s like not buying yourself anything a couple weeks before your birthday or Christmas, you may end up with it as a gift. Most times, I can pick up games for less than $10 that would ‘normally’ be $70+. At that price point, I can take a few more gambles on games where I’m just not sure if I’ll like it. It’s cheaper than a pint at the rink!

What then happens, twice a year, is that I build a backlog of games that I will select over the coming months. I’ve often used the front page of Steam to find games during the sales, but over the years have instead paid attention to various curators and just plop things down on my wishlist instead. That list is about 50 long now, and nearly everything on it won’t be purchased until the sale comes across. (There are some items that are announced and not released, wishlisted to keep track.)

All of this benefits me. I am conscious that for smaller developers this is less than ideal, and depending on the team, I may just end up buying it early. Some will never go on sale (Factorio notably), so there is some wiggle room here. The largest impacts are on the big companies though, where price points are $60+. Square Enix in particular has horrendous pricing, and I picked up the entire Kingdom Hearts series for $20 in the Winter Sale. Normal price point is over $200.

For the next 2 weeks, I’ll be adding to my wishlist. There’s a lot of amazing games out there, would be nice to increase the backlog with some quality items found at a good price!