Happy Holidays! It's Steam Sale Time!‏

Happy holidays everyone! With another holiday comes another Steam sale, naturally. And while the sales haven't been too amazing yet this year, I still managed to pick up one game I wanted so far: Spacebase DF-9. Of course since I got it during a Steam sale I have yet to play it, but I'll be sure to get to it soon and let you know how it is.

Back to it now! Much the same as any year, the main avenues for sales are the daily deals, the flash sales and the community choice. However, Valve has actually done something a bit different this year with their sale. Daily deals are much the same (not sure what they could possibly change in the first place about that), the flash sales now last 12 hours instead of 8, but they bumped up the total of games per selection to 6 from 4. The community choice also got a switcheroo. Now each of the 3 games is on sale, but one of the games (the one with the most community votes) gets a bonus discount. The community choice is also around for the entire day like the daily deal instead of being like the flash sales of old, which were 8 hours long if you've been following.

If I look at these changes from a developer's point of view, I like them. When Sang Froid was a part of its first Steam Sale, it partook in a flash sale. It was incredibly lucrative to be on the front page of Steam during a Sale. Being a daily deal would have been amazing, but I'm still glad we were there for 8 hours. Had the system worked the way it does now then, we would have probably sold 50% more copies, being up for an extra 4 hours. Now the only downside to the 12 hour flash sale is time slots. The obvious best time slot is between 1pm-1am, not the other way around. Now I know Steam is a global affair, but a large majority of people that buy steam games are North American, so having your sale during the afternoon / evening is just better.

The Community choice change is just better all round. All 3 games stay on the sale they were advertised, with the winner getting a boost. Added fact that they stay advertised on the front page all day even if they didn't win is just gravy for the games selected.

From a consumer's perspective, I actually think this change sucks. The best part about the sale is seeing all the games change on a regular basis. Now it only changes twice a day instead of every 8 hours, slowing the pace, and only 6 games change in total. It's kind of boring if you ask me.

The changes are good for the devs, but less exciting for the gamers, at least that's what I think. What says you? How do you like the new changes to the Steam Sale?