Gold-Plated Games

I’ve been rounding up Weeklong Deals for nearly five years now, and I’ve seen a lot change on Steam in that time. The biggest change, and certainly the main reason why I’m making this announcement now, is that the Weeklong Deals have sprawled out of control. What used to be a list of a few hundred games is now over six thousand to comb through, taking orders of magnitude more time to review than ever before. They’ve also taken on a different complexion, now including pretty much anything that isn’t a short-term or weekend feature, as well as the absolutely explosive volume of adult games that have risen on Steam.

Covering the Weeklong Deals was a lot more appealing when it was a weird collection of obscure games, not a massive percentage of the overall store. I don’t think I’m the only person who feels like this, either, because I’ve been watching the readership of Weeklong Deals features on the site here dwindle significantly. There are more factors at work there, of course, including the increased frequency of seasonal and franchise sales over the years. But the result is the same, that even with more games on sale than ever before, it’s a less exciting feature than ever before.

All this is to say, I think the time for Weeklong Deal roundups has passed. It’s become a lot more work, and a lot less fun, for a lot less impact. It’s always hard to let go of something that becomes tradition, especially one that’s been around for so many years, but I can’t stay tied to features that have run their course. On the bright side, our Steam Curator page does a similar job to our roundups on the Discounts tab, filtering everything the store has on sale down to the games we’ve reviewed. If you’re one of the few fans of the Weeklong Deals left, I heartily encourage you to frequent our Curator page each week for a similar fix.

We’re no strangers to change around here, and hopefully this one isn’t too impactful for most. For my part, I’ll be focusing more on keeping up with new reviews weekly, especially our ongoing Serious Samathon (which has been even more fun to do than I was expecting). As always, thank you for your support, and for dropping by to read for a bit!