Steam, now synonymous with PC gaming, is also notorious for its devastatingly amazing sales periods. These are dense bursts of a week or more when they offer you the most massive discounts on games imaginable, and entice you to buy loads of games and bundle packs simply because the games on sale are so damn cheap. There have been jokes and memes and webcomics abound that make fun of this culture in gaming to go crazy doing Steam sales and pick up a whole bunch of games that you might not even end up playing.
Well, to help you counter that this year, as well as... well, enticing you to buy even more games, Valve have played a new ploy. This summer sale, everything you do on the Steam sale, whether it is voting for the next flash sale, playing your favourite (compatible) games or buying games off virtual shelves, you get Steam trading cards — in particular, Getaway cards.Steam introduced this concept of Trading Cards during gameplay a few months ago. Simply put, if you play any Steam game that is participating in the programme, you get virtual card drops simply for playing more of the game. This is unlike achievements and requires you to only have the game running. Once you collect these cards, there’s a whole marketplace to explore, collect and trade said cards for booster packs, crafting Steam badges to show off on your profile, or sell for actual money in your Steam wallet to... surprise surprise, buy more games.
This Steam sale, a lot more games are participating in the program, and many of the featured titles on the storefront support cards. Not only is this an extra layer of incentive to buy these games on the sale and get cards for purchasing that may later go on for sale at high prices, but it also entices one to buy and play many more games simply for the added novelty and profit of collecting said cards. At least you’ll play them for some time. Or even install them. Smart move, Valve.