Enhancing the Steam Experience: New Deal Program Metrics Unveiled
Valve has rolled out a new update to Steamworks that provides developers with additional information on Steam’s Daily Deals program.
Developers can now access a post-promotion summary on their dashboard that displays earnings and impressions generated during the sale period, thereby allowing them to “better understand how well their game performed during the Daily Deal event.”
Additionally, there will be a log for previous promotions that includes its own earnings and traffic data. If multiple games were featured in a Daily Deal, or if a single game had several variations (such as a deluxe edition), these will also be included in the summaries.
Finally, the Daily Deals program will now feature six slots, an increase from the previous four. According to Valve, the four slots “allowed Steam to better match the appropriate game with the right player,” a goal it intends to maintain. “This enables us to highlight more games while providing us with a broader array of offers to choose from and connect with the right user as they browse the homepage and other areas where the Daily Deal is displayed.”
In its FAQ, Valve explained that the six Daily Deals will continue to cycle through a prioritization algorithm that considers a player’s gaming history and pairs them with the most current Daily Deals listing. The promotions and their placement on the homepage will still differ “based on the games that individual plays.”
How Steam’s Daily Deals performed in 2024
Alongside the recent Steamworks update, Valve shared some insights on the performance of Daily Deals in 2024. Throughout the year, this program highlighted 2,843 games from 1,160 developers spread across studios in “68 different countries worldwide.”
The largest multi-game sale event was reportedly the Czech & Slovak Games Week, which showcased 277 games, including Heist Geist, Day Z, and Arma III.
In terms of metrics, each game highlighted in a deal throughout 2024 generally received “over 10 million impressions” on Steam. 87 percent of the featured games made their program debut this year, either as new releases or titles included due to updates made to Daily Deals. Regarding revenue, Daily Deal titles earned “anywhere from ~$10,000 to $2,000,000.”
Changes have also been implemented, allowing developers to schedule when their game will be included in a Daily Deal.
Further details about Steam’s Daily Deal changes can be found here.
About the Author
Contributing Editor, GameDeveloper.com
A native of Kansas City, MO, Justin Carter has contributed to a variety of publications including IGN, Polygon, and SyFy Wire. In addition to Game Developer, his work can be found at io9 on Gizmodo. Don’t ask him about how much gum he has chewed, as the answer will likely exceed what you might expect.