Steam Sale begins, encourages players to play their games

Team Corgi establishes an emphatic lead on the first day of the Steam Sale's 2019 Steam Grand Prix. — AFP Relaxnews

The annual Steam Summer Sale is live, running until July 9, and 2019's community challenge revolves around not just buying games but playing them as well.

Steam's annual Mac, PC and Linux game sale has begun, with a motor-racing themed community challenge that encourages site visitors to play their games rather than merely accumulate them.

Steam users can choose to join one of five animal-mascot racing teams for the duration of the two week sale: Hare, Tortoise, Corgi, Cockatiel, or Pig.

Each day, users contribute towards a speed boost for their team's racer by making sale purchases and completing various in-game challenges.

Then, a total of 600 contributors to that day's top three teams will receive the top game from their store wishlist.

When the Steam Grand Prix ends on July 7 (10am PDT or 1am in Malaysia, July 8), 1,000 random contributors to the overall winning team will receive the top three games from their store wishlists, with 1,000 from the second place team receiving two games and 1,000 receiving one game.

The Corgi Team has been most popular over the Sale's first day, covering 30 times the distance of its rivals, giving it a distinct advantage over the course of the Steam Grand Prix but suggesting that members of less well populated teams might have a slightly better chance of actually winning a prize.

Yet with Steam's daily user numbers approaching 15 million, and its monthly tally over 90 million, the chances of winning a prize remain minute.

Since 2015, the Steam Sale has not featured the 8-hour flash sale rotation that had users checking back for deeper discounts on their most-wanted games.

Instead, 2019 Sale prices remain constant over the 12-day event, encouraging visitors to buy at a time most convenient to themselves.

As usual, refunds are available for games with less than two hours of playtime within two weeks of purchase. – AFP Relaxnews