Earlier in the month, Gadgets 360 reported that Steam is letting Indian customers use net banking, digital wallets, and cash on delivery to buy PC games.
At the time we surmised that Valve — the company behind Steam would flip the switch and make it official before the Steam Winter Sale. Payments in India are handled by Novaplay whose co-founders stated then that this was indeed a soft-launch.
(Also see: Steam Now Lets You Buy PC Games in India Via Net Banking and Digital Wallets)
And now, Valve has announced what most of us already know, if you’re in India, you can use options aside from a credit card or certain debit cards to buy games. This was done via the following message in the Steam client for Indian users:
What’s different now? Well for starters, since this has Valve’s official seal of approval it implies fewer bugs, lesser chances of transaction failures, and hopefully smoother operation compared to what we noticed when it initially started at the beginning of the month.
(Also see: Cash on Delivery Now Available When Buying PC Games from Steam in India)
The timing could not be better. With the Steam Winter Sale beginning tomorrow, it allows the country’s many PC gamers to buy games with minimal fuss.
Keep in mind that since Steam has changed the way sales function, the same games that were discounted on the Black Friday sale may not have the same price drops or may not see a reduction in price at all. At the same time, you may see some games at low prices that weren’t discounted earlier
(Also see: Steam Winter Sale 2016 Begins on December 22)
Last year’s Steam Black Friday Sale was a landmark occasion. Reason being, Valve ensured there was one price for a game through the entire sale rather than having a discounted price followed by a flash sale or a daily deal which drove it down even further.
“In past sale events, we've asked for two discounts--a duration discount that runs for the length of the sale, and a feature discount that runs in the event that a game is featured on the front page. This year, to optimise the sale for customers and to allow us to feature and recommend your products in more ways to more customers, we're asking for just one discount, to run the length of the sale,” a post on the Steamworks Developers group read at the time.
Wondering what to buy during the Steam Winter Sale? Why not check out some of the better indie games in the video below? And yes, all of them are on PC and on Steam.
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