Steam Summer Sale Wish List Freebies Were So Confusing Valve Apologized

Steam has apologized and clarified its Steam Grand Prix promotion as part of the Steam summer sale, after widespread confusion led to unintended consequences. In short, the entire process should be simpler and less detrimental to indie developers, and Team Corgi's dominance should wane.

The promotion promised free games for random members of the winning team each day. The freebies would be the top game from the user's wish list, but some players believed that it may be an entirely random game from their wish list. This resulted in mass deletions of wish list games, especially lower-priced ones like indie games. This had a negative impact on indie developers, since being present on wish lists is important for visibility.

Steam issued a statement clarifying on Twitter, and then updated its Steam Blog with more detail.

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"We've heard your feedback about the complexity of the Steam Grand Prix event," the company said. "We designed something pretty complicated with a whole bunch of numbers and rules and recognize we should've been more clear. We want to apologize for the confusion that this has caused, and also apologize for the broken mechanics that have led to an unbalanced event.

"To clarify one point: if your team makes it to the podium and you are randomly chosen to win something off your Steam Wishlist, then we'll grant you the top item. Just move your favorite item to the top of your wishlist and you should be good to go. There's no need to remove other items from your wishlist--keep them there so you'll be notified when those items release or go on sale."

The update also noted that it has made some changes on the back-end to mitigate some problems that have led to Team Corgi getting an insurmountable lead so far.

The Grand Prix minigame is running alongside the Steam Summer Sale itself, which is offering discounts on loads of PC games. You can pick up Devil May Cry 5 for $40 / 30 GBP / $66 AUD, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice for $48 / 40 GBP / $72 AUD, and more. Be sure to visit our Steam Summer Sale roundup and top cheap games or some of our picks on the annual sale.