Impulse buying Memes

Steam sales are basically a psychological warfare experiment at this point. That game you've been eyeing for months? 50% off! What a steal! Time to finally buy it, right? Wrong. Even with half the price slashed, you're still dropping $30+ on a game you'll probably play for 20 minutes before returning to the same three games you've been playing for the last five years. The discount makes you feel like you're saving money while simultaneously spending money you weren't planning to spend. It's the digital equivalent of buying something you don't need just because it's on sale. Capitalism wins again, and your backlog grows by another entry that'll sit there collecting digital dust next to the other 347 unplayed games.

Steam sales hit different when you're a developer with a backlog of 847 unplayed games. Your rational brain knows you have enough games to last until retirement, but Steam's showing you a 90% discount on some indie roguelike you'll definitely "play later." The logic doesn't matter anymore—it's not about playing games, it's about owning them. Your library becomes a digital hoard, a monument to good deals and poor impulse control. Every seasonal sale is just another intervention that nobody shows up to because they're all too busy buying games they won't play either.

Game devs scrolling through Unity Asset Store or Unreal Marketplace at 2 AM be like: "Ooh, a photorealistic medieval tavern pack for $89.99! My game is set in space, but I NEED this." The rational part of your brain knows you're making a 2D puzzle game, but that AAA-quality dragon model is calling your name like a siren. Next thing you know, your project folder has 47GB of unused assets and your bank account is crying. The struggle is real—you're literally drowning in temptation, desperately trying to escape before you click "Add to Cart" on that anime character bundle that has absolutely zero relevance to your survival horror game.

THE ETERNAL STRUGGLE OF EVERY DEVELOPER WHO SWORE THEY WOULDN'T BUY ANOTHER GADGET THIS YEAR! That Steam Deck with its measly 20% discount is TAUNTING me from across the internet, whispering sweet nothings about all the games I could play during compile time. My bank account is SCREAMING in terror while my inner child is already imagining playing Doom during standups. The mental gymnastics I'm performing to justify this "investment" deserves an Olympic medal. "It's practically saving money if you think about it!" 💸

Oh. My. God. The AUDACITY of this meme attacking my entire Steam library! 💀 The difference between normies and us gamers is ASTRONOMICAL. They wait for sales like peasants, while we HEROICALLY buy games at full price only to let them marinate in our libraries like fine digital wine for a YEAR before even installing them. My 347 unplayed games aren't a problem, they're an INVESTMENT in my future happiness! And yes, I WILL play Skyrim again instead of any of them, thank you very much!

Developers and Steam sales - a tale as old as time. Your brain stays completely offline when seeing a $29.99 price tag, but throw in that "-50%" label and suddenly your dopamine receptors light up like a Christmas tree. The game still costs exactly $29.99, but now your primitive developer brain is convinced it's an incredible deal. And Lord Gaben watches from above, knowing you'll buy 17 games you'll never install.

The digital hoarding phenomenon strikes again! That sweet dopamine hit from clicking "Purchase" during Steam sales is vastly superior to the actual commitment of downloading and playing the games. My Steam library has more unplayed titles than a bookshelf at an illiterate's house. It's basically a digital museum of good intentions at this point. The backlog grows faster than technical debt in a startup with no code reviews.