Games that never go on sale on Steam, and the ones that barely do
Davit Darchiashvili · Oct 12, 2026
Some games seem never to get cheaper, and people go looking for a list of games that never go on sale before deciding whether to wait. We built one from data rather than memory. We took Steam's full price history for the 590 most popular paid games we track that have been on Steam for at least two years, and counted every discount each one has ever had.
The list is much shorter than the reputation. Three games in the sample have never been discounted on Steam, and only one of them as a matter of policy. A handful more never go deeper than a quarter off. And a surprising number have got more expensive over the years. For everything else, the sale is coming; the only question is how deep.
The game that never goes on sale: Factorio
Factorio is the one deliberate case. Since it arrived on Steam in early 2016 it has not been discounted once, and that is a policy rather than an accident. Its developer, Wube Software, explained in a 2016 Friday Facts post that it would not run sales: a discount brings money in quickly, it argued, but is not worth it in the long run. The price has moved since, but only upwards. The Steam list price rose by half in 2018, and by a further sixth in January 2023, a rise Wube put down to inflation.
So waiting for a Factorio sale on Steam is waiting for something that has not happened in more than ten years. The only cheaper route we see is a resold Steam key from a key shop, currently about 14% below the official price, with the usual trade-offs we cover in are key shops safe?. The live comparison is on the Factorio page.
The other games in the sample with no Steam discount on record are Webfishing (on Steam since 2024) and WorldBox - God Simulator (on Steam since 2021). We know of no stated no-sale policy behind them, so treat them as games that have not been discounted yet rather than ones that never will be.
Factorio has never been discounted on Steam. Its developer has a stated no-sale policy. (Official Steam screenshot)
Factorio: Space Age, the 2024 expansion. Official trailer from the Factorio channel.
Games that barely go on sale
The more common pattern is a game that goes on sale often but never deeply. 21 games in our sample, 4%, have never been discounted by more than 25% on Steam. Twelve of the most popular, each discounted at least three times:
| Game | Deepest Steam discount ever | Times discounted | First priced on Steam |
|---|---|---|---|
| Helldivers 2 | 25% | 16 | 2023 |
| Wallpaper Engine | 20% | 9 | 2016 |
| RimWorld | 20% | 48 | 2016 |
| Balatro | 20% | 24 | 2024 |
| Enshrouded | 25% | 25 | 2024 |
| Soundpad | 20% | 37 | 2017 |
| Dyson Sphere Program | 20% | 45 | 2021 |
| The Scroll of Taiwu: Beyond The Dome | 20% | 45 | 2018 |
| Bodycam | 25% | 21 | 2024 |
| Chained Together | 20% | 18 | 2024 |
| Blade and Sorcery | 20% | 7 | 2018 |
| Abiotic Factor | 20% | 21 | 2024 |
Steam price history via IsThereAnyDeal, to 12 October 2026. 'Times discounted' counts separate discount periods.
RimWorld is the classic example. It has been discounted dozens of times and never by more than a fifth. Helldivers 2 and Balatro follow the same rule. For games like these, waiting for a sale is a small bet: the most you can save is fixed and modest, and the sale price comes round often. If you want one of them, buy it at the next discount, or now.
RimWorld has been discounted many times, never by more than 20%. (Official Steam screenshot)
Balatro sticks to shallow discounts too: 20% is its deepest on Steam. (Official Steam screenshot)
The other trap: games that got more expensive
The pattern worth knowing about is not "never on sale", it is "dearer than it used to be". 122 of the 590 games (21%) have a higher Steam list price today than when they first appeared on the store. Most of them started in Early Access and raised the price when they reached version 1.0 or added a large update:
| Game | First priced on Steam | List price change |
|---|---|---|
| Valheim | 2021 | +50% |
| Project Zomboid | 2013 | +67% |
| Satisfactory | 2020 | +33% |
| Subnautica | 2014 | +50% |
| V Rising | 2022 | +75% |
| Kenshi | 2013 | +88% |
| Kerbal Space Program | 2013 | +74% |
| Slay the Spire | 2017 | +56% |
| The Long Dark | 2014 | +75% |
Change in Steam's regular (undiscounted) price from the first record to today.
The practical point: for a game in Early Access, the cheapest list price it will ever have may be the one it has now. A later sale is still likely, but it will be taken off a higher number. Valheim's best sale price today is measured against a list price half as high again as the one it launched with.
Dyson Sphere Program, another factory game, has never been more than 20% off on Steam. (Official Steam screenshot)
Everything else does go on sale
For perspective, the shallow discounters are the exception. Across the sample, the median game's deepest Steam discount is 75%, and 58% of these popular games have been 75% off or more at least once. The median game has been discounted about 58 separate times since it reached Steam. If a game is not on the lists above, the realistic question is not whether it will go on sale but whether today's price is near its usual floor.
That is what the price history on each game page is for. It shows the lowest price on record across stores, and a short note on how the game usually discounts. Our guide to what a historical low means explains how to read it, and the Steam sale comparison shows which sales tend to go deepest.
RimWorld's Odyssey expansion. Trailer from the channel of the game's creator, Tynan Sylvester.
Games that never go on sale: the bottom line
On Steam, a game that truly never goes on sale is rare: in our sample of 590 popular games, it is a short list led by Factorio. A few more, RimWorld, Helldivers 2 and Balatro among them, never go beyond a quarter off, so waiting for them saves little. The bigger surprise runs the other way: about one popular game in five now costs more than it did at launch. Buy the shallow discounters when you want them, buy Early Access games before the 1.0 price rise, and wait for everything else.