Steam’s annual Summer Sale has begun, giving would-be gamers thousands of deals across games on Mac, PC and Linux.
However, this year Steam is actually encouraging buyers to play there games, rather than simply accumulating them, with a motor-racing themed community challenge.
Steam users can choose one of five animal-mascot racing teams for the duration of the two-week sale: including a hare and a tortoise.
Each day users contribute time towards their team’s racer by making sale purchases and completing various in-game challenges.
Then, 600 contributors to that day’s top three teams will receive a top game from their store wish list as a reward.
When the Steam Grand Prix ends on July 7, 1,000 random contriutors to the overall winning team will receive three games from their store wish lists (1,000 from the second team will win two games, 1,000 who come in third get one game).
It’s a novel approach to the Steam Summer Sale, and one that gamers are really getting behind. The sale has already become somewhat of a videogame cultural phenomenon, and the Grand Prix concept should elevate that concept even more.
As of the first day of the sale, Team Corgi has covered more than 30 times the distance of its rivals (due to having more members). However, that means other teams have more chances to win a prize.
That said, Steam currently has more than 15 million users, so chances of winning a prize remain small.
