How to tell if a PC game deal is actually good
A big "-80%" tells you how much a store took off its own list price. It does not tell you whether the price is good. Here are five checks that take a couple of minutes and often save more than the discount does.
1. Compare every store, not just the one you are on
The same game is often sold by Steam, the Epic Games Store, GOG and several key shops at once, and their prices can differ by a few euros or by a lot. The store with the biggest percentage off is not always the cheapest: a shop with a high list price can show a large discount and still cost more than a rival with a small one.
A comparison such as the one on every SaveSpawn game page puts the stores side by side, cheapest first. This way, the percentage stops mattering and you can compare the actual price in your currency.
2. Look at the price over time
"Percent off" is measured against the store's own list price, which can be old or generous. What matters is whether today's price is low next to what the game has really cost. Each game page shows a price history drawn from our own daily record of the cheapest store.
It has limits you should know about. Our record began in October 2026, so for most games it covers weeks, not years. A "Lowest tracked" label means the lowest price in that record, not the lowest price of all time, and we only show it for a game that has enough days behind it. Where the record is short, the page says nothing rather than guess.
3. Check what you are buying
- Edition. The cheapest listing may be the base game while a slightly dearer one includes the expansions. "Complete", "Game of the Year" and "Definitive" editions often bundle content that costs extra on its own.
- Add-ons. Soundtracks, skins and expansions turn up in price lists next to the games they belong to. Make sure the item is the game.
- "From" prices. A bundle with tiers shows the price of its first tier, not of everything in it.
4. Check the region and the platform
A key from a shop other than Steam can be limited to certain countries, and it will not activate outside them. SaveSpawn marks such rows with "Key won't activate in …" and does not use them for the headline price, but it can only warn you about what the shop's listing says, so read it before you buy. Also check where the key activates: Steam, the Epic Games Store, GOG, or a publisher's own launcher. It should be the one you use. The other article in this series, Steam keys or the Steam store, goes through this in detail.
5. Check that the game is worth it
A low price on a game you will not play is not a saving. The quickest signals are the share of positive Steam reviews together with how many reviews that share is based on (95% from 40 reviews says less than 88% from 40,000), the Metacritic score where there is one, and, if you play on a Steam Deck, Valve's own Deck rating, which game pages show. Check the system requirements before you pay, not after.
When to wait, and when to buy
If the price is at its tracked low for a game you want, buying is usually fine. Waiting only pays when there is a reason to expect a lower price: a big sale close by (the sales calendar lists the dates), or a price that has been lower recently. If you do wait, a price alert does the watching for you. "Tell me if it drops" on a game page sends one email when the price falls, with no account, and "Notify this device" does the same as a browser notification.