It's the Steam Summer Sale!

The Old Ones tell of a time before Summer Sale. They watch mournfully as the younglings frolic and play, forever stained by the unknowable sadness of having paid full price for Farming Simulator 15. Their fretting goes unnoticed by the Sale Children—those happy souls who have never known the regret of not getting 80% off the XCOM complete pack.

The Prophecy tells us that Summer Sale is not forever; that one day the world will again be expected to pay more than £11/$14 for Homeworld Remastered. The Shamans say that Summer Sale will end on June 21, and that, while it may seem aeons away to those of us so used to getting a variety of discounts off a wide selection of games, that woeful day will be upon us sooner than we realise.

Nonetheless, the Shamans try to calm the building unease that this knowledge brings. "Fear not," they say, "for Winter Sale is coming." They tell us that it's even better, and longer, and cheaper. "But," they continue, "between that, there's a bit of a sales drought, and that kind of sucks."

These are the problems of tomorrow. For now, let us rejoice. For we live in the age of Summer Sale.

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.