It's the JCPenney / Kohl’s / mattress store / jewelry store model:

• Permanent "70% OFF" banners
• MSRP nobody ever pays
• Rotating "flash deals" that are actually the real price
• Anchoring the customer to a fake high number
• Creating urgency with "today only" cycles

You set a fake MSRP, then never sell at that price. You rotate "sales" that are really the normal price, and you use Steam Wallet credit as the psychological sweetener.

Establish a Fake MSRP (a high anchor so every sale looks dramatic.)

They already went from 'no controller included' to 'bundle sale'! (A perceived value trick that I've seen people end up paying significantly more for irl).

You never sell at MSRP, you just pretend you do. If people actually bought at MSRP; they'd have to deal with return and price match shenanigans which incur transaction fees (waste of time and money).

Tiered Models to Create Price Pressure. Mall kiosks always have a decoy tier.

For Steam Machine:

Base Model

• MSRP $799
• "Sale" $499
• 512GB SSD

Mid Model (Decoy)

• MSRP $899
• "Sale" $699
• 1TB SSD
• Slightly better GPU
• Nobody should buy this

High Model

• MSRP $999
• "Sale" $799
• 1TB SSD
• Best GPU
• "Only $100 more than mid model!"

The mid model exists to make the high model look like a deal.

Fake Scarcity Cycles -Mall kiosks love "limited stock" signs.

Steam Machine version:

• "Only 200 units for this weekend"
• "Next shipment arrives in 3 weeks"
• "Low stock in your region"

Even if stock is fine: Scarcity + sale = conversion.

Mall psychology thrives on event stacking:

• Steam Summer Sale
• Steam Winter Sale
• Black Friday
• Back to School
• Lunar New Year
• "SteamOS Anniversary Sale"
• "Proton 10 Launch Sale"
• "Steam Deck Family Sale"

Every event is an excuse for a "sale."

Valve didn’t invent fake MSRPs, but they normalized them in PC gaming.