Valve's Steam Summer Sale 2016 is now in full swing, with thousands of titles being sold at discounted prices through the digital gaming platform.
Among the high-profile titles receiving steep discounts are games in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, at 50 percent off, the Call of Duty series at 50 percent to 67 percent off and all games under the LEGO and Assassin's Creed franchises at 30 percent to 75 percent off.
Massive popular team-based first-person shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is also being sold at a discount in the Steam Summer Sale. The title can be purchased for only $7.50, which is half its regular price of $15.
However, there seems to be a catch associated with purchasing Counter-Strike: GO, as gamers have found that buying the game under the Steam Summer Sale will not allow the title to be sent as a gift to a friend.
The issue was flagged in a thread on the Counter-Strike: GO section of Reddit, which prompted a response from an official Valve representative.
"[Counter-Strike: GO] will not be giftable during the sale. Our goal with sales is to grow the community and historically, during sales, the new users that stick around are mainly the ones that purchase copies for themselves," the representative wrote on the Reddit forum.
With such a restriction placed on the purchase of Counter-Strike: GO, it would seem that Valve has other reasons behind it. By disabling the purchase of the title to be sent out as gifts, Valve will able to crack down on banned cheaters who may be looking to create alternate accounts so that they can get back into the game.
In addition, it will be tougher for resellers to purchase several copies of Counter-Strike: GO at the discounted price and then sell them for a good profit later on.
It may be a surprise to gamers that there was no upfront warning regarding the lack of the option to give the title as a gift, and it may have been better for Valve to notify users of such decisions beforehand.
It is unfortunate that legitimate gamers looking to give the game as a gift to their friends are affected by the decision, but for those who really want to take advantage of the offer, they can simply send the money to their friends and have them purchase Counter-Strike: GO themselves.
Gamers who are looking to take advantage of the offers under the Steam Summer Sale should expect slowdowns due to the massive levels of traffic.
