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Steam Wishlist vs. Follow: Which Sale Alerts Should You Use?

By Freedom251 Team · · 10 min read

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Use Steam Wishlist for games you may buy and want sale or release alerts about. Use Follow for news published by a game’s developer. They are not competing alert systems: Wishlist expresses purchase interest, while Follow tracks developer communication. You can use both on the same game when you want discounts as well as development news.

Steam’s current documentation says Wishlist notices can arrive by email or through the Steam mobile app for listed deal types, and its Discovery Update describes default email notices for wishlisted sales and releases. A Steam Community developer announcement explains Follow as the control for notifications when that developer publishes Steam news. Because Steam’s pages describe different purposes and channels, choosing the right feature starts with the kind of information you want—not with which button is more prominent.

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Wishlist and Follow answer different questions

Before changing any setting, decide which of these questions you are asking:

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  • “When might I buy this game?” Add it to your Wishlist. Steam Support’s sales FAQ specifically points to Wishlist as the way to avoid missing sales for games you want. The official Steam Sales purchasing and billing FAQ is the clearest current recommendation for sale alerts.
  • “What news is the developer publishing?” Follow the developer. A developer’s Steam Community explanation says clicking Follow notifies you whenever that developer publishes news on Steam. That description is useful for understanding the feature, but it is not a complete Steam-wide specification of every game’s settings or delivery behavior.

The practical answer is therefore simple: Wishlist is the stronger fit for discounts and release interest; Follow is the stronger fit for developer-published news. Neither feature has to replace the other.

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At-a-glance comparison

Reader’s goal Best fit What the official descriptions support
Hear when a game you may buy goes on sale Wishlist Steam Support directs users to Wishlist for sale notifications.
Hear when a wishlisted game releases Wishlist Steam’s Discovery Update says release notices are sent by default for wishlisted items.
Hear news posted by a developer Follow A Steam Community developer announcement describes Follow as the way to receive notices when that developer publishes news.
Reduce interruptions while keeping useful alerts Curate Wishlist and adjust notification preferences Steam says email and mobile notifications can be controlled, and games can be removed from a Wishlist.

The two features also differ in the object you are tracking. Wishlist follows an individual game or other wishlisted item. Follow is associated with a developer’s Steam news. That distinction matters if a studio publishes several games: Following it can produce news about the developer rather than only about one title.

What Steam currently documents about Wishlist alerts

Sale notifications and named deal formats

Steam’s current Wishlist Notifications page says, “We’ll let you know by email or through our mobile app when the games on your Wishlist are on sale as a Daily Deal, Midweek Deal or Weekend Deal.” Those are the deal formats the current page explicitly names. Use that wording as the reliable present-day scope rather than assuming that every possible discount presentation triggers a notice.

The page identifies two delivery channels: email and the Steam mobile app. It does not promise a particular delivery speed, a push-only alert, or successful delivery in every case. Treat a notice as a convenience, not as a guarantee that you will be alerted at the exact moment a price changes.

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Release notices

Steam’s Discovery Update 2.0 describes the default behavior for wishlisted items: Steam sends an email when a wishlisted game goes on sale or is released. The same description says phone alerts require the Steam mobile app to be installed with notifications turned on.

This makes Wishlist useful even when you are not waiting for a discount. A forthcoming game can remain on your list so that its release is less likely to pass unnoticed. The release behavior is separate from the current notification page’s examples of Daily, Midweek and Weekend Deals, so do not collapse those two descriptions into a claim that every sale format and every release uses identical rules.

Email versus mobile delivery

Email is the default channel described in the Discovery Update. The mobile channel depends on two conditions: the Steam mobile app must be installed, and its notifications must be enabled. If you only use Steam in a desktop browser, do not assume that a phone alert will appear without that app setup.

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Steam also says users can opt out of email or turn off mobile notifications. A quiet inbox or silent phone may therefore reflect your own preferences rather than the absence of a qualifying Wishlist event.

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What Follow is for

Developer news rather than price watching

Follow is intended for news from a developer. In a Steam Community announcement titled How to follow the development progress?, the developer explains that users should click Follow to be notified whenever it publishes news on Steam. This is the best-supported way to interpret the control: it subscribes you to a developer’s Steam news stream.

Developer news can cover progress updates, announcements, events or other posts the developer chooses to publish. The cited explanation does not establish a universal frequency, a guaranteed channel for every account, or identical controls on every game page. Follow should therefore be understood as a news subscription, not as a price-alert mechanism.

Why Follow does not replace Wishlist

A developer can publish news without changing a game’s price. Conversely, a game can receive a qualifying sale without the developer publishing a news post. Following a studio will not give you the purchase-focused signal that Steam Support associates with Wishlist, and Wishlisting a title will not make you a follower of every developer announcement.

How to add a game to your Wishlist

  1. Open the game’s Steam Store page.
  2. Select the Add to your Wishlist control on that page.
  3. Confirm that the title appears in your Wishlist. Steam says the list can be edited in the Steam client or in a web browser.
  4. Leave the game on the list while you are still considering it. Remove it when the purchase is no longer relevant so future notices remain useful.

The exact placement or appearance of the button can change between the desktop client, browser and mobile interfaces. The stable action is to use the game’s Store page and the Wishlist control; avoid relying on an old screenshot or a menu path that may belong to another client version.

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How to follow a developer

  1. Open a Steam page that identifies the game’s developer or contains that developer’s Steam news.
  2. Look for the developer’s Follow control and select it.
  3. Check that the control reflects your new following status before leaving the page.
  4. Review the resulting news in Steam and decide whether you still want that developer in your followed set.

Steam’s public explanation of Follow comes from a developer announcement, so treat the button’s presence and wording as the authoritative cue on the page you are viewing. Do not infer that following one title automatically follows every studio, publisher or related account unless Steam explicitly shows that relationship.

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How to choose the right setup

Choose Wishlist alone when purchase timing is the priority

Wishlist a game if your main decision is whether to buy it later. This is the appropriate path for a title that is too expensive today, is awaiting a sale, or is not yet released. You will have a purchase-oriented record of the game and access to the sale and release notifications Steam documents for Wishlists.

Choose Follow alone when news is the priority

Follow a developer when you already own its games, want development updates, or care about studio announcements more than pricing. This is especially useful when the developer’s news is the information you would otherwise miss by checking individual game pages manually.

Use both when the interests overlap

There is no need to make an either-or choice for a single game. Wishlist the title for the purchase or release signal, then Follow its developer if you also want that developer’s Steam news. The subscriptions answer separate questions and can coexist without changing the underlying game or developer relationship.

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Use neither when you do not want another reminder

If you have decided not to buy a title and do not need its developer’s news, leave both controls unused. Removing an obsolete game from your Wishlist is a practical way to keep the list focused; following fewer developers likewise reduces the amount of news you need to sort.

Notification controls and list maintenance

Control email and mobile channels

The current Wishlist Notifications page says you can opt out of email and turn off mobile notifications. Use those controls when the channel—not the alert topic—is the problem. For example, you may keep Wishlist entries for sale awareness while disabling phone notifications and retaining email, depending on the options Steam presents to your account.

The 2016 Valve post also directed users to email preferences to opt out of specific email categories or all email. Steam’s interface can change, so follow the preference links and labels currently shown in your account rather than treating an older menu path as permanent.

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Keep the Wishlist intentional

A large Wishlist can contain games you no longer want, games you are uncertain about and games you are actively waiting to buy. Periodically remove titles that no longer fit. This does not change Steam’s alert rules, but it keeps the notifications aligned with your actual decisions and makes the list easier to use as a buying queue.

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Understand privacy separately from delivery

Steam says a Wishlist’s visibility is tied to your Community Profile privacy settings. That is a visibility choice: it controls who can see the list. It is separate from whether Steam sends your account an email or mobile notification. Changing profile privacy should not be treated as a substitute for changing notification preferences.

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Why older advice about “any discount” needs a date

Valve’s March 15, 2016 Steam Blog post, Improvements To Wishlist E-mail Notifications, said: “If a game is on your Steam Wishlist, we’ll now send you an e-mail if any type of discount is applied on that game.” The post named several sale formats and developer-configured discounts at that time.

That statement is historical evidence of the 2016 system, not proof that the present system has exactly the same coverage. The current notification page uses the narrower examples of Daily Deals, Midweek Deals and Weekend Deals. When you see older guides promising an email for every discount, read the claim as a dated Valve announcement and check the current notification page and your preferences for today’s behavior.

Common mistakes and how to correct them

Mistake: Following a developer to catch discounts

Correction: Add the individual game to your Wishlist. Follow is described as a developer-news subscription; Steam Support identifies Wishlist for sale alerts.

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Mistake: Wishlisting a game and expecting every developer post

Correction: Follow the developer when its Steam news matters to you. Wishlist’s documented purpose is tied to the game’s sale or release status, not to a complete developer-news feed.

Mistake: Expecting a phone alert without the mobile app

Correction: Install the Steam mobile app and turn on its notifications if you want the phone channel described by the Discovery Update. Otherwise, rely on the email channel available to your account.

Mistake: Treating a missing email as proof that no sale occurred

Correction: Check the game’s current Store price directly. Steam’s pages describe notification channels and examples, but they do not promise instant or infallible delivery. Also review whether you opted out of email or disabled mobile notifications.

Mistake: Assuming profile privacy changes notification delivery

Correction: Keep the two settings conceptually separate. Community Profile privacy governs Wishlist visibility; notification preferences govern email and mobile alerts.

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Mistake: Relying on a decade-old menu path

Correction: Use the labels and preference controls currently shown by Steam. The 2016 post is valuable for historical context, but client and account interfaces can change.

A practical decision checklist

  • If you would buy the game at a lower price, Wishlist it.
  • If you are waiting for launch, Wishlist it for the release interest described by Steam’s Discovery Update.
  • If you want posts from the studio, Follow the developer.
  • If you want both kinds of information, use both controls on purpose.
  • If alerts become noisy, first remove irrelevant Wishlist entries and followed developers, then adjust email or mobile preferences.
  • If you need a phone notice, verify that the Steam mobile app is installed and its notifications are enabled.
  • If you see a broad claim about every discount, check its date; Valve’s “any type of discount” wording comes from March 15, 2016, while the current page lists specific deal examples.

What the documented evidence does not establish

Steam’s public pages cited here do not provide a delivery-time guarantee, a promise that every discount format triggers an alert, or a universal description of how every developer configures Follow. They also do not supply a comparative success rate for email versus mobile delivery. It is more accurate to use the documented purposes and channels than to claim that one alert is instant, push-only or guaranteed.

The strongest current statements are narrower: Wishlist is Steam’s supported route for sale notifications, with current examples including Daily, Midweek and Weekend Deals; wishlisted releases can generate default email notices; mobile notices require the app and enabled notifications; and Follow is explained as a way to hear when a developer publishes Steam news.

Bottom line for most Steam users

Start with Wishlist for every game you might purchase or are waiting to release. Add Follow only when you also want that developer’s Steam news. Keep both subscriptions curated, choose email or mobile delivery according to your tolerance, and treat older promises about alerts for every discount as historical rather than current guarantees.

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Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

gaming notificationssale alertsSteamSteam FollowSteam Wishlist

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