Yes, physical sales are miles better than digital. Even better if you shop used.
If you think Steam sales are still great, then you’re either young or have a crap memory. Used to be the case that 6-12 month old games went for 75% off and often more. The flash sales died and so did the bargains.
Now Steam is just ancient games at full price until the next sale so they can claim “60% off” again so it matches the price of a PS5 disc on Amazon or wherever.