Does buying games cheap in the steam deal make you no want pay full price again

chaparral

chaparral

chaparral

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Does anyone find they don't want to pay the full recommended retail price for games after buying games for much cheaper out the lastest steam deals that we had over the last few months ??
 
TheOtherOption said:
Some of the prices they've had up during the sales are more akin to what they should be all the time so yea it's a shame they all go up again!
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I agree...

I was only looking at all the prices this morning and thinking the same thing..
Most of steam sale prices are about the same as buying the games from online retailers :( (no counting the one day only sales)
 
I haven't paid more than £20 for a game since Half Life 2. Even above £15 is rare for me.

It's amazing how cheap stuff can be generally if you're prepared to wait a little while.

Need for Speed Shift for example, that's what 2 or 3 months old? £16 or less at over 10 different retailers now. If you can resist buying games the week they come out then it's rare you'll need to pay more than about £15 for anything.

Even something like GTAIV which was an awesome deal at £5, can be had for £10 at a variety of normal retailers anyway.
 
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Kenai said:
I haven't paid more than £20 for a game since Half Life 2. Even above £15 is rare for me.

It's amazing how cheap stuff can be generally if you're prepared to wait a little while.

Need for Speed Shift for example, that's what 2 or 3 months old? £16 or less at over 10 different retailers now. If you can resist buying games the week they come out then it's rare you'll need to pay more than about £15 for anything.
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Problem is i only want my games on steam now....
I really hate buying any box retail versions that don't install to steam..
 
I think the stats for this sales period could make interesting reading, it may show that games are more price-elastic than the industry currently realises.

In particular I think there is a lesson to be learned here regarding getting revenue from older titles. Traditionally you see old games either be out of stock in traditional retailers, or retain their price too long (say £10+ for a 3 year old game). But via Steam they can either bundle them in collector's packs, or sell them individually for a couple of quid. Thereby (taking bandwidth/marketing costs into consideration) gaining an additional revenue stream from existing IP.
 
I think I'm going to wait to the end of the year to buy games I'm not so sure about in a steam deal.

I'll only be buying games I am really interesting in from now on.
 
HangTime said:
I think the stats for this sales period could make interesting reading, it may show that games are more price-elastic than the industry currently realises.

In particular I think there is a lesson to be learned here regarding getting revenue from older titles. Traditionally you see old games either be out of stock in traditional retailers, or retain their price too long (say £10+ for a 3 year old game). But via Steam they can either bundle them in collector's packs, or sell them individually for a couple of quid. Thereby (taking bandwidth/marketing costs into consideration) gaining an additional revenue stream from existing IP.
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I agree. I would buy a lot more games if they were priced £20 for new, good titles. I can afford more, but can't justify spending money over that when it might only give me a few weeks of entertainment.

I'd imagine the developers have decided on the prices they are now because of the fact the think they have lost to pirating. However, maybe lowering the prices would actually be more beneficial to sell more games resulting in more profit than if they were more expensive.

I've seen Steam hype recently over a few forums and it's obvious the masses are taking part. They must be doing well to say the least.
 
HangTime said:
I think the stats for this sales period could make interesting reading, it may show that games are more price-elastic than the industry currently realises.

In particular I think there is a lesson to be learned here regarding getting revenue from older titles. Traditionally you see old games either be out of stock in traditional retailers, or retain their price too long (say £10+ for a 3 year old game). But via Steam they can either bundle them in collector's packs, or sell them individually for a couple of quid. Thereby (taking bandwidth/marketing costs into consideration) gaining an additional revenue stream from existing IP.
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true, i ahve to admit that i have bought a few games, sub £2 ones that i probably wont play! Thought i ought to have them at that price, genrally ones that i already own on cd adn havce lost etc..
 
Rome Total War and KOTR, bought them cos I cba keeping track of the discs and the books which I already own, simply because they were cheap.
 
The Steam deals are the only money I spend on PC games full stop. I simply will not pay for than a fiver for a PC game these days becuase I just don't have the time to invest to get my moneys worth otherwise.
 
Dom_UK said:
I've seen Steam hype recently over a few forums and it's obvious the masses are taking part. They must be doing well to say the least.
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Trouble is, half the hype is purely because of the marketing aspects. One day sales, starting off with a fantastic deal etc. etc.

If the prices were just slashed by 33% across the board permanently it wouldn't see anything like the same amount of sales as being 33% off for one day only.
 
HangTime said:
I think the stats for this sales period could make interesting reading, it may show that games are more price-elastic than the industry currently realises.
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The long curve.

These 1 day sales are a perfect example (as you pointed out) of how digital media should be sold.

Kenai said:
Trouble is, half the hype is purely because of the marketing aspects. One day sales, starting off with a fantastic deal etc. etc.

If the prices were just slashed by 33% across the board permanently it wouldn't see anything like the same amount of sales as being 33% off for one day only.
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1/3 is quite a broad statement and if the games rrp is £50 it would still be expensive, what you will see if you look at the stats is that games which no one would have bought at £10 were selling like hot cakes at £2.

These older games may only shift a few hundred copies a year and risk falling into abandonware status (if not already) but by offering them for very small sums they sold what they did in the last decade in a few hours.
 
I never really pay full price anyway, I only ever buy games if they're on a deal or old.

That said, I can't believe how many people are paying £40 for MW2... I cannot think of a more expensive PC game than that!
 
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