Is it irresponsible to buy games at retail?

Huw

Huw

Huw

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Apologies in advance; this topic has kinda been done to death but this is hopefully a slightly different take on it. :)

I generally prefer to buy games at retail. I like to have the boxes, manuals, game already backed up on a disc etc. It's also usually cheaper, disregarding sales. I'm not here for the "retail/download is better" argument.

What I've been thinking lately, though, is about the cut the developer or publisher gets. I'm sure someone here knows the figures involved but I think it's something crazy like a 30% cut at retail vs a ~70%? cut if downloaded via Steam, say.

So could it be argued that buying at retail in this day and age is irresponsible? If I care about the dev/publisher (in the case of publisher I'm thinking more Paradox than, say, EA) shouldn't I be buying directly from them, preferably, or from somewhere like Steam or Gamersgate so they get more cash?

Opinions welcome!
 
Buy where you like, this isn't Soviet Russia. I for one have not for years and will never again buy PC games in highstreet stores,as their selection has ranged from 0 to pitiful since the, what, 2003?

Publishers don't care where you buy from (unless small indi self publishers ofc) as it's a sale. Shops reach people who maybe aren't up on online methods (Sims buyers :p) while services like Steam reach in the very homes of gamers to sell their wares. IIRC Steam's pricing is set by publishers so not to detract from bricks and mortar or online box sellers as they are both needed to reach every possible consumer. I doubt this will be the case when all the consoles are download only, by which time we may be streaming games à la Onlive

/ramble
 
Trouble is, the internet system is not ready for such services if it all goes download only. Many of us are still stuck on 3meg and below on copper lines. Takes me all night to download one 7gig game via steam.
 
Dont forget buying retail employs staff at the manufacturing plant, staff to transport them to the shops, shop staff to sell them to you, and you pretty much have to pop into Subway on the way home where it takes 3 guys to make a sarnie.
 
voorhees1979 said:
Trouble is, the internet system is not ready for such services if it all goes download only. Many of us are still stuck on 3meg and below on copper lines. Takes me all night to download one 7gig game via steam.
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If you download all night via steam that is still quicker than having to wait for the shops to open in the morning, or for it to be delivered by post.

Anyway to answer the question, no I don't think so, just buy the cheapest version. If the industry is worried about losing cash then they shouldn't let themselves be undercut by retail stores.
 
I found some old PC games in my loft the other week and i'm frankly disgusted with the way manuals and box sets have went. These were from the good old days with big cardboard boxes, manuals that were actually manuals and not a retards guide to keyboard layouts. Things you could actually learn and improve on.

I opened my Age of Empires 2 box and cried a little inside. There is no "event" any more in buying and opening games. The "but cd's and manuals cost X to produce" argument really holds no weight any more. There's nothing in the bloody things!
 
Well, apparently Fred Wester himself doesn't think it's wrong to buy at retail, so there you go.

Still...I'm considering switching to collector's editions only for retail, and download for everything else...when they're at a sensible price, of course.
 
Regarding manuals one of the issues with printed manuals is that there is a lead time whereby they have to go to press sometimes before the game has gone gold, resulting in errata. Whereas a PDF or similar can be updated right up until the last minute.

Furthermore nowadays many gamers expect the sort of things that were traditionally included in manuals, to be built into the game as a tutorial. I used to read manuals for all my games before playing them but nowadays I just dive in and tackle the tutorial first if there is one.

Don't get me wrong I found the e.g. Civ2 manual a great read at around 200 pages (there's a copy online here if anyone wants to take a glance: http://www.civfanatics.com/content/civ2/reference/Civ2manual.zip )
 
Well the fact that they're selling the game at retail means they (the publisher) are ok with those sorts of losses. The devs themselves get the same amount either way unless they self-publish, in which case the above still holds.

I wouldnt worry about it OP :)
 
HangTime said:
Regarding manuals one of the issues with printed manuals is that there is a lead time whereby they have to go to press sometimes before the game has gone gold, resulting in errata. Whereas a PDF or similar can be updated right up until the last minute.

Furthermore nowadays many gamers expect the sort of things that were traditionally included in manuals, to be built into the game as a tutorial. I used to read manuals for all my games before playing them but nowadays I just dive in and tackle the tutorial first if there is one.

Don't get me wrong I found the e.g. Civ2 manual a great read at around 200 pages (there's a copy online here if anyone wants to take a glance: http://www.civfanatics.com/content/civ2/reference/Civ2manual.zip )
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Rocksteady got around printed manuals by making you download a PDF. SO the retail box only contained the disc or disc's, forgot if Arkham City was 2 discs now. Which is a good idea I think, most games don't need little slips or a book that is 2-3 pages long, as you say most of this stuff is built into the games now anyway. Much prefer a readme on the DVD with a link to a manual, or add the PDF to the DVD, in fact I wonder why Rocksteady never added the manual to the DVD.
 
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Must agree that there's no "box opening magic" anymore in the vast majority of cases.

Back in the 8 bit days there were huge manuals, maps and extras as standard with many major releases. Nowadays, this sort of stuff tends to come with a "collector's edition" at an extortionate price. :(
 
I like owning boxes. As has been said, these days they're usually empty but the disk, but I like to have something to display. I'm proud of the collection of games I have accumulated over the years, and I like to have them there for people to look at.

It's the same reason I spend upward of £100 a month on physical copies of cds and dvds. The music, films and games I love are a huge part of who I am, and the collection I have accumulated over the years tells quite a bit about my life to this date, so it would feel quite redundant to have them all stored away, either in cupboards and drawers or as files on a hard drive.
 
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PaddyMC89 said:
I like owning boxes. As has been said, these days they're usually empty but the disk, but I like to have something to display. I'm proud of the collection of games I have accumulated over the years, and I like to have them there for people to look at.
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Yeah, I'm the same; however space is starting to become an issue, which is partly what prompted the thread. ;)

Maybe I'll just stick to buying collector's editions from now on.
 
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