Could sales be a bad thing in the long run?

I think you're over reacting, most of these games have been out for 1 year onwards... It's just squeezing the last of the gamers out to buy it.
 
Well Valve know what they're doing and they are a company - they know how to make money and as much as possible. Whatever they do is with the aim of taking the most money they can.
 
I have stopped buying newly released games and now only buy Steam sale games, so yeah, you have a point.
 
Not sure really whether it will be a good thing or a bad thing in the long run...

One thing I do know though, is that my friends and I have bought a lot of games from Steam during these offers which we otherwise simply wouldnt have purchased.

The one I bought today for example, Mirrors Edge. I had no interest at all in buying that for its normal price, its simply a game that I would not have paid for, however, at £3.24 today, its a steal and I've bought it. So thats a sale of the game which otherwise wouldnt have happened. I bought several games from Steam when they did this offer before and I will no doubt buy several more before this one finishes. All are games that I otherwise simply wouldnt have purchased.
 
Basically you are wrong. The vast majority of people will not wait over a year to perhaps get a deal on steam for the game they want. What the sales do is persuade people who were most likely never going to buy the game to buy it because they feel they shouldn't miss out on a good deal. It also reminds people about games they may have forgotten about. Deals like this are great for consumers and publishers.

Your comments about the app store are also not valid. Competition in the market forcing prices down is a good thing. Yes, it's harder for companies but so what.
 
I can see what the OP is saying but I'm fairly certain that many gamers will buy their favorite games or their most anticipated games usually on launch or soon after, dedicated fans of a series aren't going to wait for a sale to crop up, it's usually much less hardcore players that do that.

Also, not all of these games are ridiculously low priced in the sales and with multiple platform releases also a-la GTA then the companies can afford to give us discount because they make up massively by selling on the other consoles. :)

I'll also echo what has been said above, it's the games publishers that choose the retails price and Valve take a cut for having it be distributed through Steam.

Merry Christmas everyone. :)
 
bibalasvegas said:
Yes, it's harder for companies but so what.
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They don't make as good games. In regards to sales only being on games older than one year, you're wrong there. Both Dragon Age and L4D2 were 25% off under a month after release, which means you would have been better off waiting a few weeks after release before buying the game, which is what i'm trying to get at.
 
It's their sale though, it's not as if some loons are going around putting guns to peoples heads and forcing them to sell their games at low prices. Even more obvious is that it's Christmas and everyone near enough has a great sale on at Christmas. Digital downloads and the sales that accompany them are not a bad idea. Some people do still prefer physical media and I can see why, as it's nice to have something in box form to stick on your shelf to expand your collection, rather than just a list of games on an application like Steam. I noticed in your letter that you sent that you wrote:

Imagine if this massive influx of sales was not because of people who thought the game was too expensive beforehand, and then buying it in the sale, but because all the potential customers were waiting for the inevitable sale so they can get the game at a frankly ridiculous price.
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You write it as if sales are unheard of and are a new thing, which is obviously wrong. Lots and lots of people will still buy games before/on or shortly after the release date even if it was expensive as they or the person they are buying it for (children for instance) was it immediately and don't want to wait, and on the flip side there are lots and lots of people that wait for sales - me for instance, I do both, depending on what it is. It's not just games that are like this, it's everything. Like my Playstation 3 Slim (120GB) that I bought for £230 with no games - I pre-ordered it and then got it, and shortly after a 250GB model appears and you can get it now with a game for £250. I wasn't ****** off in the slightest as it was inevitable.

The quality of games will drop and developers will start releasing games in quantity rather than quality to stay in business. Retail shops will be completely pushed out of the market.
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I can't really agree with this either, as people just won't buy the game or they'll wait for it to be a massively low price before they bother with it. Can you imagine developers releasing 300 Big Rigs style games for £1 each and actually making money compared to releasing 10 games of Bioshock quality for £30 - £40 each?. Regarding retail games, yes I'd agree, selling games in physical media form in shops is going south and will continue to do so until the point where games on physical media might only be available through a pre-order system and the regular sales are done over the internet.

Both Dragon Age and L4D2 were 25% off under a month after release, which means you would have been better off waiting a few weeks after release before buying the game, which is what i'm trying to get at.
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This should be as clear as day to anyone that if you buy something before/on or shortly after the release date of a product you will always pay more than if you waited a few weeks, unless the game continues to sell in massive quantities even after a few weeks - games like Modern Warfare 2, Halo 3 and Gears of War would be examples of this.
 
overreaction, im seeing games for under £4 which is nothing to me, and happily going to pay it, ill get mirror's edge later but sadly missed the other deals.

I would never have bought mirrors edge before.
The big new titles are not being reduced - people will always pay the premium for those.
 
Joe Public isn't anal enough to wait 2 weeks to save 25%. That's just the fact. Joe Public is demanding and lazy with money, people who sell things know this. If there wasn't a heavy market for pre-ordering and on the day ordering of games then this wouldn't be the case.

The simple fact is that true gamers buy games either before they come out or on the day/a few days after release. If they can pull in a few extra groups of buyers by having a sale then that's good for them and good for the gaming market.
 
Not read it I'm lazy but put it this way....

On a thread about steam deals, I have seen 10+ people buying a game, some of which never had any thought about buying the game, that is £50 of extra revenue generated. Now when the deal is over from word of mouth alone I would imagine someone would go out and buy a game at full price, maybe!

Also my self, I am lazy if I want something I want it now, happy to pay full price.
 
Supply and demand. The price will be set to meet the level of demand at release and adjusted accordingly. There will be a tipping point between wanting to play a game sooner rather than later and wanting to pay less rather than more. Prices will be set to follow this demand curve as closely as possible. If more people start waiting, they will sell the games cheaper to begin with and then defer the drop in prices.
 
The steam sale games I buy are games that I probably would never have bought, or sometimes games that I already bought and am buying on steam for the ease of a single game portal.
 
flibby said:
It's their sale though, it's not as if some loons are going around putting guns to peoples heads and forcing them to sell their games at low prices. Even more obvious is that it's Christmas and everyone near enough has a great sale on at Christmas. Digital downloads and the sales that accompany them are not a bad idea. Some people do still prefer physical media and I can see why, as it's nice to have something in box form to stick on your shelf to expand your collection, rather than just a list of games on an application like Steam. I noticed in your letter that you sent that you wrote:

You write it as if sales are unheard of and are a new thing, which is obviously wrong. Lots and lots of people will still buy games before/on or shortly after the release date even if it was expensive as they or the person they are buying it for (children for instance) was it immediately and don't want to wait, and on the flip side there are lots and lots of people that wait for sales - me for instance, I do both, depending on what it is. It's not just games that are like this, it's everything. Like my Playstation 3 Slim (120GB) that I bought for £230 with no games - I pre-ordered it and then got it, and shortly after a 250GB model appears and you can get it now with a game for £250. I wasn't ****** off in the slightest as it was inevitable.

I can't really agree with this either, as people just won't buy the game or they'll wait for it to be a massively low price before they bother with it. Can you imagine developers releasing 300 Big Rigs style games for £1 each and actually making money compared to releasing 10 games of Bioshock quality for £30 - £40 each?. Regarding retail games, yes I'd agree, selling games in physical media form in shops is going south and will continue to do so until the point where games on physical media might only be available through a pre-order system and the regular sales are done over the internet.

This should be as clear as day to anyone that if you buy something before/on or shortly after the release date of a product you will always pay more than if you waited a few weeks, unless the game continues to sell in massive quantities even after a few weeks - games like Modern Warfare 2, Halo 3 and Gears of War would be examples of this.
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You make some really good points :). What I wrote is just a theory, ready to be proven wrong.
 
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