That is pretty accurate - i remember paying 29.99 for Mechwarrior 2, back when I had my much missed Pentium 166 + 486 100.
Doesn't anyone find L4D particularly expensive on Steam?
- Thread starter Mojo
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That is pretty accurate - i remember paying 29.99 for Mechwarrior 2, back when I had my much missed Pentium 166 + 486 100.
It still is stupidly expensive!
If you look, it's actually MORE expensive than the new COD on Steam
lol, so it is.
STEAM pricing & other digital downloads are a complete ripoff and the profit margins must be huge if retail makes around 30-35% of the RRP imagine the STEAM profit margains (even after bandwidth & server costs!!
I got L4D from a well known high st shop for only £17.50 as I have built up enough points on my loyalty card to get a big discount but its only £24.99 from them anyway if you preorder via the web.
Most new PC games are around £24.99-26.99 on pre-order via the web. Shop prices are a lot more however.
When I first got into PC gaming in the early 1990s the average price was around £44.99 and piracy was very low (especially when CD games came out the burners were like £600 alone!!).
People who buy on STEAM should really look at the big high st shops as you save a lot of money and get discounts on future purchases with their loyalty schemes so a no brainer really.
I got L4D from a well known high st shop for only £17.50 as I have built up enough points on my loyalty card to get a big discount but its only £24.99 from them anyway if you preorder via the web.
Most new PC games are around £24.99-26.99 on pre-order via the web. Shop prices are a lot more however.
When I first got into PC gaming in the early 1990s the average price was around £44.99 and piracy was very low (especially when CD games came out the burners were like £600 alone!!).
People who buy on STEAM should really look at the big high st shops as you save a lot of money and get discounts on future purchases with their loyalty schemes so a no brainer really.
Madness!!! ......
Managed to get mine for about £30 bit over the odds but I was able to sample the game
ok I know I was paying to test it Before you start saying its a ripoff and such, take a look at how much proper stores in the US sell L4D for, i checked a couple of the most well known games shops in the US and one sells for $50, the other for $60. So compared to other shops in the US steam is perfectly fair price.
As for the UK, although steam sells to the UK it is based arround a US market and so most games will be priced as such by the producers who sell on steam. If you dont like the cost of games on steam, dont use it, simple as that. But dont go saying its a ripoff when its pricing is perfectly reasonable.
One of the things to remember whenever you buy direct from the publisher (be it online, retail or mail order), is that they will usually sell new releases at RRP.
The reasoning is very very simple, it upsets the retailers who will shift most of the boxed copies, if the publisher undercuts them (meaning they don't even get a chance to make a profit and get left with loads of stock).
Which in turn upsets the distributor, which leads to the publishers titles simply not making it into stores (or only in small quantities).
However, some publishers will offer exclusives if you buy from them (a few book publishers will do signed copies, some DVD distributors/publishers who deal direct with the public will put in a LE item or something).
So if the US price for a game is $50 boxed, then Steam probably can't sell it for less than that for a certain time (even on their own titles), without breaking the contract they've signed with the company doing physical distribution.
It used to be the case that you generally didn't get much (any) discount on the RRP when buying new games, however now with online third party retailers (some of whom are huge) able to cut most of the retail overheads out of the equation for physical items, we've got used to having an instant 25-50% off new releases.
I guess what i'm saying is that Steam probably can't lower the price for their online delivery version of the game, without losing their ability to get stuff into the shops (where a lot of people still buy their games, even without discounts).
Soldato
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L4D can be had for £19.99 with free 4 day delivery from a certain uk online store. Only problem is, you prob wont get it untill monday or saturday if your lucky. I chose a different store and paid £3 extra with the option of getting it next day delivery. It has been posted today (tuesday), so i should see it tomorrow, so thats 1 day before the shops get it and 1 day after the steam release. Bargain IMO
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Was thinking the exact same thing whilst browsing the shop we have in town, I like most browse between Pc games & 360 games so notice the price difference a lot. I can't remember the last time PC games went up in price.
As for the O.P. Nobody is forcing you to purchase off Steam.
Personally I wait & don't pay a premium to have the game on day of release, Even for a Title as Brilliant as L4D. I also want my box & manual because I am Sad like that
Awesome post.
You should fully sticky this to solve all the OMG VALVE SUX threads that appear over a given time
@Werewolf
But how does that effect games made by Valve (which L4D is). They then control the distribution, pricing and pretty much everything for it.
I, personally, wouldn't pay over the odds for any game and feel that the massive divide in prices and game availability (i.e. certain games only being available to US / Canadian users) stops me using this service.
I mean they can't even be bothered to put the prices into your local currency and give you the correct prices (i.e. they add tax on). How hard can that be?
I only have Steam gifts and that's about it.
M.
But how does that effect games made by Valve (which L4D is). They then control the distribution, pricing and pretty much everything for it.
I, personally, wouldn't pay over the odds for any game and feel that the massive divide in prices and game availability (i.e. certain games only being available to US / Canadian users) stops me using this service.
I mean they can't even be bothered to put the prices into your local currency and give you the correct prices (i.e. they add tax on). How hard can that be?
I only have Steam gifts and that's about it.
M.
I remember when publishers first started talking about the introduction of digital distribution.
Along the lines of "we'll save money on packaging and transport/shipping, savings we can pass onto the consumer"
They always went on about how cheap it was going to be.
Along the lines of "we'll save money on packaging and transport/shipping, savings we can pass onto the consumer"
They always went on about how cheap it was going to be.
Strange thing is EA get a truck load of abuse for expensive downloads but the same people rush into here to defend Valve.
I dont like any digital download system but they are all the same, none of the savings promised and no flexibility. (Same goes for music actually).
I dont like any digital download system but they are all the same, none of the savings promised and no flexibility. (Same goes for music actually).
EA are Valve's distributors. I'm not sure whether that's just shelved products or if it extends to their steam platform, though.
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And you know... nobody here is rushing to defend Valve and flame EA. It's been discussed that Valve's Steam prices correspond with the US prices in shops. The variable effects to this are currency exchange rate, plus general area-specific economy. On the first page of this thread, and the *countless* threads before this one, plenty of people are bashing Valve for their "omg wtf high prices". The differences between Valve and EA are numerous in their customer service, PR and products and it would probably seem to people who aren't paying attention that EA get more attention from complaints than Valve, but seriously it's not the case. Look at every thread regarding a Valve game and i promise you will find people complaining about the price.
The difference bwteen this discussion and the usual flame fests are that in this thread people have researched and given reasons for the prices they set.
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Exactly. I don't see what the big deal is, if i'm honest. Steam is basically a shop. You're not required to buy from it. You can still buy the game from elsewhere and link it into Steam if you wish.
Perhaps we should start some threads about how expensive all the other shops are when one of their products is over market norm
Actually yesterday i went to Somerfields, and the Ribena was over £1 more than in Wilkinsons. I hate somerfields. How do they get away with this?!I'm not expecting them to beat the high street at this point but I do expect them to at least match it. Keeping prices in dollars isn't helping any, I agree that they should change it to pounds/euros and include vat in the price, at least we wouldn't be at the mercy of exchange rates anymore.
Steam prices are regionalised to fall in line with the local cost of PC games. It didn't used to be like this but publishers requested it as some countries like Australia were getting games far cheaper than they normally would. Lowering the price here won't affect US customers/retail. Publishers are well aware of the difference in pricing between NA and the EU and make adjustments accordingly, they don't use one price across the board.
I still use steam btw, but I'm not buying games on it right now (was going to purchase Left 4 Dead and Fallout 3 on there). When the prices become reasonable again I'll start buying from there.
Do you really think being charged nearly £40 for a PC game is fair when it costs £30 in the high street and £20-£25 at online retail?
The big deal is that Steam is a great service and people want to use it, but not when the games are so expensive so they come on here and have a moan instead
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To be honest, it's not your choice to say whether it is too expensive or not, if you can find it cheaper elsewhere, get it elsewhere.
Same with any other type of shopping you do.