Steam prices! Grey key sites! and the I love/hate developers thread - Enter if you dare!

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What i am saying is, is that there is a very good argument that grey key sites could be increasing revenue and sales

The sorts of increases you're talking about in order to raise that revenue above and beyond what they'd be getting if the game was 'full price only' are completely unrealistic and out of proportion though. For every 'lost' full price sale, the cheap CD key price would have to be luring in maybe 3 or 4 people who otherwise would never have bought the game for your numbers to make any sense. That's quite a number.

If the game was going to stay full price forever then yes, I would be inclined to agree with the point you're making. We all know that isn't the case and that Steam sales etc mean games do eventually (and sometimes fairly quickly) get cheap and gamers know that, so who are these masses of people who only buy games when they're both new and cheap but otherwise wouldn't buy anything?
 
I purchase from Nuveem a lot (who are a Brazilian authorised key seller) who are clearly quite happy taking orders from around the globe as often you can purchase region free keys with no vpn and they even have an English language version of their site.

I really quite honestly and genuinely fail to see why purchasing from them is wrong, when buying other things from abroad is fine :confused:
 
It's common for publishers and distributors to quote piracy as 'one pirate=lost sale' but this is rarely, if ever the case. The majority of pirates wouldn't ever by the game even if it was £10, they just want something without paying for it. The same applies to movies. There are those that would never go to the cinema regardless of the cost and just want something for free.

I also regularly see people spending £100+ on Lego sets from Amazon.de for a cheaper price, sometimes £30-£40 cheaper. Is this also 'wrong'?
 
For every 'lost' full price sale, the cheap CD key price would have to be luring in maybe 3 or 4 people who otherwise would never have bought the game for your numbers to make any sense. That's quite a number.

Is it? Based on what. Why is that so beyond the realms of possibility?

I can say for sure that for myself I would have not bought Tomb Raider for years unless it was available for that Ukrainian price. They got a sale, a sale they may never have got otherwise. I probably would have simply forgotten about it and it could be 50/50 as to whether I would have bought it or been interested in it in a year or twos time.
 
It's common for publishers and distributors to quote piracy as 'one pirate=lost sale' but this is rarely, if ever the case. The majority of pirates wouldn't ever by the game even if it was £10, they just want something without paying for it. The same applies to movies. There are those that would never go to the cinema regardless of the cost and just want something for free.

I also regularly see people spending £100+ on Lego sets from Amazon.de for a cheaper price, sometimes £30-£40 cheaper. Is this also 'wrong'?

Yes according to people here, you must not buy anything from a another country, especially if that country has lower average earnings than the UK does.

Remember folks stick to only authorised UK retailers otherwise you have dodgy morals and don't care about other peoples jobs.
 
Just make sure to ignore the fact that all your computer parts were built by Foxconn et al in the Far East with workers getting paid the square root of sweet Fanny Adams. Just keep worrying about them western developers.
 
I will have to mention that many of the people buying grey market keys are people that would have bought the game at the UK price if there wasn't a grey market.

Think about it.

This isn't true for most people I know. There are very few games I will buy at full retail. Fallout 4 is the only one I can remember off the top of my head, and that's because I bought the Pip Boy edition. I got a second copy from a grey market site for around half the RRP.

In 99% of cases, if a game I want isn't available from a cheaper source, then I will wait until it is.
 
Is it? Based on what. Why is that so beyond the realms of possibility?

Of course it is. It's a highly-rated, popular game with a sizeable fanbase. I've no doubt that the low price for a new release grabbed some additional interest but there's no way these 'sleeper gamers' who don't like anything unless it's brand new and dirt cheap outnumber the thousands/millions who willingly pay full price. The vast majority of CD key sales will be to people who want the game at launch, not to people who just happen across said deal and decide on the spot to buy it.


I can say for sure that for myself I would have not bought Tomb Raider for years unless it was available for that Ukrainian price. They got a sale, a sale they may never have got otherwise. I probably would have simply forgotten about it and it could be 50/50 as to whether I would have bought it or been interested in it in a year or twos time.

But you've already made it clear you don't believe games have much real value.
 
Of course it is. It's a highly-rated, popular game with a sizeable fanbase. I've no doubt that the low price for a new release grabbed some additional interest but there's no way these 'sleeper gamers' who don't like anything unless it's brand new and dirt cheap outnumber the thousands/millions who willingly pay full price. The vast majority of CD key sales will be to people who want the game at launch, not to people who just happen across said deal and decide on the spot to buy it.




But you've already made it clear you don't believe games have much real value.

Not really as you will find that a pre sale grey key will be cheaper the further it is bought away from launch and steadily increases just before and after the game is released.
 
Buying from keys sites and piracy are very similar. If you consider one acceptable then the other should be acceptable too because both lead to loss of revenue for the developer/publisher.
 
Buying from keys sites and piracy are very similar. If you consider one acceptable then the other should be acceptable too because both lead to loss of revenue for the developer/publisher.

Sorry what? You're equating some revenue over none at all as almost the same thing? :confused:

Surely some revenue is better than none at all?
 
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Buying from keys sites and piracy are very similar. If you consider one acceptable then the other should be acceptable too because both lead to loss of revenue for the developer/publisher.

Do you make sure everything you buy is sourced locally in the UK and do you also only buy from the authorised retailers of all the goods you buy?

I bet the answer is a resounding no, and therefore you are a hypocrite.
 
True, I did edit after I re-read your post.

I'm just not sure I can be bothered to open up another can of worms, lol. :p

All I can say is, is that I hope all of you people against grey market keys truly make sure you buy everything from UK sources and only from the manufacturers authorised retailers. I also hope you never buy anything from overseas in a different currency either.

Otherwise, you are just being hypocrites.
 
Sorry what? You're equating some revenue over none at all as almost the same thing? :confused:

Surely some revenue is better than none at all?

If 1 gamer out of 10 pirates a game, the developer loses 10% of their revenue. If 5 gamers out of 10 use key sites which sell at a price that's 20% lower, the developer loses 10% of their revenue. From the point of view of a business, they are very similar issues, you can't go into a supermarket and make your own discounts, can you?

Do you make sure everything you buy is sourced locally in the UK and do you also only buy from the authorised retailers of all the goods you buy?

I bet the answer is a resounding no, and therefore you are a hypocrite.

I haven't stated my opinion on piracy or buying from key sites, I'm just pointing out their similarity.
 
If 1 gamer out of 10 pirates a game, the developer loses 10% of their revenue. If 5 gamers out of 10 use key sites which sell at a price that's 20% lower, the developer loses 10% of their revenue. From the point of view of a business, they are very similar issues, you can't go into a supermarket and make your own discounts, can you?

Did you not read back your post after clicking submit and think "I really shouldn't use such obviously flawed reasoning to present my argument."?
 
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