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

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I don't tend to buy too many newly released titles but I remember years ago paying £45+ for new titles when they were boxed so the money's not the problem (for me that is). Like everyone else I suppose I like a bargain. However, I CBA with doing all the changing regions etc to get something a couple of quid cheaper.
 
Strudders said:
You are clutching at few straws there. Nvidia bundled the game at very little cost to them. Don't kid yourself that the devs made anything on that key.
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FoxEye said:
So you know how much nVidia paid Konami to bundle that code with their graphics card?

OK, how much was it?
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Strudders said:
You and I will never know. That info will only be know by the two companies...
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So you have absolutely no evidence at all for your first statement. That I deprived Konami of revenue by buying a code from a GFX card.

In any case, Konami voluntarily entered into an agreement with nVidia to bundle codes with their cards.

That is not the same situation as buying a cheap Indian code as a UK resident. Konami have not voluntarily made the UK price the same as the Indian price. At least that's not what they are trying to achieve.
 
It's all supposition and conjecture though, without knowing the actual development costs of games, and how the sales are distributed (both by regional market pricing and time from release discounting perspectives), we have literally no idea if we are being shafted, or if developers are.
 
drs101 said:
corporations don't care about a fair price, they want to maximize profit, does Ubisoft have shareholders? if so then doesn't some of the profit go to them and not making games?
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Why is it OK for a small business to make a profit, but not a large one?

There's a reason why indie developers don't produce games like AC or The Division....they don't have the money to do it, because the don't sell millions of copies of their games in order to fund it.
 
So say a new game cost £40.
I buy a bunch of nvidia codes for that game at £15 from ebay sellers etc.
I sell those CD keys on my grey CD key site for £20 each.

Is that okay?
 
FoxEye said:
So you have absolutely no evidence at all for your first statement. That I deprived Konami of revenue by buying a code from a GFX card.

In any case, Konami voluntarily entered into an agreement with nVidia to bundle codes with their cards.

That is not the same situation as buying a cheap Indian code as a UK resident. Konami have not voluntarily made the UK price the same as the Indian price. At least that's not what they are trying to achieve.
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You did....

If you had bought the game from them, they would have been the full cost better off.

You have no evidence that Nvidia even bought the code from them. Nvidia are sponsoring the game but you have no idea which way the money went. Did they pay Nvidia or did Nvidia pay them.

What is fact is you paid someone nearly £30 for a Key that was non transferable.....
 
mid_gen said:
Why is it OK for a small business to make a profit, but not a large one?

There's a reason why indie developers don't produce games like AC or The Division....they don't have the money to do it, because the don't sell millions of copies of their games in order to fund it.
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Im not saying they shouldnt
 
Strudders said:
You are clutching at few straws there. Nvidia bundled the game at very little cost to them. Don't kid yourself that the devs made anything on that key. You did however buy a key that was not meant for you and enriched the person who sold it to you at the expense of the developer. Exactly the same as a key site.... Keys sites don't sell keys that are free... money at some point has been passed to the dev..... just like your ebay purchase....
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Once that key is allocated to the graphics card then that is the end of it as far as the Dev's are concerned. Why should someone then selling that key on be of any consequence. They agreed to bundle it with the card and take whatever Nvidia paid them for it so what happens after that is irrelevant.

If they don't make anything off the key from Nvidia they would not do the deal to package them with the card in the first place. What would be the point!

So if he already owned the game should he destroy that key? Giving it away would also rob the Dev in your view. How do you know how the Dev was even paid, maybe they were paid a fixed sum to write the game and the publishers then deal with distribution and any profits from sales?
 
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McGray said:
Of course you have, you didn't buy the GPU!
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That's like saying if I buy a game as a gift for someone, I'm denying them the revenue from that someone (if they'd bought it themselves).

It doesn't make a shred of sense, because the game still got bought at the asking price. And that's the crucial thing. The asking price in this country was paid.
 
Epoch said:
So say a new game cost £40.
I buy a bunch of nvidia codes for that game at £15 from ebay sellers etc.
I sell those CD keys on my grey CD key site for £20 each.

Is that okay?
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If those were the only codes on grey market sites then there would be no problem.

The person selling you the code for £15 may be making a loss, because the code may have been sold to nV for £20 each.

Or nV may be making a loss. Buying the game at £20 each but only increasing the price of the gfx card by £10.

Or the dev may be making a loss on retail value... but crucially doing so voluntarily.
 
hyperseven said:
Fine, but why would I buy a key of you when I could get it from eBay for five pound cheaper.
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Sorry it was a bad analogy of what happens with these keys. People buy them cheap and resell them on these sites.

Edit.
I noticed a lot of people selling these keys are in poland or russian etc. So it seems to be there 'job' re-selling. It is the same with those who trade cheap ROW steam gifts for keys on trading forums.
 
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Epoch said:
Sorry it was a bad analogy of what happens with these keys. People buy them cheap and resell them on these sites.
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The thing is, we know that most codes on grey market sites are from regions where the price is much lower.

We know that unequivocally. Because there are keys for games just released (not in any sale yet) and not part of any promotion.

Thus the only way they can turn a profit is to buy at BRICS region prices, and resell to Westerners.

This is bad for gamers in BRICS regions, and bad for the gaming industry as a whole.
 
So what's better:

Buying a game at "full price" for a grey-market key reseller...

OR

Waiting till the game drops down to £5-10 and buying it legit through Steam...

'cause that's always the situation I find myself in. I'm personally in no rush what so ever to buy the latest games as soon as they come out, BUT because these keys are so cheap straight off the bat anyway, I'll usually just buy through them instead if it's a game that I know I'm going to buy later down the road anyway (am I really gonna wait 6-months just to save £10?)
 
Winky_The_Winking_Turtle said:
So what's better:

Buying a game at "full price" for a grey-market key reseller...

OR

Waiting till the game drops down to £5-10 and buying it legit through Steam...

'cause that's always the situation I find myself in. I'm personally in no rush what so ever to buy the latest games as soon as they come out, BUT because these keys are so cheap straight off the bat anyway, I'll usually just buy through them instead if it's a game that I know I'm going to buy later down the road anyway (am I really gonna wait 6-months just to save £10?)
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Waiting.

1. You don't disrupt pricing in other regions.
2. 100% of what you do spend is split between Steam and the publisher. None of your money goes to the grey market seller. (If you use an auth reseller instead of Steam, obviously they get a cut).
 
Strudders said:
You are clutching at few straws there. Nvidia bundled the game at very little cost to them. Don't kid yourself that the devs made anything on that key. You did however buy a key that was not meant for you and enriched the person who sold it to you at the expense of the developer. Exactly the same as a key site.... Keys sites don't sell keys that are free... money at some point has been passed to the dev..... just like your ebay purchase....
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Have been browsing idly without too strong a view one way or the other. Have to say that I think the post above is plain wrong. There is a world of difference between buying a cd key that has been paid for legitimately as part of a hardware promotion and buying a cd key from a country with far lower pricing
 
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