Steam prices staying high?

Yeah steam prices have been terrible for years, like others I use cdkeys mainly.
The sales usually consist of 50% off a 5 year old MSRP and is still more expensive then cdkey sites.
 
It's just sale culture. The same way a lot of places operate now, where marketing methods have been solved to extract maximum value from consumer. Maintain/bump up the RRP and have a bewildering number of small sales at irregular intervals to confuse the consumer and trigger FOMO (worst offender I can think of is probably Myprotein). Sales are no longer truly sales in the historical sense, rather the RRP is more of an anti-sale. It's a shame as sometimes I get an impulse to play a certain game, and after a fruitless search around the key sites I come back to steam where the RRP is giving me that "hey retard, you really gonna pay this price?" stare.
 
part of me wonders if it's the game publishers are as much responsible for this as steam themselves.

you take the likes of the call of duty franchise pricing compared to other titles/publishers and their prices for decade old games are well above what would be the norm even on steam's pricing.

eg for base game (no season pass/dlc etc) where possible:
2015: gtav £33.98 (no base option so that's the premium edition without discount), black ops 3 £44.99
2013: bioshock infinite £19.99, one year older (2012) modern warfare 3 is £29.99
2012: borderlands 2 is £19.99, black ops 2 is £39.99
2010: assassins' creed 2 is £8.59, black ops 1 is £29.99
2007: halo 3 £6.99, the original modern warfare is £19.99

needless to say in all cases i'd argue the cheaper title is at least an equivalent if not superior game, although ymmv.
 
I buy mostly on CDkeys/CJS these days. Steams pricing is just a bit too much. It's nuts that in the old sales I think I bought all of the Call of Duties available on PC at the time (1,2,4 and WaW) for about £25. Zero chance of that happening today.
 
arknor said:
remember when they claimed cutting out the middle men would reduce prices and not create monopolies lol.... no need to print cds/manuals no more couriers, we can pass on the savings to the customer
they forgot to mention no more discounts, no more sales and no more second hand games
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I remember it well. Even games on PSN are £80 - £100 plus.
 
adolf hamster said:
part of me wonders if it's the game publishers are as much responsible for this as steam themselves.

you take the likes of the call of duty franchise pricing compared to other titles/publishers and their prices for decade old games are well above what would be the norm even on steam's pricing.

eg for base game (no season pass/dlc etc) where possible:

2013: bioshock infinite £19.99, one year older (2012) modern warfare 3 is £29.99
2012: borderlands 2 is £19.99, black ops 2 is £39.99
2010: assassins' creed 2 is £8.59, black ops 1 is £29.99
2007: halo 3 £6.99, the original modern warfare is £19.99

needless to say in all cases i'd argue the cheaper title is at least an equivalent if not superior game, although ymmv.
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Bioshock Infinite, Borderlands 2 and Assassins Creed 2 have all been really cheap in the past though, like £3.74 or less, and typically come back around in the sales (when you could probably get bundles from those respective franchises for less money).
 
HangTime said:
Bioshock Infinite, Borderlands 2 and Assassins Creed 2 have all been really cheap in the past though, like £3.74 or less, and typically come back around in the sales (when you could probably get bundles from those respective franchises for less money).
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Oh yes, the sale prices for those games just make the gap even wider, i was just wanting to make a relatively fair comparison to point out that the cod franchise was charging a lot more than other well-known titles.
 
silk300 said:
Steam has always been expensive but their Winter and Summer sales were great years ago. Now their sales are not that great which is a shame. CD keys always seem to be the best for prices.
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During the steam sale they dropped their prices for the things on sale so it was lower than steam as soon as it was over they upped their prices again. Cheeky beggers. I'll be waiting for the next steam sale when they lower them again!
 
CD Keys for years. You know you can activate the key on Steam, right?

Even Steam sales are rubbish the last few years, I don't even look at them anymore.
 
There's that many games out there now that this doesn't bother me.. if I want a game, 99% of the time it can be purchased elsewhere at a reduced rate (steam key) and again, with all these games, most of mine are purchased in a sale / given away for free on epic, ps + or I can sub to game pass for a month
 
kakarott said:
First time buying a steam game, just confirming this is the full game and not dlc?

www.cdkeys.com

Ultra Street Fighter IV 4 PC

Buy Ultra Street Fighter IV 4 PC ✔️ CD Key ✔️ Instant download ✔️ Fantastic price ✔️ Digital Download ✔️
www.cdkeys.com www.cdkeys.com
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Yes that is the full game, not the DLC. Usually they are good by putting DLC or Season pass in name of tittle where it is a add-on. Also on product page, information tab of DLC item item will also have something along lines of "Requires Base Game"
 
Prices are set by the publishers and they've come to realise they don't have to do the steep discounts or bundles like they did in years past. PC player base is still growing and enough of them are willing to pay the higher prices. Even key resellers aren't nearly as good as they used to be a the publishers come up with ways to deal with cheaper regional keys being sold in places they weren't intended. EGS is an exception at the moment since they're willing to subsidise sales to try and build a customer base, but don't expect that to last forever.
 
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