Ubi heading to Steam

v0n · 2 Apr 2008 at 16:30

Steep, steep, steep. Splinter's Cell was already sold to white labels, it's available from jungle shop for less than $5, new with media. Most of the stuff on Steam costs 2-5 times more than in shops. It's time steam realized they sell medialess software and price it accordingly. And you lot should stop feeding their greed just because you can't be boinked to go and dig in bargain bin down at your local Woolworths...

The Mad One · 2 Apr 2008 at 16:32

uvmain said:
There's nothing wrong with Steam's pricing..

Neither Steam nor Valve set the prices for 3rd party games. Take CoD4.. it's still ~$70. You can thank Activision for that, not Steam.

I know this is off topic but I had to answer.

Valve do have a hand in third party prices are they charge a fee for each game to cover bandwidth costs, obviously they inflate this to make a little on the side like any publisher does but this cost should be lower since these days bandwidth can't be more expensive then manufacturing the media. More importantly the prices Valve set for their own games is still at question.

Orange box on steam $58.69 (inc VAT) > £29.60 approx
Orange box from anywhere online £27 (£30 from high street??)

I can't say what you get in the box when buying from online/high street (e.g cd, manual, box itself), but when Valve first setup steam they promised cheaper prices then the high street to compensate for not having the physical user product, they failed on that part. I think steam is a very good product however valve know it and they are exploiting it to hell.

FrenchTart · 2 Apr 2008 at 16:33

v0n said:
And you lot should stop feeding their greed just because you can't be boinked to go and dig in bargain bin down at your local Woolworths...

Yes. Damn all those people who put higher value on time and convenience than money.

Spektor · 2 Apr 2008 at 16:33

v0n, ubisoft set the prices not steam... and ubisoft is a publish who for sake of its own survival can't outprice its point of existance via something like steam unless it has its own content delivery system.

Until the developers start going straight to steam rather than going through developers it will be like this, but steam, as popular as it is -- would have to become a hell of a lot more popular for that to be financially viable. Not even taking into account the broadband infrastructure of the countries their customers will have to suffer when downloading GB upon GB of game.

v0n · 2 Apr 2008 at 16:41

Call of Duty 4 is actually perfect example. $69.95 on Steam, $17.50 in shops. That's £42 incl 17.5% VAT, or you can buy it with media from most places for £29.95 (free delivery as well). You know which one is better if you ever want to sell it on or give away to someone...

Quake Wars, another example - $39.95 on Steam. £6.95 + free delivery. WTF?

If the prices are controlled by publishers, then they are doing darn good job at driving people away from Steam. But as been pointed out - Valve's own products are actually overpriced compared to shops as well, so...

FrenchTart · 2 Apr 2008 at 16:42

True. But you'd be pretty mad to buy those particular ones. I've only purchased games that aren't quite so insanely priced/might want to get rid of some day.

uv · 2 Apr 2008 at 16:47

v0n said:
Call of Duty 4 is actually perfect example. $69.95 on Steam, $17.50 in shops. That's £42 incl 17.5% VAT, or you can buy it with media from most places for £29.95 (free delivery as well). You know which one is better if you ever want to sell it on or give away to someone...

Quake Wars, another example - $39.95 on Steam. £6.95 + free delivery. WTF?

If the prices are controlled by publishers, then they are doing darn good job at driving people away from Steam. But as been pointed out - Valve's own products are actually overpriced compared to shops as well, so...

Yes, but as I said earlier, Steam didn't decide the price for CoD. Activision did. So that example is irrelavent. Steam didn't decide the price for ET:QW - activision did. seeing a correlation here?

Valve's own products are a few quid more expensive - and I'm one of thee people who'll happily pay two pounds more so I can sit and watch TV whilst my game downloads in the background, doesn't require a no-CD/DVD crack, and auto updates.

.:MBK:. · 2 Apr 2008 at 20:15

i know its not valves fault, but maybe its time for them to start filtering their news lists so the rest of the world doesnt foam at the mouth over this sort of stuff, steam forums are a mess and the mods are working their arses off to try and control the flames of every non NA steam user

-iceblade^ · 2 Apr 2008 at 20:24

.:MBK:. said:
i know its not valves fault, but maybe its time for them to start filtering their news lists so the rest of the world doesnt foam at the mouth over this sort of stuff, steam forums are a mess and the mods are working their arses off to try and control the flames of every non NA steam user

True. They also need to fix their pricing discounts too.

Tombo · 2 Apr 2008 at 20:57

-iceblade^ said:
True. They also need to fix their pricing discounts too.

It's broken?

shadowake · 2 Apr 2008 at 21:25

The Mad One said:
Orange box on steam $58.69 (inc VAT) > £29.60 approx
Orange box from anywhere online £27 (£30 from high street??)

Actually it's $49.95 on Steam about £25 so actually cheaper than the shops. Most of the big name shops still have it priced at 40 quid plus. I saw it for £49.99 in a certain store at the weekend and remember thinking man what a rip, but I bet unsuspecting people still bought it.

Sinny · 2 Apr 2008 at 21:29

Oo Farcry, always wanted to play that might give it a download for only £4 odd.

Dark_Angel · 2 Apr 2008 at 21:48

uvmain said:
Yes, but as I said earlier, Steam didn't decide the price for CoD. Activision did. So that example is irrelavent. Steam didn't decide the price for ET:QW - activision did. seeing a correlation here?

Valve's own products are a few quid more expensive - and I'm one of thee people who'll happily pay two pounds more so I can sit and watch TV whilst my game downloads in the background, doesn't require a no-CD/DVD crack, and auto updates.

Completely agree.

This little thing called the mall makes me sad. And going there to buy games when a 100 screaming brats are running around makes me double sad.

If I happen to be out I will pick the game up, otherwise I figure may as well "steam it from the net"

I do like steam though, it has a few faults, but still - I do like it a lot.

-iceblade^ · 2 Apr 2008 at 21:56

The ability to download and use your game legally without need for any discs, wherever in the world you are, far surpasses the joy of opening a tin and getting a disc that will be scratched and unusable in a few year's time when the game is rare. Happened to me too many times.

Steam ***

psychas · 2 Apr 2008 at 22:23

omg why everything usa they can watch free series only on dvd quality and we cant they have cheap pc component and we dont and now they stealing our steam !!!! oh noessss we need to do a protest or something

FrenchTart · 2 Apr 2008 at 22:26

psychas said:
omg why everything usa they can watch free series only on dvd quality and we cant they have cheap pc component and we dont and now they stealing our steam !!!! oh noessss we need to do a protest or something

eh?

v0n · 2 Apr 2008 at 22:36

shadowake said:
Actually it's $49.95 on Steam about £25 so actually cheaper than the shops. Most of the big name shops still have it priced at 40 quid plus. I saw it for £49.99 in a certain store at the weekend and remember thinking man what a rip, but I bet unsuspecting people still bought it.

$49.95 on Steam, £30 with VAT. It's also $36.95 from amazon US, and £19 from Amazon UK. That should never, ever, be allowed to happen with medialess distribution. That said, I accept many of you will happily pay extra just to not leave the house. I don't think that was the point of electronic distribution but I accept this is the couch market where they can cash in and "rather than go to mall with brats running around", strangely enough, is a valid point - I completely get it.

Sinny said:
Oo Farcry, always wanted to play that might give it a download for only £4 odd.

It's actually more like £5.50 with VAT, which is not bad, however, keep in mind that FarCry, after countless £3 white box re-releases is actually a FREE game now.

psychas · 2 Apr 2008 at 22:39

yea steam usually is cheap i only seen 1 game more expensive then in shops cod 4

FrenchTart · 2 Apr 2008 at 22:46

v0n said:
That said, I accept many of you will happily pay extra just to not leave the house. I don't think that was the point of electronic distribution but I accept this is the couch market where they can cash in and "rather than go to mall with brats running around", strangely enough, is a valid point - I completely get it.

You're wording it in a way that doesn't seem to 'completely get it'. If you're at work Mon-Fri you've probably got better things to do with your time at the weekend than running around a crowded shop/shopping centre (e.g. socialise/hobbies/etc). It's not all about sitting at home playing computer games. I personally get perhaps three hours of gaming per week and that's only because of recently puting a few things on hold until I move house in a month or two.

v0n · 2 Apr 2008 at 23:03

Don't know how I'm "wording it". But i DO get it. I don't go to malls and supermarkets in regular hours for exactly same reason. To avoid braternity and chavism. As I said - paying extra for not having to visit your local store again - IS a valid point.