Am I wrong, or has the fundamental re-pricing of Steam games begun?

[Dumac]

I don't think Steam sales really changed. I think you just have built a big library and don't have many games to buy.

The main games I got were Far Cry 3 (7.50), Tomb Raider ($10), and Bioshock Infinite($10), Spelunky ($3), Guacamelee ($3), which were all a large percentage off and came out within a year from the sale.

 

[Imaginer]

Part illusion part competition

1. We are becoming saturated with their games. They used to be "more amazing" because we had a lot of selection to choose from. Now, I rarely buy anything during the sale because I already own most of the games that would interest me. AAA titles of this year are still discounted, but they'll be heavily discounted next year, which is when I'll get them. I'm sure this is how it's been for most of us.

2. Because of this (them having access to more games at heavy discounts that aren't this years AAA), we often see BETTER deals on AAA titles from this year elsewhere (Amazon, GMG, etc). This makes us think that the Steam sale sucks, but in reality it's how it always has been: AAA titles of this year discounted, AAA titles of yesteryear HEAVILY discounted.

And as a indirect bonus, you do not need to be on the very current generation of video cards for past year(s) AAA games that will be had next year for a severe discount (or even that matter, a generation back to an extent) making upgrading options very cheap and lasting. (in which I hope would debunk the whole ~user induced needed~ PC gaming upgrade mentality)

 

[Dumac]

Actually, when I think about it, PC games seem to be getting cheaper in general. I see a lot more games coming out at $15, $20, $30, or $40 rather than the traditional $60. I got metal gear rising on a steam sale for $20 (33% off $30) before it even came out.

 

[irishScott]

Actually, when I think about it, PC games seem to be getting cheaper in general. I see a lot more games coming out at $15, $20, $30, or $40 rather than the traditional $60. I got metal gear rising on a steam sale for $20 (33% off $30) before it even came out.

Probably due to the indie surge. Indie games are coming out in much higher quantities and at much higher quality levels, especially with kickstarter. The huge billion dollar franchise titles are still up at the $60 mark from what I've seen. Although I suppose it is possible that big gaming has seen the massive profits steam sales and the like produce and decided to lower the entry bar.

 

[MWink]

I too found the recent Steam sales disappointing. I understand what people are saying about most of us already having bought many of the games we wanted from past sales but I don't think it's just that. I also noticed there were a lot of indie games but I don't consider that a bad thing. I've had much more fun over the last few years with indie games than mainstream games. Even taking all that into account I think the sale was disappointing. There was one game in particular I was planning to buy during the sale but it wasn't discounted at all, not even a tiny bit. I know it's the developers fault, not Steam's, but I think the best sales are probably behind us.

If anything, I suspect that the great sales of years past were to help get us accustomed to digital distribution. I'd say it worked quite well. People don't buy physical copies of games nearly as much anymore. Personally I'm okay with digital distribution as long as it doesn't have DRM (and yes Steam is DRM). That's why, at this point, I strongly prefer to buy from GOG whenever possible.

 

[Lil Frier]

Actually, when I think about it, PC games seem to be getting cheaper in general. I see a lot more games coming out at $15, $20, $30, or $40 rather than the traditional $60. I got metal gear rising on a steam sale for $20 (33% off $30) before it even came out.

I'd somewhat disagree with that. When console games first went to $60, PC games stayed at $50 for the longest time. They finally crept up towards $60 for most major releases, and we're now seeing indie games like Day Z Standalone come out at $40. I mean, this Wasteland 2 that is on the front of Steam is being promoted as "Early Access" AND "Indie," yet it's got the big, fat $60 price tag of AAA titles.

The GIANT surge in indie quantities will always offer decent, cheap games, and Steam sales will often keep overall costs reasonable, but I definitely don't think that games are getting cheaper. I mean, heck, it's become EXPECTED that AAA games that launch at $60 will always come with a bunch of DLC and a Season Pass, which will put the total costs up around $100.

 

[Texashiker]

I don't think Steam sales really changed. I think you just have built a big library and don't have many games to buy.

Why would order game bundles go on deep discount in 2009, but not 2013?

 

[tential]

When has this ever happened, other than games that miserably failed expectations?

I got BF4 for 20 dollars 3 weeks after it came out. Not really sure why people are saying this is "over". Between Slickdeals.net and checking the Steam daily deals you can get GREAT prices on games. At this rate, it's making it not even worth it to pirate some games.

 

[JujuFish]

In December 2009 I bought the unreal bundle for like $13 - $14. For the past few years the bundle has not been anywhere near that price.

The Unreal Deal Pack was $10 twice last year and twice the year before that.

 

[irishScott]

I'd somewhat disagree with that. When console games first went to $60, PC games stayed at $50 for the longest time. They finally crept up towards $60 for most major releases, and we're now seeing indie games like Day Z Standalone come out at $40. I mean, this Wasteland 2 that is on the front of Steam is being promoted as "Early Access" AND "Indie," yet it's got the big, fat $60 price tag of AAA titles.

The GIANT surge in indie quantities will always offer decent, cheap games, and Steam sales will often keep overall costs reasonable, but I definitely don't think that games are getting cheaper. I mean, heck, it's become EXPECTED that AAA games that launch at $60 will always come with a bunch of DLC and a Season Pass, which will put the total costs up around $100.

Early access games are supposed to be more expensive. The idea is to support the development process. Can't really judge by those comparisons.

 

[Lil Frier]

No, they aren't necessarily "supposed" to be that, it's just how they decide to do it. That stuff might fly on Kickstarter, but it's incredibly stupid to do on Steam, in my opinion. I know people like it, but I abhor it.

 

[tokie]

I don't understand people defending Steam.

It is a fact that Steam now has a dominant position in PC gaming, and that Valve has decided that their store no longer needs to have the lowest prices in the industry.

I'm sure going forward Steam will still be 20% or so cheaper than console games, but the days of AAA games going 90% off on Steam is gone.

 

[thedosbox]

In December 2009 I bought the unreal bundle for like $13 - $14. For the past few years the bundle has not been anywhere near that price.

Same goes for the id bundle. Before Quake 4 was added the bundle was $21 - $22. Now it is almost double that price on sale.

Aside from the fact that the Unreal Deal has been cheaper, you're complaining about multi-game bundles for $30? Really?

I don't understand people defending Steam.

It is a fact that Steam now has a dominant position in PC gaming, and that Valve has decided that their store no longer needs to have the lowest prices in the industry.

(a) other storefronts (e.g. gamefly, gamefront, greenmangaming) often sell steam codes at lower prices than steam themselves
(b) this is a business, not a charity

 

[DucatiMonster696]

I'd somewhat disagree with that. When console games first went to $60, PC games stayed at $50 for the longest time. They finally crept up towards $60 for most major releases, and we're now seeing indie games like Day Z Standalone come out at $40. I mean, this Wasteland 2 that is on the front of Steam is being promoted as "Early Access" AND "Indie," yet it's got the big, fat $60 price tag of AAA titles.

The GIANT surge in indie quantities will always offer decent, cheap games, and Steam sales will often keep overall costs reasonable, but I definitely don't think that games are getting cheaper. I mean, heck, it's become EXPECTED that AAA games that launch at $60 will always come with a bunch of DLC and a Season Pass, which will put the total costs up around $100.

You do realize that the "Early Access" price for Wasteland 2 is to allow people who want to get into the beta to do so but to ensure that kickstarter supporters are not shafted. If they were to lower the price and allow others to enter beta at a lower price level that would be a huge dick move on their part toward their kickstarter supporters. Additionally the game will retail at or around 35 bucks when it is finally released. So using Wasteland 2 as an example is a bad one IMHO.

 

[Nebor]

I don't understand people defending Steam.

It is a fact that Steam now has a dominant position in PC gaming, and that Valve has decided that their store no longer needs to have the lowest prices in the industry.

I'm sure going forward Steam will still be 20% or so cheaper than console games, but the days of AAA games going 90% off on Steam is gone.

Steam has done a lot for some of us. Enough to build a lifetime's worth of loyalty.

 

[Lil Frier]

You do realize that the "Early Access" price for Wasteland 2 is to allow people who want to get into the beta to do so but to ensure that kickstarter supporters are not shafted. If they were to lower the price and allow others to enter beta at a lower price level that would be a huge dick move on their part toward their kickstarter supporters. Additionally the game will retail at or around 35 bucks when it is finally released. So using Wasteland 2 as an example is a bad one IMHO.

So your defense is that Wasteland is selling Early Access for an EXTRA $25? In a similar fashion, that winter sports game Snow is $20 for Early Access, but it puts in its description that it's going to be free-to-play.

It's not about the price though, it's about the principal of what is being offered. In return for paying full price (or more) for Early Access, you are not guaranteed a finished product. Rather than throw $30 at DayZ Standalone and waiting for it to be worth $30, I'll wait for the game to be good-enough for me to want, THEN I will pay $30.

 

[Barfo]

I don't understand people defending Steam.

It is a fact that Steam now has a dominant position in PC gaming, and that Valve has decided that their store no longer needs to have the lowest prices in the industry.

I'm sure going forward Steam will still be 20% or so cheaper than console games, but the days of AAA games going 90% off on Steam is gone.

I don't remember those days and I've been on Steam since 2004...back in the day it was easy for Steam to have the lowest prices because everyone else had crappy discounts, or no discounts at all. Nowadays they have plenty of competition, which started because other people realized they can make bucketloads of money selling cheap games, how did they realize that? that's right, Steam.

I'm sure going forward Steam will still be 20% or so cheaper than console games

Nice hyperbole, even if that turned out to be true, why would you care? you can just buy somewhere else and activate on Steam.

Finally, Steam doesn't set the prices of games, the publishers do.


Man, some people are dense.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

I've noticed this as well, the last couple of sales seemed to have less of the big AAA titles on extreme deals (the ~75% off range). How much of that is real, I dunno.

One thing is for damn sure, I have 365 games on steam and I'm in Noooo rush to go out and drop £30 at launch. Back when games made large leaps in quality every year £30 was a super easy justification, if you wanted eyeball orgasms you'd drop £30 on Crysis and £1000 on graphics hardware.

PC gaming has suffered the same fate console gaming did, fixed hardware stifles game innovation, without innovation why keep paying a premium for new games? The reason I (and many others) USED to put down £30 on launch for games was because generally speaking they were better than the games before them, now we see the same old CoD games rehashed constantly.

My strategy for the PS3 when I bought it about 3 years after launch was to simply buy games 2+ years old for no more than about £5, you weren't missing out on anything because in those 2 years nothing had appreciably changed.

Now everything is multi-platform and PCs have become stuck in the same upgrade cycle as the consoles despite sporting vastly superior hardware, so 2 things have happened.

1) I've stopped aggressively upgrading my PC
2) I've stopped buying new games.

Developers have a couple of options here, wait 2-3 years until the price naturally drops to £5 and have a 2-3 year delay on their ROI (return on investment) or put it on sale 6 months after launch and see the same value but 18 months sooner.

Indy games have made a massive comeback as well thanks to humble bundle, steam early access as well as kickstarter, I think that these naturally cheaper indy games are somewhat re-balancing the prices of the AAA counterparts. No one is going to sell an expensive to devleop AAA game at the same deal price as a cheap to develop indy game.

 

[-slash-]

Skyrim Legendary Edition for $20 wasnt bad at all. Didnt see much else that was worth it though.

 

[shortylickens]

Skyrim Legendary Edition for $20 wasnt bad at all. Didnt see much else that was worth it though.

based on my math that works out to around 1 cent per hour of entertainment.

Damn good deal.

 

[-slash-]

based on my math that works out to around 1 cent per hour of entertainment.

Damn good deal.

I'm already over 100 hours and am not slowing down. Well worth it.:thumbsup: $.24/hr for me right now!