DayZ Price Increases by 15%, Immediately has "15% Off Sale" - Update

[the doom cannon]

This marketing tactic has been used by big companies for ages. Tbh I am surprised that it's taken this long to work it's way into games

 

[Jadak]

Depends what they do when the sale is over. If the price goes back, then yeah, questionable shit. If it stays up like they say it is, then it's not really a problem, it's just swapping out 'sale' with 'last chance to get the game at the old price before we raise it'.

 

[Baresark]

A 15% increase followed by a 15% decrease does not bring you to the same price. There is still a slight discount.

Lol, you beat me too it. I was like... math doesn't work like that.

OT: I mean... so we are supposed to condone both the ridiculous practice of charging way more for early access and the practice of charging way less for early access. It honestly just makes sense to charge the release price for the game. That said, it does make more sense to charge less for early access to me, not that I am outright condoning anything. I mean... DayZ is one big griefing simulator, so they might as well grief with the price as well.

 

[Brian Tams]

Guys, the problem isn't the price increase. Its the timing of it. They should've waited until after the steam sale, or done it before hand.

 

[Deathfish15]

Disregarding the legality of raising a game's price and then putting it on sale, the very fact that the price is being raised should be a concern to us. Usually, games become cheaper over time, not the other way around (with the exception of that whole Xenoblade Chronicles [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.825288-GameStop-Releases-Xenoblade-Chronicles-Stock-Increases-Price] thing last year).

You are forgetting that this is still an in-development game and the cost is based on the phase of the game. Minecraft is the biggest example of this that I can recall. The game's Alpha version and Beta version were both far cheaper than the release version and each priced separately based on the progress of the game's development cycle. There's no reason to assume that this is a "weird thing" or "out of the norm" when in reality it's a product that is discounted for people that adapt to test the game and progress it's efforts to making it perfect for an official release.

I honestly wish that MMORPG's would adapt such a concept, however the issue is that people are clawing and clamoring to get into it's early versions to find as many exploits and issues with it as possible. Those people than take and scam their way to the top in the game's release.

 

[Steven Bogos]

A 15% increase followed by a 15% decrease does not bring you to the same price. There is still a slight discount.

Lol, you beat me too it. I was like... math doesn't work like that.

OT: I mean... so we are supposed to condone both the ridiculous practice of charging way more for early access and the practice of charging way less for early access. It honestly just makes sense to charge the release price for the game. That said, it does make more sense to charge less for early access to me, not that I am outright condoning anything. I mean... DayZ is one big griefing simulator, so they might as well grief with the price as well.

A 15% increase followed by a 15% decrease does not bring you to the same price. There is still a slight discount.

For all of those stating that my math is bad, i'm sorry, I was never really a math guy in school. For what it is worth, the game is actually "on sale" from its original price: it is $29.74 on steam, meaning you save a whopping 25 cents from the pre-sale price. The original point still stands.

 

[Scorpid]

Oh look another no brainer consumer protection law that helps make capitalism work for everyone that the US hasn't adopted from a E.U. country. I'd be mad but if i was I'd just go around infuriated at how broken U.S. consumer laws are 25/7, 365 days of the year. So I'll just mark it up to another reason to dig my heels in against Free Market capitalism and the Republicans and liberatarians that go bible thumping for it.

 

[R.K. Meades]

I'm reminded of the ridiculous specials you see at supermarkets, where the product receives such a derisory 'discount' that the price is rounded up to the original figure when it's time to pay the cashier.

 

[Bindal]

Not surprised - they did annouce that prior full release, the game would get more and more expensive over time.

But they could've just waited until after the sale with that increase-sale.

 

[mad825]

You are forgetting that this is still an in-development game and the cost is based on the phase of the game. Minecraft is the biggest example of this that I can recall. The game's Alpha version and Beta version were both far cheaper than the release version and each priced separately based on the progress of the game's development cycle. There's no reason to assume that this is a "weird thing" or "out of the norm" when in reality it's a product that is discounted for people that adapt to test the game and progress it's efforts to making it perfect for an official release.

And lets all remind ourselves that Minecraft was the result of a bedroom programmer, created from scratch and not a fairly renowned Publisher/developer piggy backing on a mod.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

A 15% increase followed by a 15% decrease does not bring you to the same price. There is still a slight discount.

I wanted to say that too. But when you calculate it, the "discount" is not worth debating the math. It's a shitty move.

 

[Roxor]

So, who is going to be getting the ACCC sent after them? Valve or the developer? It sounds to me like it's the developer who's at fault, so it should probably be them.

 

[Flammablezeus]

Disregarding the legality of raising a game's price and then putting it on sale, the very fact that the price is being raised should be a concern to us. Usually, games become cheaper over time, not the other way around (with the exception of that whole Xenoblade Chronicles [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.825288-GameStop-Releases-Xenoblade-Chronicles-Stock-Increases-Price] thing last year).

Usually games that aren't finished are cheap, because people buying into them are making a gamble. The reason the price goes up is because the game is becoming more feature complete.

You would be right about prices usually going down after release, but DayZ isn't finished, so the finished game hasn't been released yet. For that reason, it hasn't yet been sold at full price. This shouldn't be a surprise. Basically every game that has been sold early has worked this way. The ones that haven't have usually sold as a preorder (so you're still paying for what you're getting at release.)

The fact that DayZ is being sold cheap now is a good thing. Don't get finished games and unfinished games mixed up, because that's unprofessional.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

I'm still not too pleased that I didn't know about the "no refunds" policy Steam has with regard to Early Access titles. Probably my own fault for missing a blurb somewhere, but it's kinda prompted me to never, ever, ever touch one of them again.

Otherwise, I'd have another 20 something dollars from my stupid purchase of DayZ in my account to otherwise spend recklessly on unneeded items...or food. Food would be good.

Sad state of affairs, indeed.

So, with this new thing? Fuck 'em. Twice.

 

[corvanjer]

"How dare they give me a game that is cheaper than what it should be in the first place but then pretend like theres a sale when it should be a sale price of the already arbitrary price that it is, I'm entitled!" - People everywhere

I'm confused

 

[Rednog]

"How dare they give me a game that is cheaper than what it should be in the first place but then pretend like theres a sale when it should be a sale price of the already arbitrary price that it is, I'm entitled!" - People everywhere

I'm confused

It's basic reading comprehension, I don't get how you don't get it.
The steam sale hit, they jacked up the price of the game to $34.99 when right before the sale it was $29.99, and now they mark it as 15% off which puts it at $29.74 thus making the "15% off sale" pretty much a lie. They are abusing the system of having a "sale" tag to sell more copies.

 

[Lillowh]

"How dare they give me a game that is cheaper than what it should be in the first place but then pretend like theres a sale when it should be a sale price of the already arbitrary price that it is, I'm entitled!" - People everywhere

I'm confused

Because, as I stated earlier, it directly violates consumer protection laws in the UK and AUS and a case can be made in the US FTC regulations in the section I stated earlier, because the example given in said legal document describes this under disallowed usage of deceptive pricing:

(c) The following is an example of a price comparison based on a fictitious former price. John Doe is a retailer of Brand X fountain pens, which cost him $5 each. His usual markup is 50 percent over cost; that is, his regular retail price is $7.50. In order subsequently to offer an unusual "bargain", Doe begins offering Brand X at $10 per pen. He realizes that he will be able to sell no, or very few, pens at this inflated price. But he doesn't care, for he maintains that price for only a few days. Then he "cuts" the price to its usual level-$7.50-and advertises: "Terrific Bargain: X Pens, Were $10, Now Only $7.50!" This is obviously a false claim. The advertised "bargain" is not genuine.

Source: Code of Federal Regulations, Title 16, Chapter I, Subchapter B, Part 233, Section 233.1

I honestly bought the game back when it first launched on early access and am completely okay with my purchase. However, I am not okay with a company willfully misleading consumers by using abusing the trust consumers put into companies during these sales to not break consumer protection regulations that are there for a reason.

Basically, yes, people are calling entitlement because they ARE actually entitled by law to not be subjected to such practices by businesses.

 

[DirgeNovak]

I don't get the rage here.

It's an early access game, and early adopters who help with development get it cheaper than people who wait for the finished game. I'll agree calling it "15% off" is disingenuous, but I suppose Steam doesn't have a "last chance to buy it at that price" tag, so this is the best they could do.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

Our national news ran a piece on holiday "discounts" here recently (ours starts Dec. 5th).
80 percent of all 'sales' where never as expensive as the 'before' price mentioned, and a lot of toy prices actually got HIKED for the holiday season.

Retailers said: "Our 'REGULAR PRICE' is the MSRP price the manufacturer advices. We ALWAYS offer a lower price. So when you buy a new item from us it's ALWAYS a great deal! Lucky you!!!!".