Does anyone even buy games full price on steam?

[Zeckt]

Let's see here. The first game I ever bought on Steam was Tales of Monkey Island at full price because I was uneducated and was excited to play more monkey island. I bought secret world full price for me and a friend when it became f2p. I bought bioshock infinite full price to get x-com free, and I bought several indie games full price because I have no problems supporting games like Dust Elysian Tale and Shadowrun and Arkania and especially Orcs must die! 2 because I loved the first orcs so much I could not wait even one day after release to play it.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

I'm curious because how do developpers make a profit if their games are only being sold at a discounted price .

Put it this way, who do you think is making more money right now: The devs selling thousands upon thousands of cheap copies of their games on steam...Or EA selling like, 3 copies of their games at full price on Origin?

My money is with the devs selling on steam.

And for the most part I wait for sales, as I can't afford to buy many new games. Although I will and do buy at full price if I really feel the game is worth it or I wan't to support the dev to the best of my ability.

 

[krazykidd]

I'm curious because how do developpers make a profit if their games are only being sold at a discounted price .

Put it this way, who do you think is making more money right now: The devs selling thousands upon thousands of cheap copies of their games on steam...Or EA selling like, 3 copies of their games at full price on Origin?

My money is with the devs selling on steam.

And for the most part I wait for sales, as I can't afford to buy many new games. Although I will and do buy at full price if I really feel the game is worth it or I wan't to support the dev to the best of my ability.

Do you buy games on steam for full price?

I bought Torchlight full price knowing I'd missed the sale. Annoyingly it went on sale again a month after I bought it. But even full price was only £15, half the price of a AAA game.

How do developers make a profit if their games are mostly sold at a discount ?

I suspect you're getting sucked into the 'Cost of Piracy' fallacy. The idea that me getting an AAA game represents a $60 loss for whoever made it that must be compensated. Thus, you reason that if I spend $300 dollars on twenty games that 'should' cost $1200, there is someone losing $900.

In reality, it makes very little difference to them how many games are actually in my library. All that should matter to them is how much money I am spending overall. And Valve has stated many times that people spend more money when they drop prices.

Okay . Here's a stupid question . But if that is true, then, wouldn't developpers/publishers technically make more money if they drop the Day1 price of their games? Instead of having games be 60$ on release , drop it to 40$? Wouldn't that have the same effect?

 

[falcon1985]

I pre-ordered Rome II Total War...and Civ5...and F1 2011 &2012. So yeah, any game I really want i'll pay full price for. Consider it a 20 Euro fee for not having to wait I suppose...

 

[Teoes]

Occasionally and when I feel it is deserved / I need to make a point of doing so.

Most recently I bought Blood Dragon when it was released as I just had to play it and I loved it so much I then went and bought Far Cry 3 at full price without waiting for the next sale. I felt both purchases were worth it.

DA2, DE:HR, Portal 2, Arkham City and I think Arkham Aslyum were others. Most games are bought on sale, however.

 

[Callate]

Admittedly, not often. I rarely buy games from anywhere at release price, barring the occasional independent game or re-release at GOG, and that's usually under $15 to begin with.

I've also said repeatedly that I have a long list of un- or barely-played games, between Steam Sales, GOG, and Humble Bundles, so I feel pretty foolish even when I buy games at a pretty big discount.

I did pay full price for Bioshock Infinite, but I got a copy of XCom in the deal, so that wasn't quite the same thing.

 

[Wicky_42]

I tend not to buy at full price - I don't normally need to play a game on release, and 50-75% off is just too good! I'll happily wait 6 months plus to afford twice as many games, or if I'm on the fence about something I know I can hold on and get it at a price I won't regret - possibly my favourite aspect of the sales!

Now waiting to see if Kerbal Space Program will be on sale at better than 50% in the Winter sales, because with Shogun 2 for just over £6 (plus Bioshock Infinite and Hotlilne Miami now added to my library) I can afford to wait a while and see if things get better than 40% :3

 

[Da Orky Man]

Rarely. I did buy FTL the day it ame out, but even that was on a 10% discount. I also think I bought KotOR and Tachyon: The Fringe at full price, but that was years ago now. Incidentally, anyone else here even heard of Tachyon?

 

[CriticalMiss]

I'll buy something at full price if it isn't too expensive, I don't mind dropping £5 on a full price indie title, but I probably wouldn't pay full price for a big-name game that has the backing of a major publisher if they are going to release it at £40-50.

And Steam can get away with crazy sales because they are never going to be out of stock, a digital only platform doesn't cost as much to run as a physical storefront (you don't need as much rent, there are fewer staff, electricity bills will be lower etc.) and they don't need a warehouse to keep the games in. With all of the overheads that selling a physical copy of the game requires effectively gone more of the cash is going to the publisher/developer/Valve.

 

[blizzaradragon]

I'm probably a weird case, in that I buy full price games more often then I buy one on sale. Albeit my library is only like 15 games, but only 2 of those were bought on sale(Magic 2013 and Fable). Whether the game is on sale or not honestly has no bearing on whether I buy it or not: if the game looks fun and I'm interested I buy it, if not I don't. Hell, I've had a Steam account for a few years yet I've never bought anything during their giant sales.

 

[Zeh Don]

No, due to Steam's DRM and the fact that I could lose my entire collection at Valve's "discretion", I only buy games at reduced prices. If I purchase a game at retail and it requires Steam - Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Skyrim being the chief offenders - I create my own cracks for the game and back them up so I'll have access to them even if I lose my Steam account.

Steam is a discount store for me - a $2.00 shop, where everything is disposable and I spend accordingly.

 

[DanielBrown]

No, the only games I purchase through Steam are those really cheap bundles or extremely discounted games. Most expensive one I've gotten yet, out of 75 games, is Titan Quest + Immortal Throne for ~£20.
Those damn bundles though... About two months ago I only had 10 games at Steam I believe. Filling up quickly with mainly awful games I won't play for more than a few minutes.

Might be worth adding that I don't buy any games at full price these days. Though even if I did I wouldn't with Steam since I very much prefer to get a physical copy. Feels like I'm buying air otherwise.

 

[JackyG]

I bought Portal 2 for it's launch price £29.99. it was Easter weekend and I had some chocolate eggs so I thought awesome, i'm gonna play Portal 2 all weekend and eat chocolate! plus I also sort of felt like valve deserved it.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

I'm curious because how do developpers make a profit if their games are only being sold at a discounted price .

Put it this way, who do you think is making more money right now: The devs selling thousands upon thousands of cheap copies of their games on steam...Or EA selling like, 3 copies of their games at full price on Origin?

My money is with the devs selling on steam.

And for the most part I wait for sales, as I can't afford to buy many new games. Although I will and do buy at full price if I really feel the game is worth it or I wan't to support the dev to the best of my ability.

Do you buy games on steam for full price?

I bought Torchlight full price knowing I'd missed the sale. Annoyingly it went on sale again a month after I bought it. But even full price was only £15, half the price of a AAA game.

How do developers make a profit if their games are mostly sold at a discount ?

I suspect you're getting sucked into the 'Cost of Piracy' fallacy. The idea that me getting an AAA game represents a $60 loss for whoever made it that must be compensated. Thus, you reason that if I spend $300 dollars on twenty games that 'should' cost $1200, there is someone losing $900.

In reality, it makes very little difference to them how many games are actually in my library. All that should matter to them is how much money I am spending overall. And Valve has stated many times that people spend more money when they drop prices.

Okay . Here's a stupid question . But if that is true, then, wouldn't developpers/publishers technically make more money if they drop the Day1 price of their games? Instead of having games be 60$ on release , drop it to 40$? Wouldn't that have the same effect?

I'm quite sure that they would get more sales on day 1 if they did this and I hope eventually they do (or at least have more AAA games released at different tiers of pricing). However I don't think that would draw as MUCH as something like the steam sales. The sheer amount of publicity having your game featured on the front page brings is staggering. It's free advertising you couldn't dream of achieving otherwise if you're a small dev.

Think about it, if you get featured as a daily deal, that's millions of potential customers seeing your game on the store front thinking, I must buy this game within the next 48 hours otherwise I'm gonna miss an opportunity to pay less money! They might never have heard of or considered buying before but they will now, simply because it's on sale.

I think the site http://wastedonsteam.com/ is testament to the number of people who buy games on steam because they're cheap and then never actually play them is proof of that.

EDIT: also, I believe the reason they haven't actually lowered day 1 prices on steam is because of pressure from retail stores like Gamestop. If Steam undercut Gamestop on day 1, it's quite possible GS could refuse to stock a game on the console, which would essential mean it would die.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I'm curious because how do developpers make a profit if their games are only being sold at a discounted price .

Put it this way, who do you think is making more money right now: The devs selling thousands upon thousands of cheap copies of their games on steam...Or EA selling like, 3 copies of their games at full price on Origin?

My money is with the devs selling on steam.

And for the most part I wait for sales, as I can't afford to buy many new games. Although I will and do buy at full price if I really feel the game is worth it or I wan't to support the dev to the best of my ability.

Do you buy games on steam for full price?

I bought Torchlight full price knowing I'd missed the sale. Annoyingly it went on sale again a month after I bought it. But even full price was only £15, half the price of a AAA game.

How do developers make a profit if their games are mostly sold at a discount ?

I suspect you're getting sucked into the 'Cost of Piracy' fallacy. The idea that me getting an AAA game represents a $60 loss for whoever made it that must be compensated. Thus, you reason that if I spend $300 dollars on twenty games that 'should' cost $1200, there is someone losing $900.

In reality, it makes very little difference to them how many games are actually in my library. All that should matter to them is how much money I am spending overall. And Valve has stated many times that people spend more money when they drop prices.

Okay . Here's a stupid question . But if that is true, then, wouldn't developpers/publishers technically make more money if they drop the Day1 price of their games? Instead of having games be 60$ on release , drop it to 40$? Wouldn't that have the same effect?

well all those people where money isn't that big of an issue, and buy it day 1 regardless, why wouldn't you charge 60 instead of 40? that's extra profit. it's an easy economic graph

e.g. (if i charge this, then i get this many sales, then we wait a few months, and charge 10 dollars lower, and get a 60% increase in sold units,etc...)

it's just making sure they get every piece of the pie on a sales graph essentially, money is money, might as well get it from everyone you can. (especially digitally, it's just a code for them now to go through steam, they aren't making anything else or shipping out a product)

 

[IGetNoSlack]

Only when I pre-order, with one exception: Gunpoint.

Bought it full price, did not regret it.

 

[Inco]

No, I don't buy my games from steam first day. Not AAA at least, since they are priced stupidly high for this region compared to most other websites. I got bioshock infinite from Greenman gaming for $40 with xcom for free and borderlands for $36, while on steam they were $80.
The only time I might buy something first day is when it is a really good indie game or something along those lines.

 

[JEBWrench]

Okay . Here's a stupid question . But if that is true, then, wouldn't developpers/publishers technically make more money if they drop the Day1 price of their games? Instead of having games be 60$ on release , drop it to 40$? Wouldn't that have the same effect?

1) It's harder to replicate a lower price in a retail situation since you have a physical product to produce and distribute.
2) People are more likely to buy something at a reduced price not because the price is lower, but because it's "on sale". JC Penney tried to get rid of sale prices and set the regular prices to what would be their sale prices, and they failed miserably.

 

[Weaver]

Occasionally $10 - $15 dollar indie games.
Most of the times I wait for sales though.

 

[TheFriskySpatula]

I bought Bioshock Infinite for full price on release day for Steam, and I don't regret it one bit. Irrational crafted something really special there, which is rare in AAA gaming these days. I have no qualms supporting a developer keeping that creative spark alive.

Outside of some indie games though, most of my games on steam are bought on sale, especially for AAA titles.