Origin Boss Says Steam Sales "Cheapen Intellectual Property"

[Treblaine]

Can't believe I'm the first to post this video.

But I have to hand it to EA, they really are a HORRIBLE publishers, and it's awful how many decent developers work under them and ruin them. I'm actually totally freaking OK with Activision now.

I just wish EA would GO AWAY FOREVER!!

 

[Findlebob]

What about the small detail that some of a games cost included package materials I.e. disks and the box. How do they justify that cost when it?s no longer an issue on Digital distribution?

 

[Meight08]

Can't believe I'm the first to post this video.

But I have to hand it to EA, they really are a HORRIBLE publishers, and it's awful how many decent developers work under them and ruin them. I'm actually totally freaking OK with Activision now.

I just wish EA would GO AWAY FOREVER!!

Stop posting that immature propaganda aimed at 13 year old teens

 

[Krat Arona]

Sure seems like EA is afraid again.

But who knows, they said that EVERY GAMER is looking forward to BF3 Premium, and clearly, they seem to think that if they SAY we like it we DO.

That's how it works? Right?

Oh.. wait, the other thing..

 

[draythefingerless]

Wow...now i know whats wrong with EA. their FINANCIAL department. it explains all the horrid decisions and lackluster profit. They just dont know how a fucking business works effectively.

 

[Covarr]

Steam sales are REALLY useful for selling sequels. I've bought plenty of games at full price because I liked the previous entry in the series that I got for only ten bucks.

As for whether or not extremely low pricing points work for developers and publishers? Let's see, a Steam sale pretty much saved Introversion from bankruptcy, and has given a lot of smaller publishers a lot of publicity that they otherwise wouldn't have gotten. A game doesn't just sell more units WHILE it's on sale; if it's any good, it also gets a ton of free advertising via word of mouth from people who buy it during the sale, and recommend it to their friends, who may miss the sale but buy the game at full price anyway. Heck, there have been times when I knew about a sale but didn't have the money, and then bought the game at full price later because it was still on my mind after the sale.

It's not just true of Steam, either. Remember when Sony got hacked and taken down for a month, and came back bearing free games? Among those free games were things like LittleBigPlanet and inFamous, both of which were just past their prime, and both of which had sequels on the horizon. I'd be willing to bet that LBP2 and inFamous 2 both sold better as a result.

P.S. Thanks

 

[TsunamiWombat]

This is why corporate officers shouldn't be allowed to talk to the press.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

This isn't even "the pot calling the kettle black" this is "the pot calling the white-kettle black"

As much as i hate to admit it training gamers to wait 3 4 months before buying a game is not good in the short run only in the looooooooong run.

If everybody buys games just because their cheap and not because their good,then yes that decreases value.
Also everybody waiting is not good for the dev´s who need money the moment their done with a game and not 5 months down the line.

I fail to see how this is Steam's fault. The exact same things happen with used games, and don't they not get money from used games? If anything, Steam gives them sales that they otherwise wouldn't have.

Also everybody waiting is not good for the dev´s who need money the moment their done with a game and not 5 months down the line.

I think I know what you're trying to say. But the way you say it isn't right, the economy doesn't work that way.

Yet another reason Origin will never be able to truly compete with Steam.

Well their servers are better than steam´s and don´t crap out when you don´t want them to.
Also the games launch faster.

I've seen more complaints with Origin's servers than with Steam's, and the "games launch faster" doesn't have anything to do with the servers unless they are using some Diablo III style service. Steam isn't perfect, but it's been around for far longer than Origin and thus has had time to figure out the major problems, and it sure as hell doesn't transmit your technical information.

 

[shiajun]

All I hear is EA saying "I don't want your money, you poor sod; I only tailor to rich drones". That's fine by me, I've benefitted a lot of smaller publishers, valve, ad indie developers in the recent years. I just wish DICE wasn't with EA, since I would truly want to play Mirror's Edge.

 

[ShinobiJedi42]

I can't help but laugh at every single business decision EA makes. It's like no one in the organization even bothered to take a single business class. And Origin just flat out stinks. The only reason I even let Origin touch my hardrive is because I need it to play ME3. Steam will continue to do well because they understand a proper business model. And while I still prefer hard copies of games (I don't like paying to get permission to use a piece of software), I still do appreciate good Steam sales that offer games I wouldn't otherwise purchase if it wasn't cheap. I feel like that does more for developers than huge prices.

 

[Wolfram23]

If I want a game, I'll buy it. The Steam sales really just sell more games that otherwise probably wouldn't sell, because people aren't that interested. Plus, it's hard to compete with "free", but 75% off is a start.

 

[Owlslayer]

Well, the Steam Sales are the only way i buy games, since I cannot afford to buy expensive ones. Don`t really have much more to say about that.

But this EA guy...well, they would get more customers and users if they`d make bigger sales. Don`t really know much about how economy and stuff like that work, so I´m not even gonna try to figure through this.

 

[robert022614]

"What Steam does might be teaching the customer that, 'I might not want it in the first month, but if I look at it in four or five months, I'll get one of those weekend sales and I'll buy it at that time at 75 percent off',"

Yet a game like lets say Bulletstorm dropping to 29.99 within what like a month doesn't do the same thing?

 

[Something Amyss]

The problem is, it's NOT a fair price point from the consumer side of things. If it was fair, people wouldn't be so eager to wait for deals.

As much as i hate to admit it training gamers to wait 3 4 months before buying a game is not good in the short run only in the looooooooong run.

For who? It's awesome for STEAM in the short and long run. It keeps them firmly established as THE source.

Besides, it's no different from the retail model.

 

[Frostbite3789]

Reason number 347 that Origin can fuck itself.

I had that on my computer for all of 12 hours while playing ME3 and I felt dirty the whole time.

Reasons 1-346 being hate EA because everyone else does?

 

[oldtaku]

Here's how I use Steam:

- If I want something at launch, I buy it.

- If things go on sale, I may buy them even if I would /never have bought them/ at full price.

There was nothing cheapened here. I already assigned your game a worth in my head. When it reached that level I bought it.

Guess what, I haven't bought Mass Effect 3 yet. Still waiting.

 

[KeyMaster45]

"What Steam does might be teaching the customer that, 'I might not want it in the first month, but if I look at it in four or five months, I'll get one of those weekend sales and I'll buy it at that time at 75 percent off',"

That's exactly what it has trained me to do. I'm being serious about that, nearly every game I've wanted over the past 6 months I've waited for them to go on sale on Steam. Some of them, like Arkham City or Arkham Asylum, I've even purchased twice; first for my 360 and a second time for my PC when they went on sale.(I do alot of transit between the dorms and home and I like having some of my favorites to play on my PC instead of lugging the 360 about 200 miles)

I'll use a recent example though, Kingdoms of Amalur. A friend of mine had been talking it up a few weeks before its release and so I decided that this was a game I wanted to play. Then I saw you, EA, wanted $60 for the digital copy on Steam and decided to wait till it came down to a price point that I, the consumer, felt was acceptable for investing in a new IP. I had to wait like 3 months but eventually it went on sale for 33% off, still not exactly dirt cheap but it was a price I felt acceptable for a digital copy of the game. I didn't just buy the vanilla version either, I bought the complete edition that came with all the DLC which you were charging $80 dollars for before the 33% off. I got the whole shebang for $52 when I probably could have gone to GameStop and bought it used for much less than that.(thus making sure you and the ailing 38 studios got zilch dollars from me)

So yes, EA, Steam has trained me to be a smarter consumer when it comes to investing my money in entertainment. It has also trained me to instead of buying used, your current boogeyman of doom, when it comes to new IPs that I can instead buy them on sale through Steam when they reach a price point I deem acceptable to my budget.

Of course if you don't like that and try to take it away I can always go back to buying used from GameStop and make sure you never see a god damned dime of my money.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

EA Vice President David DeMartini says gamers shouldn't hold their breath waiting for deep-discount sales to come to Origin.

Further proof that EA is run by monkeys, you don't just come out and say "We won't be doing that" to a strategy that has garnered allot of money and sales by a MUCH larger competitor. Stating you're not going to do the same basically reduces Origin to a piece of DRM sale-wise.