Massive Discounts 'Bad For Gamers'

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Heavy discounts are bad for gamers? Is this guy onto something or just on something? I'll let you guys decide.

"If a gamer buys a game he or she doesn't want just because it's on sale, they're being trained to make bad purchases, and they're also learning that games aren't valuable." The all-too-common phenomenon of spending more money than you want to just to get everything that's on sale in a particular week is "not good for anyone."
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On the contrary, it's good for everyone: gamers get more games; developers/publishers get more money. Win-win.
 
I don't know what the hell that guy is talking about. I only buy a game that is on sale if I intended to purchase it anyway. I have never bought a game from a Steam Sale or any other sale solely because it was on sale....although there are games that I would like to purchase but refuse to pay full price for them and wait for the sale so the developer gets less money, but I don't care.
 
M0rph3us said:
I don't know what the hell that guy is talking about. I only buy a game that is on sale if I intended to purchase it anyway. I have never bought a game from a Steam Sale or any other sale solely because it was on sale....although there are games that I would like to purchase but refuse to pay full price for them and wait for the sale so the developer gets less money, but I don't care.
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He's talking about the people who just compulsively buy everything on sale on steam. Yes, those people exist. They compare steam ID's and brag about the total "value" of the games they own, some don't even ever play the things.

What he's wrong about, is that it isn't bad for gamers. It's bad for idiots.
 
Hate to break it to you but 99.9% of games aren't worth $60.

I have not bought a game for $60 (besides Dark Souls, which was actually worth the full price) in years. I'm currently waiting for FF13-2 to hit the sweet spot of ~$20 before buying like I did FF13.

But look at Weekend/Holidays sales like Valve puts out. People love these sales and they are widely popular because people can have less of a worry of finding out a game sucks because of reduced prices. I'd much rather throw $10 out if a game sucks rather than $60 (besides, there's no way to sell back digital copies, which makes developers/studios even happier). And I'd be much happier buying a game for $10-$15 and getting my money's worth.

So yea this guy is out of his mind.
 
Coming from a guy who runs a company that sells tons of games on sale for less than $5...his opinion seems irrelevant. He basically says 40-50% discounts are good and 75-80% discounts are bad. Yeah, 80% discount might be bad if the games you sell are less than $10 anyway. However, it's all relative.

I do, to some extent, agree with his point that many people will buy a bad game just because it's really cheap. I have seen that a lot and I am guilty of doing it myself. However, I would rather buy a game that has no demo for $5 and discover it's shitty rather than pirate it or buy it for $60 and find out it's shitty in the same way. Either way, if no one buys a game for $60 and a lot of people buy it for $5 then the developer/publisher is likely getting less money overall anyway, so they are not necessarily "rewarded" for making a bad game. Basically all people are saying is that $5 is all their game is worth.
 
That said, I would not ever buy a game I had no interest at all in playing for any amount of money. Games I buy for $5 may be games I wouldn't have considered at a higher price point, but I still wanted to play them at some point.
 
As has been pointed out. This person is interpreting things incorrectly. Discounts are good for those who do not have issues with impulsiveness and other money management issues. Even for those who buy for epeen, as long as they aren't creating financial problems for themselves, it gives a positive result for them. Heck, even for those people with money management issues, at least they are spending less money on the game they purchased, and not full retail. Discounts are good in at least one dimension, for everyone.
 
I've gotten very picky with what I'll spend money on, so the sales give me a chance to try something out that I might not have bothered with otherwise.

The same thing happened ages ago when Emusic had a monthly subscription for as much as you could download. I tried out hundreds of new bands, and the ones that I really enjoyed I've gone on to purchase more from.
 
I fell into the trap of steep sales at first, where I'd buy games that I wasn't previously planning on buying, but now, I don't. I simply decide what price I'm willing to buy a game at (usually <$10 for PC, $20-$25 for console), and simply wait for it to hit that price. If I'm *really* hyped up for a game (like Skyrim), I'll buy right away, but how often does that happen? Looking at my purchase log... Street Fighter 4, in 2009.

Still, I could use more discretion that I practice. I'm currently averaging less than 2 hours a week on games, so the hypothetical 50 hour game could take me half a year to finish.
 
1. Games that people want to buy for $60 sell for $60.

2. Games that people don't want to buy for $60 sell for less than $60.

3. When there's no longer anyone that wants to buy your game for $60 see rule #2.
 
Well perhaps if publishers didn't price absolute shiat at $59.99 plus $20-$30 for DLC to fix the crap they cut out.. Maybe if they sold a good product that was ready at a reasonable price. Maybe they could actually beta test their own products rather than releasing a buggy POS ahead of schedule and fix it by patching later.

The whole game publishing model is screwed.
 
The person is assuming a lot of things.

#1 Would the person have bought the game at all? Contrary to belief, not everyone believes a game is worth $60. A lot of us don't even think games are worth $50.

#2 A lot of people wait for prices to drop, or buy the game used. A sale would cut the wait time and allow gamers to buy it now. This also reduces the chance someone will buy it used.

#3 A sale doesn't mean we're going out to buy it asap. If I'm in the market for a game, I'll try it first. One way or another I will find a way to try it to see if I like it. If I like it then I'll buy it. Unless the game is Fallout 4 or Skyrim 2, which I know the previous titles were amazing, then I'll go ahead and buy the game. Even then, I'd still wait for a sale anyway.

I bought Skyrim on 30% sale. I bought Portal 2 for only $30. Sales don't make me buy games, but they do change the date I decide to go and buy it. The difference is this month or many months later. Up to the sale.
 
Sorry, I don't buy games on sale because I can't resist a cheap game. I buy games on sale because I refuse to pay $50-$60 for any game.

Period.

I haven't learned that games have no value, I've just learned how much I value them, and what I'm willing to pay.

Right now they are resisting what the market is willing to pay, and trying to keep people interested enough to overpay for games.

Hasn't worked on me though.;)
 
Eh lots of games I buy on sale if I had some interest in them at all. Like Wing Commander 4 from GoG this weekend. I bought that for a couple bucks because I have the DVD but I never played it before and it just has issues getting it to run in Windows 7. If it had been more than $10 I wouldn't have even thought about it.
 
Merc1138 said:
He's talking about the people who just compulsively buy everything on sale on steam. Yes, those people exist. They compare steam ID's and brag about the total "value" of the games they own, some don't even ever play the things.

What he's wrong about, is that it isn't bad for gamers. It's bad for idiots.
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Agreed.

That being said, I have bought a few games that I likely never would have bought if not for massive Steam discounts...

  • Deus Ex Collection ($4.98). Wanted to replay the original, but my disk was long since lost... Got that sequel which sucked as well, but I've never played it.
  • S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl ($7.49). A friend of mine had S.T.A.L.K.E.R. up forever, when when I saw it on sale, I figured why not. Loved it. proceeded to buy clear sky and later Call of Pripyat on launch.
  • Red Orchestra ($9.99): Another game the same friend had talked up, which when I saw it on sale, I picked up. Loved this as well, and wen't on to pre-order Red Orchestra 2...
  • Fallout IV and Fallout New Vegas ($9.99): Got these when I saw them on sale to help with S.T.A.L.K.E.R withdrawal. Games seem good, but kept filling up th vram on my dual 6970's and slowing down to unplayably low framerates. Never got far due to this. I may retry once I get my GTX680 installed.
  • Monkey Island Enhanced Edition Bundle (1 & 2) ($9.99): Loved these as a kid, so when I saw these on sale I bit. Played through them recently. Was fun and nostalgic.
  • Metro 2033 ($9.99): Visually impressive, and I'm a sucker for that post-apocalyptic (especially Russian) stuff. probably never would have bought it if I didn't get it on sale from THQ

I have - occasionally, but rarely - fallen into the trap of buying games that I have never played and probably never will.
  • The Witcher Enhanced Edition ($2.49): I've heard good things, but I've never been into fantasy games, and this game is no different. Don't know why I bought it.
  • Dead Space ($4.99): Saw it on sale, and remembered the name from somewhere. Turned out I remembered the name because it was TERRIBLE... What a mistake.

Then there are ones I bought on sale, but haven't played yet, but plan on playing at some point, like Deus Ex Human Revolution ($9.99)

I don't necessarily think it is a bad though though. Sure I've bought two games that I'm never going to play (and wasted a grand total of $7.50) but in the grand scheme of things, I've made worse decisions in my life...

I think what this guy is more concerned with is what he mentions later in the article:
"some crazy 75% or 85% discount that damages the long-term value of a game."

he doesn't want to damage the value of the games. if you keep giving people "crazy discounts", then they are just going to wait for said "crazy discounts" before buying, and as a result, the number people who spend $50-$60 at launch become fewer and fewer, and it starts cutting into profits...



So there are two... Most games
 
yeah...so I have like 200 games on steam. A lot I haven't played, because I haven't gotten around to them yet. Mostly I buy them if they are part of a sale bundle when there are games I really want in the bundle. I rarely buy the blockbusters until they are on sale at 50% or more off. General I figure if a game is under $10 and I get a couple of hours or so of amusement out of it, it's worth it.

So I guess my point is I fall into this category. I have money invested in games I never play, and I only go them because they were "a bargain".

meh
 
this is a stupid statement. it is good for gamers simply because with a minimal amount of money, you can support a game company you may never have heard of and try a game you would not have tried otherwise. i bought psychonauts ONLY because it was super cheap on slickdeals. never heard of it before. but because of that sale and many like it, thousands of people paid a small amount of money, which means thousands of dollars for the game company and barely anything from us gamers. and i loved the game, so i will buy any sequel they make, even at $10 or so, and i am more likely to buy other games that company makes in the future. multiply all this by thousands and its clearly an awesome deal for the gamers and for the developers.
 
One thing I will also add is that I will sometimes buy an indie game or bundle even if I'm not that interested in it, solely to support indie developers. I've bought a couple of the HIBs and barely played any of the games in them. Not to say I didn't try some of them, but on the whole the games weren't something I was particularly waiting for.

However, as Zarathustra pointed out, I've maybe wasted what, a few dollars per bundle? No big deal, I waste more than that on crappy fast food.
 
My biggest issue with my spending is games I always was interested in but never played them and they went on sale.

I got Max Payne 1 and 2, games out of print for half a decade, for like 5 bucks total because at some point I wanted to play it and never got the chance. I have probably 15 games like that. 2-5 year old games I wanted to play, but because of the their age didn't even want to spend today's full price, but once I saw it on sale, decided it was a good time to pick it up and play it whenever I wanted if I wanted to. Probably accounts for $100 in three years. Not exactly a back breaker.
 
I've bought some games sight unseen on sale. But, I did go by reviews that it was worth buying.

It's good for me, because I buy games that I wouldn't normally buy at full price. May be a good game, but it's not worth full $60 price to me. Take Duke Nukem Forever. SHITTY GAME at $60. Pretty good game at $10.

Some games are like movies. I'd be PISSED if I paid full price for it. But, if I can get it cheap (rental, on sale, etc) then I don't mind it so much.

Good for developers, bad for my wallet. But, I don't go out and buy shitty games. I buy mediocre games at a price that they are worth.
 
Can't edit...

I've never been disappointed in any "On Sale" games. Only full priced ones that sucked - should have bought once they went on sale.
 
I've recently stopped myself buying more games just because they are on sale, got too many I've still not properly played yet.
 
This guy's statement is ridiculous. Sales sometimes lure in people that make poor financial decisions, that's all I see.
 
selling cars for less makes it available to more people, same goes for planes, shoes, food, software, oh, and here is the breaking news, VIDEO GAMES!
 
Good insight wrong hypothesis .

Buying Cheap games you don't want is bad: Good Insight
Cheap games are bad: Bad hypotheses

Bad economic practices extend even in to game buying, more economic education and good habits are needed: Good hypotheses
 
You know what discount games I have yet to play ? Most of the ones in the humble indie bundle...

Do I feel bad for "donating" my $10 to each bundle? Nope.

I think kickstarter is going to be my new source for games, the way things are looking.... its just that 6-24 month waiting period that they need to work on.
 
lilbabycat said:
I think kickstarter is going to be my new source for games, the way things are looking.... its just that 6-24 month waiting period that they need to work on.
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Do you typically get the game free once completed if you donate on Kickstarter?
 
lilbabycat said:
I think kickstarter is going to be my new source for games, the way things are looking.... its just that 6-24 month waiting period that they need to work on.
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Lol...They can't really "work on" that since it's community-funded, so the work can't really even begin until after you've donated. :p

On-topic, I think his conclusion should have been that developers/publishers need to stop making shitty games that are initially priced $60 but only worth $10 or less. He's assuming that all games are worth full retail, which simply isn't true, despite what publishers seem to think.

So it's more like games are overpriced in the first place rather than sales are "bad for gamers".
 
Zarathustra[H];1038616056 said:
Do you typically get the game free once completed if you donate on Kickstarter?
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So far that's the idea, yes. Technically it's not "free" but you get a full game for like $10-15 instead of (presumably) full $60 retail.
 
Check reviews, purchase discounted games that it seems like you'd like to play. Was that so hard?
 
I don't hold $5-$10 games in high value. I tend to have no problem making a bad purchase if its $5. If I'm paying $60 I hold those in high value.

I think less people make bad purchases when the price is increased. I don't go out and buy everything thats on "sale". I'll buy it if its on sale and I want it.

Some games I'll buy at $60 right when the come out like Mass Effect 3 or SWTOR. But a game like Rage where want to play it but in no hurry to play it, I'll wait til theres a good deal on it on steam.

If thats bad then that guy can suck it.
 
let me guess. the OP does not like big budget games selling for $5 competing with their old games selling for $5. Sorry, but that is reality
 
Movies are not worth more than $5 to me. I rarely pay more or go to the theater. Theaters suck and are to busy and expensive. $8 popcorn? LOL
Games are not worth a cent more than $10 to me and I rarely pay more.
Music is worthless. I never buy any ever anymore and have not for almost 12 years.
I never buy DVD's, CD's or Blu Rays anymore unless I see something good for $5 or less at a flea market.

I like Netflix and happy to pay $8 a month. Charge me more than $10 I'm gone :)

so yeah the whole industry to me has become worthless and I can live without all of it.
 
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