Do people actually buy games from Steam?

Bob_Harris

Using www.best-game-price.co.uk. Three games that came to mind, two released in the last month.

Arma II
€17 Delivered
Steam €39.99


Silent Hunter 5
€27 Delivered
Steam €49.99


Bioshock 2
€27 Delivered
Steam €49.99

I know Steam has been over priced for years, but I still find the above results surprising. I thought digital distribution was supposed to drive down price?

Are they trying to tell me the 4-6GB of bandwidth I takes to deliver the game over the internet is much more expensive than the

• physical disk
• burning of the disk
• plastic case
• printing of a manual
• printing of box art
• distributing to outlets

and even after the outlets take their share it still comes out at roughly half the price compared to Steam?

Don't forget you might have to upgrade your net connection, maybe pay 10-15 euro a month extra because your current bandwidth cap just won't allow you download any significant amount.

I thought about re-installing Steam and purchasing some games through it, but I think not.

pixelburp

Yes I buy from Steam because, quite simply, most new releases these days are generally disappointments & I can hold myself until the dust settles, a proper assessment of the game is established & it invariably appear on Sale. Plus when you find bargains like Beyond Good & Evil for 5 yoyos, it shows the value of Steam

In any case, most games aren't worth the €30 tag these days, never mind 50.

cherryghost

i'm swaying more to digital purchases such as steam rather than the traditional hard copies.

- It's handy to download
- Games are updated automatically
- If you reinstall an OS and have Steam on another partition, you dont need to re-download/reinstall the games
- Their customer support is impeccible
- Their cafe accounts are great, and the library they offer on it is constantly updated
- The Steam sales are always great, they always spring a surprise.
- DRM isn't an issue on steam, everything is locked down to your account
- You dont need to stick in a disc to play a game
- Steam supports 'Join game' with your friends in some games
- Steam loves us :P

B00MSTICK

Their sales can sometimes be the definition of epic tbh

D4RK ONION

Yup, I buy games when they're on special offer, which is usually a serious bargain. I got BGE for €2!

I also originally got Steam to try out Audiosurf, and bought it as soon as the demo expired. I think it was a tenner, but what an incredible game.

folan

yep, only ever buy games that are on sale though, just like in any other shop.

leninbenjamin

Yeah, I buy most of my games on Steam. I rarely buy any on release though, wait a few months 'til you're likely to get a decent deal on them somewhere.

Fanny Cradock

I do. Their major sales can be very good value and their daily/ weekly discounts and bundle deals can also be excellently priced. This said the new releases are usually overpriced.

Burning Eclipse

Bob_Harris wrote: »

Are they trying to tell me the 4-6GB of bandwidth I takes to deliver the game over the internet is much more expensive than the

• physical disk
• burning of the disk
• plastic case
• printing of a manual
• printing of box art
• distributing to outlets

and even after the outlets take their share it still comes out at roughly half the price compared to Steam?

They're not trying to tell you any of that at all. Your mistake is to assume that price is derived from how much the product costs to produce... The reality is prices are derived from what people are willing to pay.

RobertFoster

Only when they have a sale on.

Jonny7

If there is some online game I know I will play forever e.g. like Starcraft 2, I'll pay the extra cash and get it on steam because
I'll never loose it
Customer support
It will always auto patch up

For more standard games, then going through play.com or whatever is cheaper

However the sales on steam are more than an incentive to have an account, you can get some serious deals.. just after xmas this year things went crazy.. 2 euros for stalker, 7 euros for GTA4, huge box sets for practically nothing

whitetrash

Jonny7 wrote: »

If there is some online game I know I will play forever e.g. like Starcraft 2, I'll pay the extra cash and get it on steam because
I'll never loose it
Customer support
It will always auto patch up

Blizzard have a thing in their store now where you can re-download any game you've registered a key for with them. I added my war3 key and am now free to lose the cd if I wish.

Mataguri

I tend to only buy off Steam these days, currently I own 141 games on it. It's just a hugely convenient service:

• No waiting for delivery.
• Auto patching of games.
• No physical media needed or present, a huge plus in my books.

It makes my gaming life easy and I dont mind spending a little extra for that.

SeantheMan

Steam nearly has a monopoly on games at this stage.

Its hard to find anythin but new releases in Brick'n'Mortar stores.
Online, people don't really like waiting for delivery.

And now and again, if you're willing to wait, STEAM does some crackin sales !!

Its a quality piece of kit, I've loved it for the past few years. And if you get any product from "valve" , you can be sure of excellent support

Angron

I use it, not all the time, but semi-regularly. I have on steam:
CS:S (online)
Killing Floor (online)
L4D (Bought disc)
L4D2 (Disc)
TF2 (Disc)
DoW2 (Disc)
The Unreal Anthology (5 games, online)
Portal (Online)
Trackmania (Free anyway :P online)
G Mod (Online)
MW2 (disc)

Considering I've only really started playing in the last 2-3 years, Most of the games I bought online were older, or as part of a special deal. If there is a game coming out that I know I'd like, (like L4D2) I'll get the disc if I can get it cheaper. But with the older games, I'll more often than not pick it up on steam, less hassle than trying to hunt it down online. And the deals, like when I got the Unreal Anthology, are pretty great, making it really worth it.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

In general they are way over priced. Their sales are very good though and you can pick up some oldshcool games for very good prices. Never buy anything new from steam, you are getting seriously ripped off.

Coriolanus

Well for one, it's not just Steam that has an influence on the price. The distributers do too.
From Vandal (Cd Projekt aka The Witcher people)

Just remember, Steam doesn't necessarily set the prices for games on the site -- they've asked publishers about the prices they'd like to sell games at. Publishers have to approve the pricing, or they have an option of changing it. With The Witcher: Enhanced Edition we asked them to lower the price in Europe (well, Eastern Europe, where the game is available on Steam) to be in-line with market expectations.

...

Valve sent us an email basically saying "here's what we're doing and here are the prices we're planning to use -- let us know if you need them adjusted" and I'd suspect that other publishers must have gotten that same email.. particularly considering the fact that we only have one game on Steam, so we're a minor player.

Also, as a platform, it's the (or was, somce of the other digital platforms are looking promising too) place to get indy games. Yes, if you read all the relevant blogs, and remember to check them, you'll find the indy games and you can go to most of the individual dev sites and get them there, but really, it's so much easier to just click that little Indy tab in Steam and see what's new.

super_furry

The Christmas/New Year sales are the only time I buy on Steam. Some great deals to be hand then.

Kinetic^

Mataguri wrote: »

• No waiting for delivery.
• Auto patching of games.
• No physical media needed or present, a huge plus in my books.

These are the main reasons I use it. I've about 90-100 games on it and to have the physical media for those lying around would be a pain.

cherryghost

Kinetic^ wrote: »

These are the main reasons I use it. I've about 90-100 games on it and to have the physical media for those lying around would be a pain.

stop borrowing money from me :pac:

EDIT: Should also mention theres a steam sale all week this week

L31mr0d

I use steam for purchasing Valve games, games I get caught up in the hype for so preloading scratches that itch, and games that are going jaw droppingly cheap in the sales.

In saying all that, I hate Steam as an application. I hate having to open it everytime I want to play a game. I use it mostly in offline mode now due to constantly being forced to sit there and watch the updater hang at 99% for 5 minutes.

Burgo

Don't remember the last time i bought a game from steam that was full price; think it might have been the orange box! steam sales are the only way to go.

Polar101

I like their specials, I don't normally buy full price games there. But I quite like buying games off Steam (especially slightly "older" games that are inexpensive), and I fully agree with what Mataguri said. I don't remember the last time I bought a PC game at a retail store, it was probably in 2008.

Overheal

Sometimes a Retailer will have a good deal, and Ill grab it. But more often, im not shopping for stuff: Ill be playing on steam and a good deal will present itself.

marco_polo

In fairness the Valve pack is not bad value at all

http://store.steampowered.com/sub/2546/

If I think I will play a game a good few times then I would spends an extra fiver or so for the steam version, not much more than that though.

The key is to use steam wisely. I got Bioshock 2 + a free Bioshock for 50 yoyos preorder. Take out the free Bioshock, aka the current state of affairs and that price doesn't look too hot at all .

super_furry

Probably a daft question but if I register a store bought game on Steam is it in my account forever? Could I just junk the disk and box and redownload it whenever, as if I'd bought it on Steam?

Coriolanus

super_furry wrote: »

Probably a daft question but if I register a store bought game on Steam is it in my account forever? Could I just junk the disk and box and redownload it whenever, as if I'd bought it on Steam?

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7480-wusf-3601

Some, limited games can be. The list is on that page.

Can't really blame them for not doing every game that they catalog. After all they get nothing out of the bricks and mortar sales that people then register with Steam.

Cuddlesworth

Nevore wrote: »

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7480-wusf-3601

Some, limited games can be. The list is on that page.

Can't really blame them for not doing every game that they catalog. After all they get nothing out of the bricks and mortar sales that people then register with Steam.

I would assume that the games you can register with them, the publishers pay a surcharge for every one registered.

robby^5

I used to buy all my games on steam, now I'll usually stick to the sales. I understand why they changed their pricing format, but when you can get a physical copy of the game for less I really dont see the point in a digital-only copy...especially when some of the games I've bought can be added to steam and downloaded anyway.

Davidius

I haven't bought from them ever since they decided to adopt the $1 >= €1 conversion when they switched to localised currency. Convenience simply isn't worth it, shops are so much cheaper especially for Valve games.

Why bother paying €20 for TF2 when you can buy the whole Orange Box, TF2 inclusive for €15 with a physical copy.

LinHaX

In fact, but dont forget that a lot of games on discs are running on steam anyways

Drakar

... with a physical copy

I'd quite happilly pay to avoid having to keep discs (which scratch, let lost etc), and installation keys, boxes, patches et al.

For me its always worth checking the difference, but sale stuff (xcom complete for $2 ffs) Steam's hard to beat.

The point is they can charge what they wish (like all companies), as consumers you have to make whatever is the correct decision for you (some people would be happy extra to predownload and play at midnight on day of release perhaps with some different pre-order bonuses, some would prefer to pre-order on one of the many other sites and save like €20/€30 for a day or two's wait, that decision is going to be different for many people and neither is "wrong").

Antar Bolaeisk

I buy quite a lot of games from Steam, for example I bought Dues Ex there the other day when it was on sale, but I very rarely pay the Euro prices as the Sterling prices are generally about 40% cheaper, more so in extreme cases. Thankfully there's someone who helps me out getting the games through the uk store.

tman

L31mr0d wrote: »

In saying all that, I hate Steam as an application. I hate having to open it everytime I want to play a game. I use it mostly in offline mode now due to constantly being forced to sit there and watch the updater hang at 99% for 5 minutes.

I got a bit sick of that too. Went to play a game that I hadn't played for a few weeks, but then had to wait around for ages while it downloaded a huge update. In the end I just gave up and set it to autostart with Windows and keep all of my games up to date, it's not exactly a resource hog if you just have it running in the background...

They do update it ridiculously frequently though, seems like barely a day goes by without a steam client update

To answer the OP - I generally just buy games when they're on offer, Steam sucks balls for new releases (even Valve's own games!)
Left 4 dead 2 is £30 at the moment, but I got it from Amazon shortly after release for half that!

Davidius

Drakar wrote: »

I'd quite happilly pay to avoid having to keep discs (which scratch, let lost etc), and installation keys, boxes, patches et al.

Well in the case of the Orange Box, you have to have Steam anyway and the physical copy will just be faster than a download. Either way, is it really worth €15 for the convenience of not being given a copy? That costs them less, why would you happily pay more? Personally I'd be of the mind that I should only pay more if it's actually warranted.

The point is they can charge what they wish (like all companies), as consumers you have to make whatever is the correct decision for you (some people would be happy extra to predownload and play at midnight on day of release perhaps with some different pre-order bonuses, some would prefer to pre-order on one of the many other sites and save like €20/€30 for a day or two's wait, that decision is going to be different for many people and neither is "wrong").

Of course they can charge what they wish but they still charge what they're getting away with. In certain cases I feel I can be a bit annoyed at the choices of other consumers. By buying through Steam they're keeping the prices at a level they should be nowhere near.

Coriolanus

They're damned if they do, damned if they don't.

If they went and leaned on all the distributors to let them sell at a lower rate than the bricks and mortars, we'd all be complaining that steam were killing the high street retail sector of pc gaming. :P

super_furry

Nevore wrote: »

They're damned if they do, damned if they don't.

If they went and leaned on all the distributors to let them sell at a lower rate than the bricks and mortars, we'd all be complaining that steam were killing the high street retail sector of pc gaming. :P

High street retail PC Gaming is dead. You're lucky if you get one small shelf hidden away in the corner of GAME or Gamestop and they're hopelessly out of date, with the likes of Tabula Rasa still for sale.

Coriolanus

super_furry wrote: »

High street retail PC Gaming is dead. You're lucky if you get one small shelf hidden away in the corner of GAME or Gamestop and they're hopelessly out of date, with the likes of Tabula Rasa still for sale.

Most people complain of the opposite, that it's near impossible to get anything but the new releases. *shrug*
And yeah, it more or less is, people would still be complaining if steam was exacerbating that for the last few years however.

tomhappens

The Steam sales are worth having an account for.

Other that that I have bought about 10 games from them but I am happy to wait until new releases hit the < 20 Euro mark.

I'd never have bought Stalker Clear sky.... but for 5 Euro you can't go wrong

VinLieger

I only buy steam stuff when its on sale and even then i still have a serious beef with the whole lack of an exchange rate so they just copy the price directly from dollars to euros which rips us off a huge amount and the VAT differences between us and the US

Nirnias

I emailed Steam about their prices a couple of weeks back and this is the responce i got back:

"Hello Stephen, Thank you for contacting Steam Support. Currently, the Steam Support Team provides support for technical issues only. We appreciate your feedback regarding the pricing in Steam. Being able to accept multiple currencies through Steam has been a feature that many of our users have been waiting for. We are always working with publishers to adjust prices to be in line with what you would find at local retailers and online shops. We are unable to allow users to purchase in other currencies that are not already listed on your local Steam Store. If you have any further questions, please let us know - we will be happy to assist you. "

Doesnt really answer my question though.

Elessar

super_furry wrote: »

High street retail PC Gaming is dead. You're lucky if you get one small shelf hidden away in the corner of GAME or Gamestop and they're hopelessly out of date, with the likes of Tabula Rasa still for sale.

You should see Apple resellers: Only two weeks ago I saw a brand new unopened original copy of Deus Ex (big box!) for mac at a retail price of €49.95! And it probably only worked on powerpc macs!

Regarding steam, the way it was explained to me about online pricing was, publishers don't want cheaper online sales canabalising sales of retail games. So they are kept at a higher price. You also have to factor in the fact that there is a perceived premium about getting a game instantly online. And add in the fact that retailers themselves can price games at lower than RRP if they buy in bulk.

pwd

Yes i buy games from steam.
I find the features it provides useful. It's a convenient way of getting a game. The frequent special offers are often good value. I find it particularly useful to be able to uninstall and reinstall games without needing the discs.
I like it when a demo of a game is avaialable. I prefer to be able to see what sort of settings the game will run on on my computer, and I like to see if I enjoy the game.

Overheal

Nirnias wrote: »

I emailed Steam about their prices a couple of weeks back and this is the responce i got back:

"Hello Stephen, Thank you for contacting Steam Support. Currently, the Steam Support Team provides support for technical issues only. We appreciate your feedback regarding the pricing in Steam. Being able to accept multiple currencies through Steam has been a feature that many of our users have been waiting for. We are always working with publishers to adjust prices to be in line with what you would find at local retailers and online shops. We are unable to allow users to purchase in other currencies that are not already listed on your local Steam Store. If you have any further questions, please let us know - we will be happy to assist you. "

Doesnt really answer my question though.

Sure it does.

Steam: "Our hands our tied. This is not a Technical Issue; its a Business Issue"

Steam is plenty capable, from a technical perspective, of displaying correct currency and local pricing to wherever you are browsing from... that is not the issue.

Publishers set their own prices on Steam. Im sure Steam isnt happy about it. You know they arent. Theyd love you to buy from them. But they have to respect the Publisher's demands/wishes, or lose them and their titles.

Nirnias

yeh but these would be the same publishers for the selling of the game in retail also. I use Steam to buy games when they are on sale or a good price. But iv never bought a new release from them cause they are always like 50 euro, whereas i can just go to Smyths and get the same game for maybe 30 or 35 euro.

They said its for technical issues only because i probably emailed the wrong department. Could of sworn i sent it to the sales email but must not of.

Sierra Oscar

They certainly do, game sales on Steam have increased by over 100% every year for the last few years and the membership of Steam increased by 200% from Feb 09 to Feb 10.:)

The large sales attract the most attention. Agreed that new games are usually pricey.

Overheal

Nirnias wrote: »

yeh but these would be the same publishers for the selling of the game in retail also. I use Steam to buy games when they are on sale or a good price. But iv never bought a new release from them cause they are always like 50 euro, whereas i can just go to Smyths and get the same game for maybe 30 or 35 euro.

They said its for technical issues only because i probably emailed the wrong department. Could of sworn i sent it to the sales email but must not of.

they said it was Not a technical issue:

"the Steam Support Team provides support for technical issues only."

witnessmenow

Overheal wrote: »

Sure it does.

Steam: "Our hands our tied. This is not a Technical Issue; its a Business Issue"

Steam is plenty capable, from a technical perspective, of displaying correct currency and local pricing to wherever you are browsing from... that is not the issue.

Publishers set their own prices on Steam. Im sure Steam isnt happy about it. You know they arent. Theyd love you to buy from them. But they have to respect the Publisher's demands/wishes, or lose them and their titles.

Thats a nice argument for steam, but what about valves in house games? who is twisting the arm there?

Overheal

witnessmenow wrote: »

Thats a nice argument for steam, but what about valves in house games? who is twisting the arm there?

My guess is thats the publishers they use to sell their titles Brick and Mortar. And on Xbox Live, etc.

mewso

I love the way Valve always get a pass over their prices. It's always the publishers and noble Valve have tried their best in our imaginations to keep the price down. I doubt it. If I want to buy MW2 right now it will cost me €59.99 on steam or I could try Gamesplanet and get it for £34.99. Hmm both digital stores.

I think it's naive not to expect Valve to be playing a serious part in the resulting price. They are the most popular online store and they want to get their piece of the pie. All I ever hear in the Steam prices argument is it's the publishers. It's just not that simple imo.

marco_polo

mewso wrote: »

I love the way Valve always get a pass over their prices. It's always the publishers and noble Valve have tried their best in our imaginations to keep the price down. I doubt it. If I want to buy MW2 right now it will cost me €59.99 on steam or I could try Gamesplanet and get it for £34.99. Hmm both digital stores.

I think it's naive not to expect Valve to be playing a serious part in the resulting price. They are the most popular online store and they want to get their piece of the pie. All I ever hear in the Steam prices argument is it's the publishers. It's just not that simple imo.

I wouldn't give them a free pass, and indeed some of what they say is not reflected in their pricing strategies for there own games. However it is not quite that simple as EA are the retail publisher for Left4Dead for example, so presumeably this contract would be a complicating factor and may not allow agressive digital undercutting. The guy on steamreview make a good point about large sellers of the retail version like Amazon not approving as well.

Just on the MW2 prices there is the known 100% euro rip off that Valve are definately 100% guilty of to factor in. The UK price is 39.99 pounds (Still friggin dear). Hoping against hope that the EU will sort this out some day.

Because of the fact that they release all their DLC for free and show signs of rampant greed on that front, means I would certainly take much more of what they say at face value TBH. Maybe all this free DLC just a cunning plan on valves part to gain our trust:p