Steam pricing vs. local retail pricing

I dont buy something if its not on a special..
so .. heres a recent purchase..

Super Meat Boy 3.75 USD (R25)
Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY 14.99 USD (R103)
Battlefield Bad Company 2 Standard Edition 10.19 USD (R70)

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

To add to this , guess when I bought it ..
21 December.

Thats right , 4 days before xmas,
thats exactly when stores are milking it.

How competative is Steam now ? Eh ? Eh !

Let me add fuel to the fire.
Right now , Mafia 2 is going for $7.50 (R51)
Beat that !
 
steampurchases.jpg


My purchases

kerbyross said:
I dont buy something if its not on a special..
so ...

...
Let me add fuel to the fire.
Right now , Mafia 2 is going for $7.50 (R51)
Beat that !
Click to expand...

+1
 
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Yeah ... that whole analysis doesn't take the very frequent Steam specials into account ... which you almost never get at the local retailers. And it's only looking at latest releases.

Taking that into account, even if you add bandwidth costs (for those not on uncapped) then Steam's value offering is way above what any local retailer can give.
 
Category A: These guys buy the new game immediately on release from Zaps or Kalahari, get a better deal than Steam users, and they don't have to wait for the download.

Category B: Download the game at a 100% discount a few days after official release date, once the crack has come out and there are seeds ahoy.

Category C: Wait 3 years until the game is on special, buy it, download it, and then brag about the low price they paid for a game that nobody cares about any more.

Thanks for the article, mygaming. Good luck with the oncoming Valve Defence Force.
 
stabularasa said:
Category A: These guys buy the new game immediately on release from Zaps or Kalahari, get a better deal than Steam users, and they don't have to wait for the download.

Category B: Download the game at a 100% discount a few days after official release date, once the crack has come out and there are seeds ahoy.

Category C: Wait 3 years until the game is on special, buy it, download it, and then brag about the low price they paid for a game that nobody cares about any more.

Thanks for the article, mygaming. Good luck with the oncoming Valve Defence Force.
Click to expand...

Don't see why you feel the need to include pirates in the mix.

Category A, of course, usually includes those people who cave in to the hype and have to have the game asap. Shame for them if it's a bugged release.

I'd replace Category B with those people who hang back a bit, see what the rest of the world has to say, and then keeps an eye out for special deals. Smart shoppers - in other words.

And the 3 years thing. Well, thanks for the unconditional hyperbole. Mafia II was released last year. Borderlands, which I got for $14.99 on Steam, is also about a year old. Sign me up for the Valve defence force.
 
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hmm new game example then ;)

well my witcher 2 ce digital at gog is going to cost me 44.99usd, about R310 vs take2 normal edition for R351. This excludes the other things you get with gog as with the special pre-oder and other goodies that comes with the digital CE. Kalahari is R346.46, but excluding shipping. BT is pricing at R345...

...gog is
DRM FREE
Fair Price, you pay exactly the USD pricing and not with extra costs for customers outside US
Get free RPG Classic
Exclusive Digital content

i don't see a retailer beat that.
 
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I am a bargain hunter! Sometimes obsessively so.... (I sometimes just buy a game for the sake of a good price)

But if a title comes out that I REALLY want I will pre order from local retailers and save some money due to the preorder price.
But after a game is a few months old I will look around for the best price. Even CNA has Excellent deals now and again.

But I LOVE Steam, its really effortless and works well, especially with keeping all games updated and they have EXCELLENT deals as mentioned above. I spent around R300 over December on Steam but bought 14+ Games... BARGAIN!

So in my opinion both Steam and Retails has their respective place in the market and neither should be knocked down.

Just my 4c.....
 
I think you have to look at it on a game to game basis.
Don't always buy from the same place shop around for the best price.
I got cod7 from steam with last weekend and uses a friend CD to install the game so i did not have to wait for 8gb to download just the latest patch.
 
+1 to what the rest said. I buy games when it's on special. I do not buy games when they are just released and super expensive.

It will be the same game a couple of months later and it won't be gathering dust while I finish other games.
 
Really difficult to make a meaniningful comparison except when games are at full price. For example, if a store buys a game and pays X, and steam then comes in with a special at X - 50%, there is very little a store can do unless the distributor offers them a rebate. A store will always lose!

Personally, I always look for the service - Moody is online here and very responsive to requests - you do not necessarily get that from a pure online store. I have always supported BTGames as they were one of the first to really start catering for gamers. BT now faces a lot of competition which is great for us consumers. It is important that we support our local stores - but they will equally have to work hard on their value proposition.
 
I have had better service from both steam and gamersgate then the local stores. Answering emails on any day even weekends is a big plus. Also providing my codes weeks in advance and not having me having to ask for them is massive.

Also another point I can redownload my game as many times as I want . So I am protected from theft. The local store won't replace a stolen game. So again added value from the online store.

Digital is also much more convenient especially with preloading.

Basicly I am willing to pay the premium of steam/gamersgate on release due to added value.

The local retailer will have to offer something very substantial for me to use them again. If you have uncapped there is no reason to use the local retailers except if you are price sensitive.

Don't agree on this concept of supporting local stores. I will go with what is best for me. In the digital age I am not dependent on local stores.
 
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Stefan9 said:
Don't agree on this concept of supporting local stores. I will go with what is best for me. In the digital age I am not dependent on local stores.
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I hear you - that's why the stores have to work on a real value proposition to retain customers.
 
shadowfox said:
Don't see why you feel the need to include pirates in the mix.

Category A, of course, usually includes those people who cave in to the hype and have to have the game asap. Shame for them if it's a bugged release.

I'd replace Category B with those people who hang back a bit, see what the rest of the world has to say, and then keeps an eye out for special deals. Smart shoppers - in other words.

And the 3 years thing. Well, thanks for the unconditional hyperbole. Mafia II was released last year. Borderlands, which I got for $14.99 on Steam, is also about a year old. Sign me up for the Valve defence force.
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Pirates are in the list because it is a list of PC gamers.

According to your post, people who buy games on release are trend-following idiots? What if they've played the demo? Or what if it's a franchise like Half Life and they pretty much know what they're going to get regardless of hype?

You can't replace category B, that's already pirates. You can have category D for people who hang back and follow what the rest of the world has to say.

And the fact that Mafia 2 is going for a pittance so soon after release says more about Mafia 2 than it does about Steam.

Borderlands was released in 2009.

And was shit.

Enjoy your bargain bin.
 
stabularasa said:
Pirates are in the list because it is a list of PC gamers.

According to your post, people who buy games on release are trend-following idiots? What if they've played the demo? Or what if it's a franchise like Half Life and they pretty much know what they're going to get regardless of hype?

You can't replace category B, that's already pirates. You can have category D for people who hang back and follow what the rest of the world has to say.

And the fact that Mafia 2 is going for a pittance so soon after release says more about Mafia 2 than it does about Steam.

Borderlands was released in 2009.

And was shit.

Enjoy your bargain bin.
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Aggro aren't we? I never mentioned the word idiots, so would you please not put skewed interpretations to my post. A lot of people cave in to the hype surrounding games - it's a fact. There's even a thread about it on this forum. And demo's don't give you the full experience of the game. It doesn't tell you how long the game is going to be, it tends to be buggy, doesn't give you any insights about where the story is going. It's not always a deciding factor.

Borderlands was "shit" in your opinion perhaps. I actually quite enjoyed the game. As did many others. Your opinion is no more important than anybody else's. As for your mention of a well-known franchise? It guarantees nothing. Note the level of disappointment surrounding Black Ops for instance.

I said to replace category B, because, quite simply, the post concerns people who BUY games, and who don't pirate. Hence, in my opinion, it doesn't deserve mention.

Mafia II gets an average user score of 8.5 on Gamespot. So it would seem that the people playing it, are on average, relatively happy with the game. Invalidating your argument there as well.

Borderlands was released in October 2009. I bought it in December 2010. 14 months. So ... about a year.

But thanks, I do enjoy my bargain bin. And I always will.
 
Both have their merits, but wherever possible, I prefer to buy from a store, whichever that may be. The reason, I like to hold the box and have something to display on my shelf. Pretty simple really. Also, it saves me the hassle of having to wait a day or two for a 8GB download of a game.

Having said that, I'm not stupid either. If Steam has a special that appeals to me and/or my wallet, I buy it. For instance, the Ubisoft deal of this weekend, Call of Juarez, Far Cry 2, Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 and Assassins Creed for R90. Incredibly good deal in my opinion. What I also do like about Steam is when I buy certain game in hard copy and install and register on Steam, I then have access to digital copy as well. So if I ever lose that game, at least I have it digitally.
 
stabularasa said:
Pirates are in the list because it is a list of PC gamers.

According to your post, people who buy games on release are trend-following idiots? What if they've played the demo? Or what if it's a franchise like Half Life and they pretty much know what they're going to get regardless of hype?

You can't replace category B, that's already pirates. You can have category D for people who hang back and follow what the rest of the world has to say.

And the fact that Mafia 2 is going for a pittance so soon after release says more about Mafia 2 than it does about Steam.

Borderlands was released in 2009.

And was shit.

Enjoy your bargain bin.
Click to expand...

Gotta say I don't play many games soon after they come out and finish them within a week or so. Did this with Mafia 2. Highly enjoyed that game.
 
DenSweeP said:
Both have their merits, but wherever possible, I prefer to buy from a store, whichever that may be. The reason, I like to hold the box and have something to display on my shelf. Pretty simple really. Also, it saves me the hassle of having to wait a day or two for a 8GB download of a game.

Having said that, I'm not stupid either. If Steam has a special that appeals to me and/or my wallet, I buy it. For instance, the Ubisoft deal of this weekend, Call of Juarez, Far Cry 2, Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 and Assassins Creed for R90. Incredibly good deal in my opinion. What I also do like about Steam is when I buy certain game in hard copy and install and register on Steam, I then have access to digital copy as well. So if I ever lose that game, at least I have it digitally.
Click to expand...

Good points, the bolded part is something I had not considered.
 
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