Why rampant video game sales are bad for players • Hacker News Board

Re: Why rampant video game sales are bad for players

#11

Post by chilldream » Wed, Jan 15, 2014, 11:54 PM UTC

jamie_ca wrote: post #3

james-skemp wrote: post #2

Wasn't sure until the end whether he realized why Minecraft's pricing made sense; it was beta. You weren't buying a finished product. I tend to play consoles and while I pick up a few games at full price every year (3 preordered at three moment) I do tend to wait for the price drops (about $10 each time unless the game is a flop) more than sales.

Kerbal Space Program is (mostly) doing the same as Minecraft. As they're hitting milestones the base price has been increasing, but they're still allowing themselves to get pegged during the major Steam sales. The other potential problem with rampant Steam sales (because honestly, they've won the mindshare) is that it's affected my price sensitivity. There's so many good games out there that I've picked up for a pitt…

I don't think this is the fault of sales. It's simply a statement that most games' "full" price is more than it would be rational for you to pay given your priorities.

Re: Why rampant video game sales are bad for players

#12

Post by Qworg » Thu, Jan 16, 2014, 12:12 AM UTC

minimaxir wrote: post #7

jamie_ca wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kerbal Space Program is (mostly) doing the same as Minecraft. As they're hitting milestones the base price has been increasing, but they're still allowing themselves to get pegged during the major Steam sales. The other potential problem with rampant Steam sales (because honestly, they've won the mindshare) is that it's affected my price sensitivity. There's so many good games out there that I've picked up for a pitt…

What's really scary is how fast some of the AAA games drop in price. Bioshock Infinite on the PC went from $60 to $10 during Amazon/Steam sales in less than 6 months.

People were disappointed it was only 10 hours long. I see that as a selling point, but many don't.

Re: Why rampant video game sales are bad for players

#13

Post by Brashman » Thu, Jan 16, 2014, 12:18 AM UTC

invalidOrTaken wrote: post #9

I like the way this guy thinks. The full-price-then-sale model is industry standard---but a company looking to build a relationship of trust with its fans might be able to do so this way. There are certain game companies I love---Stardock in particular comes to mind. I like Stardock for the pretty simple reason that I read Brad Wardell's writing, and he seems like a pretty cool guy. When you factor in company-custome…

What stops people from signing up as a Patron right before a game is released? Or put another way, what's the benefit of signing up as a Patron ahead of time?

Re: Why rampant video game sales are bad for players

#14

Post by MartinCron » Thu, Jan 16, 2014, 12:22 AM UTC

minimaxir wrote: post #7

jamie_ca wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kerbal Space Program is (mostly) doing the same as Minecraft. As they're hitting milestones the base price has been increasing, but they're still allowing themselves to get pegged during the major Steam sales. The other potential problem with rampant Steam sales (because honestly, they've won the mindshare) is that it's affected my price sensitivity. There's so many good games out there that I've picked up for a pitt…

What's really scary is how fast some of the AAA games drop in price. Bioshock Infinite on the PC went from $60 to $10 during Amazon/Steam sales in less than 6 months.

All of the problems I have with BioShock Infinite are different from the fact that some people got to play the game for $50 less than I did.

Re: Why rampant video game sales are bad for players

#15

Post by Semaphor » Thu, Jan 16, 2014, 12:26 AM UTC

I stopped buying games at full price. What I do now is either buy them in sales/bundles or I pay over full price because I really want the game (kickstarter).

I wonder how KS to Steam Early Access fits in there, for Wasteland 2 it's clear that the game will be cheaper once it is released. There is no secret, it's been said over and over again.

Re: Why rampant video game sales are bad for players

#16

Post by georgemcbay » Thu, Jan 16, 2014, 12:27 AM UTC

chilldream wrote: post #11

jamie_ca wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kerbal Space Program is (mostly) doing the same as Minecraft. As they're hitting milestones the base price has been increasing, but they're still allowing themselves to get pegged during the major Steam sales. The other potential problem with rampant Steam sales (because honestly, they've won the mindshare) is that it's affected my price sensitivity. There's so many good games out there that I've picked up for a pitt…

I don't think this is the fault of sales. It's simply a statement that most games' "full" price is more than it would be rational for you to pay given your priorities.

I can't speak for the person you're responding to, and I'm sure this differs by person, but you're right in my case.

I also own a lot of games on Steam that I've never played, but if not for Steam sales I almost certainly never would have bought most of those games in the first place. The developers may have only gotten 10%-50% from me compared to a full price sale, but if there were no sale they would have gotten nothing. And I still do buy plenty of other games that I want to play more urgently for full price or near to full price.

Also FWIW, I've bought a lot of games over the years and I've never felt "screwed" by a developer because of a price drop after I had bought the game. It isn't like this is a surprising event, it is simply the way of things (and not just for games, but books, movies, cds, virtually all media). It is up to me to decide if having it today is worth $60 compared to waiting 6 months to get it for half that or less.

Re: Why rampant video game sales are bad for players

#17

Post by potatolicious » Thu, Jan 16, 2014, 12:28 AM UTC

jiggy2011 wrote: post #5

I think the biggest benefit of Steam sales is probably lowering piracy. Some large number of the people who got the game at 75% off would probably have just pulled it off a torrent site had that option not been available rather than pay full price.

For multiplayer games IMO the biggest benefit is a resurgence in activity. Nothing sucks more than a multiplayer game with no other players - and the natural state of all such games is that your active player base drops over time.

A sale is a good way to pump some more people into the pool. In this way I don't think sales are screwing fans at all - if anything it's extending the game's longevity.

Re: Why rampant video game sales are bad for players

#18

Post by WalterSear » Thu, Jan 16, 2014, 12:34 AM UTC

jiggy2011 wrote: post #5

I think the biggest benefit of Steam sales is probably lowering piracy. Some large number of the people who got the game at 75% off would probably have just pulled it off a torrent site had that option not been available rather than pay full price.

Before steam sales and the humble bundles came along, I wasn't a paying customer.

The author's ideas about games rising in price is slightly ridiculous when placed in the perspective of an always-growing choice of games. I'm currently in the middle of a video game that was written 15 years ago. His game has to compete with that >and< everything that has been created since.

Re: Why rampant video game sales are bad for players

#19

Post by TrainedMonkey » Thu, Jan 16, 2014, 12:41 AM UTC

I think this misses a few key points:

1. Steam is digital, there is almost no cost associated with "selling" a game, almost everything you sell is profit. Thus, it is somewhat disconnected from standard sales where dropping price too much can hurt you.

2. Steam does not allow you to buy physical games, you can't take a game out of steam. What you are paying for is for game to be added to your digital collection. Collection is a key term here, that what steam sales are all about. In modern times nobody has enough time to play all the good games, but we still want to buy them. I know a bunch of people with huge digital collections on steam.

3. Author seems to be divorced from realities of economies of scale. As things get cheaper, the audience gets wider. Essentially this means putting game into hands of more people.

4. More players is good, steam trading cards means that more players = more sustained profit.

Re: Why rampant video game sales are bad for players

#20

Post by mxfh » Thu, Jan 16, 2014, 12:42 AM UTC

Qworg wrote: post #12

minimaxir wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's really scary is how fast some of the AAA games drop in price. Bioshock Infinite on the PC went from $60 to $10 during Amazon/Steam sales in less than 6 months.

People were disappointed it was only 10 hours long. I see that as a selling point, but many don't.

Once they add a option to skip/autoplay the predictable-outcome fighting sequences I would buy any sequel. Seriously if you're over 30 you shouldn't have to prove to anyone anymore that you can beat scripted hoards and boss fights.

Some goes for Spec Ops: The Line after playing the first two levels I preferred watching the play-through on youtube over having to kill the equivalent of whole population Staten Island one by one just to follow better than average plot.

Also what Dara Ó Briain says:

"I love video games for this reason over all other art form. They do a thing that no other art form does, right. No other art form does. You cannot be bad at watching a movie. You cannot be bad at listening to an album. But you can be bad at playing a video game, and the video game will punish you, and deny you access to the rest of the video game. No other art form does this. You’ve never read a book and 3 chapters in, the book has gone, “What are the major themes of the book so far?” You go “I, I, I don’t know, I wasn’t paying close enough att…” And the book goes THOOMP."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLi7HlAB_CI

http://rhinospike.com/script_requests/enlasnubes/854/