Why does the PC gaming industry still use such deceptive pricing?

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Buttflapper@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨games@lemmy.world⁩

Battlefield 2042 is $60 right now. One of my friends on Steam plays Battlefield 2042 and I thought hey, that would be pretty cool to play with him. I’m sure it wouldn’t be that much because that game came out a long time ago and was extremely poorly received and like, I’m sure it would be really easy to buy that game or get it now since it’s been so long and again, very low reviews. The game is $60!! But when it goes on sale, it’s like 8$, so 80% off. Truly unbelievable. Why do they do this? Like, they’re basically trying to kill the game or something because no one in their right mind would pay $60 for this game, so 90% of the time when it’s not on sale, no one buys it or wants to try it out… Also, lots of old games that are “on sale” constantly for like $5 and the base price is 40-60$, so it makes it seem like SUCH a good deal, when in reality, the value has just depreciated…

They never seem to lower the base cost of anything, making it deceptive. Is it really 80% off of a $60 game if no one in their right f*cking mind would pay that much for it ever?

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irotsoma@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
To get sorted to the top of the lists for biggest discount. To claim bigger losses in copyright infringement cases. And to increase the perceived immediacy to buy it to get a good deal. Plus rich people don’t care how much something costs, so you’ll get a few of them here and there buying it at full price.

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- oVerde@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  So much this
  
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FozzyOsbourne@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
You’re allowed to say fucking on the internet

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- Buttflapper@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  Just a habit, on lots of subreddits now, you get AutoMod deleted or banned from their subreddit if you use curse words. This happened to me on PC gaming subreddit. I got hit with a Perma ban there 3 months ago and they wouldn’t tell me why I kept messaging them over and over again, told it was for excessive profanity. Apparently lots of my comments use the f word so that’s not acceptable.
  
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  - PunchingWood@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    Reddit turned into a fucking cesspool of circlejerking degenerates trying to act like they’re the holy guardians of the internet.
    
    It’s a huge platform, but every day it dies off more.
    
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  - AgentGrimstone@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    I started to censor myself too on other platforms because sometimes they have warnings like “Are you sure you want to post this?” and I feel like they’re shadowbanning my comment.
    
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Kolanaki@yiffit.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
The PC side of this is not all that bad, outside of EA and Ubisoft.

Meanwhile, Nintendo doesn’t even have sales. Games that launched with the switch are still $60-70.

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- elvith@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  Nintendo in my experience:
  
  Physical: Get it right on release day (or in the first week after) in retail for about 40€, otherwise you will have to rely on rare good retail discounts to get it below 55€
  
  Digital: Don’t you even dare to think about discounts
  
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  - PieMePlenty@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    I don’t know how to feel about Nintendo pricing. On one hand, all of their games keep their value long after release, but that also means they are hard to get cheaply. I know when I sold my 8 3DS games a few years ago, I made about 230 eur which was pretty good for some used games. I dont play their games anymore but I’m not sure I’d even want to now since they never drop in price.
    
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- Paradachshund@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  I haven’t owned a Nintendo console for many years now because I kept waiting for the cost to go down (it never has).
  
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- Anivia@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  Yes, because the only people buying Nintendo Switch games are the ones who don’t care about the price in the first place. If you want to save money on switch games you just pirate them
  
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- unconfirmedsourcesDOTgov@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  Nintendo does have sales from time to time, they’re just rarely great discounts. If you have a switch and you wishlist games they will email you if your wishlisted game goes on sale.
  
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rosa666parks@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
Also Black Ops 2 is still $60 for the base game and $50 for the season pass. THIS IS A 12 YEAR OLD GAME.

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- Empricorn@feddit.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  I didn’t know it was distributed by Nintendo!
  
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deegeese@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
It’s an attempt at market segmentation. Those who really want to play will pay full price. Less ardent fans wait for a sale.

Did your friend make you want it enough to pay full price?

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- Buttflapper@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  
  Did your friend make you want it enough to pay full price?
  
  For $60, I would NEVER buy a game that has mostly negative reviews on steam hahaha
  
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  - Banichan@dormi.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    It’s an amazing game, actually 😂
    
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helenslunch@feddit.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
This has nothing to do with the gaming industry, specifically. This is a basic (very effective) marketing strategy. But typically federal regulations prohibit them from advertising something as “on sale” perpetually so it has to be advertised at retail price for x% of the time.

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- Martineski@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  Do you know how feasible is lowering the price permanently?
  
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  - helenslunch@feddit.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    You can put a new permanent low price. You just can’t market it as “on sale” or otherwise discounted.
    
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  - ryathal@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    Doing that bankrupted jc penny.
    
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Rentlar@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
Look, you will have a sizable contingent of people shelling out an additional $20 to $80 just to play a game a few days early, with little to no other benefits. Their impatience is capitalized on.

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jordanlund@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
Not sure where you’re seeing $60. PC Digital purchase through Gamestop is $40.

But this is a problem with digital stores vs. physical.

The physical disc on Xbox is as low as $5 at Gamestop: www.gamestop.com/video-games/…/297328.html

Digital is still $70.

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- umami_wasbi@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  
  The physical disc on Xbox is as low as $5 at Gamestop
  
  Except one still needs to be extroted monthly by PS+ or Xbox Gold to play online.
  
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Nighed@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
Can you not get it from a key reseller? As long as your buying it above the minimum sale price it’s probably legit.

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- Katana314@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  As well as OP’s problems getting dud keys, I would warn that key resellers often contribute to the pickpocketing industry.
  
  Tourist gets lost in Indonesia, kid grabs his wallet. In the time between then and when the tourist calls their bank, the kid buys as many legitimate keys of Game XYZ as he can using the tourist’s credit card, and sells them to G2A.
  
  The bank refunds the fraudulent transactions, but even if the key retailer (eg, Greenmangaming) reports the transactions to the game dev, the dev is often pressured to not revoke the keys since it just leads to poor press off later customers that believe themselves “legitimate” for spending money on the game.
  
  Sites like isthereanydeal.com give more legitimate tracking info and avoid key-sharing sites; the copies sold were obtained directly from publishers. They can also give price history to give you an idea of whether the game will go on sale again soon.
  
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  - Nighed@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    Yeh, I dislike them, but in situations like this, would probably look at using one.
    
    I avoid the ones where you buy from a user. (Can’t remember which ones I have used, don’t use them often)
    
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- Buttflapper@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  I’ve used CD keys and G2A in the past and had keys failed to work because they had already been used. Lukewarm customer service on both. I don’t know if I would trust that
  
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Bougie_Birdie@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
Discounts on games creates a sense of urgency in the buyer, as most discounts are temporary. Since discounts are often shown on the front page of a storefront, it gets a lot of eyeballs on it. If someone’s wishlisted the game then they’ll even usually get a direct notification.

Another way to look at it is that the game is always available at the full price. But if you’re a patient gamer then you can expect to get a lower price eventually.

Depending on how much discretionary income you have, you might be forced to wait for a sale. Or the difference in price might be no object to you. Or you may have to hoist the black flag.

Something else to consider is that the perceived value of the game differs from buyer to buyer. If I’m a big fan of a niche genre, I might be willing to spend more on a weird game than the average user. A $30 game might be worth it for me, but you might only think it’s worth $20

And more to that point, it’s extremely difficult to nail down the exact value of a game. What honestly separates a $12 game from a $15 game when they both offer a unique experience?

Anyway, all this to say, I don’t think having sales on games is strictly a predatory thing. Sometimes a discount is the only way you’ll get eyeballs on your game, or a way to reach more of the market that wouldn’t have otherwise bought your game.

I do agree that modern AAA prices are out there. I don’t pay very much for games now, and usually AAA prices me right out of the market

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- Buttflapper@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  I get the concept behind it. But it just seems so predatory that older games never depreciate in value. Back in the olden days of GameStop, they would adjust prices. An old game was reduced in price after a certain time since it’s no longer new.
  
  Now, that’s no longer the case. Valve seems to be the only one that does this, as an exception. Left 4 Dead 2 is now $10 standard and that’s not some crazy percentage off discount. That’s just the base price now. Other games though are silly as hell with the pricing. Battlefield games are the most obvious. Priced at a full $60, but the value plummets to $8 when on sale. Why don’t they reprice it to $30 and then on sale for $8? Seems less psychologically manipulative
  
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  - Katana314@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    There’s still a bit of market force, but it comes in the form of other game developers.
    
    Imagine you went to the grocery store, and saw Hardin McCombsky’s Super-Premium Dry Seasoned Cheese was $1000 a wedge. How ridiculous! How do they expect us to pay that much for that cheese?
    
    Only…Shaw’s Bargain Dry Cheese is $4. And it’s not the same thing - but it’s still pretty good.
    
    Basically, this kind of thing works out in many other industries. Sometimes on rare occasion, one producer makes things MUCH better than competitors and can demand a much higher price because no one else comes close.
    
    To give a more game-relevant example, BattleBit is $15 and compared favorably to Battlefield. In other cases where there’s no competitor and the developer hasn’t lowered their price for sales, it may be because they’re confident they did good work and made a good game. Factorio is famous for this.
    
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  - Bougie_Birdie@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    I agree that it’d be nice if they depreciated in value like in the days of physical media.
    
    In those days though, the store only has a certain amount of shelf space. So in that sense it makes sense that they depreciated because a new game is always going to have a higher perceived value.
    
    Digital storefronts don’t have that problem. The game can be shared infinitely without accruing a ton of publishing costs. There’s always more shelf space.
    
    In this sense, there’s no financial motivation to depreciate. And we all know the social responsibility of big companies will be to only do what they’re forced to do.
    
    We often feel games ought to depreciate because that’s how it’s always been. But just because that’s how it’s always been doesn’t mean that’s how it always will be.
    
    Battlefield is an interesting case though where each game in the franchise is highly derivative of the previous game. So if each new game is essentially an upgrade of the previous one, then I’d agree that there should be an expectation that the older version is less expensive.
    
    The same could be said about many of the giant titles. Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed, and most major sports games come to mind.
    
    One final thing to think of is that many games have continuing development. It’s basically the early access model (a whole other can of worms), and you could argue that many of these games appreciate in value. Some notables have - Factorio comes to mind.
    
    I don’t think Battlefield 2042 falls into that category though
    
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recursive_recursion@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
It might be due to Valve’s legal and business actions

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j4k3@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
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- Buttflapper@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  Uhhh what? Are we talking about the same things? Steam doesn’t do sales to individuals. If they put a game on sale for $8 it’s that price for everyone, unless I’m missing something?
  
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- GasMaskedLunatic@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  This will be true in the future, but you are absolutely incorrect today.
  
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catloaf@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
For some people, it’s worth $60. It’s really that simple.

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