I don't get this. I thought the whole idea with Steam was cheaper games since with digital distribution, the game isn't distributed in a box with a printed manual and/or media. However, there are a few games (Modern Warfare 2 and Assassin's Creed 2, for example) that have launched on Steam at this price point which has been typical for console games. I was looking forward to Assassin's Creed 2 in particular and I was hoping I could purchase it at launch, but this is just a let down. On the other hand, I don't mind the costlier "digital deluxe" editions of games which contain some extras as long as the standard edition is available at the normal $49.99 price point everyone's used to. Of course, there is the inevitable Steam discount which I could wait for, but I just feel this is rather obnoxious. What are your thoughts on this?

Probably caused by game companies and not Steam. I just bought SupCom 2 for 45.99 and also I got Bioshock 2 for the same price. I'm guessing that companies set the price. Especially since for console developers they don't want a gamer to do "wow I'm getting ripped off with this console. Could have bought the game cheaper if I invested in a computer."

Quote: Original post by liquidAir
I thought the whole idea with Steam was cheaper games ....

There's your mistake. Steam is about taking business away from retailers and distributors. Valve want you to pay them instead of paying traditional retailers/distributors.

They will offer you cheaper games if there is competition that forces them to do so. Other than that they are going to charge what they believe customers will pay. In fact they might argue you should pay more as they are saving you the time and effort of going into town to shop or the time spent waiting for Amazon to deliver (although the time it takes for some games to download and patch, then patch again it is almost "next day delivery" for some digital titles).

Yeah, it's just business. It means they get an even bigger piece of the pie. In theory you cut out the distributors, but that's only a (non-negligeable) fraction of the actual price (~10%).

I like Steam, but I can understand if it isn't everyone's cup of tea (price, download waits, no resale value), it has some advantages (pre-loading, no CDs, access anywhere, huge library of shovelware and old games, social network).

When you cut out the distribution and packaging, you save a lot of money though. Even a $5.00 price cut would not hurt profits. Remember last year when they did some games at 50% off? I think 90% of people agree games are too expensive to buy.

What is annoying is that I saw Modern Warfare 2 for 59.99 on Steam. If AAA PC games go up by $10.00, then damn.

Only when I was younger did I ever lose game discs, but I suppose that's a benefit that a disc copy for the same price wouldn't give you. From what I've seen you can just re-download the games as long as you are logged in to your profile.

If only iTunes did the same thing instead of make me re-buy my CD last night that I first bought 2 nights ago >:(

It's the whole basic supply/demand economics idea. Demand goes up due to PR and ads thus the price/profit goes up. In retail cases the supply would go down though there isn't typically a set supply of digital copies. As the game gets older and the buzz dies down the demand and price/profit will also go down (and in retail the supply would go up).

I can see why it sucks to pay the same amount for a digital copy, but it's also pretty apparent that it's (typically) a winning strategy for a company.

Not to mention MW2 is filling the pockets of the greedy soul-suckers at Activision...

This is why I haven't played a game released in the past three years - it's just ridiculous. On the bright-side I get more work done now.

There are always more games coming out than I have time to play.
There are always older games popping up in ridiculously awesome sales on Steam.
I've always got tons of stuff to play on Steam very cheaply.

I think the industry as a whole would be much healthier if everyone stopped relying on the massive blockbuster $60 price point, but on the whole Steam has gone away from the $60 price point. It's only a few titles that spike upwards and it's only because certain publishers know that their top games will sell regardless.

Don't want to pay the price? Don't pay the price. There are plenty of other developers to support with your money.

The game is worth what you're willing to pay for it. If you're willing to buy MW2 in a box for $60, and the subjective benefit to you of direct downloading outweighs the subjective benefit to you of having the box, then clearly it's still worth $60.

Game companies need to set the price of games on Steam the same as they are sold by retailers, otherwise the retailers (Gamestop, Walmart, etc) get mad. A mad retailer could decide to not carry a particular game on their shelves which would significantly cut into sales. This practice will continue until digital distribution is big enough that game companies won't need to go through retailers to sell games.