Buying games from STEAM = ripoff?

[Xanadu84]

I have yet to notice a significant difference in pricing between Steam and retail, possibly because im in America. Sometimes, Steam games have a special deal, and are quite a bit cheaper...Vampire Bloodlines for $10 on Halloween is a good example, as well as Prey for $5. I have yet to see a game more expensive.

Using Steam is so much easier as a PC gamer then retail. I could go to the next town over, and hope that the EB is selling the computer game I want...or, I could purchase the game on my lunch hour, and play it when I get home. Not to mention that if I want to play a game once its released, I can just preload it, and play it instantly, once its released.

Also, there has already been a few games that I have lost the CDs for, but kept the case around just in case. Once the came out on Steam, I added them, and played them again. Having a hard copy is nice, but I have to admit that that is a bit old fashioned in my thinking. Much better to be able to find a game again by right clicking, then rooting through CD cases and manuals filled with keys. And if I can back up my games manually on steam...thats a great tidbit, Ill look into that. These days, a game not being on Steam makes me seriously consider not buying it.

Lastly...selection anyone? Steam is only getting bigger, and the library is better then your average EB (Note that I must admit, I kinda live in the sticks)I have definitely browsed the library, and found something new and interesting to play that I hadn't heard of before (Like Audiosurf).

As I see it, the only place where buying the box is better then on steam, is that technically, if 1 person using steam and another wanting retail decide at the exact same time that they want a game thats fairly new and popular and sure to be in the store, the retail guy can probably drive to the store (Gas money has been mentioned already I believe), race back, install and update the game, and play it before the guy using steam. Of course, the steam guy is putting forward a whole lot less effort. So even if Steam games are more expensive, I think its worth the expense for the convenience, but as ive seen it, its cheaper on Steam

 

[smallharmlesskitten]

Steam isnt a ripoff in my opinion.

i dont want half life 1 or two i just want portal and team fortress2 and that is still halkf the price of my local JBHiFi

plus they recently brought out a free game call TrackManiaNationsForever. and that is good, yet they are not making any profit from it. shine on steam shine on

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

Damn man, I'm surprised to see that because it's the other way around here, the only site I've seen that competes with good deals on steam is GoGamer.com - but most stores here are very overpriced, and Steam is usually only good when they have special discounts.

The problem with steam I guess is that it greatly depends on where you live.

 

[CyberAkuma]

First off: I sometimes buy games at Steam, but mostly budget titles below 20$ (Steam prices). I do that for mainly two reasons:
a) I live in Europe and the ?-$ exchange rate is just awesome for us right now. A game costing 20$ + VAT at Steam roughly comes down to 14 to 15?. 10$ games cost as much as having two beer in a bar and are generally more fun
b) For budget games I mostly don't want the physical items coming with a retail version.

But I doubt I will buy a full-priced title at Steam anytime soon. The games I buy soon after their release are games I'm really interested in. As I actually loved the times when games were released in big cardboard boxes, I often get the Collector's Edition of a game I want, but at least I want the normal DVD case to put on my shelves. There's nothing really rational about that, it's just the way that I like it.

For Europeans Steam currently is not a rip-off, thanks to the current exchange rate we can save a lot of money by buying through Steam. For Americans in my opinion it is. You pay the same prices as you would do when buying retail, but in the end you get less. I wouldn't do that, and that's independent of whether I'd like the DVD box and DVD of the game or not. It's a simple matter of principle: If I had the choice to pay 50$ for a retail version or a download, I'm pretty sure I'd buy retail. Valve and the other publishers now available on Steam save quite some money by using that online distribution, and I think the customer should get a share of that. Games are expensive enough as they are, if the publisher can skip producing physical items, I'd demand a price cut for that. Pretty simple.

 

[Cameoflage]

The original reason I got Steam was so I could buy Portal independently from the Orange Box (this was back in early December), and the only other game I've bought through it was TF2, which I got for $20 because it was selling at a discount last weekend. I also live in Canada, which doesn't really have those exchange-rate issues.

Personally, I like Steam; I don't care about the download time (my connection is quite fast), I can download the game as many times as I want and to multiple computers, and I don't have to worry about losing or breaking a disc. I do think that the possibility of having one's Steam account stolen is a valid concern, but it hasn't been an issue for me personally. Also, not having to leave the house is a major selling point for me, since I don't have a driver's license and my parents are disinclined to drive me to the mall on short notice.

 

[richasr]

you should probably get an American's point of view...

i believe the real American point of view would be "i need this money for gas so i won't be getting expensive game"

Haha well despite his or her initial thought of "I like to drive", the mere thought of how the prices stack up compared to the main gaming stores would be quite an insight.

As has already been mentioned which I completely forgot about, I like the idea that I can buy a game and essentially have the cd/dvd stored on a server and because I've already bought it, I can download it again without any fuss, also saves the space on my shelves because I have a tiny room and not much space for any more games or CDs.

 

[Possum-Man]

I don't think STEAM is a rip-off, not for me at least since I live in England and all prices on STEAM are halved due to the exchange rate. This makes it brilliant for buying games when they're on offer. For example, STEAM had a weekend price-cut of PREY, they dropped the price to around $9.95 so in the end I paid £4.97 for a game that's now worth $24.95 (£12.47). If that wasn't a good deal then I don't know what is.

STEAM doesn't provide all the games I want so I do have to go out and buy from my local store but it's not as convenient as STEAM which is one of it's biggest advantages. I can load up STEAM at 3am and buy a game if I want, unfortunately, the same can't be said for my local store.

P.M.