GOG Boss: "Heavy Discounts Are Bad for Gamers"

[Irridium]

Makes sense. After all, how many of you have went to buy a game, then stopped yourselves and said "eh, I'll wait for a sale."

Same with a cheap indie game. "Eh, it'll be in one of those many bundles eventually, I'll just wait."

That's what he's referring to. Is it really that bad? Well depends how you look at it I guess. It's good because gamers get a bunch of sales. Bad because they're essentially being trained to just wait for sales, which could mean lower sales right out of the game, which for most developers is the most important time where they need sales.

 

[zefiris]

I have never bought a discounted game I didn't want. I thought it was women who went gaga over discounts, that sure is the cliché. How odd

because they're essentially being trained to just wait for sale

Nah. That's just reasonable customer behavior, since new games are too expensive and have been since forever. People know this, and thus many people wait for price drops. There is no problem for this, and no "training".

The only games I buy early on are games I KNOW I will like.

 

[zehydra]

Lol except there IS no downside to having a game that you might not really want so much, if you got it for cheap. It's not like you have some kind of obligation to play it

 

[getoffmycloud]

Congratulations mr. Rambourgh, you are a retard.

If 100 people would buy the game at full price, but 1,000 people would buy it with a 80% discount. That's extra money that you would normally not have, that is extra money right there. Money that you wouldn't normally get!

And the sales don't last very long, usually only a couple of days, it's no different than Wal-Mart which has gigantic sales from time to time. It generates publicity and attracts TONS of extra customers.

That TV I bought for 50% off, because it was last year's model, is not undervalued by me, simply because I know what it was worth and how much the initial price was. I have bought plenty of games on sale, (no matter if it was Steam or some other source) that I wouldn't have bought for the full price, because I didn't think that the game was worth it.

So instead of NOT having me as a customer, they have me as a customer. Which is always extra money in the bag.

I think what he is trying to get at is that if games were priced lets say $10 less for a new AAA release the developer would make more money than it being priced higher and then having some crazy 80% sale a couple of months later cause I am sure we have all seen it somewhere someone saying I will just wait until its on sale.

It is very similar to the opinion that if prices were lower at launch less people would buy used and the developer would get more money.

 

[wetfart]

Bah.

There are a lot of games that I've enjoyed greatly, that I would not have played had I not picked them up on sale on Steam.

Also, I tend to forgive a lot more when a game only cost me $20 instead of $60.

 

[draythefingerless]

Congratulations mr. Rambourgh, you are a retard.

If 100 people would buy the game at full price, but 1,000 people would buy it with a 80% discount. That's extra money that you would normally not have, that is extra money right there. Money that you wouldn't normally get!

And the sales don't last very long, usually only a couple of days, it's no different than Wal-Mart which has gigantic sales from time to time. It generates publicity and attracts TONS of extra customers.

That TV I bought for 50% off, because it was last year's model, is not undervalued by me, simply because I know what it was worth and how much the initial price was. I have bought plenty of games on sale, (no matter if it was Steam or some other source) that I wouldn't have bought for the full price, because I didn't think that the game was worth it.

So instead of NOT having me as a customer, they have me as a customer. Which is always extra money in the bag.

I think what he is trying to get at is that if games were priced lets say $10 less for a new AAA release the developer would make more money than it being priced higher and then having some crazy 80% sale a couple of months later cause I am sure we have all seen it somewhere someone saying I will just wait until its on sale.

It is very similar to the opinion that if prices were lower at launch less people would buy used and the developer would get more money.

the lower price thing only fails in physical copies, because used copies wil always cost less in proportion many times. HOWEVER, in DD, you can price a game at 30 bucks and have zero risk of getting backlash from used copies.

 

[Baresark]

Says the guy who is giving away backup copies of the Witcher 2 for free.

 

[Pipotchi]

I've got about 60 Steam games but have spent only about £200 over three years as the vast majority were in Steam Sales, but most I've played. Only a few either were a bit rubbish or I bought because the deal was too good (Max Payne 1 and 2 for £2? come on!)

I've finally whittled down the list this week actually, Polished off Monkey Island, Trauma and Metro 2033

 

[GiantRaven]

The amount of games I've bought simply because they were cheap, instead of because I was interested in them is a much larger number than I'd like it to be. I definitely agree that incredibly cheap sales devalue a game in that context. People should be buying games because they're interested in them, not because of their low price. Obviously this isn't a situation that will be the same for everyone but I can definitely see where this argument comes from.

 

[lordlillen]

they'll just accuse distributors of "not selling their games properly"!

It's piracy's fault. Damn those pirates. Damn them all to Sweden.

no! get those stinking pirates away from sweden i like it here.

 

[Dastardly]

Rambourg argues that instead of using ludicrous discounts to shift games regardless of quality, retailers should instead focus on providing fair initial prices.

I can agree here.

I'm not sure about the whole "encouraging bad purchases" thing, though. That concern seems a bit disingenuous.

Something I'm interested in, though, are the sales rates for a game after one of the crazy Steam sales. Game is $40, drops to $15, then goes back up to $30 or $40... Odds are, everyone who really wanted the game has it by now, and the on-the-fencers have now seen it go for $15, so do they really get many people buying it at the re-raised price?

This idea of "eroding value" is a problem, too. To insist that selling a game for less than $60 erodes its value begs the question -- who says the game is "worth $60" to begin with? (I'm not talking quality, I'm talking how that was declared the per-copy value of a game.) The "value" of a game ought to be whether or not the creator/publisher makes back more than what they put in total, rather than based on some fiat per-copy value.

This is the talk of someone that's too afraid to lower the per-copy price because they're afraid they won't make up the difference in increased volume. And hey, it's different if you're a small self-made company that knows it can't keep up with high volume, so you have to charge more per item to ensure you recover your costs (like stuff on Etsy). These are digital goods, so you can keep up with any volume, forever.

Especially with digitally-distributed games, there's no "per copy price." There's the cost of making the game, versus the total income from sales. If a game cost $500,000 to make, that's its "value." You could try to sell one copy for a million dollars, or a million copies for one dollar, and it doesn't change the value of the game or the fact that you doubled your investment.

 

[DaHero]

Developer Logic:

Create Game:

Game sells well? MILK IT TO THE BONE!

Game does not sell well:

Was it on PC? Yes: PIRACY!

Not on PC: USED GAMES AND PIRACY!

Rinse and repeat.

Fix't. Why do people think piracy simply doesn't apply to consoles?

Show me where a developer has blamed a bad console exclusive on piracy. (No really, not like calling you out, I just can't find it)

 

[Scow2]

Developer Logic:

Create Game:

Game sells well? MILK IT TO THE BONE!

Game does not sell well:

Was it on PC? Yes: PIRACY!

Not on PC: USED GAMES AND PIRACY!

Rinse and repeat.

Fix't. Why do people think piracy simply doesn't apply to consoles?

Because it's infintessimally small?

Nobody gives a damn about hard-copy piracy anymore. Consoles cannot digitally distribute pirated games with the same ease as PC games. Seriously, when's the last time you've heard someone talking about how they've pirated console games?

On topic: The point he's making is that it devalues games, which it does.

There has been a long-standing term for indie-bundles and other heavily-discounted bargain-bin games: SHOVELWARE

 

[The Human Torch]

Congratulations mr. Rambourgh, you are a retard.

If 100 people would buy the game at full price, but 1,000 people would buy it with a 80% discount. That's extra money that you would normally not have, that is extra money right there. Money that you wouldn't normally get!

And the sales don't last very long, usually only a couple of days, it's no different than Wal-Mart which has gigantic sales from time to time. It generates publicity and attracts TONS of extra customers.

That TV I bought for 50% off, because it was last year's model, is not undervalued by me, simply because I know what it was worth and how much the initial price was. I have bought plenty of games on sale, (no matter if it was Steam or some other source) that I wouldn't have bought for the full price, because I didn't think that the game was worth it.

So instead of NOT having me as a customer, they have me as a customer. Which is always extra money in the bag.

I think what he is trying to get at is that if games were priced lets say $10 less for a new AAA release the developer would make more money than it being priced higher and then having some crazy 80% sale a couple of months later cause I am sure we have all seen it somewhere someone saying I will just wait until its on sale.

It is very similar to the opinion that if prices were lower at launch less people would buy used and the developer would get more money.

Those who want it from day 1, will get it at day 1.
Anyone else who waits for a bargain, will wait. No matter if that wait is 3 months or 1 year.
Plus, among others: Ubisoft and EA both slash prices within half a year, regardless of Steam.

Especially for stores is this important, since there is limited shelfspace and you need to get rid of old stock.

 

[Scow2]

I think what he is trying to get at is that if games were priced lets say $10 less for a new AAA release the developer would make more money than it being priced higher and then having some crazy 80% sale a couple of months later cause I am sure we have all seen it somewhere someone saying I will just wait until its on sale.

It is very similar to the opinion that if prices were lower at launch less people would buy used and the developer would get more money.

The problem he's talking about is the idea that a AAA title is only worth $10 - This is the eroding of value he's talking about. Ridiculous sales may be ludicrously profitable... but a $10 game is a $10 Game is either Shovelware or extremely dated.

What GOG's arguing is that an 80% sale is the publisher saying "Buy it cheap because this game is worthless!"

 

[Sangreal Gothcraft]

must be because of the "Oh fuck now i'm broke" feeling after Steam sales..

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Publisher Logic:

Create Game:

Game sells well? MILK IT TO THE BONE!

Game does not sell well:

Was it on PC? Yes: PIRACY!

Not on PC: USED GAMES!

Rinse and repeat.

Fix'd. Let's get it straight who's whacked out logic is at work here.

 

[castlewise]

The Penny Arcade Report has a pretty good article about this. They use some numbers so put things into context and link to a couple of really telling interviews with Gabe Newell.

http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/how-valve-devalued-video-games-and-why-thats-good-news-for-developers-and-p