I Buy Games for The Developers

[vv85]

Its kinda the 'I read Penthouse for the articles' argument but its true - I buy games more to support the developer than to play. Dont have time to game much anymore but I want to give good devs support

Example; I just bought 'Dragon Commander' on Steam. I probably wont play it (if I do, it'll be for 10 minutes) but I liked the feel and aesthetic of the Divinity 2 games, and want the company to do well.

Anyone else do this?

 

[Zhukov]

Not really.

If I didn't have time to game then having good developers around wouldn't be any use to me. And I'm not altruistic enough to just throw my cash at them. If I was going to give away money I'd give it to charity, not to gainfully employed middle class people.

I bought an extra copy of Amnesia and gifted it to someone, because that game was the shit and good horror games are a extreme rarity, but that's as close as I get.

 

[shrekfan246]

One thing to note is that unless a developer isn't working under a publisher, purchasing the game to directly support them is a bit of a double-edged blade, because developers that don't self-publish generally seem to get a very small percentage of royalties from game sales after release.

I don't generally buy games I don't expect to play at some point, but there are certainly certain developers I wish I could throw my money at; Chief among them being CD Projekt RED and Stardock. Larian is pretty high up there as well--I quite enjoyed Divinity 2 after all of the expansions and patches and I'm excited to see how Dragon Commander and Original Sin turn out--but I don't think they have quite the same level of support for their community that the other two studios try to provide.

 

[piinyouri]

I get the idea, but no. Not for me anyway, if I don't enjoy the game in some way, I won't buy it, no matter how much I want to support the developers.

 

[ThriKreen]

Might want to expand the question a bit:

- AAA games?
- Indie games?
- $60 games?
- $10 or less games?
- On sale?

I tend to buy the $10 or less games, regardless of AAA or indie, even if I don't plan on playing it, as support. Seeing as I obviously know a lot out there, there's a huge camaraderie among the industry, so if and when I release my own indie games, I can probably expect the same (karma if you will).

And it helps to pad the numbers to show the publishers that hey, maybe they too should reduce the prices of theirs.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Well Christ, that's one hell of a paradox.

You say you don't game much anymore. Then why would you want to give your money to developers unless you want them to use that money to make better games which you inturn can play, when you don't even play much anymore?

Anyway, no. I buy games to play games.

 

[chuckdm]

I do to a point.

For example, I recently bought Fallen Enchantress. I didn't buy it because I wanted to play Fallen Enchantress. I bought it because Sins of a Solar Empire was beyond awesome and I had automatic faith that Ironclad Games had made another good game the instant I saw Fallen Enchantress, and even though I knew very little about the game, I bought it about 50% to support Ironclad in the hopes they'd make something else I want to play.

That said, I'm not really a fan of turn-based strategy (aside from Civ 3/4/5) but I have to say I really like it. I don't even know why I like it. I've played games almost identical to this before and hated them, but for whatever reason I really like Fallen Enchantress.

But I didn't buy it because I really wanted it. I bought it about half out of encouragement to the devs and half on faith that it's a strat game of some sort from people who already showed me they know how to make a good strat game.

That said, I've only ever done a purchase "on faith" one other time and that was Mass Effect 3. In retrospect, it was still worth it (even though I hated the endings I still enjoyed the bulk of the game and the DLC has all been great) but I would have waited until it went on sale and made sure they got decidedly less of my money than they did.

So...normally no, but if I know a studio has a solid track record of releasing awesome games, yes, I'll buy a game I might never play to support them. But not to the tune of a full $50+ release.

 

[Bat Vader]

Even though I received a free donwloadable copy of The Witcher 2 Extended Edition last year from GOG for having my serial key. I still bought the game to support CD Projekt Red.

 

[King of Asgaard]

I buy games to play fun games.
I know, it's a crazy habit of mine, but I don't see the point of buying a game I have no interest in just so the developers get a pay cheque this month.

 

[Psychobabble]

Its kinda the 'I read Penthouse for the articles' argument but its true - I buy games more to support the developer than to play. Dont have time to game much anymore but I want to give good devs support

Example; I just bought 'Dragon Commander' on Steam. I probably wont play it (if I do, it'll be for 10 minutes) but I liked the feel and aesthetic of the Divinity 2 games, and want the company to do well.

Anyone else do this?

I did up until about 10 years ago before the then very distinct individual studios with free reign over their own creations were assimilated into the Borg-like giant corporate publishing hive minds. These days I just identify them by the gigantic corporations they are attached to. Which is unfortunate because my personal attitude towards nearly all of these soulless conglomerations is that I wouldn't cross the road to piss on them if they were on fire.

 

[NearLifeExperience]

No, I think that's absolutely ridiculous. I buy games to play, because it's my favorite past time. Why would I support a dev if the work that I'm buying is not something I appreciate enough to play it? They'll have to make something that interests me if they want my money, I'm not very charitable towards distant corporations, as odd as that may sound

The way that I see it is that you should reward devs if they make something cool, and 'punish' (by not buying) when they muck things up. I mean, what if a dev made a couple of really good titles, and then decides to sit down on its arse and hurl up a couple of half assed games every month because 'people buy games for the developers' ? We can't have that! Lash that whip!

 

[Keiichi Morisato]

this is the reason I preordered Ni No Kuni and Tales of Xillia. I want to support the JRPG genre in America, and to show that there is an audience for more games within those franchises. I also purchase games from CDProjektRED and Obsidian, even though I am not a WRPG fan, because I like the developers.

 

[Nazulu]

No. I reckon that gives off the wrong message. I buy games I believe are good, and hopefully my purchase will inspire more quality titles.

Also, what's the point of buying games to hardly play them?

 

[Harlemura]

Sort of. If I like the developers or like certain aspects about the game, I'll be okay buying it at full price rather than waiting for it to be on sale like I do with most games nowadays. This goes especially for lesser known titles that may not have a lot of assured people buying it, like Skullgirls and the Sanctum games.

Same concept goes for DLC. I got BioShock Infinite free with a graphics card about a month ago and enjoyed the game so much that I had no problem with paying out the full price for the Season Pass. I'm guessing the developers don't lose much money by having their games offered in bundles, and it's hardly like Infinite's sales were struggling, but at least I know I've contributed so Irrational can hopefully make more really good games.

I wouldn't buy a game solely to support the developer though. I mean, I understand the idea, but if I have enough money for a game I'm gonna make sure I spend it on one I'll enjoy playing.

 

[Thomas Barnsley]

I bought Remember Me because Capcom had to work too hard to make a female protagonist. And I support diversity, hence I support Capcom.

 

[Karoshi]

I've bought a lot of indie games mostly on principle, even if I thought I wouldn't enjoy them. Creativity should be encouraged and some of the those titles turned out to be nothing but brilliant.

I have also bought certain games several times in order to give away to strangers, because I thought that they deserve much more publicity or appreciation.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

One thing to note is that unless a developer isn't working under a publisher, purchasing the game to directly support them is a bit of a double-edged blade, because developers that don't self-publish generally seem to get a very small percentage of royalties from game sales after release.

Bingo. Unless the gamee in question is seld published chances are you are giving a large slice to the likes of EA and Activision.

The current big thing with devs is Kickst arter, which removespublishers from the equation. I've supported Grim Crate Entertainment (Iron Lore refugees who worked on Titan Quest), Inxile, (ex-interplay devs) Double Fine and Obsidian to name a few.

 

[Auberon]

I mostly do that (expection being Steam sales). It's also the reason why I refuse to buy Bloodlines - Troika is dead, no use giving any money to Bob Kotick.