Is it silly to buy the same game on more than one digital distribution platform?

[ImpofthePerverse]

Last year I joined STEAM, although I was reluctant to at first I haven't looked back since. In the last few months I've also found myself using or looking at other digital distributors such as GOG.com, Gamersgate, Impulse Driven and Direct2drive (currently the only one I've not bought any games off).

I've taken advantage of sales and promotions, only paying full price for games I REALLY want. Anyway the other week Gamersgate had the "Gothic" series on offer £15 for Gothic 4 and £10 for Gothic 1-3 (Included the expansions for Gothic 2, but not 3), not a bad deal £25 for 4 games one of which is fairly new.

Then a few days later STEAM offered a Gothic bundle including all 4 games and expansions for just under £14. I slapped myself, not only could I've saved myself £11 but I could of also gotten the expansion I didn't get from Gamersgate! So yeah I added it to my basket it on bought the games on STEAM as well.

So in the end I've spent £39 for 4 games, still not a terrible deal, but not as good as it would have been.

My question is this do you think it was a mistake? I now have copies of the Gothic games on two platforms, if something were to happen to one of my accounts (god forbid) I'd still have access to the other, but was it necessary. Does anyone else buy the same game(s) multiple times from different services or do you just tend to stick to one and maybe replace it if you loose access to that one?

 

[Irridium]

Not usually. Although I have been known to buy games I already own off of GoG.com. Mainly because getting my old disk-based games to run on Vista is a massive pain in the ass. Also GoG usually gives me the soundtracks, which is awesome.

 

[Simon Pettersson]

That is eh .. impulsive. I have bought some games i already have physical, mostly because the cd´s were scratched but buying it on several digital ditributers just seem like a waste of money.

 

[ReservoirAngel]

It's a little silly but god knows I've done it:

Orange Box - PC and 360
Assassin's Creed - PC and 360
Force Unleashed - Wii and 360
Transformers: The Game - 360, Wii and then 360 again
Transformers 2: The Game - Wii and 360.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

I wouldn't say so.

I have World of Goo on Steam (I got it free but if I'd bought it this would still apply) and I also have a DRM free version I got when I bought the Humble Indie Bundle 2.

Still it depends what you're getting for your money...

 

[p3t3r]

i am very tempted to buy that resident evil 4 remake when it comes even though i already have it for wii

 

[Zeraki]

Well there are only two games I have ever bought twice. I have both the console and PC version of Mass Effect, and I bought Castlevania: SoTN on both 360 and PS3. If you feel its worth paying money for, then I don't see too much problem with it.

 

[Legion]

I have bought:

Fallout 3 - PC. Then the GOTY Edition on the Xbox 360 because it was cheaper than getting the expansions individually on PC.

Plants Versus Zombies - PC. Then on Xbox Live as it had multiplayer (which they failed to advertise was local only.)

Orange Box - Xbox 360. Then Portal and Team Fortress 2 on PC as they are better on that platform.

 

[Neverhoodian]

I've bought several games in brick-and-mortar stores more than once for different gaming platforms, but so far only once from digital distribution services.

I got Monday Night Combat on Steam first, but the game ran like crap on my aging laptop. I decided to buy it again on XBLA and played it on that for a few weeks.

Then the devs released a patch for the Steam version that greatly optimized the game. Now I mostly play it on Steam, but I use the Xbox version if I've got friends over for some split-screen co-op.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Not really.

I own Plants vs Zombies on PC and 360.

Soon to add DS to that, too.

Not that the DS version is "digital".

 

[VanQ]

Nope. I own all of the Elder Scrolls games on XBox/XBox 360 and PC.
I also repurchased several other games over steam when they were cheap, just cos I could I guess.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Unless your initial purchase is technically inferior (as the PC and PS3 owners of Black Ops discovered last Christmas) and you really REALLY want to play the game, it's a waste of money.
The only exception I can find is if the title was being ported down to something mobile, but that's limited primarily to remakes of much older games.

 

[Void(null)]

It all depends on how good a deal it is and if you are getting something else out of it.

I own Majesty 2 and the first expansion on Steam. I picked them up on sale for $6. Now if I could get Majesty 2 on sale at GamersGate with all 3 expansions for $10 I would do it in a heartbeat because buying just the 2 missing expansions on Steam would be $25.

I did however, repurchase most of my library on Steam at one point or another just to have a Physical copy and a DD copy just in case something happens. But games I bought just to have a DD copy of I paid less than $5 a pop for.