New AAA steam release prices...

[suitepee7]

Now I'm not sure if this exclusively applies to the UK, but lately I've seen a rather odd trend with new releases on steam: they've gone up in price.

Now, charging more for games i can understand, but the price increase seems to be exclusive to steam. a couple of examples...
South Park SoT Steam price: £39.99, Amazon price: £30 for a download code.
AC4:BF Steram price: £39.99, Amazon price: £30 (download or DVD)


Now the games can be got even cheaper at sites like Kinguin or GMG, but why has Steam felt the need to charge the same for a PC version as for the console versions, when traditionally PC has been cheaper? Outside of steam sales, I don't seem to be making any new purchases through steam for this reason alone. That's not to say I dislike the service, but I just don't understand why the change has occurred.

So, for discussion value, 2 questions:
1) has steam started to bring in new AAA titles at the same price as their console counterparts where you live? has this always been the case and the UK is slowly catching up?

2) Why make the change now? What has gone on to make steam hike up the prices?

 

[Zhukov]

Hi.

I'm from Australia.

... and we I'll just skip this next bit because we all know how this goes.

Personally, I've kinda noticed new releases getting cheaper on Steam. I mean, I haven't been keeping a list and drawing up graphs or anything, so it's possible I've imagined it, but that seemed to be the general trend.

I remember it being rare to see a AAA game release for anything less than $80AU. Now I frequently see $45AU-$60AU.

Just looking over the new releases. I'm seeing Castlevania: Dracula's Angst for $60, South Park for $55 and Thief for $50.

 

[KungFuJazzHands]

Steam has never been well-known for new release discounts, at least in the States. AAA publishers always set the price, and Valve give them a "sneak" advantage by offering cross-market exclusives (TF2 hats, Spiral Knight items, etc.) that give the illusion of a good deal while enabling pubs to sell their new titles at maximum price.

A couple years back, the big pubs tried scamming PC gamers with an industry-wide $60 point for new releases, and the outcry was extensive and pretty intense. The AAAs backed down eventually -- with the exceptions of Activision and EA, predictably enough -- and the market leveled off more or less, but I've been noticing lately that we're seeing more and more new games pushing the $60 price mark once again. I'm referring to the base price, obviously; fortunately we have retailers like GMG and Amazon who are willing to offer up reasonable discounts compared to what Steam is giving us.

Seems to be a taking on a cyclic process to me. They try to raise prices, consumers respond negatively, and then they call it off in the hopes that we all forget about it in short order.

 

[BrotherRool]

Now, charging more for games i can understand, but the price increase seems to be exclusive to steam. a couple of examples...
South Park SoT Steam price: £39.99, Amazon price: £30 for a download code.
AC4:BF Steram price: £39.99, Amazon price: £30 (download or DVD)


Now the games can be got even cheaper at sites like Kinguin or GMG, but why has Steam felt the need to charge the same for a PC version as for the console versions, when traditionally PC has been cheaper? Outside of steam sales, I don't seem to be making any new purchases through steam for this reason alone. That's not to say I dislike the service, but I just don't understand why the change has occurred.

So, for discussion value, 2 questions:
1) has steam started to bring in new AAA titles at the same price as their console counterparts where you live? has this always been the case and the UK is slowly catching up?

2) Why make the change now? What has gone on to make steam hike up the prices?

£39.99 is still cheaper than the RRP of a console game, which for Stick of Truth appears to be £50.

It's a myth that Steam has ever charged cheaper prices for release day games than brick and mortar stores/amazon. It tends to charge 100% RRP whereas Amazon normally has up to a 25% discount. The reason people make the mistake is because PC games in general are £10 cheaper thanks to not paying platform royalties. 25% is actually enough that consoles games are cheaper on release on Amazon than Pc games on Steam. And whats more the other platforms have been competing with Amazon which means Steam is often the worst place to pick up a game on release.

The one thing that happens that will be noticeable on Steam soon is, videogame prices tend to stay fixed almost for a console generation. Thanks to inflation it means games get cheaper and cheaper overtime until the new generation when the companies take the opportunity to jack the price up again and the cycle restarts. This is hitting now and will affect the PC world too, but won't seem as natural.

The vast majority of the cost of a videogame is in developing it. It's not the plastic it's printed on, so going digital doesn't save all that much money. It's cutting people out of the profit chain that allows PC games to be a little cheaper and the ability to sell games for lower prices later on easily that saves the prices. So PC games are no less vunerable to the new gen price raise

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

Hi.

I'm from Australia.

... and we I'll just skip this next bit because we all know how this goes.

Personally, I've kinda noticed new releases getting cheaper on Steam. I mean, I haven't been keeping a list and drawing up graphs or anything, so it's possible I've imagined it, but that seemed to be the general trend.

I remember it being rare to see a AAA game release for anything less than $80AU. Now I frequently see $45AU-$60AU.

Just looking over the new releases. I'm seeing Castlevania: Dracula's Angst for $60, South Park for $55 and Thief for $50.

it probably has something to do with the new regional pricing thingie

i get mostly US prices so i havent seem any difference

 

[LookingGlass]

As an Australian, I've found what you said is happening now to always have been the case. Steam is usually the most expensive digital place to buy new release games, and I haven't bought a single one from them. It never made any sense to me that a Steam key reseller (like Green Man Gaming) would be charging less than Steam itself. I'm not sure how the whole thing works, but my guess is that with a reseller, money is split between:
1. The publisher
2. Steam
3. The reseller

and games sold directly on steam would cut out #3, allowing Steam to charge less for the game and make the same amount.

Oddly enough, with the most recently big release, South Park: The Stick of Truth, I've found the opposite. $54.95 on Steam, $59.99 everywhere else.

... But just when I thought things were getting sensible, Dark Souls 2 preorder goes up for $71.99 on Steam and $50 everywhere else.

 

[TrevHead]

Hi.

I'm from Australia.

... and we I'll just skip this next bit because we all know how this goes.

Not to be a spoil sport or anything but imo a minimum wage slave in the UK pays more per gaming hour than a minimum wage slave in AUZ or Canada. For the average person it probably is where Australia is getting a raw deal compared to the UK though.

On OT about Steam prices it's being a long time since I've compared Steam to Amazon PC prices but my findings from a couple of years ago are along the line BrotherRool states, generally Amazon is the same or slightly cheaper.

Also the new console gen will be affecting prices of multiplats, generally PC is £10 under the console price so a hike for consoles means a hike for PC too.

 

[DoPo]

Hi.

I'm from Australia.

... and we I'll just skip this next bit because we all know how this goes.

Not to be a spoil sport or anything but imo a minimum wage slave in the UK pays more per gaming hour than a minimum wage slave in AUZ or Canada. For the average person it probably is where Australia is getting a raw deal compared to the UK though.

Look, that is true, however how often are prices lowered in a country because their income is also lower? I honestly don't know but I certainly haven't heard of this happening. I have seen occasions of it not happening, though.

 

[Zac Jovanovic]

Steam prices have always been insane where I live, often more expensive than a physical copy in a store. I have a bunch of games on it but pretty much all of those that I didn't buy on a sale I bought from a key re-seller for 30-50% less.

Look, that is true, however how often are prices lowered in a country because their income is also lower? I honestly don't know but I certainly haven't heard of this happening. I have seen occasions of it not happening, though.

Russia? I've bought Russian locale games for as low as 15% of the region free steam price. Case in point, plati.ru - Stick of Truth + DLC for 15$ on the front page.

 

[Vrach]

Hi.

I'm from Australia.

... and we I'll just skip this next bit because we all know how this goes.

Personally, I've kinda noticed new releases getting cheaper on Steam. I mean, I haven't been keeping a list and drawing up graphs or anything, so it's possible I've imagined it, but that seemed to be the general trend.

I remember it being rare to see a AAA game release for anything less than $80AU. Now I frequently see $45AU-$60AU.

Just looking over the new releases. I'm seeing Castlevania: Dracula's Angst for $60, South Park for $55 and Thief for $50.

Hi.

I'm from Serbia.

Since not everyone knows the next bit, I'll sum it up nice and quick: official average pay is 400 euros/month (most of the people I know work for around 300 though) and Steam games cost 50-60 euros.

OT: Steam is actually really expensive for new games. You'll rarely get a good deal there compared to the brick and mortar stores (or certain web sites). It's always been the case, the part where Steam has good prices is sales, outside that, they're really expensive, even for most older games that aren't even too relevant nowadays. I don't think I've ever bought a new game on Steam. It might take a few days, but even with extra international shipping costs, it's cheaper for me to order a game from a UK store. To be noted, most, if not all of these stores ship for free inside UK.

So yeah... don't buy new games on Steam unless there's no alternative. Or at least look around for some better prices first. Dark Souls 2 for example is 50 euros on Steam. ShopTo has it for ~32. It's pretty much the case for all games, the standard new price on Steam is 50 euros (60 for some games, think CoD: Ghosts was 60), whereas most UK retailers can get you the same game for around 30/35.

 

[Kukakkau]

I was surprised at the South Park price when I saw it but the Black Flag price I'm pretty sure was discounted before release, I don't know if it increased to £40 after that though. Other than that I've found most prices are lower than that of consoles on release (with exceptions of the usual suspects - CoD and ubisoft/EA games)

One thing to keep in mind is that for Steam patience about buying games is king. You wait till a seasonal holiday and you will get amazing deals on what you want. I don't really buy new games anymore for this reason and you can have a look at gameplay videos after release to think if you'd enjoy it before buying.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I think it's important to note that steam doesn't set the prices on their site. Prices are set by the dev or publisher, including the prices in different regions. The prices are not in Steam's control so the original question is inaccurate.

Saying that, the prices we see online are often, if not usually higher than in-store. This is intentional and is in spite of the lower costs of digital distribution. Since stores cannot offer the convenience of digital distribution, prices are set higher online to artificially give bricks and mortar stores an advantage and keep them in business. Without better prices and arguably preorder exclusives, it is thought that they would fade into obscurity...a not unreasonable assumption considering what's happened to music and book stores since itunes and amazon changed their industries.