Poll: Snap Response - Your Gaming Spending Habits (digital copies)

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Here's something I've been wondering There's a new IP in a genre you adore or a sequel to a series you're just fully engrossed with. It's coming out tomorrow and you're keeping an eye on Steam (or other platform of choice). Your spending habits are in the poll. Where do you lie on the spectrum?[footnote]Omitting pre-orders from the equation. Let's just say you JUST heard about this game because you live under a rock or couldn't afford to pre-order earlier.[/footnote]

[small]I tend to buy digital releases much later than I would buy a physical copy. I rarely line up with Steam Sales, its just got to do with my personal preference for physical copies more than anything else.[/small]

Anyway, its your turn. Now lets watch this thread get many more responses than its sister thread to prove how irrelevant I am as a consumer for publishers!

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Sorry, I'm "one of those guys".

 

[Aerosteam]

Wait for the game to be at least 75% off AND it's for the special edition which includes all the DLC. I can wait because I have such a big backlog I can play in the meantime.

 

[R.K. Meades]

Digital marketplaces are where I acquire my 'maybe' titles, or old releases that carry a hefty price tag on the open market. The sales on Steam and GOG fill a lot of gaps in my (digital) library.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Sales are my bread and butter, especially for digital releases. When it comes down to buying, if I persistently own a game I might buy it for more than bargain bin sale price, but only if I really want it. Other wise I'll wait for the best sale possible.

 

[baddude1337]

I have a gigantic Steam library, mostly due to sales, as I have been disinterested in AAA titles and newer titles in general this gen, especially as the PC game RRP rises.

I will buck the trend though and pre-order MGS5 and Xcom 2 on Steam, if they actually let us that is.

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

I almost always go physical for consoles, but for PC, I'll wait for Steam sales, price drops or some deal. Nothing released in the past few years, except some indies are worth their first asking price. Also, letting the first public users test it out means I can go in educated about any issues in the game that need fixing, are being fixed, or are totally being ignored.

 

[EHKOS]

Physical copies, but usually day one or as close to it as I can get. But hey, why buy digital when you can flip it afterwards for $30 right back to the people you bought it from? Then use that money to buy MORE GAMES XD

 

[wings012]

It varies really. I can't say all the games I bought fall into the same camp.

I bought Neptunia the moment it came out, cause it had an on launch sale. Deus Ex Human Revolution I bought the moment it came out cause I was totally waiting for it. I bought Pillars some days later after hearing that it was pretty good, no sale whatsoever. I waited for a sale on Zomboid and Transistor. And there's some games I downloaded illegally and later bought when it came in a complete package with all DLC at a discount. Then random sale impulse buys and what have you.

There's probably games I can chuck into every category.

 

[Yopaz]

Whenever I can afford it... in terms of time.

I have enough money to get by because I live on a strict budget and I save somewhere around 100-200 usd each month, except this month since I had to increase my spending due to exams and being unable to make food myself most days. Time however is my most valuable resource. If I can afford the time to play a new game then I will buy a new game at full price. If I can't then I will hold off. Exceptions include must have games such as Monster Hunter.

 

[Scarim Coral]

When it come to digital copies, it tend to be games that were out years ago (Grim Fandango) or exist as digital copies only (Skullgirls) therefore I tend to wait for the summer/ winter sales to buy them.

In the physical thread, I buy newer games online as in from a online shopping site like Amazon. Before you mention why, I have limitation when it come to my bandwidth so downloading it can be an issue at times. Also yes I am aware how some phyiscal copies just take me to the Steam site.

 

[sageoftruth]

Basically, I don't buy anything unless I know if it's actually good, so it's often decided by when reviews become available.

 

[duwenbasden]

Depends on if I like it enough or not, something like...
SimCity 4, Fallout 4 (genre love) - First review, then buy.
Starcraft 2 (in beta) - Buy.

Otherwise, sale.

 

[SweetShark]

Depends really, but if I have to give a final answer, then I wait for the very big Discounts. I want to buy a lot of games, what I can say.
But I digress, Persona 5/Doom 2015/X-Com 2 is a instant Pre-order for me.

 

[Ten Foot Bunny]

It varies by game/franchise/time/backlog. Right now my backlog is pretty big and so I'm not buying anything new. "New" simply means "new to me," not necessarily a game's release date. Except for Saints Row, Borderlands, Elder Scrolls, and Fallout, I'm in no rush to buy a game before it comes out in a game-of-the-year edition with all of the DLC and add-ons. Even then I'll often wait for a cheaper used copy (Dishonored GOTY at $15 was a hell of a steal, and it still had the poster in near-mint condition).

Digital copies? That depends. I don't buy older games digitally because they're almost never priced lower than a used physical copy that's in perfect working order. Obviously, I'll buy digital-only games digitally. Because duh. If I were a digital prude, I'd have missed Contrast, one of my favorite games ever. And I don't even like platformers!

Then there are games that I buy digitally because they're part of a massive sale, and if I absolutely love the game, I'll later buy a used physical copy just in case the digital version gets de-listed for some stupid reason. I bought Bully and GTA San Andreas when they were on sale for less than $5, but deleted the games when I needed hard drive space. When I went to play them later, I couldn't download them because R* released modern updates. As such, I was forced to fork over more money just to play the games I already bought (fuck R*, those greedy pricks). Having learned that lesson, I decided to buy cheap used copies of games that I loved and only owned digitally. That strategy has already paid off once: Deadpool. Played, loved, deleted, bought a used copy, now the digital game is de-listed. Mhm!

 

[The Wykydtron]

I kind of just grab whatever looks cool off Steam with little regard to sales and stuff, unless something is in early access/greenlight cuz fucked if i'm buying from that utter shitshow until some form of quality control is put in place.

I tend to be on the mark with my gut feeling when I buy a game on a whim, yes I suppose Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius was free but I had a feeling it was going to be at least above average, which it is. I dunno why they made Sunrider a free game cuz it is vastly superior to a load of other Visual Novel esque games on Steam right now. It's basically Fire Emblem in Space but harder and with less fancy but still pretty satisfying animations, the main cannons on the Sunrider and the Vanguard Cannon especially. I love trump card mechanics like that, turning a battle around by annihilating 5 enemy ships at once because they lined up perfectly. It doesn't even take up your turn so you can fire the main cannons in addition to it.

I mean it's a game where you're a spaceship captain, nobody can honestly tell me that's not the best player character archetype to have in any game.

Also I plan to buy any non-indie Visual Novel that gets onto Steam if I already have downloaded from elsewhere. I immediately bought Grisaia no Kaijitsu The Fruit of Grisaia the day it came out even though I already have it for free and have finished it multiple times before. Finally I get the theme of the title, apple falling too far from the tree and all that. I must be a fuckin' idiot to not get that sooner.

The way mainstream VNs are finally getting releases outside Japan and on easily accessible Steam of all places is the hypest shit. I really hope that Umineko and Devil on The G-String will be on Steam at some point, every mystery fan should play them. Play them then report back to me so I have someone to actually discuss them with god damn you all...

The Grisaia trilogy is widely considered to be some of the very best VNs out there and apparently all three games are on the way to Steam cuz Kickstarter has started to do major fucking work recently. The hype is so high since only the first game was ever translated.

 

[Andromeda Jen]

I wait about a week give or take to get friend's impressions and see some gameplay reviews on YouTube before pulling the trigger.

 

[Michel Henzel]

I'm a PC gamer on a budget, so Steam sales is what I wait towards, and if the price ain't low enough I will just wait till the next one and hope it got lower. I've been burned enough that hype does not affect me that much anymore, and being on a budget means you will learn patience whether you like it or not.