Poll: So pc gamers . Do you still buy your pc games at retail stores?

[krazykidd]

Simple question out of curiosity. With steam and other digital distrubution things buying pc games at retail stores might soon be a thing of the past , so my question is , do you buy still buy your pc games at retail stores? And what was the last pc game you bought retail?

 

[Blunderboy]

I tend to use Steam or pre-order on line at places like Amazon or Play.
Sadly most shops seem to have a limited range PC wise, at least locally. It's also a matter of convenience.

 

[synobal]

I honestly don't know many retail stores that carry the latest PC games, Best Buy comes to mind and sometimes Target has games. Other than that though I don't think many people really do. Last I checked gamestop had reduced PC gaming to one tiny shelf and it was just MMOs. All over priced and some not even in existence any more. I'd say 95% of my Pc games come from steam. The last game I bought at a retail store was fallout 3, for the collectors edition because I wanted the lunch box and bobble head.

 

[Tyrant T100]

Very rarely, 90% of my games come off Steam, generally during the sales.
For pre-orders I generally use Amazon.
Only time I buy PC games in stores is if said store has special offers or a sale on. Like 2 games for £15.

 

[ResonanceGames]

Only for preorders since I have DSL right now and I hate having to sit around for hours while a game I'm itching to play downloads. Steam has been getting better about preloads though, so I'll probably stop buying retail altogether soon.

 

[AngryMongoose]

Retail what?

Oh, you mean like box copies? Yeah; I still shop at Amazon and Zavvi and such when it's cheaper.

 

[xDarc]

Don't knock Wal-Mart when it comes to PC titles. You can find them on release day at midnight and they're open 24 hrs. No lines of young kids or the awkwardness that comes with a bunch of 30 somethings and teens waiting for a new release of a 90's game re-made.

FallOut 3. That was the last time I ever went to a game store to buy a game.

 

[rayen020]

soemtimes. i afraid to say i frequent the walmart electronics section when i go grocery shopping. It's usually to look through the $5 DVD bargain bin, shoveling through the mountians of crap and B horror to find that glittering diamond thats worth a damn. seriously every time i go there there the same twenty or so crappy movies and like three DVDs of some good movie they threw in there to spice things up. but i digress.

occasionally i browse the game setion and the PC titles are slim pickings and a casual bonanza but if i know for certain steam doesn't have it on sale at the moment (not often) i will buy a solid copy. What really chaps mybutt though is the box usually comes with an install disc for steam and a code for the game. i resisted steam for a long time, but recently it's kinda become unavoiable. EXCEPT FOR EA TITLES, OH GOODY. yeah EA doesn't get my business anymore if they continue to insist on Origin. god the publishers are trying hard to kill PC gaming.

tl;dr: so yeah i do occaisionally but not often because when is there a not sale on steam?

 

[Rude as HECK]

I do, yes. If a game can be bought for the same price (or less) at retail than download, I will buy retail. EG, Battlefield 3 cost me £35 at HMV, whilst being £40 from origin.

However, if a game is less- even just just a few pounds- as a download, I'll go for that.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

pfft nope.

95% of my pc games are from steam/GOG, and the other 5% are amazing deals i get off amazon/newegg.

retail? usually either they are out of stock or they have the worst price out of the bunch.

 

[MammothBlade]

Yes. If I'm in GAME and I see a quality edition of a game not available on steam, I might just buy it. They do great deals on PC classics.

 

[Stall]

Retail is anachronistic. The PC market is ready to effectively phase it out, so it disappoints me when people so readily cling to this silly idea of still "wanting a box" or wanting physical media for some unearthly reason-- it is as if they are perpetually existing in the 90s/early 00s.

 

[sifffffff]

I still do sometimes. I still enjoy the security of having a disc on my shelf but I also enjoy not having to put that disk in the PC to play it. I think part of it is that I have some issues with how Steam saves the games to my PC. I'd like to be able to buy the game on Steam and then run it without having to have Steam open.

Is that even possible?

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

I can barely ever find pc games in retail stores.

 

[Kije]

I don't understand... what is this 'retail' that you speak of...? :T

 

[JesterRaiin]

Yep, still.
Around here we're not that quick to accept new solutions. We didn't have enough time to fully grasp concept of this... this whole "fire" (you know, this entity you're supossed to feed with wood and stuff so it lets you prepare roasted meals) and you expect us to have decent, stable Internet connection ?

 

[Woodsey]

What am I, some sort of caveman? Of course I don't!

 

[thenumberthirteen]

On rare occasions. Most of my games I get from Steam, and the rest I usually buy from e-tailers like Amazon. This is mainly because the nearest decent game store is about a 45 minute train trip away, and they rarely have the best prices anyway.

Also I find digital games to be more convenient.