Who to buy from...

[Paladin Anderson]

It's rare that I buy a game. (I'm poor) It has to be something of epic scale. A true must have. A game like, oh I dunno, Skyrim, which I was in the middle of buying when this thought occurred to me and I came back to ask.

When something comes along that takes a crow bar to even my wallet, I want to make sure the developers get as much of the money as possible because they did one hell of a job. So I bypass online stores, physical video game stores, etc and buy directly from the game's website.

I've always assumed that they would get a bigger chunk of the money if I bought directly from them.

Is this a correct assumption or does it not really matter for some reason I'm not aware of?

 

[Gmans uncle]

No matter where you buy it, after all is said and done, the devs only get roughly 20 bucks from every 60 dollar game, if you think that's ridiculous than.. well it is. But that's how this business works sadly, games aren't a very profitable industry for those who actually make them.

 

[honeybakedham]

Don't worry that much about the developers... The advertisers, distributors, etc., are in the the grand scheme all responsible for the game and its success. Everyone gets a share of the pie, and that's usually good.

I think it is, on the other hand, reasonable to choose a vendor based on political thinking... I will not buy from Wal-Mart because I try to avoid supporting companies that do more harm than good.

But it is hard to know who that is sometimes.

As a PC gamer, predominately, I tend to buy from Steam.

 

[MercurySteam]

When something comes along that takes a crow bar to even my wallet, I want to make sure the developers get as much of the money as possible because they did one hell of a job. So I bypass online stores, physical video game stores, etc and buy directly from the game's website.

I've always assumed that they would get a bigger chunk of the money if I bought directly from them.

Well, whenever I click a "Preorder Now" link on a game's website it takes me to a page with links to buy the game from retailers such as EB Games, JB HiFi or GAME and online stores such as Origin or Steam. When buying any game, you're always putting money in the pockets of distributes and publishers which are needed to make the game available to the public. I'd think that someone like you, who can rarely afford games would be more interested in getting your game for the best price. If you want to put money directly in the devs pockets then throw out your codes and buy online passes.

 

[helloimtom]

http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/project-ten-dollar

they only get 27% of the profits from a $60 game, this video may be intresting to you

 

[loudestmute]

Here I was, thinking I was supporting my local mom and pop game store by buying new titles from them, whilst conveniently forgetting that I was also supporting the distributor who treats them like a redheaded mule.

...Okay, I think I'm getting my metaphors crossed, but when you're failing to deliver the holiday season's biggest hits on time, much less determined that a 6'3" 230-ish business associate can squeeze into a Large promotional t-shirt, that's not making me feel comfortable about buying something on launch day and knowing someone like that gets paid.

 

[MercurySteam]

Here I was, thinking I was supporting my local mom and pop game store by buying new titles from them, whilst conveniently forgetting that I was also supporting the distributor who treats them like a redheaded mule.

Like it or not, for a game to reach the shelves or digital stores there needs to be a company that has the money to get it there. I don't know why you have such an issue though, as Bethesda publish all their own games. Of course, the publisher Bethesda Softworks and the developer Bethesda Game Studios are two separate parts of the company, I doubt that ZeniMax would underpay their most successful studio.