3 ms·

if it's not overdone (as in, customer expecting continual discounts) I'm still surprised that Steam has so many discounts; they've basically trained me to neve

if it's not overdone (as in, customer expecting continual discounts) I'm still surprised that Steam has so many discounts; they've basically trained me to never pay full price. But I feel no need to play new games right when they're released; maybe there are enough people that do.

newjersey 11y ago
I wouldn't see myself as a game buyer at all. So, for me the $5 I paid for skyrim or however much I didn't on other several games I bought is money I wouldn't have spent. Now the $10 I spent on limbo of different. I didn't wait for a sale. I just bought it. I think steam optimized the revenue from me pretty well. And it all started with them giving me portal (one) for free.
- majewsky 11y ago
  > And it all started with them giving me portal (one) for free. Heh, same for me. I was quite surprised when my library recently hit the 100 games mark.
  - LoSboccacc 11y ago
    far from a hoarder here, and I'm at 300+ http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197986674427 http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197986674427 but I don't play more than 10 probably XD
    - majewsky 11y ago
      Heh. The only game that I currently play in Steam is not even a Steam game, but PCSX2 (a PS2 emulator); I only need Steam for the Steam Controller.
    - adwf 11y ago
      463 here, of which 238 are for Linux. I was actually quite happy when Linux made up half my library; it really put paid to the idea that Linux isn't for gaming. If a publisher doesn't release multi-platform, I just don't buy it anymore. But those deals sucker me in for just about any game that says it's on SteamOS.
crazy1van 11y ago
They've also trained me to buy a whole bunch of games just because they are massively on sale even though I'll probably never play them. I guess Valve figures this works out better for them overall.
exolymph 11y ago
Delivering games has minimal marginal cost to Steam. So they're not giving anything up by offering discounts.
- fasteddie 11y ago
  They are -- the opportunity cost of more revenue. Just because you have low marginal costs doesn't mean you should train your userbase to expect discounts.
  - exolymph 11y ago
    My guess is that Steam sales prompt people to purchase when they wouldn't have otherwise. I assume (hopefully correctly) that they're A/B testing this stuff and have data on the results.
LoSboccacc 11y ago
yeah steam was what I had in mind when I wrote that. but it has changed policy last year or so: before titles got cheaper by time and got discounts on top, so it was usual to find a year old aaa game for 5$ or 7$ in the summer sale, now titles take at least two years before even starting to cheapen in price, and publisher are using the trick of giving out big discount (75% is common) but starting from incredibly high prices (so it ends up never going below 20$)

newjersey 11y ago

I wouldn't see myself as a game buyer at all. So, for me the $5 I paid for skyrim or however much I didn't on other several games I bought is money I wouldn't have spent. Now the $10 I spent on limbo of different. I didn't wait for a sale. I just bought it. I think steam optimized the revenue from me pretty well. And it all started with them giving me portal (one) for free.

majewsky 11y ago
> And it all started with them giving me portal (one) for free. Heh, same for me. I was quite surprised when my library recently hit the 100 games mark.
- LoSboccacc 11y ago
  far from a hoarder here, and I'm at 300+ http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197986674427 http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197986674427 but I don't play more than 10 probably XD
  - majewsky 11y ago
    Heh. The only game that I currently play in Steam is not even a Steam game, but PCSX2 (a PS2 emulator); I only need Steam for the Steam Controller.
  - adwf 11y ago
    463 here, of which 238 are for Linux. I was actually quite happy when Linux made up half my library; it really put paid to the idea that Linux isn't for gaming. If a publisher doesn't release multi-platform, I just don't buy it anymore. But those deals sucker me in for just about any game that says it's on SteamOS.

crazy1van 11y ago

They've also trained me to buy a whole bunch of games just because they are massively on sale even though I'll probably never play them. I guess Valve figures this works out better for them overall.

exolymph 11y ago

Delivering games has minimal marginal cost to Steam. So they're not giving anything up by offering discounts.

fasteddie 11y ago
They are -- the opportunity cost of more revenue. Just because you have low marginal costs doesn't mean you should train your userbase to expect discounts.
- exolymph 11y ago
  My guess is that Steam sales prompt people to purchase when they wouldn't have otherwise. I assume (hopefully correctly) that they're A/B testing this stuff and have data on the results.

LoSboccacc 11y ago

yeah steam was what I had in mind when I wrote that. but it has changed policy last year or so: before titles got cheaper by time and got discounts on top, so it was usual to find a year old aaa game for 5$ or 7$ in the summer sale, now titles take at least two years before even starting to cheapen in price, and publisher are using the trick of giving out big discount (75% is common) but starting from incredibly high prices (so it ends up never going below 20$)