The author somewhat addressed this when he mentioned that the number of people buying in at the lower price that wouldn't have bought at full price have to off

The author somewhat addressed this when he mentioned that the number of people buying in at the lower price that wouldn't have bought at full price have to offset the people who wait. However, I think you're completely right that the number people imagine exist may not be there. Obviously 100% of the sale buyers would have paid full price. I know that the majority of games in my Steam collection are not games I would pay full price for, but they are game that I was happy to pick up in a Humble Indie Bundle. Half the games in those bundles I don't even plan on playing ever and just bought because they were bundled with a few games I thought might be interesting. Choosing to participate in a sale increases revenue over not participating, but the author is worried about a world where sales become the new norm. Of course, if that's the case, bump your price from $16 to $30 and feel free to participate in those 50% sales after you've done your initial price bump. The market will sort that out. Additionally, sales are great for increasing brand awareness. Many retail sales aren't designed to make money on their own as much as get people into the store where they might buy full-price merchandise. As an anecdote, I bought Terraria for something like $2.50 on a steam sale. When I first heard of it I thought it didn't sound that great. It turns out I love it and spent 60+ hours playing in in the span of a month. Now I will definitely buy the company's next game, Starbound for full price when it's released. If they hadn't had the sale I would never have bought either game.