• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Bummed by the price of "old" games on ps store

Permanent price drops are becoming a rarity, these days older games just go on sale more often.
And even then deep discounts under $30 aren't as common anymore.
That's one of the reasons I still prefer physical, you can take advantage of sales and promotions from multiple storefronts instead of having to wait until the game you want is on sale on PSN. Like Returnal is $45 right now Amazon.

Also also as a tip: While key reselling sites are mostly focused on PC, games that get Ps5 bundles often still show up on there with decent prices.
Like Spiderman 2 is $40 right now on CDKeys and I remember buying GOW Ragnarok on there for around $35 last year (might have been on black Friday)
Good advice, Also try setting a Japan account on your PS5 guys, there was and might still be sales at Eneba for example for Spider-Man 2 for less then $10, that was a steal! lol, tho not as much deals like that, i do have also a UK account for taking advantage for every deal i find, you can later play those game on your main account.
 

Crayon

Member
Can you reexplain me why (sorry, did not get it). ? Thanks

The publisher of a game in steam can procure "keys" for their game at no cost. Then they can do with those as they want without valve getting a cut. That way, the pub can sell games directly from their site, or sell bundles to resellers, etc.

Once the key is used, the game has no difference at all from being purchased directly from steam. That's important because a lot of games lean on SteamWorks, and a lot of users find steam features pretty important. So this way the keys should have just as much value when bought for pennies from a reseller as they are bought from steam.

So this lets a cottage industry of resellers to set up shop with competitive prices. Since steam doesn't get a cut and the resellers don't have that platform infrastructure to support, they can mark up the keys whatever they want, often undercutting steam by a bit. You can even personally sell a key on ebay.

It lets the market correct prices and gives you choice of where to buy the games. It's a pretty amazing move on their part and a well proven system at this point. One of the best things about steam.
 
Last edited:
The publisher of a game in steam can procure "keys" for their game at no cost. Then they can do with those as they want without valve getting a cut. That way, the pub can sell games directly from their site, or sell bundles to resellers, etc.

Once the key is used, the game has no difference at all from being purchased directly from steam. That's important because a lot of games lean on SteamWorks, and a lot of users find steam features pretty important. So this way the keys should have just as much value when bought for pennies from a reseller as they are bought from steam.

So this lets a cottage industry of resellers to set up shop with competitive prices. Since steam doesn't get a cut and the resellers don't have that platform infrastructure to support, they can mark up the keys whatever they want, often undercutting steam by a bit. You can even personally sell a key on ebay.

It lets the market correct prices and gives you choice of where to buy the games. It's a pretty amazing move on their part and a well proven system at this point. One of the best things about steam.
Thanks, very clear.
 

Nonehxc

Member
Just here to say how much I think console gaming sucks compared to PC.
Me getting physical discs launch day with awesome offers, then playing through them at a nice, relaxed pace and selling them 1.5-2 months later and getting 10-15$ more than what I paid spits on your puny codes and unicorney 🦄 PC physical releases. 🫠🤭
 
Last edited:

JayK47

Member
That is dumb. A game should be half retail after about a year. Digital only isn't going to work if they can't price older games better. Yet these assholes make consoles with no disk players. I guess they really want you to subscribe to their service.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
This is why I still have a disc system. GT7 is $40 on eBay.

PSN has very frequent sales so it shouldn't be long to find those games on sale.
 
Last edited:
Just wait for a sale like most people if you dont have the money. There are sales every month for 3rd party and 1st party games. The best time to buy games is during the Playstation summer sales. I dont know if you have black friday sales in your country, but you can still get good deals during the holidays.
 

Portugeezer

Member
Basically, there is no point buying an old digital game for full price as it'll be on sale at some point, which creates the FOMO effect as you won't know exactly when it'll be on sale next and if it'll be discounted as deeply as the current sale.

I fucking despise it.
 

GoldenEye98

posts news as their odd job
Basically, there is no point buying an old digital game for full price as it'll be on sale at some point, which creates the FOMO effect as you won't know exactly when it'll be on sale next and if it'll be discounted as deeply as the current sale.

I fucking despise it.

You can't predict future prices but you can set notifications for games to let you know when they are on sale....

Unless you have zero willpower just set a notification and wait..
 

NeonDelta

Member
Hi,

I just pre-ordered my ps5 pro and bought a new TV last week.
So I was preparing my future library and checked the current prices of the games I wanted to get to have an idea. Bear in mind that I nearly did not play since ps5 appeared for various reasons.

Now that I have my ultimate library to start with, I was expecting, as it was the case during PS3 and PS4 that I could grab old games for cheap as I was expecting prices to go down after some time

What a shock it was to me when I saw the actual prices. Price do not fall anymore with time ?

Look at some prices I got on PS store. I thought it was insane.

God of war Ragnarok: 80€
Returnal : 80€
Elden ring : 60€
Sackboy : 70€
GT7 : 80€.

Did I miss something ?
Gaming became expensive as hell. I'll surely wait for the recurring sales but base price is quite high.

Returnal and Sackboy are on ps plus extra I think, there’s usually a ps plus sub sale in November so might be worth using that for those two, combine it with wallet deals
 
The publisher of a game in steam can procure "keys" for their game at no cost. Then they can do with those as they want without valve getting a cut. That way, the pub can sell games directly from their site, or sell bundles to resellers, etc.

Once the key is used, the game has no difference at all from being purchased directly from steam. That's important because a lot of games lean on SteamWorks, and a lot of users find steam features pretty important. So this way the keys should have just as much value when bought for pennies from a reseller as they are bought from steam.

So this lets a cottage industry of resellers to set up shop with competitive prices. Since steam doesn't get a cut and the resellers don't have that platform infrastructure to support, they can mark up the keys whatever they want, often undercutting steam by a bit. You can even personally sell a key on ebay.

It lets the market correct prices and gives you choice of where to buy the games. It's a pretty amazing move on their part and a well proven system at this point. One of the best things about steam.

Why on earth would a publisher do business with any of those Shady Key sites.
 

Crayon

Member
Why on earth would a publisher do business with any of those Shady Key sites.

Usually if they are smaller or indie. They will go to places like humble or other well established stores. There are some shady sites, but the keys can change hands over and over with no consequence, so they can end up anywhere.
 

mitch1971

Member
It makes me smirk when you go on the ps3 store and the DLC for old games are still full price, when the original copy of the game is pennies to buy in the shops.
 
Top Bottom