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[120v]

i mean, yeah..

steam/PC is only growing. why would those crazy discounts circa 2012 continue? as long as there's a few across-the-board 'sales' every year i don't really care

 

[Zojirushi]

If publishers don't want to give deeper discounts that's not really on Valve.

Iirc pusblishers can still give deeper discounts for a limited time during the sale, so if they wanted to do that they don't really need Valve to bing back daily deals or any of that meta sale garbage. That shit was terrible and sleezy as fuck.

It's what others have said, publishers noticed they can make more money not discounting games by like 90%, instead they do 60%, sacifice a couple of sales and probably still end up with more revenue. PC market seems to be big enough nowadays.

Also embrace the all digital future in which even sites like cdkeys can't sell retail codes for cheap anymore. Then they have us where they want us.

 

[Yogg]

My current cycle is: I see a new game I eventually want to play, open steam, add it to my wishlist, close steam.

Then when Steam sales go up, I open steam, look at my wishlist, maybe get one or 2 titles, then close steam and never think about those sales again.

Those sales certainly lost the exciting factor to me. They're just regular sales now, not the few moments in the year I was looking forward to anymore.

I think it coincides with the appearance of the "targeted" frontpage. I liked seeing the trends and new stuff in a neutral way. Now that It's just pushing cheap clones of what I own, I don't bother anymore.

 

[Bladenic]

"You probably own everything"

Okay i fail to see how this is Steam's fault if you have the time and money to buy "thousands" of games.

 

[rochellepaws]

Have to be honest, I've noticed myself spending less and less on pc games since the value went. When price is on a level with consoles I think I just prefer to stick with the playstation environment in most cases. Buying a large number of quality games for a small price each sort of was the major appeal of steam to me originally.

 

[Leafhopper]

I think it's better this way since you have more time anyway. You know like a normal person would buy a game and play it.

Oh no, I have 2 whole weeks to decide instead of impulse buying everything due to time limits! How will I ever fill up my backlog that I'll never touch at this rate!?

It's honestly hilarious imo.

PS: Playing video games is fun btw guys. You should do that more.

 

[Noaloha]

I wonder if The Old Steam Sale approach had a negative impact on sales of newly released titles within that two week period.

 

[ViolentP]

Have to be honest, I've noticed myself spending less and less on pc games since the value went. When price is on a level with consoles I think I just prefer to stick with the playstation environment in most cases. Buying a large number of quality games for a small price each sort of was the major appeal of steam to me originally.

The frequency in which I purchase PC games has dropped drastically. Only because I've finally learned to respect the backlog.

 

[see5harp]

What I don't get are indie games that never go below 50% off then wind up in the monthly humble bundle or a $1 tier bundle.

This is what I don't understand.

 

[Lemstar]

humble monthly is consistently a good deal

humble store usually runs same level of discounts as steam, so their prices are better with the humble monthly 10% discount

other legit retailers (gamesplanet, gamersgate, bundlestars, gamebillet, wingamestore, dlgamer) also consistently have good prices

and if you want to dip into the grey market (not black market) sellers, cdkeys and gmg are even cheaper

steam's biggest advantages are that you can farm cards and spend that money and that you can get refunds

for everything else you're better off buying elsewhere

 

[Brokun]

Steam sales are no longer fun
Remember when publishers did Christmas special events? Remember you could craft items into games? Remember when you could use cards to trade for stuff? Remember Game specific Achievements during sales? Well its all gone now, Steam was way ahead of its time with this and it made the Steam sale into a mini game in itself. However over the past couple of years Steam has moved away from that to smaller events or just collecting badges which offer very little incentive to check the store every day.

This is the big one for me. Even though I never progressed very far in the Steam sale meta games I enjoyed them a lot. It made the seasonal sales feel like an event and got me more excited about spending money on games. These days I just can't get enthused about it. When I get home I plan to casually browse through my wishlist and maybe buy one game. Maybe.

Perhaps I'm crazy to think this way but what happened to the spectacle? Where's the fun? I would rather spend money at a carnival than a warehouse.

Edit: It's important to note that I have enough income where the savings from the Steam sales aren't a huge concern for me. I can buy games any time I want. However I'm more likely to spend more money if I'm having fun with the sale.

 

[jrcbandit]

What I don't get are indie games that never go below 50% off then wind up in the monthly humble bundle or a $1 tier bundle.

Lol, so true. I'm passing on most of the indie games in my list because they are all like 25 or 33% discounts, but they'll end up in some humble bundle later where you get it for next to nothing.

Valve really needs to bring back daily deals for some excitement and deeper discounts. Screw flash sales, that was too much trouble to keep up with. After the first day of current version of Steam sale, I completely ignore it now.

 

[Fraeon]

I don't get what the problem is. It's a storefront, it has a sale every now and then that you can check for cheaper games you want to play. Do that with every storefront with games that interest you.

People looking for fun from that process should look for fun by... playing the games they're buying?

The main reason I buy fewer Steam games is because my Steam backlog is huge enough already and the only games I do buy are games I want to play right now. Like Tekken 7.

 

[kuYuri]

I think you forgot no more publisher bundles or at least significantly reduced amounts of them.

 

[wideface]

Yeah, it's sad that the golden age of Steam sales is over ;_;

 

[Lingitiz]

In general getting cheap PC games has become less prevalent over the last few years. As already mentioned, Steam sales aren't quite what they used to be. Places like GMG no longer discount as heavily as they used to. Amazon sales have worsened dramatically since Tony left Amazon. Combine that with console storefronts improving dramatically with very frequent digital sales, programs like Amazon prime and Best Buy Gamers Club with 20% off new games, and the notion of "games are cheaper on PC" has more or less leveled out at this point.

 

[Thoraxes]

I agree. And as a result of the changes, I just generally find myself buying significantly less from Steam overall.

 

[PlayALLtheGames]

The main thing is that I already own most of the games I want.

And the newer ones aren't discounted heavily enough yet.

From $60 to $30-40 just isn't good enough.

I'm not a mathematician or anything but 60 to 30 is a 50% discount. How is that not enough for a newer game? Some of these expectations seem unreasonable.

 

[Aonuma]

Even participation in this sale seems limited. A good half of the games in my wishlist (Night in the Woods, Amazing Frog) aren't discounted at all and the rest are 33% off or less.

 

[Axass]

Yeah, huge excitement before the sale starts, instant disappointment after day one because you know what's there is all the sale has to offer: no dailies, no flash sales, no activities.

 

[Fracas]

For me the issue is that these discounts just put steam prices on par with resellers like cdkeys. Take something like prey. It's $40 on steam now, but it's that been that price at reseller sites since before the game even came out. I can't remember the last time I paid $60 for a pc game.

Discounts have gotten worse for sure, too. And now that everything goes on sale at once, I don't really even open the client past the first day.

 

[Afrodium]

Does any long running annual sale ever not turn to shit? Black Friday is the same deal. Once you convince consumers that discounts during a given sale are the best prices of the year it becomes smarter to just list a regular sale price during a period where everything is on sale and consumers who don't watch prices throughout the year are making impulse purchases.

 

[Dyle]

I think most of this is true about Steam as a whole, not just sales. The service has matured and in the process decided to do away with many of the quirky features that made it fun and appealing years ago, while making only minor adjustments to the more pressing issues such as the client's UI. They've managed to make the last several years feel both static and regressive which has led me to begin shifting both my time and money towards other platforms, despite my steam library nearing 400 titles.

It doesn't help that Valve has effectively gone radio silent in terms of their public image, doing no PR whatsoever and having no recognizable faces out there pushing the marketplace. For the most part I'm satisfied with Steam but have been gradually been losing my enthusiasm for the service as it has become more and more sterile and utilitarian.

 

[HelenKeller:BlindDeafDTF]

I'm always more bothered by people who act so upset about losing such a capitalistic orgy. "Oh, im so sad. I dont save as much money, and valve doesn't turn my spending into a game anymore." Gross. If you're actually having that conversation, take a good look at your life.

 

[Mass_Pincup]

Yeah you listed every reason as to why I basically stopped buying games during Steam sales for about 2-3 years now.

They removed all the thing that was setting them apart. Now seller like GMG have consistently better discount then Steam. It's just not worth it anymore.

I remember the times when you could have like a publisher bundle with all their games for 20€, those were some insane deal, I'm going to miss that.

 

[SeeNoWeevil]

People with massive backlogs complaining that there aren't stacks of 90% off games to add to their backlog are absolutely ridiculous.

The PC digital market is bizarre. So many games in a constant flip-flop from full price down to 75% off and back again on an almost monthly basis. Even if games did increase in price by some margin, the only difference it would make would be people might actually get some way through their backlog. I reckon most people could make it through from one major Steam sale to the next with as little as ~£60.

 

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

I'm always more bothered by people who act so upset about losing such a capitalistic orgy. "Oh, im so sad. I dont save as much money, and valve doesn't turn my spending into a game anymore." Gross. If you're actually having that conversation, take a good look at your life.

Saving money is pretty cool, actually.

 

[Sorcerer Supreme]

sales on console (at least psn) are better but steam people wont believe you when you say that

 

[Skinpop]

Did you buy stephen's sausage roll yet? No? Then what are you complaining about?

 

[Mass_Pincup]

People with massive backlogs complaining that there aren't stacks of 90% off games to add to their backlog are absolutely ridiculous.

The PC digital market is bizarre. So many games in a constant flip-flop from full price down to 75% off and back again on an almost monthly basis. Even if games did increase in price by some margin, the only difference it would make would be people might actually get some way through their backlog. I reckon most people could make it through from one major Steam sale to the next with as little as ~£60.

There's constant sales on console too now.

Disnohored 2 is only 3€ more on PS4 then on Steam at this very moment for exemple.

The gap is way smaller then before.

 

[Lingitiz]

sales on console (at least psn) are better but steam people wont believe you when you say that

It is absolutely true that PSN (and XBL) sales have dramatically improved. Sometimes to the point of being cheaper than the discounts on Steam. And they do tend to occur pretty often so that you're not waiting too long for one. They would definitely benefit from establishing more event-like seasonal or annual sales like Steam, so people would know when to expect them and get excited. But then again maybe the unpredictability is part of the strategy.

 

[Eusis]

They stopped this because people rightfully complained that they would miss sales because they were sleeping/working/in class/etc

And you'd have popular games that were on sale countless times get voted on over those that never had a good deal or rarely.

But a lot of it probably had to do with refunds; why deal with the potential headache?

 

[King Gilga]

Yeah, steam sales are horrible now days, you can find physical console versions of those games for much cheaper how sad is that. Like I can buy PS4 physical FC4 off amazon from amazon for cheaper than steam and it's not even on a special sale on amazon, and it's 5 years old. Pathetic.

Steam sales used to be an event, something I'd check every couple hours every single day, me and some friends used to talk about it every day. I used to spend like a £150+ on every big steam sale easily. Now I check it on the first day of every sale go 'wow what a shit sale' on whatsapp and forget about it.

Hell I've even added stuff to my cart on day one of a sale and never checked out simply because I forget about it completely because the sales are such a non event nowadays. I've only spend £9 in the past year or so, and that's only because it was a giftcard someone gave to me in christmas or whatever.

And i'ts not because I have everything, my wishlist is 100+, the sales are just garbage. I just check my wishlist every sale

It's no surprise steam's sales are going down every year.

But hey whatever, now I waste less money on games I'll never play, so I can't complain. Their loss not mine.

 

[Anno]

I can't decide if Orange is actually serious this time or if this is just his most finely crafted work yet.

 

[Icedburden]

There is nothing wrong with these steam sales. They may not be great for the deal hunter, but for the people who simply dont have enough time to jump on the computer and get a crazy deal, its fantastic. Two weeks of deals that don't fluctuate or don't disappear are great for the average consumer. The moral of this story is: the people who complain are spoiled. Play your backlog, people.

 

[Hippopuncher12]

This is probably going to be the first year I don't buy a game during a Steam sale.

Yep same. Looked saw nothing worth the price.

 

[Crankshaft]

I've noticed that sale prices are the same across different digital stores. Grim dawn never goes on sale for any less than 12.49 on steam - gog - humble. Age of Wonders 3 is never less than 7.49 across all stores.

 

[Mikey Jr.]

Yeah, I remember Steam sales being this huge event on Gaf.

Seems like a big wet fart now.

Didn't even know a sale was happening right now, haha.

 

[pastrami]

I remember the time I bought Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on Steam for $6 less than a year after it released. Those type of steep discounts seemed unsustainable though, and I'm fine with Steam sales as they are now. Because let's be honest. Games are still really cheap.

 

[DPB]

I don't miss the flash sales, but it's a shame that even the dailies have gone now.

 

[Giever]

Now instead of buying a bunch of games that interest me for $4.99 or $7.50, I end up maybe buying, like, one indie game that I'm very interested in for $9.99 or $12.50, or something. Normally I would spend probably at least $50 or so, now it's always under $20. One particular developer might get a few more bucks from me, but far less money is going to devs from my wallet thanks to the less-than-stellar sales.

 

[Platinumstorm]

I mean the solution do this is just to not buy the games.

Steam also has this weird problem where games people were excited to purchase exist on other places now; I.E. Origin. Other games [Dying light] don't even move in price anymore. They default to the 23.99. Frankly Origin has more exciting sale prices than Steam does.

I've been pretty thankful for the Steam sales shifting to this model because I buy nothing or almost nothing during every sale now.

 

[Mozendo]

Also due to steam locking down on trading and inter-region trading some of my friends can't even gift me games. I couldn't even get Dying Light on my birthday from my friend in Scotland because there was a $3 difference.

It was fun receiving a notification that you were gifted a game on a sale, now it's done through PMs for cd keys.

Thanks Steam.

 

[Memory]

Yeah I agree, I checked my wishlist and even with the discounts there is nothing I really want to buy at the offered prices.

 

[EMT0]

While I agree that's all true, I'd also add one more caveat; the first few Steam sales you experience are more impressive than later ones because of how novel/insane it appears and are thus far more likely to put money into games that you'd otherwise put off buying or not buy at all. I've got several games from my first Steam sale that I never played, and the same can be said for a lot of my friends. Especially with regards to those franchise bundles.

 

[teh_pwn]

I agree with most points.

However I'm at a point in my life where I'm focused on fewer, higher quality games. Nothing right now interests me and I'm replaying Witcher 3 and it's amazing how much rich content there is in this game - it's 2 years old and still the best Western RPG by miles.

I checked the sale for Tekken 7 because I'd buy it for $15 for game night parties. But no sale at all so no purchase. I feel like that would have been 25% on a steam sale 2 years ago.

 

[jonscrambler]

sales on console (at least psn) are better but steam people wont believe you when you say that

I don't see how that's true, maybe a game here and there could be cheaper than Steam sale, this last PSN sale was pretty terrible
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1390778&page=9

way less games on sale, shadow of mordor goty was $10 there, it's $4 here on steam sale

 

[jstripes]

There's always Humble Bundles.

 

[chaosblade]

Steam sales used to be events. This year the extent of my involvement in the summer sale is checking my wishlist and buying a single $4 DLC.

There's little incentive to do anything else, only a few games on my wishlist are at new all-time low prices (those that are are newer-ish games that are still $20+ on sale), many have had better discounts in the past, and less than a quarter are beyond 50% off. And with daily deals being a thing of the past I don't have any reason to go back since nothing will be different any other day of the sale.

I think refunds killing daily deals is what really killed the Steam sale. They were already getting less interesting but the death of the daily deal makes publishers more hesitant to throw big discounts out there since they have to be up for the duration of the sale.

While I agree that's all true, I'd also add one more caveat; the first few Steam sales you experience are more impressive than later ones because of how novel/insane it appears and are thus far more likely to put money into games that you'd otherwise put off buying or not buy at all. I've got several games from my first Steam sale that I never played, and the same can be said for a lot of my friends. Especially with regards to those franchise bundles.

This isn't wrong, but the sales have actually gotten worse too.

 

[Fantastapotamus]

Bought 3 games and I don't think I'll buy any more.
If I've waited this long I might as well wait for the winter sale (or other sales)