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The sad truth about Steam Sales...
- Thread starter MRORANGE
- Start date
I am in this boat.
The sales are fine. Other than possibly wanting even MORE lower prices, I am satisfied.
Also very true.
breadtruck
Member
I absolutely loved the Summer sale where you could trade in tickets or something for DLC items. Things like TF2 items and I think even a map pack or something.
Thanks to it, I have DLC for a game I dont even own. Haha! But it was the only sale I had fun with. Since the stupid stuff you were doing could actually be used to get something better than a profile background or chat icon.
Somewhat for the best that Steam sales are a bit crappy nowadays, for me I guess.
Backlogs too long, there are more games than ever, and I have less time than I've ever had to play them all.
Though Valve themselves putting less effort into their sales by instead just defaulting into trading cards rather than doing something cool and special is a bummer.
Backlogs too long, there are more games than ever, and I have less time than I've ever had to play them all.
Though Valve themselves putting less effort into their sales by instead just defaulting into trading cards rather than doing something cool and special is a bummer.
Ban Puncher
Member
I know it's a tired old meme to say 'This Steam Sale Sucks' but man this Steam Sale sucks.
I'm going to go spend my money on a big sandwich or something instead.
I'm going to go spend my money on a big sandwich or something instead.
///PATRIOT
Banned
Yeah.
I'll never understand how people can say that the existence of flash/daily sales were a bad thing.
If you are happy to pay the standard 50% deals that we're getting from the big publishers now, why did you ever care about the flash/daily sales to begin with?
You could have just ignored them and got the same deals they're giving us now.
If their removal had meant that we got the flash/daily prices for the full two weeks, that would be much better for consumers - but of course that's not what happened.
And it takes all of 30 seconds to check the latest deal on the mobile app. It's not some huge inconvenience.
All the best deals are outside of Steam now.
It's very rare that I buy anything directly from Steam any more.
The prices that some publishers now charge for games that at 10, 15, 20 years old - and often completely unsupported - is an absolute joke.
I think I might be even more upset that many indies are following in the big publishers' footsteps, starting at much higher prices and giving much weaker discounts than ever before.
You're charging $20 and are only going to offer a 30-40% discount?
Not happening. If that's what you're charging, I'll wait until it's a dollar in a Humble Bundle or not bother with it at all.
If you are happy to pay the standard 50% deals that we're getting from the big publishers now, why did you ever care about the flash/daily sales to begin with?
You could have just ignored them and got the same deals they're giving us now.
If their removal had meant that we got the flash/daily prices for the full two weeks, that would be much better for consumers - but of course that's not what happened.
And it takes all of 30 seconds to check the latest deal on the mobile app. It's not some huge inconvenience.
All the best deals are outside of Steam now.
It's very rare that I buy anything directly from Steam any more.
The prices that some publishers now charge for games that at 10, 15, 20 years old - and often completely unsupported - is an absolute joke.
I think I might be even more upset that many indies are following in the big publishers' footsteps, starting at much higher prices and giving much weaker discounts than ever before.
You're charging $20 and are only going to offer a 30-40% discount?
Not happening. If that's what you're charging, I'll wait until it's a dollar in a Humble Bundle or not bother with it at all.
I mean I kinda enjoyed the thrill of checking new deals, but the bolded part makes too much sense. Those impulse buys just grew my backlog from games I still haven't played. Which also leads to owning everything already. I don't get the drama around these sales, they are cheap games not bought from gray market.
Exactly.
Taliban Stan
Member
At some point, I don't think we should knock a corporation because they are finding success while using less aggressive sales techniques and not making the process have a satisfying, gambling like sensation.
That's really not a bad thing at all. I get the complaints about pricing, but I think the ones about how Valve has calmed down on all the tactics that made people feel mindlessly compelled to purchase product are misguided.
That's really not a bad thing at all. I get the complaints about pricing, but I think the ones about how Valve has calmed down on all the tactics that made people feel mindlessly compelled to purchase product are misguided.
Neverforget
Member
Since they introduced the static sales and hired the economists,steam sales have been terrible.
We can find better deals on other websites.
We can find better deals on other websites.
Gamesadict
Member
It doesn't bother me anymore. Looking back, there are some games that I impulse bought in many of those old sales with dailies and such, and that I only touched once and uninstalled, leaving me with a feeling of wasted money. Now that I know that the discount will remain the same through the whole sale I can weigh better what to buy and not feel any buyer's remorse later on.
Maybe I would have agreed in another sale last year and under different conditions, but just now I found several games on my wishlist, including AAA ones, that I may finally buy on this sale.
It's not as exciting, yeah, but it lets me plan my purchases much better. I do miss the meta games/events they used to do, but I think I would find them to be kind of a chore now. As I said, the way it has changed doesn't bother me now.
And regarding prices being better in console sales now... maybe in the States, not at all for my country. Steam added local currency pricing a couple of years ago, and most publishers have set extremely fair prices for their games (props to Ubisoft there, they are the best on that). Physical console prices are rarely (if ever) good, and even digital prices on both XBL and PSN have some kind of tax when you compare them to the digital prices in the US (Local PSN store uses US dollars, games cost 25% more anyway for some reason). When priced locally (XBL, physical stores), console games mostly base their prices on current exchange rate, while Steam's use a Valve recommended rate similar to one from 3 years ago (pre-oil price fall), meaning overall Steam games are on average 33% cheaper, always.
Let's not forget those users that are late comers to Steam and have a lot to look forward to, on all cases.
Maybe I would have agreed in another sale last year and under different conditions, but just now I found several games on my wishlist, including AAA ones, that I may finally buy on this sale.
It's not as exciting, yeah, but it lets me plan my purchases much better. I do miss the meta games/events they used to do, but I think I would find them to be kind of a chore now. As I said, the way it has changed doesn't bother me now.
And regarding prices being better in console sales now... maybe in the States, not at all for my country. Steam added local currency pricing a couple of years ago, and most publishers have set extremely fair prices for their games (props to Ubisoft there, they are the best on that). Physical console prices are rarely (if ever) good, and even digital prices on both XBL and PSN have some kind of tax when you compare them to the digital prices in the US (Local PSN store uses US dollars, games cost 25% more anyway for some reason). When priced locally (XBL, physical stores), console games mostly base their prices on current exchange rate, while Steam's use a Valve recommended rate similar to one from 3 years ago (pre-oil price fall), meaning overall Steam games are on average 33% cheaper, always.
Let's not forget those users that are late comers to Steam and have a lot to look forward to, on all cases.
XOMTOR
Member
Yet those things don't stop people from checking their Facebook feed 85 times a day. The Steam app made checking in 3 times a day a non-issue.
Lol, you only check Facebook once a year when people congratulate you for your birthday and you are obligated to say thanks.
SmoothRunningGun
Member
It's not that bad. I still see I few games that I might pick up.
Refunds solve this problem in a better way for consumers than eliminating good deals does.
Though I'm surprised that anyone would feel "compelled" to buy something just because it was in a flash/daily deal.
Start using the wishlist feature.
Then your planning was already done months in advance of the sales.
Random Human
They were trying to grab your prize. They work for the mercenary. The masked man.
.
SoulUnison
Banned
8 out of the 9 games on my wishlist are on sale but not a single one is a high enough discount for me to jump on it.
That's a problem.
It's my *wishlist* and I'm completely "meh" about it.
That's a problem.
It's my *wishlist* and I'm completely "meh" about it.
Agent_ShortBus
Member
Yep sounds about right. I haven't bought a game from a steam sale in about a year and a half. Mostly because the crazy deals are gone and now I'm more picky that I have almost 500 games. Before I went by a $5 rule. If it was $5 and I even remotely liked the games profile pic is buy it, now I don't even do that.
Dog Problems
Banned
I really miss when the sales felt like events. Games getting updated with specific achievements and playing to unlock them. It got me to check out games I might not have played to begin with.
Head.spawn
Junior Member
OP accurate as hell.
The sales aren't far off from whay you get on console sometimes and if you sub to XBL/PSN, sometimes you'll get them even lower or with rebates and they have them more often to boot.
I usually just use this time to load up on Rocksmith DLC for the most part these days.
The sales aren't far off from whay you get on console sometimes and if you sub to XBL/PSN, sometimes you'll get them even lower or with rebates and they have them more often to boot.
I usually just use this time to load up on Rocksmith DLC for the most part these days.
Saucycarpdog
Member
Nah. Steam sales are still beating PSN and XBL sales by a long shot. Lower prices plus A LOT more games on sale.
Steam sales are better but console people won't believe you when you say that.
I find it fascinating how games I wishlisted during my first Steam sale at the end of 2011 still have never hit the same price since then. I also wish I bit the bullet and splurged on all of those publisher sets Steam used to offer for ~$40-$100 because those were incredible deals.
Ballistic Peanut
Neo Member
Eh, it's not too bad. Defiantly not as many deep discounts, but still plenty of games with 50-60% discounts.
Personally I have plenty of games sitting in my backlog, so I only picked up some really cheap games like Song of the Deep (75% off) and some cheap RPG maker games.
Personally I have plenty of games sitting in my backlog, so I only picked up some really cheap games like Song of the Deep (75% off) and some cheap RPG maker games.
Coreda
Member
There wasn't any risk/chance aspect to the sale rewards that I recall, was more akin to some amusement park/arcade.
J
JeremyEtcetera
Unconfirmed Member
I'd like to learn more about these websites. I only know about green man and humble bundle. What else is there?
The super secret new new model will fail because it is now attached to Nintendo, who has one of the worst and most complained about online infrastructures in the industry.
A part of me does want to see a steam plus service though, as an optional service of course.
Pinko Marx
Banned
Lol there's something super ironic about complaining over a lack of fun during a video game sale.
There is truth to devs and publishers getting wiser to how they now more slowly mark down their games, and enough times it's because they don't want to devalue them. I'm pretty on board with that too, because the mobile market has already done devalued most games down to different free to play models.
I just don't really care about the loss of the event. Having to keep track of daily and flash sales might have some fun to it, but I'm fine sacrificing it knowing the prices are persistent across the whole sale, and I don't miss out on anything.
Also, Valve being ok with Steam keys getting distributed outside the store has allowed third party stores to out do them for years anyway, and more games are on sale more often than when Steam was just the only big place.
I just don't really care about the loss of the event. Having to keep track of daily and flash sales might have some fun to it, but I'm fine sacrificing it knowing the prices are persistent across the whole sale, and I don't miss out on anything.
Also, Valve being ok with Steam keys getting distributed outside the store has allowed third party stores to out do them for years anyway, and more games are on sale more often than when Steam was just the only big place.
Yup, on point.
Steam was always a pain for me in the "golden age." Now when a sale goes live I can happily check it today, tomorrow or the next day and not miss anything.
It also feels less manipulative.
Didn't they announce that their sales do better every year. So despite all this complaining, this method is working better for them. I could be wrong on this, but I feel like someone always pulls out the info in this type of thread.
Ballistic Peanut
Neo Member
isthereanydeal.com keeps track of the majority of 3rd party sellers.
I use it, but I still only ever buy from GMG, Humble, Steam, GOG, and Bundle Stars mostly because I don't want to make another account for these 3rd party sites, just to get a slightly better deal.
Sgt.Pepper
Banned
Many sites do sales all year round. No point in hyping steam sales when you get better deals elsewhere.
Robert at Zeboyd Games
Banned
When you basically haven't bought any PC games in the past two years due to being busy making a game (and broke) and now your game is out and in its first Steam seasonal sale, things get a lot more fun. I have nearly a hundred games in my wishlist and almost everything is on sale and it's fun picking through them to decide what (if anything) to buy.
As far as the discounts go, unless you know that a high discount will get you attention, it makes more sense to do a decent discount for the seasonal sales because EVERYTHING is on sale so it's harder to get noticed. Save your high discounts for when you're more likely to get noticed (ideally, a featured daily/weekly deal). Like with us, we only discounted our game by 20% but it's also a game that's only been out for 2 months and 20% off is tied for the highest discount to-date so there's no need to discount it more steeply now. And based on what I'm seeing for today's revenue, I think 20% was the right call.
As far as the discounts go, unless you know that a high discount will get you attention, it makes more sense to do a decent discount for the seasonal sales because EVERYTHING is on sale so it's harder to get noticed. Save your high discounts for when you're more likely to get noticed (ideally, a featured daily/weekly deal). Like with us, we only discounted our game by 20% but it's also a game that's only been out for 2 months and 20% off is tied for the highest discount to-date so there's no need to discount it more steeply now. And based on what I'm seeing for today's revenue, I think 20% was the right call.
Bronetta
Ask me about the moon landing or the temperature at which jet fuel burns. You may be surprised at what you learn.
It must suck to live such a busy life where you cant even spare a minute or two to check sales every 8 hours.
Didn't that game just come out?
Yeah 3 months ago. I'm pretty sure it never was the norm to get games recently released 50% or more in discounts.
Sorcerer Supreme
Member
keep telling yourself that and it might come true some day.
This is the negative of no daily sales.
Those sales gave developers, especially indie developers, an incentive to allow for deeper cuts in exchange for the visibility of being part of a daily deal.
With those gone, the game will get lost and your audience are those that are already interested in the game. Better save the steeper discount for a daily/weekly sale.
Realising that it was impulse buy that got me so excited back then... Ah well, I enjoyed it.
To be honest, I don't think things are as bad. As people have mentioned, not having to check every so and so hour, made it easier for those who can't do that. The same applies to those minigames, though I greatly enjoyed them during my uni years... Oh the amount of unfinished projects, how did I pass...?
The current Steam Sales style is easier on the wallet as well, without impulse buy dailies and having to buy games to take part in those mini games, so I personally see it as a positive.
To be honest, I don't think things are as bad. As people have mentioned, not having to check every so and so hour, made it easier for those who can't do that. The same applies to those minigames, though I greatly enjoyed them during my uni years... Oh the amount of unfinished projects, how did I pass...?
The current Steam Sales style is easier on the wallet as well, without impulse buy dailies and having to buy games to take part in those mini games, so I personally see it as a positive.
ramoisdead
Member
Just like their game development, Valve is on cruise control when it comes to making their Steam Sales events fun and mean something special. Nowadays, you can go to third party sites and buy Steam keys for a lot less than on the Steam store. Also...
lawls you actually believe that? Refunds were introduced just around the time so they stopped the daily and flash deals. Valve just used what you said as a fluff piece.
lawls you actually believe that? Refunds were introduced just around the time so they stopped the daily and flash deals. Valve just used what you said as a fluff piece.
Jest Chillin
Member
I'm one of your purchases today. And I'll tell you why. For me, when CSH came out, I was tight on cash. Finally had a bit to spend last week and put it in my Steam Wallet. Now, I had no problem buying CSH at full price and I wanted to. But I was left with the conundrum. Buy at full price (totally worth it) and have less for the sale coming soon.. or wait for the sale and possibly have my money stretch a bit more.
And I see that as a bit of the downside to the Steam seasonal sales. They could totally mess with a Devs sales numbers as well as RoI depending on how close they lie to an upcoming sale. Seems rough.