Why are games not getting price drops like they use to?

Shadowstar39

Shadowstar39

Gold Member

Why are games not getting price drops like they use to?


I am talking in both base price and sales. Yes it still happens, but it seems to me a much rarer thing than in the past. Especially on ps5.

I remember last gen and the gen when a game would come out and a year or two later it would be $19.99.
Others would get a GOTY or Complete edition and be a cheaper price.

Look at God of War it was $19.99 on ps4/5 and on sale now for $9.99 on psn.
If you look at it's sequel , Ragnorok, it still sells on psn for $69.99, a game that came out 3 years ago.
Returnal (close to launch game) released 2021, 4 years ago is still $69.99 on psn. ( a short game, a rougelite basically, it should of been $40 and 20 now).

These games would of been 19.99 after 2 years on ps4. If you want to adjust for inflation and price uptick at least make it $29.99 and then on sales make it $19.99 or $14.99

Due to this I haven't played Ragnorok. The only GOW game I have missed. I won't until I can get it cheap as I heard it has bad writing and woke themes.
Only reason I got the Last of Us 2 was it was $9.99 on sale on psn. I'll buy a game i am not entirely interested in if its on sale. My steam and switch account will vouche for that.

Steam and Switch have prices drops all the time (well for non first party). Every week i see price drops and deep discounts. PSN when they do drop the price its either temporary or not by much.

Then there is game pass and Xbox very rarely doing sales anymore.

What changed?

Has anyone else noticed this?

Is this the all Digital future you all signed up for?

There is a reason taking out the disk drive was a bad idea. Good for bean counters, bad for gamers and price conscious people. I buy a lot of games, even if I don't play them. I won't if they are expensive.
I only buy day 1 if its a series I love and know I will like. Games going on sale physically pushed down prices for everyone.

OR if its's at a reasonable price. Games like Expedition 33 and Oblivion remastered were insta buys due to the cheaper price tag.
More games at $50 would be ideal I'd take more euro jank AA rpgs and sci-fi fps games for a cheaper price.

I really hope that is the future, smaller teams, smaller budget, more passion, and less marketing for a lower entry point.
Expedition 33 is the example. If you make a $70 game it better be worth that and have the content. Baldur's Gate 3 is worth $70. Returnal and its insta death is not.
 
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To play devils advocate, digital sales are a lot more frequent now than they were a few years before.

Check xbdeals.net and psdeals.net to see whenever hundreds of games and/or DLC go on sale every other day.
 
I remember Playstation having control over PS store sales including 3rd parties, unlike Steam and eShop, so it could be that
 
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adamsapple said:
To play devils advocate, digital sales are a lot more frequent now than they were a few years before.

Check xbdeals.net and psdeals.net to see whenever hundreds of games and/or DLC go on sale every other day.
Click to expand...
"Winter sales" "Summer sales" "the third week of February sales" "days of the week where you play games sales"
 
Brick and mortar retail needs to move stock because shelves come with high costs of doing business. digital retail doesn't face the same pressure and let's them keep the prices higher.
 
The sales are definitely worse than they used to be. Nintendo started the trend of never dropping a first party title past $40 on sale, and keeping games at $60 years after launch. It worked so well that other people started copying the model. Now they make more money than ever, yet still feel the need to raise prices to $80 🤔

TLDR: People keep buying the games at high prices so the price increase is justified by the companies.
 
Gamestop, walmart, amazon, best buy, target, etc always have discounts around holidays and alot of them do summer deals and spring deals as well. You can get used games off gamestop for really good prices if you know what you're looking for.
 
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I think it was clear even 1 year into this gen in 2021 that Sony had transitioned to a different approach with limited sales, similar to Nintendo. Luckily for you, it means that you're seeing very little game devaluation which is something I know a lot of people are concerned about on here. Even if you buy a game after several years, you can still support the devs at full price. When physical gets phased out, then the game valuation on Playstation Store will be even stronger.

Xbox in contrast does have lots of deep sales and game devaluation. It's horrible stuff. Soon to have other stores too just devaluing stuff left and right.
 
Keeping your game at $69,99 looks more appealing when it goes on sale for $19,99 with 70% discount.

OP's example of reducing the full price to $29.99 and then going on sale for $19,99 is only a 30% discount.

70% discount is more generous and appealing than a 30% discount, even if the end price is the same.
 
Yeah those days of quickly grabbing a few games for 20 bucks a piece a month or 2 after launch seems to be gone. I bought a lot of PS3 games because of this. I would find games I skipped, like Dead Space 3 or Rage, for like 15/20 bucks new and take them home.
 
There aren't nearly as many physical copies this gen.

Last gen the PS4 discs were a dime a dozen. You could get games for 5 bucks each, used on amazon.

Now there are no good used game deals. PS5 discs are rare and expensive. Better off surfing for deals on the Playstation store. Physical is already dead. Sales are better on PSN than last gen, frankly, so I'm not sure where this perception comes from, digital on PSN is as good as ever. Especially niche games. The spike chunsoft sale the other day was epic. I got 8 or 9 games that I had been watching for years go for 40-60 bucks each for a couple dollars each. Nobody even knew and I can't spread that shit around or I look like a shill, but yeah, the sales are epic.

Deal hunters like us are the first people who noticed. Used game on amazon use to be a steal. Now they are 5 bucks cheaper on a 60 dollar game and not worth considering. I never buy used games anymore because they are a bad deal now. Ebay is a fuckin mess with limited selection and any physical seller is like 5 bucks cheaper than new with a "I know what I got" mentality. I can get better deals on new Nintendo games than used PS5 games BUT PSN generally has better selection and thus better deals overall than the eshop. One thing to note is that Sony seems(to me) to have select games available for their sub service that they rarely discount in order to maintain the value of that sub. These games are in their own bucket and you rarely see them on sale for cheap.
Bruce Willis Party GIF by IFC
 
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It's vendor lock in.

Sony know they have us locked in and that they don't lose too much sales, so, like Nintendo, they keep the prices high for long periods.

Physical used to make it easier to find used games for much cheaper no to long after launch.

The only way put at the moment are steam keys resellers sites, they have single handedly made me almost 100% steam player (at least for purchase). Playing on the ps5 is too expensive, even Sony's games can be had for significantly cheaper on PC... Plus, in Canada that lets you save 15% sales taxes.
 
adamsapple said:
To play devils advocate, digital sales are a lot more frequent now than they were a few years before.

Check xbdeals.net and psdeals.net to see whenever hundreds of games and/or DLC go on sale every other day.
Click to expand...
They are for current gen. First couple years of any console are the worse due to less options. Nintendo is really the only company gatekeeping their pricing for first party. Other than them, for higher profile games they generally are going to keep their price structure as long as they are selling. That's why games such as BG3/Elden Ring haven't moved much. Eventually you will see them at $20 on sale but that may still be some time. At least with digital, you will have an option to buy it at that time. Where as in the old days with physical only once the game wasnt on the shelves it was resale market or bust.
 
Price drops when sales are
If game continue to sell well at full price with occasional sales - price will be kept up. If not - it will go down

It's especially obvious during sales when Astrobot could have 15% discount and Indiana 30% discount reflecting their actual selling potential
 
Gamer_By_Proxy said:
Shop smarter? Ha! I check gg.deals links before buying pretty much anything now. Sometimes the platforms stores is the lowest price.
Click to expand...

YMMV for the third party ones, Wasnt there a dude here who had his PlayStation account closed with hundreds of games because he used grey market keys? It was a pretty active thread recently.
 
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A number of things I think

  • The rise of mtx/f2p and higher cost of development. $20 for a skin or $20 for an entire game? The audience has mostly gone to the former in their select juggernaut games and so to make up for it in games that don't have them the smaller audience have to cover the high cost of development.
  • Rise of subscriptions. The fact that Redfall on xbox was $70 for more than a year (now $40) has no reason other than to boost those "yearly saved with a sub" stats and to push you to them. That sort of game would have been in the $10 bargain bin in the past.
  • Death of physical. Physical still has the best discounts mostly due to second hand sales but it is being forced out by some publishers and especially on xbox. There is little reason to reduce digital prices when not competing with highly discounted second hand sales that no longer exist.
 
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Publishers now favor temporary 'sales' vs permanent price drops.

I'm guessing if you looked as the numbers, sales will always spike during a "sale", regardless of length or frequency. Whereas a price slash will generate a sales spike upfront but then just a slow flatline (until another drop)
 
Guilty_AI said:
I remember Playstation having control over PS store sales including 3rd parties, unlike Steam and eShop, so it could be that
Click to expand...
The issue is not really Playstation though, it happens all official stores. Steam sales are nowhere near what they used to be in the past and Playstation third party sales are a very close match with the equivalent Steam ones more often than not. The only stores that break the mold are key sellers like CDkeys.
 
Skifi28 said:
The issue is not really Playstation though, it happens all official stores. Steam sales are nowhere near what they used to be in the past and Playstation third party sales are a very close match with the equivalent Steam ones more often than not. The only stores that break the mold are key sellers like CDkeys.
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I can agree with that, mostly. The biggest change I've really seen is Sony 1st party definitely adjusted their strategy this gen.
 
Guardian Monkey said:
YMMV for the third party ones, Wasnt there a dude here who had his PlayStation account closed with hundreds of games because he used grey market keys? It was a pretty active thread recently.
Click to expand...
You can feel safe with CDKeys for sure

Also as far as PC gaming, this thread really does not apply. Many many storefronts have sales everyday. Consoles do not have that.
 
Correspondingly my game purchasing and overall game spending is significantly lower than any point that I can remember after I acquired a big boy job. I don't impulse buy full price games or barely discounted games, therefore I buy way less games overall.
 
BennyBlanco said:
When (not if) physical goes away console gamers are fucked
Click to expand...

If anything, losing physical has had the opposite effect. There is always going to be more and more competition with digital as the library of available games grows and not fighting for shelve space. If something is too expensive for your perceived value. Just wait.
 
asdasdasdbb said:
That doesn't even happen. They might reduce the price further when on sale.
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It does, GoW 2018 is 20$ now
It's just slow as publishers keep base price high to profit on non-price sensitive impulse buyers and regulate overall sales via sales. And when impulse buying dries up, base price is slashed.
Digital storefronts give publishers a lot of accurate data to properly position their sale strategy for maximum effect
 
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Felessan said:
It does, GoW 2018 is 20$ now
It's just slow as publishers keep base price high to profit on non-price sensitive impulse buyers and regulate overall sales via sales. And when impulse buying dries up, base price is slashed.
Digital storefronts give publishers a lot of accurate data to properly position their sale strategy for maximum effect
Click to expand...
I think GoW 2018 got below $20 just on PS4. PS4 used to have Steam level sales all the time.
 
Punished Miku said:
I can agree with that, mostly. The biggest change I've really seen is Sony 1st party definitely adjusted their strategy this gen.
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No arguments there. They're not quite on Nintendo's level yet, but it's clear they've been watching their first party strategy closely and want some of that for themselves.
 
The Steam summer sale starts tomorrow, literally thousands (tens of thousands even) of games will be on sale.

PC is a whole different beast than consoles though. Steam sales from 2013-2018 used to be glorious, where you'd see AAA games like Skyrim getting -90% discounts within their first year of release. Turns out that was a byproduct of publishers not really recognizing or acknowledging the PC market, which they considered an afterthought to console sales. "You mean I can do almost no work, let people pay me $5 for a digital copy of my game they can't resell, and make a few extra million bucks this quarter?" was kind of the mindset publishers used to have regarding PC.

Nowadays, publishers recognize that PC is a huge part of their business - and as such, they factor these potential sales into the cost of making the games, as they are usually included in their pie chart of sales projections. These projections are usually drawn out for years, as PC can potentially have VERY long tails because there are no "hardware generations" like consoles, so a game like Skyrim can still be popular 15 years after its release.

The end result is that they are far more stingy with permanent price drops, and percentage discounts are closely guarded and highly calculated to maximize profits. Most AAA games, if they're otherwise successful, will only see a -10% or maybe -15% off sale in their first year now.

violence said:
The crazy steam sales went away because of the more generous refund policy forced on them by the EU.
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This is only partially true, but it gets spread around a lot online. When Steam implemented refunds, they had the forethought to change their internal policies so that publishers weren't allowed to offer a lower price on their games than they had in the previous 30 days. So if, for example, Skyrim goes on sale for $10, it cannot be discounted down to $5 until at least 30 days had passed. It could be marked down to $10 again in that time frame, but that would reset the clock on it going lower.

This was done to reduce the volume of refund requests that would come in from people who bought the game at $10 and wanted to rebuy it for $5. One of the unintended side effects of this was the loss of the old "Flash Sales" that used to take place during the big seasonal sales, where a selection of games used to get a steep discount for a short period of time. Losing these made the sales feel much more flat, as the reduced price on games now never changed for the two weeks during the summer sale, and there is little reason to return every day to check for better discounts.
 
violence said:
The crazy steam sales went away because of the more generous refund policy forced on them by the EU.
Click to expand...

I mean it must have been insane too back then the number of refunds that these sales generated, you could buy a game on Friday at 33% off, then ?, Sunday you could see 50% off. Just refund first item and buy again. Imagine the mess.
 
Talking about Playstation specifically, this is what happens when there is only 1 market the games are sold on and no competition. The prices don't drop because why would they?
 
Guardian Monkey said:
If anything, losing physical has had the opposite effect. There is always going to be more and more competition with digital as the library of available games grows and not fighting for shelve space. If something is too expensive for your perceived value. Just wait.
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You are gonna be 100% at Sony's mercy. There is no competing digital storefronts like there is on PC with key sites. If you think that will be a W for consumers idk what to tell you. For instance Returnal is $70 + tip on PSN right now.

www.playstation.com

Returnal - Exclusive PS5 Games | PlayStation

Buy Returnal on PS5 and fight to break the cycle of chaos on a hostile, alien planet. In this third-person roguelike shooter, every attempt at escape is a high stakes journey – with the odds stacked firmly against you.
www.playstation.com www.playstation.com

Or $25 for a Steam key

www.cdkeys.com

Returnal PC

Buy Returnal PC ✔️ CD Key ✔️ Instant download ✔️ Fantastic price ✔️ Digital Download ✔️
www.cdkeys.com www.cdkeys.com

Since 90% of console game sales are digital and Xbox is dead, it would benefit Sony greatly to control 100% of the market and only piss off 10% of their customers who will soon have nowhere else to turn. Xbox already stopped doing physical games too.
 
Because you wanted digital games despite many people warning this would happen with walled gardens.
As usual, this is 100% the fault of the absolute imbeciles generally referred in the business as "videogame audience".
 
PS5 first party games are definitely not getting the same price drops as PS4 ones last gen. Just another case of cocky Sony riding on their success. That's why it's even more important to have a console with a disc drive so you can at least count on buying & reselling used copies.
 
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BennyBlanco said:
You are gonna be 100% at Sony's mercy. There is no competing digital storefronts like there is on PC with key sites. If you think that will be a W for consumers idk what to tell you. For instance Returnal is $70 + tip on PSN right now.

www.playstation.com

Returnal - Exclusive PS5 Games | PlayStation

Buy Returnal on PS5 and fight to break the cycle of chaos on a hostile, alien planet. In this third-person roguelike shooter, every attempt at escape is a high stakes journey – with the odds stacked firmly against you.
www.playstation.com www.playstation.com

Or $25 for a Steam key

www.cdkeys.com

Returnal PC

Buy Returnal PC ✔️ CD Key ✔️ Instant download ✔️ Fantastic price ✔️ Digital Download ✔️
www.cdkeys.com www.cdkeys.com

Since 90% of console game sales are digital and Xbox is dead, it would benefit Sony greatly to control 100% of the market and only piss off 10% of their customers who will soon have nowhere else to turn. Xbox already stopped doing physical games too.
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Can't wait to move to PC :lollipop_airplane:
 
asdasdasdbb said:
I'd love to know how they got that key, if legitimately acquired. The lowest recorded price from Steam, even currency adjusted, is $20.40.
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Keys come from the publishers themselves, and in the case of CDKeys specifically these are usually keys sold to more impoverished countries at a large discount - which are then resold to people in more wealthy countries for a huge profit. Even currency adjusted prices on Steam itself don't matter, these might have been sold in bulk to some site who promised they'd only get sold in Ukraine or something.
 
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