Steam isn't what they say it is.

[ANUPLUCIFERGAMER]

Today almost every AAA game has either Steam,Origin, or Uplay.

I haven't seen a AAA game in the last 2 years that wasn't using one of those services.

 

That's correct. But what about other games? 

[CjlabanG]

Are these retail disks of yours brand new? If not, then that's why.

[JEKapoor]

To everybody saying that you're fucked when you lose the disc, you are not right. If it's an orginal copy it will add to his Uplay/Steam/Origin library and he can redownload it later. I know since I bought 4 physical copies of AC games for a ridiculously low price on a game convention and all were added to my Uplay library. Same goes for BF3 and BF4 on Origin, and I also have a few games on Steam this way.

Thanks man, I love you. (not really).

[CaptainRagu]

http://www.ebgames.ca/browse?nav=16k-watch+dogs

http://www.walmart.ca/search/watch%20dogs

http://www.bestbuy.ca/Search/SearchResults.aspx?path=ca77b9b4beca91fe414314b86bb581f8en20&query=watch+dogs

http://www.futureshop.ca/Search/SearchResults.aspx?type=product&page=1&sortBy=relevance&sortDir=desc&query=watch+dogs

http://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=watch%20dogs

 

Seeing a disc go on sale is a limited thing in time and space. It will be on sale on steam for the whole world at many points too. If I wanted to buy watch dogs right now its still cheapest on steam.

 

That being said I have a 360 and ps3 and would much rather buy a 2nd hand disc for one of them to avoid giving ubisoft any of my money.

[Tygron]

I saw Watch Dogs on Steam for $60, and a retail disc for $30. So really what is the incentive to buy games from steam?

Used at Gamestop? Cute. If new, then that's called "HOW RETAIL WORKS"

[ACatWithThumbs]

That's correct. But what about other games? 

Most small games aren't sold in stores anymore simply because it's cheaper for them to go full digital.

And most people aren't driving to a store for a $10 game.

[Michael McAllister]

Steam is great.  The store constantly features sales.  If you feel a certain game is overpriced, waiting a short while can yield amazing results.

[Trik'Stari]

I saw Watch Dogs on Steam for $60, and a retail disc for $30. So really what is the incentive to buy games from steam?

Watch dogs isn't worth it even if it's free. So meh

[Sauron]

I saw Watch Dogs on Steam for $60, and a retail disc for $30. So really what is the incentive to buy games from steam?

 

It's not like steam can be on top of every single price on the market. Every shop has its own sales and discounts, sometimes it's cheaper than steam and sometimes it's the opposite. On steam you can get aaa games for as low as 2 bucks, impossible with a physical copy because of the sheer cost of the disc and shelf space. If you see a discounted physical copy that's cheaper than steam, then by all means get that, but usually it's the opposite. And as others pointed out, a digital copy has its advantages (although a physical one has some too).

[Victorious Secret]

Steam also has some of the worst CS known to mankind, simply because they go unchallenged and have no reason to improve. But people still wank it like Steam does no wrong, ever. 

 

Steam itself is DRM, and they can claim they have a solution in case their servers or company ever goes away, but thats bullshit. Why not just sell DRM free in the first place? 

[TetraSky]

Wait, you can still get PC games on a disk? Why would you ever want that?

[Commander Llama]

I don't remember the part where it was proclaimed Steam is the Walmart of PC game prices.

 

Steam Sales are pretty excellent, don't get me wrong.  But a lot of the midweek sales, flash sales, etc, are right up in line with normal price drops for games at retail stores.  Also, there's always retail "firesales" and "doorcrashers" and such, which are often local and nothing to really compete with because they're unpredictable.  As always, in everything, keep your eyes peeled.

 

Plus all them other features.  I will say Steam CS does have a lot of horror stories, though the worst turds do usually float to the top.

 

For me, I like all my games in one place.  I used to have a bookshelf full of PC game boxes.  I threw them all out.  Steam is (the bulk of) my shelf now.  It's a hub, I have a large friends list, community, sales, etc.

[Torg73]

I saw Watch Dogs on Steam for $60, and a retail disc for $30. So really what is the incentive to buy games from steam?

Just to burst the Gaben bubble about steam, Watch Dog's is a Ubisoft game so you will be using Uplay anyway.  There is other places to look at for cheap games not just Steam like Green man gaming, GoG, Amazon and game manufactures websites like uplay and EA so don't need to wait for the over rated Steam sales to get cheap PC games.

[jmaster299]

I saw Watch Dogs on Steam for $60, and a retail disc for $30. So really what is the incentive to buy games from steam?

STEAM is a retailer, just because the retailer selling the disc discounted the price does not mean STEAM is bad for not doing the same. You also have to remember that there are two different companies that control the price of a game on STEAM, the original publisher and Valve. A physical retail store has more control over their pricing than STEAM does. They have to be allowed to have greater control because they have to worry about things like inventory and shelf space. If a product is not selling, it's literally costing the physical retailer money when they can't put a better selling item in it's place.

A digital retailer doesn't have to worry about that. Even an online physical retailer doesn't have to worry about that. That's why there are loopholes in things like price matching for places like Walmart. Walmart will price match to other physical and online retailers, but not to their own physical stores or website. They do that to prevent competition with in their own company because they need to allow their store managers to have the discretion to determine their own inventory. With STEAM there is no inventory, so a game not selling well does not cost them any money. STEAM also relies on targeted sales, like weekly deals or the big, Summer and Winter sales. It would be up to the developer, Ubisoft, to lower the price of the game they are selling via STEAM at other times, not Valve.

Those developers also have control of the prices during STEAM sales. That's why the CoD series never gets the big 80% discount that other games do, because EA knows they don't need to discount the CoD games that much to still sell millions of copies.

[Murdoch]

I saw Watch Dogs on Steam for $60, and a retail disc for $30. So really what is the incentive to buy games from steam?

 

You've pretty much missed the point.

 

Ubisoft don't want you to buy their new games from Steam as they have a competing platform, which is called uPlay. Valve aren't setting those prices themselves they are being set by Ubisoft.

 

So nope there is almost no incentive to buy a new Ubisoft game from steam, you will be paying full retail price and you'll get double DRM thrown in for good measure. It's testament to Steam's market dominance that they are even on there at all, not having your games on steams equates to lost sales so they have no option. Notice that you won't see any Valve games on uPlay or Origin, they don't need to.

 

Publishers (or independents) are happy to discount games for the steam sales, as it has been proven to be a lucrative revenue stream for old games for which sales have all but dried up. just having your game on the front page of steam is a huge boost in sales. Watchdog sales haven't dried up yet, so that's why you aren't seeing it being discounted yet.

 

As for the retail disk. I expect at $30 it's from a reseller which is selling grey imports. If you want to know more about that, look at G2A's business model.

[Guest]

I saw Watch Dogs on Steam for $60, and a retail disc for $30. So really what is the incentive to buy games from steam?

I got Bioshock Infinite and skyrim for $7.99 so.....yeah. There's that. 

#praisebetogaben

[T6kke]

I'm a bit late and jmaster299 already mentioned it as well.

 

Prices on Steam are set bu the Publisher. Steam has no control over the price of the games, they just take 30% cut. If you want to blame someone then go blame Ubisoft.

[rentaspoon]

I saw Watch Dogs on Steam for $60, and a retail disc for $30. So really what is the incentive to buy games from steam?

I brought Lego marvels for £4 on steam (currently £15) and went into a shop yesterday and is was £40.

The local games shop is overpriced, if I order anything online I'm never there for the postie so I can only pick it up on Saturdays

I put my old supcom CD key into steam and got that and forged alliance for free and dad put in my forged alliance key in and got supcom for free, then gave the discs to my brother in law and 3-way lan match