Steam's game sale plans

[Phynaz]

Let devs create their own Steam sales.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/...o-allow-developers-to-create-their-own-sales/

 

[JumBie]

I don't know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I realize they agree to put things on sale or not, but can't help think Steam momentum pushes them to agree to the low prices. I can't see this change being a very good turn.

 

[cmdrdredd]

In a way I can see this helping some developers. They may have a new map pack or big DLC availability and they can discount the base game in hopes to get more buyers.

I don't see anything to indicate that the traditional steam sales won't happen.

 

[Wardawg1001]

I'm not sure how this could be a bad thing. Steam, while still enjoying a pretty large market share due to name recognition and an established user base, has been getting a lot of pressure the last couple of years from other digital distributors (Amazon and GOG come to mind, but there are others too) who are matching and frequently beating the Steam sale prices lately. Steam has a reputation for great sales and they know it, and I really don't see them trying to change that now right as they are starting to get some serious competition. It wouldn't make any sense.

 

[clok1966]

I realize they agree to put things on sale or not, but can't help think Steam momentum pushes them to agree to the low prices. I can't see this change being a very good turn.

You did read this part on the bottom line (the one that matters) "Instead, what we saw was our gross revenue increased by a factor of 40. Not 40 percent, but a factor of 40. Which is completely not predicted by our previous experience with silent price variation."

Pretty simple, sales make BIG money. Now one could argue you wont buy the game at full price later, if you buy it for small price on sale, but most games on sale have been out long enough, the dangers of losing full price sales have receded to very low levels.
So for the dev, it should mean more money. No downside.

For steam users it should mean more sales, better prices, and for STEAM users like me, more games in my library I wont play, but couldn't pass up a great deal on. No downside.

For everybody, Dev and Steam user, more STEAM use, more game sales, more pressure on the wanna be competition to match or beat them. EA might be hurt by this.. again NO DOWNSIDE!!!!!

or am i wrong (happens far to much I will admit) ?

 

[Wardawg1001]

You did read this part on the bottom line (the one that matters) "Instead, what we saw was our gross revenue increased by a factor of 40. Not 40 percent, but a factor of 40. Which is completely not predicted by our previous experience with silent price variation."

Pretty simple, sales make BIG money. Now one could argue you wont buy the game at full price later, if you buy it for small price on sale, but most games on sale have been out long enough, the dangers of losing full price sales have receded to very low levels.
So for the dev, it should mean more money. No downside.

For steam users it should mean more sales, better prices, and for STEAM users like me, more games in my library I wont play, but couldn't pass up a great deal on. No downside.

For everybody, Dev and Steam user, more STEAM use, more game sales, more pressure on the wanna be competition to match or beat them. EA might be hurt by this.. again NO DOWNSIDE!!!!!

or am i wrong (happens far to much I will admit) ?

The concern is that if devs can decide exactly when to put their stuff on sale and how much to discount it, they will all start opting out of the big Steam sales with the huge discounts, and instead start doing their own sales individually at much lower discounts. I admit that this indeed would be bad for consumers. Fortunately, I also think it would be bad for the devs that do this, and I think most of them know that, and so I'm not really concerned.

Additionally, like I mentioned above, Valve is undoubtedly extremely aware of the fact that there are several other large digital distributors that have been gaining ground on them over the past few years. Most of them have massive sales AT THE SAME TIME as Steam's big sales events, and are becoming increasingly more price competitive with Steam. There is no doubt in my mind that Valve is aware that their continued dominance of the digital distribution market is heavily reliant on continuing to exceed or at least keep pace with these other distributors prices, and would not do anything to jeopardize that. So, either Valve does not think that these developer run sales will cause anyone to try to opt out of the big Steam sales, or they have some other plan in place to continue to motivate developers to participate in these sales with big discounts.

In short, I trust that Valve is smart enough not to shoot itself in the foot, and that they have done the necessary research/planning to ensure that this new system will not interfere with their traditional Steam sales. There is nothing to worry about.