Why is Steam so expensive?

[JimmiG]

I mean, apart from the deals they run, it's pretty expensive.

For example, Skyrim is £27.89 at Amazon.co.uk which is $43. On Steam, it's €49.99 which is $66. So it costs $23 more, with no box, no printed map, no printed manual and no physical disc. It seems €49.99 is the standard price for new games on Steam, which is almost always more than what the boxed copy would cost. One would think digital downloads should be cheaper...

 

[Maximilian]

Yeah but it keeps your game up to date for you and you dont have to fanny about looking for a disk ever again.

Price sucks but they do great sales very frequently, patience is a virtue when it comes to steam.

 

[frozentundra123456]

I never buy from Amazon, but I may have to start checking it out. Steam has great sales on older titles, but not good prices on new releases. I believe Direct 2 Drive also has a policy of discounting new releases, at least the last time I checked. Havent been on their site for a while though--no new games that really interest me until Skyrym and ME3 come out.

 

[Rifter]

I only buy games on sale, saves me alot of money on games. I cant even count how many games i have got on sale for $2.50 or 5$. Even most new releases are down to $19.99 in 3-6 months.

 

[JTsyo]

Think the developers determine the Steam price other than Valve's own games.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

I noticed recently a lot of games I would expect to be sub 10 by now are still 10 (9.99)-20$ on steam.

 

[biostud]

High prices on new games so they can fund sales. I never buy new games on steam.

 

[HumblePie]

For most games you can buy them from a store like amazon and associate the key with steam later. Get all the benefits of steam without the silly prices they have.

 

[FuryofFive]

ummm steam is priced relatively the same compared to D2D,impulse and other Digital download services. I would go as far as to say that steam has more sales than the other services,because it has possibly more users. That however might be a stretch. I am also a steam "fanboy" or so i've been called

 

[Joemonkey]

try out intkeys for steam games.

 

[Texashiker]

Like anywhere else, steam prices are going to vary. You can say the same thing about the local grocery stores, one store might have pork chops for $1.50 a pound, another store has them for $1.75 a pound.

Shop around at sites like direct2drive, and save your money for the chirstmas - new years sales and the summer sale.

During the christmas - new years sale is when I buy most of my games and game packs.

Then there are the weekly and daily sales on steam.

When I bought left 4 dead, the local Best Buy had it on sale $10 less then the steam price. So I bought the game from Best Buy and registered it on steam.

 

[queequeg99]

High prices on new games so they can fund sales. I never buy new games on steam.

+1. Steam has singled handedly changed the way I evaluate game prices. In the past, I would occasionally drop $50 for a game. I haven't done that for a couple of years now because of the occasional Steam sales, especially the big ones around Christmas and July 4th. Yes, the killer prices are generally for some older titles but the value is amazing and the sales have skewed the way to assign value to the games I buy. The idea of paying $50 for a game (much less the $60 that some of the newest and biggest titles are asking for now) is just not going to fly anymore. And thanks to those sales, I have a ton of games to hold me over until these newer titles drop in price.

The last time I paid as much as $25 for a game was when I bought Portal 2 and DNF for $25 each during the July 4th sale. Great deal on Portal 2. I still haven't finished DNF and probably won't (haven't touched it in months). If BF3 drops below $40 while there are still a lot of decent servers, I'll probably get that. But for any game that is more single player oriented, I'll wait until it's under $30 (if not less). I figure I'll save on both time and aggravation (while all the cutting edge folks beta test the games).

 

[CPA]

because people will buy the game at that price...It's not difficult to understand.

 

[PowerYoga]

who uses steam to buy new games?

 

[Skott]

I too think its the Publishers and Developers that determine the pricing. Steam gets their cut like any B&M store would. Steam offers some pretty nice deals with their sales though that you won't see at B&M stores. I've learned not to buy games when they first come out. Considering how so many games are buggy at release anyway by the time I get them they already been patched a time or two or even three. I really don't miss buying games on release days anymore.

 

[Demo24]

That price on Amazon is probably temporary. That seems a bit too low for a game that isn't even out yet. I haven't seen anything here lower that price from $60, so if you can get it for 43 do it!

 

[Texashiker]

who uses steam to buy new games?

A lot of people do, steam has some great sales on an almost weekly basis.

Go find the Crysis Maximum Edition for $9.99, like what steam has it right now.

 

[Lonyo]

That price on Amazon is probably temporary. That seems a bit too low for a game that isn't even out yet. I haven't seen anything here lower that price from $60, so if you can get it for 43 do it!

UK boxed copy game prices from internet sites are pretty much the cheapest game prices in the west, aside from huge discout sales.
I have some pretty graphs that I don't have access to at the moment which show just how cheap UK boxed copy games can be relative to both US boxed copy, and US, UK and Euro Steam prices.

UK boxed copies (of relatively/very new games) can be had for something like 60% of the price of the same games on Steam (on average, for new games, while there are no major sales going on).

My (very early) pre-order of Diablo 3 was for ~£21 from Amazon (and then I get taxes taken off because I'm special) which is like $33 USD. Not a Steam game, but proves a point, if you shop around and shop sensibly, then in the UK you can pretty much ALWAYS get games for cheap. Amazon prices aren't sale prices, those are just the prices. For a game to be over £25 (~$39) new is quite rare (although getting more common these days), most games are at MOST £30 on Amazon/etc ($46~$47) without being on sale.
On Steam they are typically £30 MINIMUM.

 

[Demo24]

UK boxed copy game prices from internet sites are pretty much the cheapest game prices in the west, aside from huge discout sales.
I have some pretty graphs that I don't have access to at the moment which show just how cheap UK boxed copy games can be relative to both US boxed copy, and US, UK and Euro Steam prices.

UK boxed copies (of relatively/very new games) can be had for something like 60% of the price of the same games on Steam (on average, for new games, while there are no major sales going on).

My (very early) pre-order of Diablo 3 was for ~£21 from Amazon (and then I get taxes taken off because I'm special) which is like $33 USD. Not a Steam game, but proves a point, if you shop around and shop sensibly, then in the UK you can pretty much ALWAYS get games for cheap. Amazon prices aren't sale prices, those are just the prices. For a game to be over £25 (~$39) new is quite rare (although getting more common these days), most games are at MOST £30 on Amazon/etc ($46~$47) without being on sale.
On Steam they are typically £30 MINIMUM.

Oh, interesting I did not know that. Well, one more reason to move to the UK then.

 

[RebelCapitalist]

Like others, I've stopped buying games near release (unless it's basically a MP game and I really, really must play it--rare).

I just wait for those crazy sales and jump on em. I also buy from Amazon, GG, Impulse and Direct2Drive. Steam won't always be the lowest because all of these other places run deals too (sometimes just a few dollars, sometimes more).

 

[Maximilian]

UK boxed copy game prices from internet sites are pretty much the cheapest game prices in the west, aside from huge discout sales.
I have some pretty graphs that I don't have access to at the moment which show just how cheap UK boxed copy games can be relative to both US boxed copy, and US, UK and Euro Steam prices.

UK boxed copies (of relatively/very new games) can be had for something like 60% of the price of the same games on Steam (on average, for new games, while there are no major sales going on).

My (very early) pre-order of Diablo 3 was for ~£21 from Amazon (and then I get taxes taken off because I'm special) which is like $33 USD. Not a Steam game, but proves a point, if you shop around and shop sensibly, then in the UK you can pretty much ALWAYS get games for cheap. Amazon prices aren't sale prices, those are just the prices. For a game to be over £25 (~$39) new is quite rare (although getting more common these days), most games are at MOST £30 on Amazon/etc ($46~$47) without being on sale.
On Steam they are typically £30 MINIMUM.

Yeah, BF3 limited edition from amazon is £29 free delivery.

 

[queequeg99]

A lot of people do, steam has some great sales on an almost weekly basis.

Go find the Crysis Maximum Edition for $9.99, like what steam has it right now.

I think the point was that the games Steam has really good prices for are generally at least a couple of years old (like Crysis).

 

[paperfist]

because people will buy the game at that price...It's not difficult to understand.

So you're saying it's an accounting thing?

I agree with OP, the prices are high for what you get, but that's what the market bears. On a side note, you really don't get anything fancy in a boxed version anymore.

 

[lsv]

Can't you just add games to your Steam account? Buy from Amazon, input cd key to Steam, tada?

 

[CPA]

Oh, interesting I did not know that. Well, one more reason to move to the UK then.

Still doesn't offset the million reasons NOT to move to the UK.