Why is Steam so expensive?

[Born2bwire]

It's probably because you are in the UK. The pricing depends on the region you live in. I recall that being in Hong Kong I had to pay something like $30 more for Mass Effect 2 than Americans because they never dropped the retail price from launch.

 

[Monster_Munch]

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).

Standard RRP for new PC Games in the UK seems to be £29.99 on both Amazon and Steam right now.

I have noticed that Steam increases prices for the really big sellers like Skyrim and COD4 though.

If you want the cheapest boxed copy I use www.find-game.co.uk which compares all the top online retailers for prices. Often they will compete with each other on the lowest price for highly anticipated titles.

 

[JimmiG]

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!

Yes, it is some kind of special deal, but still. It's £35.95 on D2D which works out to $55, still $11 cheaper than getting it on Steam or buying a boxed copy.
Once you've bought a few games on Steam, you're kind of stuck with it. Using more than one service defeats the purpose of using such a service (all your games in one place).

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

I would prefer if games on Steam were priced more evenly, rather than some games selling for $5 and others for $70. I don't want to wait for 3 months to play a game, or find out that the game I bought last month now sells for half the price. I don't want to base my purchasing decisions on which games are on sale.

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.

Obviously, they know that people are willing to pay for a game like Skyrim. I think what I'm going to do on 11-11-11 is go to my local games store, and if they're out of the game or the lines are too long, then I'll buy and download it from Steam instead. It sucks that you're paying the same price and you don't get a printed map or manual though.

It's probably because you are in the UK. The pricing depends on the region you live in. I recall that being in Hong Kong I had to pay something like $30 more for Mass Effect 2 than Americans because they never dropped the retail price from launch.

I'm actually in Sweden, but ordering from other EU countries is not a problem. Shipping costs about the same as from Swedish online stores, it only takes an extra 2-3 days for the game to get here. Normally, the wait would be worth it to save a few bucks, but with a game like Skyrim, I want to play it on day one (which Steam are obviously well aware of...).

 

[Texashiker]

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

Only is the game is a Steamworks game.

Somewhere on the steam site is a list of games that you can activate on steam.

example:

Fallout 3 - is not a steamworks game. You can not buy the game at wal-mart and activate it on steam.

Fallout New Vegas - is a steamworks game.

 

[KaOTiK]

Publisher/devs determine the price of their games and whether to put it on sale or not.

Though Steam is priced comparably across the board with most places for at least US customers. Since a lot of pub/dev treat $1=1 euro the price over there is much higher due to that.

But first rule of Steam is, unless you most have the game right then, wait for a sale, thats how I buy 99% of my games.

 

[kevliken]

who uses steam to buy new games?

I'll buy dota2. No choice.

 

[KaOTiK]

I'll buy dota2. No choice.

I don't think you'll need to worry. It is probably going to be F2P

 

[Craig234]

The publisher of Spierweb Software who recently had his first game on Steam said that Steam suggested the price, and he agreed to it, because they will mean a lot of sales.

Seems to me it's a negotiation; Steam won't carry it if it's too high, and the publisher won't sell on Steam if it's too low.

 

[KaOTiK]

The publisher of Spierweb Software who recently had his first game on Steam said that Steam suggested the price, and he agreed to it, because they will mean a lot of sales.

Seems to me it's a negotiation; Steam won't carry it if it's too high, and the publisher won't sell on Steam if it's too low.

Steam will suggests the price cause they have tons of data to give them an idea of where the sweet spot for a games price should be. For a small/indie dev/or even publisher that doesn't have access to that kind of data, that is invaluable. But in the end, it is still just a suggestion.

Steam wants to sell as many copies as possible so that they can make more money, so they are going to do their best to get the game up for whatever their data says that type of games price range is.

 

[Jschmuck2]

try out intkeys for steam games.

That seems like a wonderful way to lose your money.

 

[Via]

I assume that developers/publishers have to agree to Valve's terms to get their products listed on Steam. That probably includes occasional deeply discounted sales.

It's like getting your product on the shelf at Walmart. Walmart has terms you have to agree to.

 

[Dumac]

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

 

[HybridSquirrel]

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

this

 

[Joemonkey]

That seems like a wonderful way to lose your money.

I won't lie, I was very skeptical of the service and even considered creating a new steam account specifically for purchases from that place, but the amount of support and good reviews they offer sold me. I got dead island for $25 from there and absolutely no issues.

 

[Schfifty Five]

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.

Reading comprehension fail.

He said "new games", not old games.

 

[Attic]

I like having the games autoupdated and never having to worry about a disc scratch or finding a keycode from a game manual is nice.

I'm sure valve is making a killing with steam, I wish they were making slightly less of a killing, but ultimately i'm happy to do business with them for the games I like that are availble through the service.