Gog Says Steam Sales Devalue Game and Hurt the Industry - Games

[URL="http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/04/06/gog-talks-preserving-value-of-games-slow-death-of-drm/#more-102864"]Article at Rock Paper Shotgun[/URL] [Quote]The plan, then, is to stock newer games that never really got their chance to shine when they first came out. You know, the games you typically scarf buffet-table-cIassics during Steam sales. So then, why go toe-to-toe with Valve in one of its biggest, most minefield-and-barbed-wire-laden arenas? Well, GOG's gotten this far on a heart so gutsy it might actually be made of guts, and it's not quitting now. Even while sales numbers skyrocket for both Valve and the publishers who line Steam's catalog, GOG thinks they're out-and-out hurting the industry. "Heavy discounts are bad for gamers," Rambourg explained. "If a gamer buys a game he or she doesn't want just because it's on sale, they're being trained to make bad purchases, and they're also learning that games aren't valuable. We all know gamers who spend more every month on games than they want to, just because there were too many games that were discounted too deeply. That's not good for anyone." "We provide a lot of value in our games that goes beyond just the price. This is one of the key ways we fight against piracy, after all: providing gamers with more value than a pirate does. We actually generate more than half of our revenue from full-price sales, simply because we keep our prices reasonable in the first place. Our average sale tends to be around 40% – 50% off; that's plenty of incentive to pick up a game if you're interested or if you just think you might like to try it because you're not sure about the game, but not some crazy 75% or 85% discount that damages the long-term value of a game."[/Quote] Do you guys agree to his statement?

I don't really think so, because I usually make a list of games I want, and then I wait for them to get on sale. I don't buy games I don't want just because they are on sale. I suppose I see where they are going with this, but I don't think it's really a bad thing to have sales. If you have a sale, more people buy the game, and more people can enjoy the game, and the developers get more money.

I actually agree and disagree All those would defiantly hurt the final profit, especially since they do them so often, but they wouldn't nearly get as many sales as they do without the amount of sales they do.

I SOMEWHAT agree, whenever I go to other sites/retail shops I go "What, ONLY 50% off?" :v:

As they have Fallout 1 out for free at the moment.

"devalue games" "hurt the industry" I wasn't aware getting a company [b]much[/b] more money was hurting the industry. And apparently games lose value from purchases.

"Heavy discounts are bad for gamers," Rambourg explained. "If a gamer buys a game he or she doesn't want just because it's on sale, they're being trained to make bad purchases, and they're also learning that games aren't valuable." If these discounts hadn't been around, I would have never discovered all the fun games. So fuck this guy.

So, a company trying to break into digital distribution on a large scale and has taken shots at Valve before says Steam is bad? [i]You don't say.[/i]

I didn't realise the value of a game was based entirely on it's price point. I thought it was based on the experience it provided and the value the player felt it was worth. Silly me, monetary value is the only measure of success apparently.

that's a stupid statement, but for the record i'd much prefer if i could buy ALL my games via GOG.

Oh, this reminds me. Is there going to be a easter or spring sale anytime soon. I must lighten my purse.

i mean he's sort of right, since i HAVE bought a lot of games i don't really care for in steam sales, but at the same time, i've bought a lot of games that i've ended up loving in sales.

"Steam devalues games by putting them on sales darnit dagnabbit" Makes fallout free for the weekend.

I somewhat agree. Talking to other gamers (especially my roommate), I've been surprised by the mentality of some gamers due to Steam pricing structure: "I'll just wait until a Steam sale to pick it up." Steam sales are a good opportunity for me to buy older games that I was on the fence about purchasing at full price, but I never consciously put off buying a game because I'm hoping for it to later be on sale. As others have mentioned, I think Steam sales are fantastic because they revitalize interest in older games whose sales have trickled to a halt.

Let me get this straight. GOG thinks Steam putting heavy discounts on games is bad, but they have no problem selling games for 5-7 dollars in the first place?

You don't want so many sales? Stop pricing games at $100 making me only buy games that are ON sale. Fucking assholes leaving out their own asshole facts and prices

what is the value of something that is intended to for mass production?

I still buy games for £30 and even £65 (Guild Wars 2). If every game was at their original price, or even close to it, then I'd probably never buy them, and thus never experience how great they are. Steam sales are one of the best things to happen to the PC games industry imo, cheap games for gamers, loadsa money for the companies, everyone wins. Except other 3rd party retailers of course.

Says the guys who put fallout 1 on a 100% off sale.

[QUOTE=FalconKrunch;35468833]"Steam devalues games by putting them on sales darnit dagnabbit" Makes fallout free for the weekend.[/QUOTE] I haven't actually heard of GoG giving games away for free, but Steam has massive sales all the time.

Nnnno I don't think so. From a consumer perspective, it's a win because it's cheap and they can try out some interesting games without the risk being to high. Maybe the game is shit, but it was just 5-10 bucks, so what the heck. From Steam's perspective, it's a win because users buy stuff they normally would not have bought. Yes, it's not at full price, but even if you just make $5 profit out of it, that's better than the $0 the user would've paid you otherwise. The perspective of creatives is similar in regards to income I imagine, but the health older titles seem to especially benefit from Steam sales. Personally, if I can put my trust into a game and its devs and publisher, I'm still gonna preorder at full price (after checking who sells it at the lowest price of course, I'm not an idiot). But otherwise buying games poses a big financial risk to me. I don't trust trailers, almost no reviewers, demos aren't really done anymore and decent Let's Plays can take their sweet time. Steam sales lower that risk for me drastically, and I'm very thankful for that. If I then feel the game was worth so much more than I paid for it, I buy a second, physical copy when I can or make microtransactions or something. I mean, Steam Sales work. Wallet Rape works. People are buying games and spending more money than they would have otherwise. And Steam doesn't hoard all that money, a good chunk of it goes to the actual industry. A win for everyone but your wallet.

[QUOTE=JustGman;35468946]I haven't actually heard of GoG giving games away for free, but Steam has massive sales all the time.[/QUOTE] Every game I have on steam bought, either on sale or for full price. Every game I have from GoG was free. Who's devaluing games here?

[QUOTE=JustGman;35468946]I haven't actually heard of GoG giving games away for free, but Steam has massive sales all the time.[/QUOTE] well, aside from giving away fallout recently, they've also given away other games like broken sword, empire earth, and jagged alliance at different times in the past. plus, there's a few games on the service that are always free. (only decent one is beneath a steel sky, but still.)

Coming from the same company that is having Fallout for free

This whole "low prices hurt the industry" thing has always been horseshit put out by companies that notice that other companies are selling similar stuff for lower prices and are getting far more customers and want to make themselves feel better.

I don't believe they've heard how steam sales actually saved a company? See Introversion Soft

[QUOTE=legolover122;35468943]Says the guys who put fallout 1 on a 100% off sale.[/QUOTE] Is just for the weekend or do I keep it for life? Also I would like to mention that I like how GOG has a few free games. I would love to see Steam have a free games section (Not counting Free To Play).

[QUOTE=brickbox;35469173]Is just for the weekend or do I keep it for life?[/QUOTE] Keep it for life as far as I know.

I seriously sometimes pass out on games if they're not on steam. And those ridiculous sales? I wouldn't buy some games at all without the sales. Bulletstorm for example. I wasn't even remotely interested in that game, but now that it was on sale... Bought it.

And I just got an email from GOG about their latest sale... I usually only get games that are on steam, easier to play with friends, easier to track etc.