Age of Digital Sales - What Games to Buy at Full Price?

There's this wierd thing happening with these crazy digital sales of our age. People often display frustration, or even dismay and anger with sales, because it makes them feel stupid. The sales prices are often stupid good. Most games of these very holiday's crop of blockbusters, such as AC4: Black Flag and BF4 have been 50% off already. Hell - it's still the same Holidays now, isn't it?

This kinda puts us consumers before new challenges. Managing what games we are going full hog on. Two examples. I got BF4 with Premium on PS3 and upgraded it to the PS4 version - a roughly 160$ expenditure, and even with all the woes the game has been plagued by, I do not regret it at all. So what if it's 50% off now? I've spent over 300 hours on this game already, I am enveloped by its Zeitgeist. I wanted to be there and I was. That's what I paid for.

I also got a copy of NfS Rivals with my PS4, less than a month ago. Mostly because I felt it's appropriate to buy multiple games for a console launch, something I normally don't do (outside of spur of the moment crazy digital sales purchases). That game too is currently 50% off. While I enjoyed my time with it, I never felt like I needed to be there. Somewhere deep inside, there's a little voice reprimanding me for my stupidity. It's easy to perceive a slight in such a thing. Some sales just rub me the wrong way.

With digital sales so prevalent, and prices being cut down so quickly, the only reason to buy games at full price is Zeitgeist. Do I want to be there when it's happening, or am I okay to play the game on my own time, so to speak. For example, the ending of Mass Effect 3 - in retrospect, it was awesome to be swept up in the controversy and idiocy of it. I paid full price and got front row seats to the dog and pony show. If I played the game now, for like 5 bucks from a sale, would it be the same? No.

I have to buy less full price games. Really think about if the Zeitgeist of the thing matters to me. For example the upcoming Dark Souls 2, which is out on PS3/360 first, and then on PC, and eventually PS4/Xbox One. Do I want to be enraptured by the raw Zeitgeist of the game's first emergence, even if it is on one of the two technically weakest platforms? Do I wait for the PC version in all its splendor? Do I wait for the PS4/Xbox One version, which will likely already be somewhat discounted? Or might I even wait for a proper sale on my platform of preference, whichever that might be?

Digital Sales. First World Problems. No reason for agitation. Being smart and responsible was never easier, or harder. Meanwhile, I drown in games. Feeling both more stupid and smarter than ever.

If you don't buy it day 1, why even buy it?

Unless the libeary doesn't have it, I don't see why you would buy at all, unless you somehow really want to own but don't want to pay 60 bucks, like your Suda game or Tales game.

But your question is really easy to answer: GTA and MGS are no brainers and CoD is too, if you like that. Funny enough, thost also don't drop very much in price the first year. Outside of that, it doesn't make sense to drop 60 bucks for anything really. Especially since most games including those from 2K, EA and Ubisoft drop insanely fast.

There's a certain friction between the price of a game and my eagerness to play it. Depending on if I feel like the time is now, the Zeitgeist of a game is now, or not - that's how I decide what games to pick up and play Day 1 or not.

For other games, I make time once the price is right. Honestly though, with how many sales there have been lately, I have a lot less time than games, and I have all the time in the world. The new age conundrum. Go figure.

Yeah, being part of the collective discovery, or to be there when probably the most people are playing it, is the main reason to pay full price for me these days. If it's a straight-forward single player experience that can easily be explored by myself, I have no problem waiting for a price drop. Especially since my backlog is growing for each steam sale that goes by.

That's funny since you just bought Warfighter and Crysis 3 - the pinnacles of EA's bland shittiness. Maybe you'd like RE6 to round it off.

Anyway, that was just kidding, and completely beside my point.

My point is, if you wait 1-2 months, your libeary is guaranteed to have it, so if you feel like wasting the time, why even pay for the turd? And you can get sort of the same zeitgeist from being the first in line and waiting for it to pop up.

Amazing how the newness factor and the zeitgeist make up at least half of a game's value in some cases. If I didn't buy Saints Row IV on day one, I would never have bought it later unless it was $15.

It's very weird how quickly our perception of value we put on games changes. Paying $50 (over $100 in today's money) for a mediocre NES title you could beat in a few hours seemed natural at one point, and nowadays I'm having trouble paying full price for games that take 30 hours to complete.

On the other hand, is playing a game on day 1 so important to you that you can't wait a couple months for it to go on sale on steam? Buy nothing full price, you'll have more games and a bigger pocket book.

Yeah - I just bought Crysis 3 for like a fiver in the January PSN sale. I'm pondering Warfighter at a similarly discounted price. Both offer like a one or two sessions lasting campaign, so the price in both worldly currency and my time might be just be about right. I guess that makes me a war criminal in your eyes. Sue me.

I don't quite get your meaning though, what library are you talking of? Games don't just show up for free in my library two months down the line? What?

i would say that if there is a game that you want to play multiplayer a lot then go from day (BF4, COD) if you are interested in the singleplayer just wait 2/3 days to see what people think of it

Other than being part of the launch wave of people playing the game, the other reason why I would buy a new game at full price is boredom. If my backlog doesn't have any games I feel like playing than I'll resort to playing something brand new.

Nah, can't do that. I'd miss out on too much to still call myself a games enthusiast, if I'd do that. You can't quite catch lightning in a bottle, and lightning strikes at a time and place. Some games are events, and I have to be there.

Like Dark Souls 2. I want to be there when it happens. I want to play on PC. Okay, what I really want is to play it on PS4. I can't have it all. Dark Souls 2 will never again be as exciting as during its launch window. So I have to weigh these things against each other.

Price isn't the only factor, and for the games I'm most enthused for, not really the deciding factor. More often than not, with all these sales, time becomes the deciding factor. Do I ever see me make time for this game? The more my backlog grows, the more friction and resistance I'm getting from that end. Even so, some deals are just too good to pass up on. For shame.

True enough. I've often bought a new game I didn't really need or want despite my backlog. The new shiny, I guess. Something I want to do less of.

Ain't you ever heard of a public libeary? C'mon man you must've been there at some point. But you're right, the time varies. Rayman, The Last of US and Battlefield 4 took around 2 months, while something like Diablo 3 took something like 4-5 months. But what the hell do I care, I am barely going to play that shit anyway, but hey, I might just like one of them. Turns out Last of Us was pretty good. So do you get my meaning, my dawg? Since the price is zero bucks, I might as well try them all and only pay 60 for the real big bangers.

Never heard of public libraries carrying videogames. Are you sure you aren't talking of Pirate Bay or something?

@seppli: A lot of libraries *are* beginning to stock video games!

If I want to play a game immediately then I'll pay whatever price, if I don't feel like I need it right that second then I'll keep an eye out for a sale

Well, if you are lucky enough to live in an area with such a thing (or Gamefly), that sure is a fiscally responsible way of getting your videogames on. Not that I have that luxury around my parts. Though it has been years since my last internet inquiry into if a Gamefly-like service exists here.

Whoa! The jaundiced eye sees all things yellow, I guess.

fandom, I used that excuse when I paid full price for Mass Effect 3 and Batman arkham origins(which was 10 bucks less). Still Gotham by gaslight skin file is like hitting me in my fanboy heart where it's the most weakest and softest part