A digital distribution service owned by Valve Corporation. Originally created to distribute Valve's own games, Steam has since become the de facto standard for digital distribution of PC games.
A pretty straight forward (and probably well answered) question. My gut instinct is that it refers to any game activations because I don't know too many people especially in the US who would spend $80 to get Civ 5 or $90 to get CoD Black Ops online.
Considering how much retailers whine about how Steam is ruining their business, I suspect most people who play games though Steam buy their games through Steam. Civilization V requires Steam. Why would people go to a store, purchase a retail copy, return home, and then go through the process of activating Civ V on Steam when they can just buy Civ V directly from Steam?
I think it's activations discounting whatever is complementary. But now, where did you get those prices? @LordAndrew said:
" Considering how much retailers whine about how Steam is ruining their business, I suspect most people who play games though Steam buy their games through Steam. Civilization V requires Steam. Why would people go to a store, purchase a retail copy, return home, and then go through the process of activating Civ V on Steam when they can just buy Civ V directly from Steam? "
Some people collect physical copies, other don't have the bandwith to download, some people might even not know what steam isor that those game use it...
@HaroldoNVU: Damn. Now that you mention it, I just realised that Steam is probably marking up the costs of those games because I'm from Australia. Kinda ironic that its cheaper to buy a physical copy of a disk along with printed manuals (via other countries) than to get a digital copy.
Good question. I'd bet it was activations as well. (edit: I mean they sell games at retail that require Steam to operate after all. Then again come to think of it retailers order a set number from the distributors. The distributors could be counting the number of games sold to retailers [but unsold to consumers and therefore not activated yet] and Steam counts those as "units sold" before a user ever gets his hands on them.)
And yes Steam adjusts their prices per region compared to other prices there. If you can find a buddy Stateside willing to buy games and gift them to your account, you could potentially save some scratch. There are also sites like cdkeysdirect who spawned out of the need for reasonable prices in the Australian games market for people who can come up with the game data themselves but don't want to think of themselves as pirates. I've used them one or twice when their prices were lower than the regular US prices, but only for games you could register the key to download.
@LordAndrew said:
" Why would people go to a store, purchase a retail copy, return home, and then go through the process of activating Civ V on Steam when they can just buy Civ V directly from Steam? "
Because they're collectors and/or fans of redundancy. I make sure to register all my EA games (bought digitally OR physically) to my EA account in case I ever lose the disc or access to my Steam account. Buying a Steam compatible game is the same principal except you have something to display on your shelf and sometimes bonuses like maps or posters.
" @HaroldoNVU: Damn. Now that you mention it, I just realised that Steam is probably marking up the costs of those games because I'm from Australia. Kinda ironic that its cheaper to buy a physical copy of a disk along with printed manuals (via other countries) than to get a digital copy. "
" @HaroldoNVU: Damn. Now that you mention it, I just realised that Steam is probably marking up the costs of those games because I'm from Australia. Kinda ironic that its cheaper to buy a physical copy of a disk along with printed manuals (via other countries) than to get a digital copy. "
Tell me about it. I import all games I can't/won't buy digitally, because buying some game at local stores is madness. You see PS3 games selling for equivalent to 100 to190 USD.
I'm a collector too, but having the disc and box don't mean much to me if the disc is actually useless because the game is permanently attached to my Steam account. The boxes PC games come in these days are lame; why should I want those?
@LordAndrew: Good point about the boxes. But that also allows for more to display per shelf. Also I guess my redundancy point doesn't count for Steam-requiring games.
@HaroldoNVU: As a broke American, I am sympathetic to your plight. Between prices and the R18 debacle, it sure seems challenging to enjoy being a Down-Under gamer.
@HaroldoNVU: As a broke American, I am sympathetic to your plight. Between prices and the R18 debacle, it sure seems challenging to enjoy being a Down-Under gamer. "
I have to admit that with a strong Australian dollar (and a weakish American economy), Steam is great at the moment since we're pretty much getting parity pricing on MOST stuff (I guess the big retail games are the exception). There are also some importers that sell titles for much better prices (I got Civ 5 for $44 including shipping which is pretty much US pricing), however several big retailers here are threatening that unless these online retailers have to pay GST (our +10% tax) then they'll start moving jobs over to China to start competing online stores. (grumbles since I don't think the government would let that happen)
Anyhow, back to my question, I guess if it cost a comparable or lower price than going to a shop, then I could understand why Civ is on that list at least on the American side. However, since I don't think too many mainstream consumers in Australia would be downloading games these higher priced games online due to the effective double payment (buying the game + downloading with our bandwidth caps and relatively expensive broadband).
@MrKlorox: It really depends. I remember that when the Xbox 360 launched and you guys moved from US$50 to US$60 for a brand new game, we had to go from AUD$100 to AUD$120. Since then quite a lot of newer games come out in retail shops for around the $80ish mark but even that varies (Black Ops is still selling at $100 in some places). The prices do drop to somewhat more comforting prices if you're prepared to wait, but then they just go from over US pricing to US launch pricing (you can get some titles for under $20 but they're for the worn out/budget stuff). However, if you import, buy from online stores which import, or download games online then you can get some relatively decent deals if you factor in shipping. I think most 'hardcore' gamers realise that importing is the way to go, but until the game publishers start to see less local sales they'll just continue their silly excuses about how it costs more to print 0's and 1's over here despite the fact that movies never seem to be so inflated.
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