I've often wondered why the manufacturer or the publisher of a game charges more than a third party.

Take for instance Cyberpunk.

I got a discount code from GOG yesterday offering me the game for £39.99.

Nice discount?

Not really, when I can buy the game for £18.99 if I shop around.

So my question is, why should I buy directly from GOG, when I know they've sold it on to a third party at a much lower price. Obviously, if this particular retailer is selling it for £18.99 they must still be making a profit.

I would like to add in GOG's defense, this practice of selling goods for more money than an item can be found elsewhere seems pretty common practice amongst retailers these days.

But I do feel that I'm being taken for a bit of a mug. The 'buy from us and all the money goes to us' is all very well. But let's be fair about this.

Why would someone be willing to pay £49.99 of their hard earned cash when exactly the same product can be purchased for less than that?

Chances are good that cheaper version you're seeing is from a random key reseller, which quite often sell keys that were purchased with stolen account and/or payment information that have a pretty good chance of being revoked.

Depends on where this "other retailer" is. Many times these are 3rd party shady key reselling sites where people can sell their own keys. This industry is rife with people buying Russian (for example) game codes for pennies and reselling them at best, or using stolen credit cards to buy the keys and resell them. Most really high discount shops aren't authorized retailers, and the publisher/dev doesn't see any of the money. In the case of VPN shoppers, those games are sold to customers at a low price to move copies in an effort to reduce the number of people sharing them through torrents. They make little to nothing on the original sale and zero on the resale. Then you have the people who steal credentials to make those sales, and the publisher/developer actually LOSES money on those having to fight over charge-backs and banks just taking money back from their accounts for sales that were made. Usually, those keys get revoked at the end and you've lost your money, the developer has lost their money, and neither of you has anything to show for it.

That's why you can often find game keys cheaper than they are sold at official retailers, and why you should spend your hard earned money on the more expensive copy.

could be a steam key or epic or whatever lol

It seems the same with for example hardware bought through their original manufacturer's, take for example the samsung evo + uhm 970 version i belief, that is the pci 3.0 version and the 980 the 4.o version. If you check the pricing on samsung the 1tb version is sold for 170 euro's while most regular shopping prices are around 130 euro's with one exeption going as low as 114 euro's

Now, you would almost belief that Samsung, like nvidia, keeps the most perfect versions for themselves, if it would be applicable

Storekeepers usually buy in bulk and decide on their store prices

It seems software sellers seem to follow similar reasoning paths

In this case the key is most likely not legit as many have stated, it could have been acquired by use of stolen credit card and then resold. In this case the key can be revoked if it is proven to have been obtained in this way, so this is more buyer beware.

For this situation the key is doubtlessly not genuine as many have expressed, it might have been obtained by utilization of taken Mastercard and afterward exchanged. For this situation the key can be denied in the event that it is demonstrated to have been acquired along these lines, so this is more purchaser be careful.

CDPR hopes to sell you the game for full price. The price of the game in the retail, however, has fallen drastically ever since its release. If I so wanted, I could even get a physical PC version for about €35 (compared to the €60 full price). I have seen digital keys hovering in the price range of €20-30. And while there is the possibility that some of them are fake/illegally acquired, there is also the possibility that they are 100% legit and the low price has to do with them being keys belonging to Russian physical copies.

The only issue is how much you can trust the retailer that sells at those prices. If you do a lot (and they can guarantee a refund of the key in case of it being a bust), then go for it.

at least SEGA provides a digital partner list

https://www.sega.com/sega-approved-partner-list

You shouldn’t buy it at all. It’s a frankly terrible game, from a very shady developer. I also got that discount email and I wouldn’t give it to my worst enemy. Save your money, charging more than other stores, lying to everyone, buying reviews etc. Wouldn’t put anything past them.

We’re talking about Cyberpunk 2077 here, the most sensible thing to do is to neither buy it, nor play through it ;)
I would not even waste time looking at a walkthrough…

I did not see any reason to discuss whether the game was worth its asking price as that was not asked. I am sure the sensible thing is to wait and buy it at half price after it has been whipped into better shape. Not having played it at all, I will not comment on the quality of the game play more.

Do not buy CP 2077 for your PS4 nor XBoxelipreviousgenwhateveritsname as the game barely 'runs' on those and look awful. Most everyone should know this by now. This is the part where the devs lying accusations come in.

As much as I liked CDP/R from the old times of The Witcher series and Good Old Games website I must say I need to kind of agree with this quote. CDP/R has changed too much for my taste for the whole as a company - from being a very customer friendly driven to trying to milk to the last penny one. CP2077 is / was the latest / final example of the things I was observing since some time. :(

Thanks for the comments.

In the case of Cyberpunk I'm talking about a genuine retailer. A retailer who has been online for a few years and from whom I've bought several games that were all legit.

I won't mention the name through respect for GOG.

As Zimerius pointed out regarding the price on Samsung products.

It's the thinking behind it, I can't understand.

Do retailers not think we are capable of shopping around.

In the UK there is a store called John Lewis who will always price match their goods. They sell things like TVs etc.,

I think games retailers should offer a similar price match system, that way you would always been inclined to buy directly rather than go through a third party.

Just a thought.