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General discussion (archive)Pricing not competitive.(94 posts)(94 posts)
(94 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted April 06, 2012
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Lokathor: Steam sales are international sales. Why would sales only be "targeting US customers"? That doesn't even make sense. Europe hates saving money I guess?
Last post I can make as it's time to leave the library... but not all steam sales are international there have been times when the EU has not had a daily deal or midweek/weekend deal due to regional restrictions.
Posted April 06, 2012
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Lokathor: Steam sales are international sales. Why would sales only be "targeting US customers"? That doesn't even make sense. Europe hates saving money I guess?

If your community isn't growing, it's already dying. GOG will become bigger over time and shift appropriately, or it'll languish and die. It can't just stay static, that's not how businesses work, and that's not how communities work.
I don't believe that's something that Valve does, I suspect it's the result of the contracts they've signed with the publishers. Some games are owned by different publishers depending upon the region and they would get a say in the sales presumably.

As far as growth goes I haven't seen or heard anything to suggest that GOG isn't growing. GOG has stated that they've been growing and shown rudimentary statistics to back it up, here on the site you'll see an awful lot of new faces around here every month. And they're managing it largely without those stupid sales that lower the price people are willing to pay for the games.
Posted April 06, 2012
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Lokathor: Steam sales are international sales. Why would sales only be "targeting US customers"? That doesn't even make sense. Europe hates saving money I guess?

If your community isn't growing, it's already dying. GOG will become bigger over time and shift appropriately, or it'll languish and die. It can't just stay static, that's not how businesses work, and that's not how communities work.
I'm not talking only for sale prices. The whole thing with 1$ equal to 1 euro is wrong from the begining.
Let see now:
LA Noire - US Price : $ 29.99/EU Price: $39.19
Assassins Creed Revelations - US Price: $49.99 / EU Price: $65.33

It is not cool...and btw I was refering to Amazon sales.
My issue with steam is the bad regional pricing. I feel ripped off for the diff pricing for countries like Russia/Ukraine.... where people are making the same money I make.
Post edited April 06, 2012 by spinefarm
Posted April 06, 2012
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bazilisek: No, it's not. It's been one of GOG's weaknesses for some time now, but we're getting to the point where angry and blind Holy Knights Templar of GOG will swarm at you for saying so, because their beloved store is of course absolutely perfect, even though the best argument they can come up with is the No true Scotsman fallacy.

I'm a customer first, and if I see a better offer elsewhere, I'll shop there. But because I honestly like GOG and want it to succeed, I think it's right to give them feedback on why they are losing my custom. That's all there is to it, fanboys, like it or not.
Agreed. I love GoG because it lets me play old games hassle-free, even if it's for a few bucks more. However, I can get these games cheaper elsewhere, and I rarely care about goodies, so GoG quite simply loses this one. That's what they call competition, and if GoG wishes to enter direct competition with the 'big guys,' it should be treated as one.
Post edited April 06, 2012 by Fenixp
Posted April 06, 2012
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Pheace: Extreme sales have done fine for Steam and they seem to do fine for Amazon. I agree it depends on the customer base to some extent, however the fact they *can not* do it is already something that is hurting them.

Steam is not targeting US customers only... what gives you that idea? O_o

Your last comments are basically saying you're hoping GOG doesn't grow, which *will* impact the community, as it does with every community as it gets bigger. However, the best thing for GOG is to grow, despite what some people here might want :) And expanding into the Indie base is doing exactly that. Growing the userbase.
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spinefarm: Extreme sales on Amazon are targeting US customers...and they do that to advertise them as digital seller.Yes it makes hell of a job for them,but you can't compare them with GOG.

With Valve(Steam) is other thing.Valve do extreme sales on games that don't sell well or recently to keep track with Amazon prices. And even with extreme prices they are loosing customers to other digital sellers lately (Amazon,GOG,GamersGate...etc.)
The whole point was that you can't jump in a pool with sharks without bringing a shotgun...and GOG are making that shotgun at the moment with the new indies and not so older titles ;)

I've never said only US customers. But as you can see US customers gets better prices than EU all the time (I don't count Ukraine/Russia this is something different).

No I hope GOG grow into a bigger and better community than Steam. And I hope they will have better support than Steam and don't divide people by region.
If anything Amazon is reactive to Valve sales and pricing - check cheapassgamers forum - people actively ask Amazon to price match Valve all the time (and they do it in many cases).
Also for some unknown reason Amazon doesn't offer much digital game options to non US customers. Maybe they intend to expand in the future ???
Both Valve and Amazon are HUGE. Have the resources to be able to offer the big cheap sales they have regularly.
Gog will have rely on things other than price. Unfortunately your average customer will look at price first and go from there....
Post edited April 06, 2012 by nijuu
Posted April 06, 2012
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hedwards: As far as growth goes I haven't seen or heard anything to suggest that GOG isn't growing. GOG has stated that they've been growing and shown rudimentary statistics to back it up, here on the site you'll see an awful lot of new faces around here every month. And they're managing it largely without those stupid sales that lower the price people are willing to pay for the games.
I'm not saying GOG isn't growing, I was referring to poster's desire for GOG to not change and potentially become shitty like steam.
Posted April 06, 2012
Stagnation in business is a sure way to close the business. You have to change to keep people interested and offer new things to attract new customers.
And these changes may be hit or miss, only time will tell and knowing GOG they will adjust.

As much as we would like if you want to grow you cannot rely only on your dearest fans.
Post edited April 06, 2012 by azah_lemur
Posted April 06, 2012
I'm still here for the DRM Free games and the goodies and the occasional freebies and because the community here is nub free. Glad to see them taking onboard the newer games i am sure i will be ordering some of thoes too come next pay day :)
Posted April 06, 2012
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spinefarm: Ok go buy the stuff in the AC (GOG edition) separetly and come back here with the prices :)
But the normal prices,not promo shits.
Cause at the moment AC1 is cheaper than Steam here. both for US/EU till 12th of April...what you see bad about it?
Umm...
You can't tell someone that "You have to compare GOG's standard price with other companies standard price!!!!" and then turn around and say "Because of GOG's current sale game X is cheaper than the on other site's standard price."
Posted April 06, 2012
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spinefarm: Ok go buy the stuff in the AC (GOG edition) separetly and come back here with the prices :)
But the normal prices,not promo shits.
Cause at the moment AC1 is cheaper than Steam here. both for US/EU till 12th of April...what you see bad about it?
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Immoli: Umm...
You can't tell someone that "You have to compare GOG's standard price with other companies standard price!!!!" and then turn around and say "Because of GOG's current sale game X is cheaper than the on other site's standard price."
He was saying that you can buy it cheaper. My point was that GOG still sell it's on a promo and they don't like either...maybe GOG should give away for free AC1 :)
On standart prices it's equaly priced for GOG/Steam for US users... slightly cheaper on Steam for EU customers with less extras.
Posted April 06, 2012
I think the very step GOG took to offer newer games derives from the acknowledgement that the market it operated until now is limited – how many more are there to join GOG for the good old games (with or without extras) to keep it a viable business? How much more revenue/ profit can 2 “new” classic games per week generate?
Naturally, they’re reaching out to gamers that care more (or exclusively) about newer games as it’s the only way to keep growing at a viable rate (the offered TW2 backup copy is one cleverly calculated way to make a significant number join GOG in a very short time frame).
Thing is, the majority of those gamers are already on Steam (numbers speak for themselves), meaning that they don’t care so much (if at all) about the things that distinguish GOG games (DRM-free, OSTs, ect.). Sure, these things will attract some, but not the majority – even a number of GOGers don’t seem to care about them.

So, how does one win these gamers over? It seems inevitably through competitive pricing, as others have pointed out already.
The first wave that can be won over are the ones complaining and suffering from Steam’s regional sales and pricing policy and the absurd $1=1€, but only if the (same for all on GOG) prices are competitive to Steam’s ones. Same goes for GG and others with similar policies that are of considerable size and operate in the newer games market.
As for Amazon digital sales, it seems Amazon always introduces its services within only the USA market first and is likely to expand them to other countries it operates in. But, even if it doesn’t, it’s already a considerable competitor as it matches one of GOG’s competitive advantages (DRM-free).

Having said all that, what people seem to overlook is that GOG just started this endeavor so it has to make careful steps. Did Steam or any of the others go 75% off on their day one? Did they offer dirt cheap games from the beginning? True, they probably had less competition back then, thus they didn’t have to.

And that brings us to the challenge GOG is facing today: succeed while coming into the game a bit late or at least much later than the other players. In other words, manage to expand its customer base in a very competitive market (if we want to be honest, GOG had no actual competition in the market it operated till now), keep the cost low (after all, they’re reinvesting their profits/ putting in more capital) and make a profit within a reasonable time frame so they can repeat this cycle.

And since I mentioned that the real competition for GOG just started, it’s also only now that the value of the extra things it offers will be truly tested, i.e. if people will prefer GOG over others even if it means paying (a little) more, just because they get to get them.

Just my 2 cents ($ or €, your pick).
Posted April 06, 2012
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HypersomniacLive: I think the very step GOG took to offer newer games derives from the acknowledgement that the market it operated until now is limited – how many more are there to join GOG for the good old games (with or without extras) to keep it a viable business? How much more revenue/ profit can 2 “new” classic games per week generate?
This is the best post I've seen on this forum since this whole thing started yesterday.

When a business gives out free stuff, it is always a matter of attracting new customers, not massaging the old ones. Giving Fallout 1 for free to the 90% of GoG users that do not have the game is nothing but a stunt to increase the user base, and milk more sales.

But why Fallout? Fallout was one of the first games in the catalogue. Most people who have come onto the internet since 2008 specifically looking for a copy of Fallout have probably bought one by now. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that Fallout resides near the bottom of the currently bestselling games (as opposed to all-time bestselling), and so the potential financial loss of giving the game out for free, which is even for a limited period, is relatively small.

What can you expect back from it? You can expect the userbase to grow. You can expect some of these new users to buy some other games. You can expect many people to download and play their free copy of Fallout. You can expect some of them to like it enough that they come back and buy Fallout 2. And throw in Planescape Torment for good measure while they're at it.

Meanwhile, GoG is revealing it's foray into two new markets simultaneously. Indie games, and newer titles (where newer can be an intensely relative term, but I digress ...). This represents a change of direction for the site that is unprecedented in it's history. It's now going to have to compete with all the big boys in a matured, evolved market. This is equivalent to the mom and pop shop on the corner trying to sell vacuum cleaners along Walmart and Best Buy.

I just cannot believe that, one day after this announcement, people are still bickering about how the free Fallout does not apply to those who already have Fallout, or that $19.99 is waaaaaaaaay too much moolah to part with for a complete edition of Heroes V, because Steam had it on sale for only $9.99 three weeks ago, damnit, rather than discuss what the future of GoG might bring now. It's the most dramatic announcement the site has given since it's inception, and all people do is fucking whine.

For shame.
Posted April 06, 2012
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stonebro: snip
The problems I see is that GOG is trying to grow in a direction they can't compete in. They will never be able to get the publicity and sales of Steam/Amazon. Probably not even GG.

Now, if their "new games" stunt would be just "on top" of their normal business, that wouldn't be much to worry about. But from what it looks like, they are also spending more money to invest in this area and that might be problematic in the long run, if they cannot compensate the lost money.

GOG doesn't work like your usual internet distributor, a lot of their income come from a loyal fanbase that doesn't mind spending 6 bucks on a game they already own on disc. If GOG starts to alienate those, they might get in more trouble than they might gain by the new crowds coming in.

It all boils down on how "costly" their new direction turns out to be. Luckily enough, they don't have to "stock up" on those 20 buck games up front, so the financial riskmight not be so big.

Their are still plenty of "gems" that can be brought forward, this direction wasn't necessary. I would guess it was forced by CDP, there have been a few noticable departures of orignal GOGers in the past year....
Posted April 06, 2012
$20 for the five-year old Assassin's Creed is insane. As other posters have pointed out, the game has been available in retail for about a third of that price for a long time. There is some value in the soundtrack, but not twice the price of the game itself. Even the sequels Assassin's Creed II or Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood are cheaper for me to buy on physical disks, shipped from another country to my doorstep, than it is to buy this digital download.

I don't want to reward behavior where a developer deigns to finally sell a DRM-free version of a game several years from the game's release, and then gives the DRM-free version premium pricing. The DRM removal is not a service to the customer - it is merely ceasing to include a deliberate defect in the product, and directly benefits the developer at least in the form of lower support costs.
Posted April 06, 2012
@stonebro

I don't agree. GOG isn't competing with Steam, as they don't sell new titles (except indies). That's still a Steam / Origin thing.

I don't think you can say they are into indie games now. They are selecting titles, they will keep getting best indie titles, but it's not whole "indie gaming scene". So you won't see all the indie devs around here. You could say that before GOG was for old classics, now it's also for indie classics.

And as for newer games - there's no competition in here also. They faced a problem I was referring to, when I wrote about the comparison of prices between retail games and DD games. That is, when they release old classics, they could say that 9.99$ and 5.99$ is right price for those games. Why? In some cases, it's becuase such games were not distibuted digitally, so their price was determined by the price of the retail copies.

But if they want to sell games which were released when DD stores (Steam) was one of the main part of the distibution, they have to use different rules than to classic games.

And such rule is, that the price of digital stays the same for a long time. Longer than retail. That's why we got AC1 for 20$, while if there was no DD it would be 10$. In exchange, DD uses crazy promo sales a lot more often than retail.

To sum up - they don't compete with Steam / Origin, but they check out new possibilities.
Post edited April 06, 2012 by SLP2000
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussion (archive)Pricing not competitive.(94 posts)(94 posts)
(94 posts)