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We are halfway through the week! And we believe it’s the perfect occasion to have a little celebration. Our favorite way to do it is with some great deals, so check out our Midweek Sale and treat yourself with bargains up to -90% on titles like:

War for the Overworld (-80%)
Inkulinati (-25%)
Unsouled (-80%)
Plebby Quest: The Crusades (-80%)
Volgarr the Viking (-90%)

…and more – find them all HERE!

The sale lasts until May 21st, 10 PM UTC. Enrich your library and brighten up your week.

News art: Inkulinati
The sales may devaluate games, but before online shops that was done by the second hand market and limited releases.
Often a year later the same game would be released by a different distributor often for only a fraction of the original price.
Of course it had a different box. Collectors would try to get the original version for the full price or on second hand market.
These days it does not make a difference where you buy your game from or when or at what price. So of course I go for the cheapest option.
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ssling: That's just reality though. Back in the day, before digital distribution took everything over, games were gradually with time descending into lower and lower price tiers. Nowadays it's more common to keep high base price forever and giving high discounts multiple times a year - and that discounted price has to be considered actual value of the product because no one expect you to pay $60 for 10 years old games. It's just apparently more profitable to give illusion of great deal with time limited -XX% than permanently lowering base price to the same level.
Sales have nothing to do with this, as game prices are still lowering over time nowadays. Here are a few examples:

https://www.gogdb.org/product/1371948460
https://www.gogdb.org/product/1389682947
https://www.gogdb.org/product/2109390794
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GOG.com: Midweek Sale: get yourself a deal up to -90%
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BreOl72: Remember, when in 2012, representatives of GOG told reporters that they believe that constant sales and huge discounts will de-value games over time?
They were right.
I basically never buy games at full price anymore.
Why should I?
I know, a few months down the line they will be available for 50% or 66% or 75% off...
They may have been correct, but if this post is meant to encourage GOG to stop having deep discounts and so many sales, personally I'm not interested (at least the deep discounts).

2012 was over a decade ago, and strategies and the make-up of companies change. It's possible GOG might not even be here if they didn't try to remain competitive (which I guess a few people might have okay with, preferring GOG to die the hero...). Frankly I'm okay with with the deep discounts because I don't have lots of money to spend.

If people want to support a dev, they can make the choice to buy at full-price or buy multiple keys and give them away. Or one could buy on Zoom-Platform when possible; they rarely have sales or discounts like GOG back in the day.
(Fireflower Games might have a similar policy; not sure about itch.io but I assume that's on a per-dev basis.)
Post edited May 18, 2023 by tfishell
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tfishell: Or one could buy on Zoom-Platform when possible; they rarely have sales or discounts like GOG back in the day.
And as a result I rarely buy games there. I have bought some exclusives that i actually want to play and / or preserve, but otherwise I stay away. On the other hand, I throw hundreds at GOG every month, for games that I will probably never play.

Some people think that discounts equate to lost profits. Maybe that's true for modern and / or really popular games (which is why Nintendo barely has sales), but when it comes to older and / or less popular titles, a discount equates to actually gaining a sale.

As I mentioned in my previous posts, I do buy games at full price, I even pre-order some of them. However I also buy thousands of games on sale too. If they weren't on sale, I would have never bought them (like I don't on ZP). Those are not lost profits due to discounts. Those are gained profits due to discounts. You can either hope that someone may buy 1 copy at full price, or you can have 20 people buy it for 1/3 of the price.

ZP did have a little sale awhile ago and I bought up everything then. I wouldn't have if there was no sale. So what's better? No sale, or sale at a discount? It depends on the demand of the product and every store should try to evaluate this to the best of their ability.

I don't know a single person, who doesn't have random games in their Steam library, that they have never played and probably never will play. So why did they buy them? Heavy discounts. It's psychological! GOG seem to have learned that. So once again, discounts are not losses. Discounts are big wins.
Post edited May 18, 2023 by SargonAelther
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tfishell: Or one could buy on Zoom-Platform when possible; they rarely have sales or discounts like GOG back in the day.
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SargonAelther: And as a result I rarely buy games there. I have bought some exclusives that i actually want to play and / or preserve, but otherwise I stay away. On the other hand, I throw hundreds at GOG every month, for games that I will probably never play.
Thanks for supporting GOG but please be careful about spending this much (though I'm guessing you're pretty financially secure).
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tfishell: Thanks for supporting GOG but please be careful about spending this much (though I'm guessing you're pretty financially secure).
I should control my spending better actually, because I waste all my disposable income on it, meaning that I save nothing for a rainy day lol.
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tfishell: Thanks for supporting GOG but please be careful about spending this much (though I'm guessing you're pretty financially secure).
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SargonAelther: I should control my spending better actually, because I waste all my disposable income on it, meaning that I save nothing for a rainy day lol.
Heh, yeah sounds like something to consider. ;)
Post edited May 18, 2023 by tfishell
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SargonAelther: I should control my spending better actually, because I waste all my disposable income on it, meaning that I save nothing for a rainy day lol.
On rainy days I play games so it's a win-win.