Posted March 23, 2017
HunchBluntley
language geek
HunchBluntley Sorry, data for given user is currently unavailable. Please, try again later. View profile View wishlist Start conversation Invite to friends Invite to friends Accept invitation Accept invitation Pending invitation... Unblock chat Registered: Jul 2014
From United States
mystikmind2000
New User
mystikmind2000 Sorry, data for given user is currently unavailable. Please, try again later. View profile View wishlist Start conversation Invite to friends Invite to friends Accept invitation Accept invitation Pending invitation... Unblock chat Registered: Sep 2012
From Australia
Posted March 23, 2017
mystikmind2000: I would have guessed Steam would be the biggest influence of prices on GOG?
Because if the game license holder has their game cheaper on GOG, then Steam will say to the license holder "hang on, whats going on here, you put your game cheaper on GOG? That will never do, fix it".
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skeletonbow: Hrm, naw I don't think so really. GOG's prices are on average equal to Steam's across the catalogue as a whole, but individual games may be more or less expensive. There may also be differences in what you get with the game on GOG versus Steam, with the GOG versions being superior content+bonus than Steam in many cases, and Steam being superior in others. Because if the game license holder has their game cheaper on GOG, then Steam will say to the license holder "hang on, whats going on here, you put your game cheaper on GOG? That will never do, fix it".
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But the Steam authorized seller storefronts and bundle sites often undercut Steam's own discounts and sometimes their base prices too, so the best deals for Steam actually come from non-Steam stores. When one looks at the bundle pricing and other deep discounts and promos that happen out there, those tend to be quite a bit cheaper than Steam, however they are usually limited mostly to a certain class of games mostly dominated by indie titles, but occasionally with some big name AAA gems also. But none of that deep discount bargain bin pricing tends to have any effect on GOG's pricing, and I think the reason why is that GOG doesn't want to have that be a part of their business model, and rather sees the way they're doing things as a different value proposition with their own USP (unique selling point), in particular the DRM-free angle, but a lot of the other benefits we get from shopping here.
So it is true that in special promo circumstances, sometimes GOG is undercut, but GOG sells a huge number of games that never make it into those ultra-cheap bundles or promos either so no strong generalizations can be made on that front I don't think.
I speculate that it is DRM-free, direct GOG support, backup downloads and goodies that give GOG their biggest edge on the business model and I don't think they're too influenced by Steam+reseller pricing or we'd see them adjust their prices regularly when something goes on crazy mad sale elsewhere.
Non-bundle/deep-discount games tend to be very similar prices between GOG and Steam+elsewhere though in practice.
One more thing I didn't think of or speculate about when I started the thread but which just came to mind now too, is how the price on these specific games changed over time on Steam. I speculate it is similar in most if not all respects give or take a few cents or so. :)
MajicMan: You read your currency exchange backwards. The Canadian dollar is appx, (depending on day) 70 cents on the greenback. $1 US = $1.30 CAD or $1 CAD = .70 cents US.
skeletonbow: Actually, that's not correct math. When looking at currency exchange in both directions they are the mathematical reciprocal of each other. If you use a base rate of $1.00 USD == $1.30 CAD, it's not $0.70USD == $1.00CAD as you state, it is the reciprocal of 1.30: 1
--------- = 0.769 rounded up to 0.77
1.30
Meaning, if $1.00 USD = $1.30 CAD, then $1.00 CAD == 0.77USD, not 0.70USD as you've mentioned.
More clearly, if you discount something by 20%, say $100 discounted by 20% is $80, as a fraction that is 4/5 of the original price. $100 is not 20% higher than $80 though, it is 25% higher, which is 5/4, the reciprocal of 4/5.
$80 * (1.00 + 0.25) == $100
$100 * (1.00 - 0.20) == $80
Hmmm, how can you say Steam does not influence GOG's pricing and yet also say;
"GOG's prices are on average equal to Steam's across the catalogue as a whole"
How can equal pricing occur without there being very strong influence going on?