Posted January 15, 2021
PLEASE NOTE - This is not a topic/thread for attacking any of the stores mentioned, it is just an exercise that some might find interesting or illuminating.
So ... Where have you spent your money on games?
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Personally, I started buying computer games some 20+ years ago, back before you could buy them as digital downloads, and the first PC game I ever bought, was Quake in a big box ... I'd previously played it on a work PC in downtime, and gotten hooked. Before that I had played some fairly basic games on the Apple IIE PC and even had a couple of really early games consoles ... one you hooked up to your TV to play Pong etc, and later an Atari.
So back in the day, I bought many PC games from local retailers on disc. Many came in big cardboard boxes, many in CD cases and many in DVD cases.
Somewhere along the way, I was introduced to Goldeneye on the N64 at a relatives place, where I saw our kids playing it, then was enticed to have a go myself. That resulted in me purchasing that game and console for our kids for Xmas, and a bunch of other N64 games while the N64 was still flavor of the month. Not much later, I was gifted a PS1 by a younger brother, with all his games ... he'd moved onto PC gaming. He knew I really liked Tomb Raider, which was included in his collection. We got quite a few games from him so we never bought any PS1 games ... not to mention we were spending a lot already on N64 games.
At some point my daughter wanted Singstar, so we bought a PS2 and a handful of games. We also bought a Nintendo Wii when it was all the rage for playing sports games etc, because it monitored your movements ... even some of my elderly relatives had a go at their first computer games due to that Wii. So we bought a good number of games for the Wii, including re-buying some like Mario Kart.
Not sure when the first Xbox came out, but we bought into that fairly early too, for the kids (never got the hang of the controller myself), and spent a ton of money on Xbox games, and as new Xbox consoles came out bought them too ... always on some kind of special with bonus games. Probably the most money I have ever spent on games, would be for Xbox ones ... Xmas, birthdays, etc.
When we finally upgraded to a digital widescreen TV (we were a bit later than many), we got a Sony deal that also included the PS3 and some games ... and we eventually bought a handful of other PS3 games.
During some of the above, I had continued purchasing PC games until I came up against Steam, which spoiled all the fun for me. I'd inadvertently bought some games that required Steam, which I did not really know anything about, and alas by the time I did find out enough through first hand experience, I'd had the games too long to return them.
The games I'd bought that had a Steam requirement, were the Orange Box Half-life Collection, SiN Episodes and another Half-life game.
The problem for me back then with Steam, was that most of Australia back then was still using 56K modems, and it was the only option I had. That was worse than awful when trying to use Steam. I also had a limited data deal, which was pretty normal in those days. All that meant, that I could install the game from disc, but could not play if for days, meanwhile suffering connection issues and a client that used way too many system resources.
So consequently I gave up buying PC games around then ... my trust had been severely impacted ... and so I just concentrated on console games for the kids.
Somewhere around that period (2008-2009) I came across early GOG. But of course, due to my connection status and not really knowing whether GOG was legit, I was unable to take advantage. I'd also never made an online purchase at that stage, and didn't do so for years yet. So GOG quickly disappeared off my radar, and I essentially forgot about them, until redirected there by a friend in May 2017 for a free copy of Shadow Warrior ... a favorite game of mine.
Of course, I had to check out what else GOG had, and I grabbed a few other free games. GOG also had a Star Wars sale on at the time, and I talked myself into buying many of those games. I'd also meanwhile discovered a few other games like Outlaws etc, so bought them too .... the rest is history.
Since that time I have bought many games at GOG, and in many instances re-bought much of what I already had on disc. Until that time, I'd also essentially given up gaming myself (just watched the kids or played a bit of N64 now and then). That was for something like 8 or 9 years, until an interest in gaming again had re-awakened in me, which led to a discussion with friends and the eventual link to Shadow Warrior at GOG.
Not long after that, I decided to revisit Steam and reactivate those games I'd bought on disc. And because that kind of worked out okay, and despite still very much disliking Steam (still do to this day), I took advantage not much later to buying the whole Valve Collection for less than $30 AUD, which equated to about $1 to $2 AUD per game.
I've only bought a small handful of games at Steam since then - some Tomb Raider games going very cheap, and recently Duke Nukem 20th Anniversary World Tour for just a few dollars.
I've bought some games from the Humble Store, all DRM-Free except for a couple of Total War games that were a Steam Key and were only a few dollars each.
Recently I bought a very cheap special deal from Epic, for two Far Cry games and extras, that used a $15 voucher, and which I saw as a kind of thank you for over two years of free games from them.
Just before that, I bought 4 games from the ZOOM Platform and downloaded the 8 free ones.
The only other store that I can recall buying games from with money, was Itch.io when they did that Black Lives Matter support thing several months ago.
So to sum things up.
I spent a lot of money on games on disc, way back when.
Spent a lot of money on console games until my kids grew up and left home.
Spent a lot of money on PC games (digital downloads), with the Lion's share of that at GOG.
P.S. I don't like DRM, but all along the way I have had to tolerate it at times, and these days I only make rare exceptions when it comes to purchasing a game with DRM. Long Live DRM-Free!
So ... Where have you spent your money on games?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Personally, I started buying computer games some 20+ years ago, back before you could buy them as digital downloads, and the first PC game I ever bought, was Quake in a big box ... I'd previously played it on a work PC in downtime, and gotten hooked. Before that I had played some fairly basic games on the Apple IIE PC and even had a couple of really early games consoles ... one you hooked up to your TV to play Pong etc, and later an Atari.
So back in the day, I bought many PC games from local retailers on disc. Many came in big cardboard boxes, many in CD cases and many in DVD cases.
Somewhere along the way, I was introduced to Goldeneye on the N64 at a relatives place, where I saw our kids playing it, then was enticed to have a go myself. That resulted in me purchasing that game and console for our kids for Xmas, and a bunch of other N64 games while the N64 was still flavor of the month. Not much later, I was gifted a PS1 by a younger brother, with all his games ... he'd moved onto PC gaming. He knew I really liked Tomb Raider, which was included in his collection. We got quite a few games from him so we never bought any PS1 games ... not to mention we were spending a lot already on N64 games.
At some point my daughter wanted Singstar, so we bought a PS2 and a handful of games. We also bought a Nintendo Wii when it was all the rage for playing sports games etc, because it monitored your movements ... even some of my elderly relatives had a go at their first computer games due to that Wii. So we bought a good number of games for the Wii, including re-buying some like Mario Kart.
Not sure when the first Xbox came out, but we bought into that fairly early too, for the kids (never got the hang of the controller myself), and spent a ton of money on Xbox games, and as new Xbox consoles came out bought them too ... always on some kind of special with bonus games. Probably the most money I have ever spent on games, would be for Xbox ones ... Xmas, birthdays, etc.
When we finally upgraded to a digital widescreen TV (we were a bit later than many), we got a Sony deal that also included the PS3 and some games ... and we eventually bought a handful of other PS3 games.
During some of the above, I had continued purchasing PC games until I came up against Steam, which spoiled all the fun for me. I'd inadvertently bought some games that required Steam, which I did not really know anything about, and alas by the time I did find out enough through first hand experience, I'd had the games too long to return them.
The games I'd bought that had a Steam requirement, were the Orange Box Half-life Collection, SiN Episodes and another Half-life game.
The problem for me back then with Steam, was that most of Australia back then was still using 56K modems, and it was the only option I had. That was worse than awful when trying to use Steam. I also had a limited data deal, which was pretty normal in those days. All that meant, that I could install the game from disc, but could not play if for days, meanwhile suffering connection issues and a client that used way too many system resources.
So consequently I gave up buying PC games around then ... my trust had been severely impacted ... and so I just concentrated on console games for the kids.
Somewhere around that period (2008-2009) I came across early GOG. But of course, due to my connection status and not really knowing whether GOG was legit, I was unable to take advantage. I'd also never made an online purchase at that stage, and didn't do so for years yet. So GOG quickly disappeared off my radar, and I essentially forgot about them, until redirected there by a friend in May 2017 for a free copy of Shadow Warrior ... a favorite game of mine.
Of course, I had to check out what else GOG had, and I grabbed a few other free games. GOG also had a Star Wars sale on at the time, and I talked myself into buying many of those games. I'd also meanwhile discovered a few other games like Outlaws etc, so bought them too .... the rest is history.
Since that time I have bought many games at GOG, and in many instances re-bought much of what I already had on disc. Until that time, I'd also essentially given up gaming myself (just watched the kids or played a bit of N64 now and then). That was for something like 8 or 9 years, until an interest in gaming again had re-awakened in me, which led to a discussion with friends and the eventual link to Shadow Warrior at GOG.
Not long after that, I decided to revisit Steam and reactivate those games I'd bought on disc. And because that kind of worked out okay, and despite still very much disliking Steam (still do to this day), I took advantage not much later to buying the whole Valve Collection for less than $30 AUD, which equated to about $1 to $2 AUD per game.
I've only bought a small handful of games at Steam since then - some Tomb Raider games going very cheap, and recently Duke Nukem 20th Anniversary World Tour for just a few dollars.
I've bought some games from the Humble Store, all DRM-Free except for a couple of Total War games that were a Steam Key and were only a few dollars each.
Recently I bought a very cheap special deal from Epic, for two Far Cry games and extras, that used a $15 voucher, and which I saw as a kind of thank you for over two years of free games from them.
Just before that, I bought 4 games from the ZOOM Platform and downloaded the 8 free ones.
The only other store that I can recall buying games from with money, was Itch.io when they did that Black Lives Matter support thing several months ago.
So to sum things up.
I spent a lot of money on games on disc, way back when.
Spent a lot of money on console games until my kids grew up and left home.
Spent a lot of money on PC games (digital downloads), with the Lion's share of that at GOG.
P.S. I don't like DRM, but all along the way I have had to tolerate it at times, and these days I only make rare exceptions when it comes to purchasing a game with DRM. Long Live DRM-Free!
