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General discussion (archive)PC Games industry dieing?(58 posts)(58 posts)
(58 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted January 15, 2010
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honorbuddy: Here in the US (and everybody knows that all that matters in this world is the United States of fucking America) Steam is usually about 3000 times cheaper than retail stores, give or take.

Er, no it isn't. Steam sells at MSRP, while Amazon is under MSRP for many new releases. Now when Steam has a sale on a game, then ya, prices get pretty good. But standard Steam prices aren't anything to brag about. It's pretty bad when you can buy Valve games cheaper at a store than from Steam (happens more often than you think).
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michaelleung: I HAD one... but it seems Starcraft 64 is now at a cheaper price now.
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Navagon: People who'd buy a console RTS are bad enough. But on the Nintendo 64? Now? When it's on PC too? They deserve to be ripped off.

True, but I have both C&C 64 and Starcraft 64 for collections sake. And C&C 64 was the first 3D C&C game!
Post edited January 15, 2010 by mogamer
Posted January 15, 2010
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michaelleung: You made the mistake of looking for PC games in HMV.

I wasent looking for games to buy as such just having a browse to see what was out that looked intresting.
It's just over time I have notised a massive decline in the shelf space for PC games in shops.
Posted January 15, 2010
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Stuff: Edit: Cambrey . . . definitely add that $500 jewel

They changed the price soon after. And I forgot to mention that the same game on the same website was sold for less than a dollar. It lasted a day before they realized the mistake. People probably snatched the game for that price and it makes me wonder if amazon actually had to honor orders for that big mistake.
Posted January 15, 2010
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mogamer: True, but I have both C&C 64 and Starcraft 64 for collections sake. And C&C 64 was the first 3D C&C game!

Well, on the bright side you could apparently sell them for five times what you paid for them.
Posted January 15, 2010
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Stuff: Edit: Cambrey . . . definitely add that $500 jewel
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Cambrey: They changed the price soon after. And I forgot to mention that the same game on the same website was sold for less than a dollar. It lasted a day before they realized the mistake. People probably snatched the game for that price and it makes me wonder if amazon actually had to honor orders for that big mistake.

I think they do, the transaction is a legally binding contract.. once you have placed and order and paid the ammount its final. Its iligal for them to charge you more after. at least in UK retail law it is.
Posted January 15, 2010
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mogamer: Er, no it isn't. Steam sells at MSRP, while Amazon is under MSRP for many new releases. Now when Steam has a sale on a game, then ya, prices get pretty good. But standard Steam prices aren't anything to brag about. It's pretty bad when you can buy Valve games cheaper at a store than from Steam (happens more often than you think).

Tell me where and I will go shop there.
Posted January 15, 2010
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mogamer: Tell me where and I will go shop there.
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honorbuddy: I didn't have to look very hard. This is just one example.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&_dynSessConf=3901746238446224510&id=pcat17071&type=page&st=half+life+2&sc=gameToySP&cp=1&nrp=15&sp=&qp=&list=n&iht=y&usc=Games+%26+Toys&ks=960
My local Micro Center had both this and the original HL2 for $7.99 each.
Post edited January 15, 2010 by mogamer
Posted January 15, 2010
Is PC gaming dying? No, but the standard model of PC game development, publishing and marketing is dying. While major players like EA and ActiBlizzard continually pump out overpriced, DRM laden, piss-poor sequels to piss-poor games to ever decreasing sales, indie developers with original ideas are starting to thrive. With the establishment of stable digital distribution platforms like Steam, Impulse, etc., a small studio with very little money can now reach a worldwide market much more easily than they ever could in the days of hard copy only sales. Its kind of like what has already been happening with the music industry: artists no longer need the big music companies to produce, promote and market their music, they can do it all on their own through the internet. So its probably more accurate to say that PC gaming is not dying, it, like the music industry, is evolving.
Posted January 15, 2010
Since the early 90ies peoples are claiming that PC gaming is dying and since then I've always seen PC re-adapting all the time and never I felt it was dying. But yes when I check at my local retailers, if you what anything that isn't a mainstream game or EA production you're pretty screwed... and then your only options is to ask if they'll be able to ship it or go buying it on the internet.
Posted January 15, 2010
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mogamer: I didn't have to look very hard. This is just one example.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&_dynSessConf=3901746238446224510&id=pcat17071&type=page&st=half+life+2&sc=gameToySP&cp=1&nrp=15&sp=&qp=&list=n&iht=y&usc=Games+%26+Toys&ks=960
My local Micro Center had both this and the original HL2 for $7.99 each.

Touche, one can find good deals I agree with that, I got Guild Wars complete for $15 a month ago at Best Buy. I just usually see cheaper stuff online than at the stores, but maybe I'm just not looking right.
Posted January 15, 2010
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cogadh: Is PC gaming dying? No, but the standard model of PC game development, publishing and marketing is dying. While major players like EA and ActiBlizzard continually pump out overpriced, DRM laden, piss-poor sequels to piss-poor games to ever decreasing sales, indie developers with original ideas are starting to thrive. With the establishment of stable digital distribution platforms like Steam, Impulse, etc., a small studio with very little money can now reach a worldwide market much more easily than they ever could in the days of hard copy only sales. Its kind of like what has already been happening with the music industry: artists no longer need the big music companies to produce, promote and market their music, they can do it all on their own through the internet. So its probably more accurate to say that PC gaming is not dying, it, like the music industry, is evolving.

Agreed. The indie developers are starting to put out the games people are really going nuts about. Look at Torchlight, for example. AI War...excellent game. Solium Infernum...excellent game. We're starting to see a new breed of creative game devs taking their first big steps in terms of producing titles.
Posted January 15, 2010
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mogamer: Er, no it isn't. Steam sells at MSRP, while Amazon is under MSRP for many new releases. Now when Steam has a sale on a game, then ya, prices get pretty good. But standard Steam prices aren't anything to brag about. It's pretty bad when you can buy Valve games cheaper at a store than from Steam (happens more often than you think).
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honorbuddy: Tell me where and I will go shop there.

You can get pretty much any Valve title cheaper retail than you can on Steam when it isn't on sale. I got L4D2 for $30 at Gamestop.
Posted January 15, 2010
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Metro09: You can get pretty much any Valve title cheaper retail than you can on Steam when it isn't on sale. I got L4D2 for $30 at Gamestop.

That's not fair though, you're comparing a sale price at Gamestop to a non sale price on Steam.
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General discussion (archive)PC Games industry dieing?(58 posts)(58 posts)
(58 posts)