Only yesterday we had yet another digital sale announced, in the form of the “Mega Minis” sale from Sony. It seems we get these kinds of sales and general price cuts almost continuously. Microsoft brings out new deals every week, and it seems that Steam is perpetually in some sort of sale cycle. Of course as a consumer, I absolutely adore the deals available. In a recent Steam sale I got every single game Valve has released for just £14.99.
I think these kind of sales are something that certainly define the new era of digital content, and one of the things that we’re going to see more and more going forwards as developers assume greater control over their content, rather than being forced to go through publishers, distributors; and brick and mortar retailers to get their product out, sacrificing a huge amount of control over pricing and special offers.
Of course it’s not just control that allows for developer’s to offer special pricing on their products, the low costs involved in the distribution of content through digital channels almost certainly plays a part. Even it were possible to convince anyone in the chain of companies involved in getting a game into a store to lower their price, there still simply wouldn’t be the ability to cut a price by some huge chunk simply due to the costs involved.
It costs money to press a disk and print a case, more money to ship a product to a store that’s, potentially, half way around the world, and yet more money to run the stores that sell the game. Everyone in the chain of sale has to cover their costs, so it’s just not possible for the a product to get cut hugely in price.
Whilst sales may be great if you want to get your hands on something cheap, there are those who see them as simply a way to draw you into a site with low prices before you realise they don’t have anything you want. This is essentially how all retail sales work, although I’m not sure how effective it is in the online space. Firstly you can’t easily bait and switch with digital downloads, there’s no limit on product numbers (except for those imposed artificially).
Secondly I’m not really sure it’s as easy to convince people to buy something ‘just because’, like you can do when you’ve got them in a physical store. If you’ve just clicked onto Steam because you heard they had some cheap games going, you’re unlikely to pick up a game you don’t really want because you were already on Steam. There’s no investment of time or energy like there is if you actually have to leave your house to go shopping.
Anyway, that’s enough of me waffling on about my opinions. That’s not the point now is it? What we really want is to hear from you. Do you like sales on digital content, or just sales in general? Do you think they’re worthwhile, or do they frequently leave you feeling disappointed at the offers available?
colossalblue
I’m a total sucker for a discount. I’ve got Joe Danger, Sonic 4 and countless others to prove that from the PSN. I’ve also got a long list of shame in my Steam Library. Seriously, I’m not even sure I was sober for half of those purchases but they were cheap enough that it barely matters (although it all adds up).
The exception for me is the XBLA stuff, with the removal of actual monetary value I think the psychological impact of discounting is lost. Yes, a game reduced to 560MSP is probably a decent discount on an 800MSP game but I still don’t know exactly how much money I’m saving so I spend a couple of minutes trying to work it out. During that thinking time I usually realise that I might not have time to play the game and I invariably end up not getting it. There’s also the points issue for access. The PSN has far too many clicks to purchase and download content because of the way it is set up but at least it stores my credit card details. When I want to buy something from XBLA and have run out of points I either have to buy them direct from the dashboard for a third more than they should be or I have to order online or travel to a store and buy them. It’s an extra barrier to the impulsive sale purchase that I often stumble over.
Bodachi
Nothing better then getting something cheap. The problem I have is that with the minis sale is that 99p is really the price a mini should be in the first place.
I picked up a few games on the cheap over the holidays on the PSN store. Namely Pac-Man and Lara Croft. But Pricing on the PS store is just messed up. £48 for Mass Effect 2, really? So I could have the physical copy for cheaper, it will take up less hard drive space and I can re-sell it in the future to make some money back. It is a no brainier. I fell sorry for the guys who run the PS store how tell publishers that £32 for prototype might be too much and they go and ignore them and do it anyway.
The only way people are going to be willing to buy something online over a physical copy is price. Yet we see companies still don’t understand it.
I really do wish that the PS store would have sales on the same scale as steam. Give me bundles, let me buy some of those old games really cheap.
Ah well lets keep hoping.
Lord_Gremlin
The point is, steam makes maximum money from each game. first everybody who’s willing to spend $60 on the game buys it, then everybody who thinks it worth $40 and so on, and so far.
Steve
Yes I like sales. I usually by my games on or around release date. If not (which doesn’t happen that often, really), they get my attention again when they are on sale. So I see sales as a good way to get games I missed around release date.
bigdon23
I think that there should be competition in the DL market otherwise the psn store ect can keep there prices sky high for as long as they like.
at the moment pysical media is king but i think as time goes on developers will be forced by fair trade to sell DL codes for their games at outlet stores and sites like Play.com and amazon.
btime
there are other hobbies that have a large digital content aspect and the ‘shops’ that supply them tend to run a rolling discount program combined with periodic big sales. they seem to rely on people coming by to see what bargains are available and buying far more than they came for as they impulse buy things because of the reductions.
a price reduction on the PSN will make me much more likely to buy something that i normally would pass by.
Gaztee
I think the digital media is overpriced on the PSN, so usually the sale prices are what they should be already! I am a sucker for physical media sales, but rarely go to shops for them anymore. Think the last one I went to a shop for was for the shoot coz Argos had it on sale at £15!
stueeeee
I’m normally a sucker if I see something reduced in the special offers for the smaller PSN exclusive titles. Joe Danger and sonic 4 recently, flower was another and there’s a few others. When the Uncharted 2 dlc was reduced I went straight for it. But the prices on there for the retail games are ridiculous. Same on the PSN Video service as well, prices to rent and purchase are inflated to what they are in shops. Shame.