Valve thinks games are too expensive...

http://www.edge-online.com/features/valve-are-games-too-expensive

While I'd certainly buy more games, I don't think the increases would be as dramatic. A good number of my purchases during sales is the "Can't let it expire" kind of purchase.

 

Hooray valve! You have gone even higher in my book

 

Yeah, always thought of them of one of those rare "Gamers First" companies in an age of rising prices, proprietary objects, and DRM.

 

To me Valve Gives great games back to the people you cant ask for more

Then those insane STEAM deals.....awesome

 

They saw the revenue boost by selling l4d at 25 bucks. They made way more money selling it at a lower price than they did at a higher price. Go figure that they want to change the price model. I hope others follow suite.

 

i know that's what i like about PC games though the fact that it is still cheaper then console games by $10 maybe even more someday...

 

i hope steam become less drm-like some day.

 

Anybody remember the time when games were 15-30 bucks a pop? Good times, goood times.

 

People were earning much less back then though. But yeah, would be nice if games were cheaper. I would definitely take less time to consider before committing to buy.

 

Exactly

I read an article (on gamespot) I think where the person interviewed someone from valve, and they said they were very happy and surprised by the results and hou much revenue they generated in one weekend

It was more than like 1/2 months total sales (not sure which months)

I also agree, hope more companies follow suit

 

Hmm, I dont have any intake valves on my engine, their are only exhaust ones

K-TRON

 

that's a gargantous sales boost

 

Yup, they should have more sales like that. They attracted people like me, who haven't bought a Steam game in over 4 years LOL. That Left 4 Dead deal was too sweet to pass up.

 

3000% INCREASE cant argue with that huh?

 

.... You mean gargantuan?

 

no gargantous

 

As much as I agree with Valve's numbers, there's something I don't see fit. Here's why: many of us had indeed purchased the game because of the lower price selling point (thought it was not worth the original price tag); however, there are those people who purchased the game because they thought it was a steal! I mean, it makes everyone feels good when they had just purchased something that supposedly worth a lot more at a much lower cost.

Now, if a game starts out a much lower price point, which means less head room for discount sales. The lack of sales might turn some people off. I know I feel good when I saved a bunch of money by buying games when they are on sale.

An example, Circuit City close out sales: people still buys their marked up products because there's a sales sticker on them. In some cases, the sales price is higher than the price before the product goes on sale. In conclusion, I think the game industry doesn't need to cut original sales price, what they really need is tons of regular discount sales.

EDIT: Now I even got a witness statement

 

All I can say is ...... Thank God for Gamefly.

 

I agree 1000% (extra '0' was on purpose)
I did not hesitate to spend $25 on L4D (even though its worth $20 imo)
and i did not hesitate to buy Rainbow 6 vegas 2 (when it was $10)
nor did i hesitate to buy Rome total war for $10 (well, its old but still)

if all games were $30 and less, i would buy alot more games. Infact, i got 2 games (R6V2 and L4D) that i can't even play till another few weeks (computer) just because it was such a good deal xD (i would have gotten them any way, but they were on sale, so better get them cheap than not. meaning i was planning on buying them, but they were actually cheaper than i expected to buy them for, so i figured why not, ill save money)

go valve!

 

i want to see warhammer 2 and GTA4 at $25 that aint gonna happen soon though......

oh well ill buy them anyway!

 

i wouldnt mind at all if they got cheaper.....price wise .....minium wage doesn't allow heavy gamin

 

What would b nice if they did lets say monthly sales.
Put a game like L4D once a month on sale, that would attract lots of ppl and would keep everyone guessing what will come out next and keep steam very popular.

 

So basically, you can sell a game at $50, and get 1million people to buy the game, or sell it at half the price, and get 3 million people to buy it. This way your increasing sales, creating a larger user base, and making the individual buyer more satisfied. It's a win/win all around. So why not?

 

This also allows for a larger mod base and more of an opportunity for future DLC sales.

 

I. Love. Valve!

 

<--- Valve Fanboy

 

I got in on that L4D deal.

 

Thank goodness for Valve. I always wondered when a company would actually realize this. I've preached this years ago. Apparently nobody ever did an actual business case. They just sell it for $40 or $50 because everyone else does.

It makes sense, there's a tip level where the value outweighs the price, and then you'll see the sales skyrocket. I'm willing to pay $50 if the game offers quality, dedicated support, and takes feedback seriously. Oh, and eliminate DRM too.

 

I respect Valve very much, this company is the best. They actually care about what computers the majority owns and how they should develop there games to run on the majority. Good Job Valve! I love you!

 

Dollars were worth much more money.

 

How do you afford dual 3870's on minimum wage??

 

He must have saved for ages, and starved himself

 

Valve is the most awesome video gaming company EVER.


As other posters have said, they are definately put the customers first. (Most companies on the other hand are shareholder-orientated). Valve is a private corporation with private ownership, which means that they are less interested in profit and more willing to follow their dreams.


Not only do they make some of the best games ever (HL1, HL2, CSS, TF2, L4D) but they also understand the gamer.


They are even releasing the L4D extra content for free on BOTH the PC and xbox 360. I mean no other company would release free content for the xbox 360, they would lose so much profit. That's why Valve rules, they care more about their customers than about profit. They are the epitome of the conscience-driven Private corporation.

 

I agree, Valve does seems to listen to their customers and I really enjoy games made by a company like Valve. On the other hand, someone needs to learn from Valve, *cough* Apple *Cough*, I guess private ownership is only beneficial if the company actually pursues a dream rather than profits.

 

Didn't Valve sell Half-Life 2 for $1.99 during its anniversary? Cheaper games = more sales. You can either make a $10 profit per game and sell 1 million copies ($10 million), or you can make a $5 profit per game and sell 3 million copies ($15 million).

 

That's the exact same thing I said... Also, it was HL1.

But I think the reason Valve is doing this is that they are not engaged in the stock market. Therefor they don't rely on people's investments and can risk whatever amount of money they want, because that money belongs to THEM not the investors. This is why no one really knows what they actually make, because being a private company, they don't ever have to tell anyone. Most companies, EA, Activision, etc. are publicly traded, and are required to make profit every quater, or risk people taking their investment out of the company, and because of this they won't take risks or try anything new, they'd rather just jam as much DRM on something as possible, and throw it out ASAP in order to try and break profits.

 

Valve=Steam?

Does it cost additional money to open a steam account or to play games online through gamespy?

 

L4D was such a great deal I had to buy it, and it was on impulse, I didn't need to read reviews. It's a valve game with a reputation, it had to be good! And now I have the trust and interest in Valve's Steam that I'm keeping tabs on their new sales, because they beat the heck out of best buy or gamestop. The best they can ask for is happy customers waiting to jump on their next big deal, and they've got it.

 

You missed Portal :confused2: :cry:

Free to create an account (gamespy isn't part of Steam). Valve is the company, Steam is their distribution(? May not be the best term) client (buy, play, etc. from one account)

 

I feel the need to point out that Valve did not actually make Counterstrike or Team Fortress originally. They were made as third party mods by third parties who were then bought by Valve.

Their sequels are made by Valve, though, and they rock.

 

Wow there seem to be a lot of Business people on these forums. You're right... Valve is a private company and is not "bound" to profits like most public companies. That is a very good thing in my opinion for a company like Valve, as opposed to a horrible company like EA that continuously shift new products without any regard as to quality. (EA sports titles are the biggest rip-offs in history).

You're absolutely right, which is why I made it a point to write "CSS" and "TF2" just for the sake of accuracy.


It's a good thing for you to point out though, we must always remember how important the modding community is. We need more awesome mods!

 

I love it cause Valve actually delivers on what they say should be done.

I also love it when EA tries something like this, i.e. when their CEO said they 'screwed up' with the mergers of Westwood and Maxis and they need to improve on the quality of their games, and then go on to release Red Alert 3 and Sim City: Societies which were both crap.

 

That's nice. I hope that Steam will sell games on-line with lower prices than retail stores (real-world ones). Because now I'd have to pay more for downloading a game from Steam than buying it in a store. Stupid...
So any sales in Steam are opportunity.

 

Yeah, so the price of games hasn't really changed.

 

Interesting

I didn't know that

Thanks for the info

 

EA is a failure :/

 

Epic fail at times

 

Wow, these guys got it right. It definitely takes a LOT more time, research, and good reviews for me to decide to buy a $50 game than for a $10-$20 game.

 

I think someone said this already, but can't find the post. There are two types of buyers, those who have to get it when it first comes out and those who drag their feet and plan to get it later. The discounts that come a few months after the initial release are a great way of getting the fence-sitters in the second category who might otherwise get distracted by something else and not buy the game.

I fall into the second category...couldn't help it when it was that good of a price. Too bad I have next to no time to play till I turn in my thesis