Why is there no Steam discount?

It would seem that digital distribution offers significant advantages for the distributor over a traditional brick-and-motor distribution scheme and that costs for servers, bandwidth, and support staff are far far lower than manufacturing, warehousing, shipping, and retailing costs. Not only this, but by eliminating transferability, digital distribution effectively squelches the second-hand game market. The consumer also doesn't get a tangible, easily transportable product to put on the bookshelf. The only benefit to me, as a consumer, is a modicum of convenience - I don't have to spend 10 minutes in the car on the way to a brick-and-motor store. Why then, is the price on Steam for new games (e.g. Bioshock, Half-Life 2, Might & Magic: Dark Messiah) the same as the price from any brick-and-mortar store?

Because companies like Gamestop and best buy would be pissed if you could find the same games at a discount.

It would also be much harder to stay in business when you competition has an unlimited supply for less.

well, the developpers need money when you buy a digital version

valve wants money from it

and the publisher of the game, even if you don't buy the game in stores, they want money, because anyway they had a contract with the developpers

It would seem that digital distribution offers significant advantages for the distributor over a traditional brick-and-motor distribution scheme and that costs for servers, bandwidth, and support staff are far far lower than manufacturing, warehousing, shipping, and retailing costs. Not only this, but by eliminating transferability, digital distribution effectively squelches the second-hand game market. The consumer also doesn't get a tangible, easily transportable product to put on the bookshelf. The only benefit to me, as a consumer, is a modicum of convenience - I don't have to spend 10 minutes in the car on the way to a brick-and-motor store. Why then, is the price on Steam for new games (e.g. Bioshock, Half-Life 2, Might & Magic: Dark Messiah) the same as the price from any brick-and-mortar store?

twocinc

Because companies like Gamestop and best buy would be pissed if you could find the same games at a discount.

It would also be much harder to stay in business when you competition has an unlimited supply for less.

Peter_Darkstar

That begs the question...

Who cares what Best Buy and GS think?

Where I'm from it's actually much more expensive buying games from Steam than just get a regular copy.. So obviously I'm gonna get the physical product instead of buying a download.. Makes sense.BounceDK

True, even bioshock is cheaper if you wanna buy a physical copy instead of the steam version.

Since they are saving money by not shipping a physical product, who gets the money? Valve or the Devs ?

But yeah, I do agree that it should be cheaper, but tbh that won't happen as people are lazy and cba waiting for the post / driving to the store ;p

[QUOTE="Peter_Darkstar"]

Because companies like Gamestop and best buy would be pissed if you could find the same games at a discount.

It would also be much harder to stay in business when you competition has an unlimited supply for less.

Johnny_Rock

That begs the question...

Who cares what Best Buy and GS think?

I think the publishers of the games probably care, a lot. I would guess brick and mortar stores account for the lion's share of their business (and profit). With that said, I do think there should be a discount on digitally purchased games. Why pay the same price to get less? Personally, it's not an issue. I don't really buy games on-line because I like to have a physical manual and not a .pdf file.

So I don't really see a huge price drop in downloadable games until the games are only available for download.

What are you talking about? Nearly every game that I've seen in the massive library has cheaper prices than general retailers. On top of that, they are ALWAYS offering discounts and bundle deals, which in effect, work out cheaper than buying all of the games from retailers. Far cheaper in fact.Angurvadal_88

This is true for older games. I sepcifically referred to new games in my original post (the examples I provided were Half Life 2, M&M:DM, and Bioshock - all priced exactly the same as retail on release date.) I really like Steam's back catalog of older games and have purchased a few of those - making those games available easily and for cheap is a great service. Cutting out the retailer and not offering any of that savings to me is not a great service, particularly since I can't re-sell the game. I really like the idea of digital download and I think Steam's model works except for this issue. I will say that Steam tends to offer discounts for new games before the retail outlets do (a few months after release.) If Steam offered Bioshock for $39.99 instead of $49.99, I would already own it. As it is, I'll buy someone else's copy off eBay or wait until the game is discounted.

My opinion is that Valve/publishers can do whatever they want. However, my personal belief is that we are being jipped a bit. It is in fact cheaper to produce games and distribute them over a service like Steam than using brick and mortar stores.

And this idea that GS or Best Buy would get mad is a little ridiculous, given the fact that they often sell games under the MSRP. You can buy Jade Empre on Steam for $40 or go to Best Buy and pick it up for $30.

If Steam offered Bioshock for $39.99 instead of $49.99, I would already own it. As it is, I'll buy someone else's copy off eBay or wait until the game is discounted.

twocinc

Not a good idea, with the online activation and whatnot.