Valve: Are Games Too Expensive?

[MIFIVE]

That is the message Valve Software President Gabe Newell gave the assembled developers at the annual DICE Summit on Wednesday.

[Ban Em All]

they are. if you think about it, when you buy at lets say gamestop, you are getting a case, a booklet, a hard copy of the game. when you buy through steam, you just get the little software on your account, and if your account gets hacked, oh well. kiss that 50 bucks good bye

[[OnA]Sloppy]

they are. if you think about it, when you buy at lets say gamestop, you are getting a case, a booklet, a hard copy of the game. when you buy through steam, you just get the little software on your account, and if your account gets hacked, oh well. kiss that 50 bucks good bye

meh, imo the only way your account gets hacked is you fuck up, and don't listen to there advice. it's not like people just stumble upon your password. steam is great for buying games, it's not overpriced, also if your account gets "hacked" you can get it back, if you have your CC info.

[RAMBO]

meh, imo the only way your account gets hacked is you fuck up, and don't listen to there advice. it's not like people just stumble upon your password. steam is great for buying games, it's not overpriced, also if your account gets "hacked" you can get it back, if you have your CC info.

X2 I completely agree.

[D-MAN]

they are. if you think about it, when you buy at lets say gamestop, you are getting a case, a booklet, a hard copy of the game. when you buy through steam, you just get the little software on your account, and if your account gets hacked, oh well. kiss that 50 bucks good bye

meh, imo the only way your account gets hacked is you fuck up, and don't listen to there advice. it's not like people just stumble upon your password. steam is great for buying games, it's not overpriced, also if your account gets "hacked" you can get it back, if you have your CC info.

Who really needs the booklet, the hard copy of the game, and the case as well? all you need is the software. And as was said earlier you CAN get your games back...

[Boats N' Hoes]

You have just as much chance of breaking your disk as you have of getting your game or account hacked.

So IMO they're about the same.

[RAMBO]

Also, once you install with the disk, you need to download a fuck ton of updates before you even get to play. I guess if your talking about single player only games, without online content, buy the disk. If it is a online MP game, just by from steam.

[Ban Em All]

you are sort of missing my point. it cost 50 bucks at the game store for a game that comes with a case and hard copy of the game. while on steam you are only getting the software for the same price, yeah, who cares about the case and cd, but they are still charging more and you do get less.

[RAMBO]

Same prices, and it takes more time and gas to go to the store.

[[OnA]Sloppy]

you are sort of missing my point. it cost 50 bucks at the game store for a game that comes with a case and hard copy of the game. while on steam you are only getting the software for the same price, yeah, who cares about the case and cd, but they are still charging more and you do get less.

yea, but you don't have to go to the store, i see your point, but the availability of steam, and their game library make it worth it imo. And the bulkness the companies buy the disks/cases it comes out to less then a dollar i would assume per unit. Plus you can dl at about 1000kb/s if your internet is fast enough, shit i install games on steam faster then i install a disk.

[Ban Em All]

Plus you can dl at about 1000kb/s if your internet is fast enough, shit i install games on steam faster then i install a disk.

lol, thats nice, but my internet connection sucks balls at 300 kb/s!!!!! fuckin slow internet

[fury]

Same prices, and it takes more time and gas to go to the store.

plus you can resell the game when u beat it,screw DLing i like the whole package with bells and whistles sittin on my shelf

[Rev. Jim Jones]

You can resale ports like Bio-Shock or Dead Space when done playing them, but Steam is better as you'll never lose a game.

[Ban Em All]

Same prices, and it takes more time and gas to go to the store.

plus you can resell the game when u beat it,screw DLing i like the whole package with bells and whistles sittin on my shelf

yeah, it is quite nice, i like it when my friends see how many games i have

[RAMBO]

Can't you always leave your browser open on this page.

[Ban Em All]

Can't you always leave your browser open on this page.

hey dumb ass, i have more games than just steam. iin total i probably have around 25-30

[Shadow of Enigma]

umm, just my $0.02: games these days really are too expensive. I mean sure you get all the extra crap if you go out and buy a game from a physical location...but who really needs all that extra paper? And another thing, expensive single player games with the standard online gaming...gah that stuff really grinds me gears . Ex): Crysis and Crysis: Warhead, both bitchin awesome games.....but only in single player...and even then u'd need a pretty sweet rig to play with nice graphics. $50-60 (including tax?) definately not worth it in my book. However i'd happily plop down the $60 whatever for a game with insane re-playability or badass Multiplayer such as CS S, DOD S, or even The Orange Box hell even Guild Wars is incredible value for $30-40 (now)...umm..anywayz going back to valve and their expensive games..just 1 last point: i'm really digging all those crazy sales they have on steam. I heard once they were selling TF2 at 75% off  . Also an article about valve's awesomesauce price slashing hit digg a couple of days ago (check it out under the gaming section)...so...yea..

[MIFIVE]

ya thats the point they're making, they can have a weekend where they sell Left 4 Dead for $25 and make as much if not more money off that sale then the week the game is released

[Shadow of Enigma]

yea apparently on that 75% off TF2 sale, sales on that game alone jumped 1400% during the time of the sale....zomg!

[koei]

My position on this is the cost savings from producing a boxed copy should be passed to the consumer.  Whether you buy a game online or a boxed version, they each have their own upsides and downsides.  Ultimately it depends on what you want.  If the boxed version is better for you then get that.  If the online version is better then buy it online. 

Another thing to consider is that for an online game, even though the publisher doesn't have to spend money on producing physical things for the game, they still have to spend money on servers to host the games.

[RAMBO]

That is true, but with valve, the have only a few dedicated servers for actual game play. They have several for downloading but with all the money they make from people buying offline, it probably doesn't matter how much it costs to run the servers.