Why does the PC gaming industry still use such deceptive pricing? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 month ago by Buttflapper@lemmy.world to c/games@lemmy.world

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Battlefield 2042 is $60 right now. One of my friends on Steam plays Battlefield 2042 and I thought hey, that would be pretty cool to play with him. I'm sure it wouldn't be that much because that game came out a long time ago and was extremely poorly received and like, I'm sure it would be really easy to buy that game or get it now since it's been so long and again, very low reviews. The game is $60!! But when it goes on sale, it's like 8$, so 80% off. Truly unbelievable. Why do they do this? Like, they're basically trying to kill the game or something because no one in their right mind would pay $60 for this game, so 90% of the time when it's not on sale, no one buys it or wants to try it out... Also, lots of old games that are "on sale" constantly for like $5 and the base price is 40-60$, so it makes it seem like SUCH a good deal, when in reality, the value has just depreciated...

They never seem to lower the base cost of anything, making it deceptive. Is it really 80% off of a $60 game if no one in their right f*cking mind would pay that much for it ever?

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[-] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 37 points 1 month ago

The PC side of this is not all that bad, outside of EA and Ubisoft.

Meanwhile, Nintendo doesn't even have sales. Games that launched with the switch are still $60-70.

[-] elvith@feddit.org 9 points 1 month ago

Nintendo in my experience:

Physical: Get it right on release day (or in the first week after) in retail for about 40€, otherwise you will have to rely on rare good retail discounts to get it below 55€

Digital: Don’t you even dare to think about discounts

[-] PieMePlenty@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

I don't know how to feel about Nintendo pricing. On one hand, all of their games keep their value long after release, but that also means they are hard to get cheaply. I know when I sold my 8 3DS games a few years ago, I made about 230 eur which was pretty good for some used games. I dont play their games anymore but I'm not sure I'd even want to now since they never drop in price.

[-] Paradachshund@lemmy.today 4 points 1 month ago

I haven't owned a Nintendo console for many years now because I kept waiting for the cost to go down (it never has).

[-] Anivia@feddit.org 4 points 1 month ago

Yes, because the only people buying Nintendo Switch games are the ones who don't care about the price in the first place. If you want to save money on switch games you just pirate them

[-] unconfirmedsourcesDOTgov@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 1 month ago

Nintendo does have sales from time to time, they're just rarely great discounts. If you have a switch and you wishlist games they will email you if your wishlisted game goes on sale.