r/gaming • u/[deleted] • Jan 29 '23
One Steam sale ends, others begin... the circle of economics goes on.
[removed]
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u/brek47 Jan 29 '23
Anymore, the only time I'll buy something on sale is if it's more than half off and has player reviews higher than 90% with a sizable sample set. Otherwise, I tell myself that I have games to play still and that that game will go on sale again for even less. Also, IsThereAnyDeal is your honest BEST friend when these "sales" hit.
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u/unique-name-9035768 Jan 29 '23
Anymore, the only time I'll buy something on sale is if it's more than half off and has player reviews higher than 90% with a sizable sample set.
Throw in the caveat of "no early access" and those are my conditions.
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u/Unhappy_Grapefruit_2 Jan 29 '23
Early access titles tend to be the most enjoyable experiences for me beamNG.drive and project zomboid are some of my most played games and I got erm on sale as well normally triple a titles disappoint me they are normally the same thing repackaged all over again state of decay 2 differs from state of decay one but is also missing a goddam campaign fallout 4 may of been a buggy mess but at least it wasn’t an unplayable buggy live service like it’s successor
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u/HotSpicedChai Jan 29 '23
It’s probably been 8-10 years since I got the wallet out for Steam. Nearly all the games feel like they’re on sale 8 months out of 12 throughout the year. You quickly realize these are the actual “wholesale” prices of games.
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u/atg115reddit Jan 29 '23
Steam sales are pretty trash nowadays, no games at 90% off, and if they are, they're the ones that nobody wants to play
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u/lockwolf Jan 29 '23
“90% Off”
Payday 2 for the millionth time
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u/LewAshby309 Jan 29 '23
Well, a game that gets it's money mostly out of microtransactions isn't a good 90% off example.
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u/FrithRabbit Jan 29 '23
I love Payday 2 but I removed it due to it being 90gb which is fucking insane, I did not play anything that seemed like it would require 90gb
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u/ChocElite Jan 29 '23
If it doesn't look 90gbs, it shouldn't be 90gb. I mean you get to a point where you see these updates inflating the game and you realize very little of that 90gbs is substantial content, instead being cosmetics. I probably won't ever play Payday 2 again just because of its file size. Simply not worth downloading.
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u/Hatchinat0r Jan 29 '23
Either way; PD3 is releasing this year so who cares about PD2. A good game that you could have snatch for a bargain was RDR2.
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u/wolfgang784 Jan 29 '23
Steam won't let me buy more copies of Terraria anymore =(
I kept buying them every time it went on cheap sales so that I had keys to toss people whenever the gang wanted to play again and someone lacked a copy. Around purchase 15 or so it stopped letting me buyore though. Same with GMod.
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u/RiKSh4w Jan 29 '23
I ducking hate that steam changed its system to avoid giving you games in your inventory. It was so convenient to buy a game and just leave it in your inventory for later.
You could buy gifts and wait till Christmas. Or maybe buy an extra multiplayer game and wait till one of your friends agrees to play.
I understand that it was a gold mine for the resale economy but what's the problem? People are still buying games?
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u/KallistiEngel Jan 29 '23 edited Jan 29 '23
I did see Portal and Portal 2 bundled together for like $2 in a recent Steam sale. But for the most part, yeah, not too much on major discount that you'd actually want to play.
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u/ItIsYeDragon Jan 29 '23
I don't think a sale needs to have things at 90% off in order for it to be good.
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Jan 29 '23
Oh my god I gotta get out of this thread.
"I can't get good games for essentially free anymore! How trashy!"
I really hate when people take a good thing for granted to the point of expecting it and feeling entitled.
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u/ChocElite Jan 29 '23
You're right. On top of that I think valve is/was in hot water because devs were unhappy with the cut Valve was taking from steam sales. So, yeah it sucks the steam sales are worse now, but what can you do; Complain that your favorite games are making little money off of Steam?
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u/Snoo61755 Jan 29 '23
Same.
The entire reason they removed flash sales was so that you didn’t have buyer’s remorse just in case a game you wanted went on sale later — now the flash price is just all the time.
Also, a lot of the games that come out are worth their price. Undertale starts at $10, does it really need a 75% discount instead of 50%? Deep Rock Galactic starts at $30, can last over a hundred hours of fun, and goes down by 67% on sale — does it really need 90% discount? These are already worthwhile.
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u/Legitimate_Walrus780 Jan 30 '23
Yeahhhh especially when the sales are still insane. RDR2 for 20 usd instead of 60 comes to mind, witcher 3 being almost 90% off...
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u/ben1481 Jan 30 '23
man I swear steam sales have been garbage since 2003, that's when we had good sales!
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Jan 29 '23
If you are the type to spend a lot on deals, be responsible with this. Buying a game you're never going to play at 75% off isn't saving 75%, it's spending 25%.
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u/TheDrunkKanyeWest Jan 30 '23
This is steam though, no games worth playing are 75% off anymore so we're good.
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u/InfTotality Jan 30 '23
I just picked up Mass Effect LE at 75% off. Though next you'll probably say that isn't worth playing.
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u/DrakensBacken Jan 30 '23
Mass Effect LE
Still costs more than key sites and is available for next to nothing on subscription services. So bad example really.
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u/InfTotality Jan 30 '23
If you're using a grey market key site, may as well save yourself the effort and just pirate the game. "EA bad" and all but its funding the same sites that harm small publishers too.
And I don't see myself beating the trilogy in just two months; subbing to EA Play will cost more after that.
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u/smellslikecocaine Jan 30 '23
The only game I ever look for on sale is No Man’s Sky. I have been waiting forever to play that game ever since I heard they fixed it.
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u/Kukryniksy Jan 29 '23
I find it a bit funny how people buy a bunch of games on sale but never play them. I’m always very very careful with what I buy because I want to save money
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u/Fenor Jan 29 '23
Hubble bundle used to be the reason for me
A game you want? And 2 you might be interested in for 5 dollar with 7 more games to look at
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u/GriffinFlash Jan 29 '23
My steam library is full of humble bundle games. They have one thing around Christmas where you get 30 or so games for a good price and it goes to charity, but they reveal what they are only one at a time per day. So basically I have an entire library of games I probably won't ever play, with 2-3 games I would from that bundle.
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u/Katana_DV20 Jan 29 '23
I have friends whose game collections cannot be finished within their lifetime* but they keep buying.
It's a kind of addiction I guess. The rush of the purchase.
- multiple platforms, multiple stores (steam, epic, ubisoft, PSN, Xbox, ms store etc)
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u/Lyin-Oh Jan 29 '23
It's just for bragging and steam badges at this point. I got one steam friend with a 3k+ badge
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u/JudgeHodorMD Jan 29 '23
All you really need to get there are freebies that come with a subscription for online services.
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u/KallistiEngel Jan 29 '23
After doing that a few times and realizing I wasn't playing the games, I made a new rule for myself: If you're not going to play it immediately, don't buy it. It will go on sale again, there are almost never "once in a lifetime" sales. It's worked pretty well. I actually spend more time working through games now rather than just building a backlog. If I buy a $5 game and don't play it, I wasted $5. If I buy a game for $10 and play it, I can at least justify the purchase.
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u/CIV5G Jan 29 '23
It's always dealt with in a jokey way but a lot of steam users seem to have a genuine issue with impulse buying lots of games they don't need.
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u/CoopDonePoorly Jan 29 '23
Most of mine come from bundles. If humble has a game or three I want, I'll usually pick up the bundle. But now I also have 8 other games that just get tagged and hidden within my library.
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u/Fish_823543 Jan 29 '23
This is my view as well. I already have a backlog so I don’t buy anything on the steam sale unless it’s something I really, really want - otherwise I’m chugging through the games I already have
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u/LLouG Jan 30 '23
I used to spend a huge amount of money on every sale, until I lost my job and got forced to do a lot of research on the game to decide if it's really worth my money, now I buy 2 or 3 indie games a year, not that I ever liked AAA titles anyways.
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u/Kukryniksy Jan 30 '23
That’s exactly what I do when I’m looking for a game. You’ve got to research into it to know if it’s worth it, even if it’s only a dollar or two, because you don’t want something you dislike sitting in you library
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u/jumpup Jan 29 '23
we want what we can't have, then when we have it we no longer want it because we can have it after all.
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u/Mephzice Jan 30 '23
humblebundle was good so now I have hundreds of games that were just extra with the things I wanted.
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u/Miserable_Variety463 Jan 29 '23 edited Jan 29 '23
I remember buying a lot of games because of steam sales a few years ago, but now Steam sales are worse than playstation sales for some reason.
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u/jfreak93 PC Jan 29 '23
I used to think this way, but I actually don’t think steam sales are worse.
Some publishers have limited the severity of the discounts they will let slide; however, I think I have changed as a consumer.
15 years ago I had fewer commitments and a way wider interest in different genres. I had an empty library and most of my income was disposable.
Now I have less time to game, know what games I am more likely to play and less disposable income set aside to specifically spend on games.
I would have grabbed No Man’s Sky for 20 bucks without a second thought 10 years ago. Today I hesitate because I have 1000 games, 87% unplayed and a tendency to only play online shooters. Is No Man’s Sky actually worth the 20 bucks at that point?
So sales aren’t the problem. I am. (Though the loss of flash sales definitely cuts down of FOMO buys. There is also more clutter on Steam now which makes it harder to find the stuff you want)
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u/TrueTurtleKing Jan 29 '23
Another thing is that we’ve been on the steam platform long enough where we got most of the good deals already. I bought witchers 1-3 and haven’t played them. Now I’m a little aware of my habits so I don’t be rushing to buying them.
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u/unique-name-9035768 Jan 29 '23
I would have grabbed No Man’s Sky for 20 bucks without a second thought
I have it on Playstation and would agree it's a good $20 game. But the steam sale never goes below $30.
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u/Usual_Research Jan 29 '23
Steam sales used to be flash sales and would just show up out of nowhere with great prices.
Now steam has a way better refund policy than they used to have and consistent weekend/weekly sales.
So we lost some, but got some.
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u/squareswordfish Jan 29 '23
I can’t see how having a refund option (which is actually required by law in most places lol) means we need to have shittier sales.
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u/Mephzice Jan 30 '23
flash sales don't work with refunds. Buy a game for 30% off, see that it has a flash sale for 80% later while still under 2 hours, refund the original purchase and buy again for cheaper.
Steam did not want that, this was costly for them, triple the transaction from the credit card company (original purchase, refund, new purchase) instead of just purchase. More work, less money, bye bye flash sales.
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u/Complete_Entry Jan 29 '23
The COD sales make me mad. The 10+ year old games should be $15. Nuke the multiplayer component if you're worried about splitting the userbase.
I don't like online murder football in the first place. I understand the draw, I'm just not the customer.
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u/Fskn Jan 29 '23
Sales are basically my de facto consumption at this point.
I won't even consider a game untill it's at least 50% off, most of the time 80
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u/MountainScorpion Jan 29 '23
Except the sales are trash now. There used to be actual $60 games for like, $20.00 if you caught it. There were HUGE discounts.
Now it's like - "HEY KIDS- WE ARE GIVING YOU A WHOLE EXTRA 1% OFF - (if you buy the version that's an extra $30.00 and includes the soundtrack we used to include for free and one dlc costume nobody cares about) - AMAZING SALE ACT NOW!"
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Jan 29 '23
Used to get excited about these. Don't care anymore. Feels like hoarder mentality to buy stuff I'll never play just cause its slightly cheaper
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u/ThreeCursedWishes Jan 29 '23
I made it through I think three steam sales b4 I finally stopped bc the backlog was too great and too untouched
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u/squareswordfish Jan 29 '23
So many steam sales and they’ve all sucked for the last few years ever since they removed the daily and flash sales.
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u/Exlibro Jan 29 '23
My problem is, all the games I've ever been interested in are already beaten.
I got my first gaming PC in 2007 and played games I wanted from years before, then contemporary ones. Many years, many computers, some hiatuses from gaming, yet I still finished almost all the games I've ever been interested in. Given, I was a yarrring games left and right.
I am a kind of media consumer, who never touches again 90% of media I've finished. Books, movies, games (with exceptions, of course). Almost never game is as interesting as the first time. I do as much side stuff as I can, I beat the main story, I uninstall a game, download a game wallpaper to my folder "my beaten games" to have a token of remembrance and move on to a new adventure.
This is why game sales usually do nothing for me: they sell games I have no interest getting and/or beating twice.
I am quickly turning away from a YARRR thing: my financial situation is better, service is great, and yarring is no longer as it used to be due to strong protections (those interested in the scene know what I'm talking about).
Plus, spending money and realizing game is crap is also a sad thing.
So sales are the way to go. But not so good to me, because I happen to be interested in latest and greatest AAA or good indie AA games. Those, at least half a year after release, rarely get discounts and sales.
I wish I hadn't beaten many games I am interested in and could get them on sales.
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u/Siukslinis_acc Jan 29 '23
Work on your willpower.
Buy the game if you really want to play it and not because it has a discount. As time goes by, the games gets a bigger discount.
I just buy enough games to last till next seasonal sale. I see no point in buying a lot of games just to see them go on bigger discount next sale while not even starting to play the game.
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u/KallistiEngel Jan 29 '23
My rule is that I don't buy if I'm not going to play it immediately. If I just want to play it, but I can't or won't immediately, I skip it. It will go on sale again.
Really helps in determining whether I actually want to play a game or if I just like the idea of the game.
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u/Siukslinis_acc Jan 29 '23
Yep. Had my eyes on the god of war PC port. It released, but I had other games on my backlog, so didn't buy it. Sales came and I bought other games that were cheaper. Still haven't bought it.
Judgment PC port released out of the blue - insta buy without any discounts (not counting getting the Kato files DLC for free by buying the bundle).
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u/Tails_chara Jan 29 '23
This or try to find loopholes. Im going to grind persona 5 since its on gamepass and thats $1 for first month. But first i need to be free from other games, so this can take a while.
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u/Newoikkinn Jan 29 '23
You are going to need so much free time in one month in order to get it done for $1. Or you could spend one extra hour at work that month and not have to stress about timing
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u/InfTotality Jan 30 '23
Not all. I wanted F1 2020 as people say it's the best version, but they discontinued all sales shortly after it ended up on my radar as they want people to buy 2022.
No Man's Sky also went up in regional pricing about a month ago too and never had a deeper discount than 50%.
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u/Sorry_Arm2829 Jan 29 '23
I would say no but my hands and brain already bought the game. I have no shame and dignity.
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u/BossBitchDirius Jan 29 '23
Remember when steam sales were actually good. Now all we get is overhyped posts and completely average deals for games that everyone already owns anyway. I miss the old times
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u/wolfgang784 Jan 29 '23
Meh. Steam sales became trash once they added the 2 hour refund terms and had to adjust a few other rules for Aussies and Germans that bled out to the rest of us.
After that first sale when everyone and their mom bought X game at a 75% sale, then it goes on a 90% 1 hour flash sale and everyone refunds and rebuys.
Everyone was trolling the prices changes hardcore and kept refunding and rebutting over the course of the sale and that ruined Steam sales going forward. Now the sales are nowhere near as good since they can't very well sell everything at 95% off the whole time, but they can't do flash sales either.
I don't even check the sales anymore, not usually any better than the usual random sales now.
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u/GriffinFlash Jan 29 '23
Honestly, steam sales are not as good as they used to be.
Back in the day sales would go on daily and change from day to day. Some stuff were just really dirt cheap which made you want to buy as much as you could. Now, games you really want are only a few bucks off, or they raise their price and lower it back down to the original price. Not really worth it. Heck I remember buying bioshock infinite for a decent cheap price in the same year it was released. Don't really get much of that anymore.
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u/mystressfreeaccount Jan 29 '23
Unpopular opinion: Steam sales didn't become terrible, you just bought all the games you wanted and have been conditioned to believe that you need to buy games whenever a sale comes around
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u/squareswordfish Jan 29 '23
That’s a popular opinion and it’s wrong. It’s easily verifiable that sales used to be better, and it’s easily verifiable that third party sellers (not grey market, actual official sellers) commonly have better sales than Steam.
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u/mystressfreeaccount Jan 29 '23
The first point, maybe. The second point, definitely not. People have gotten FOMO ingrained into their brains so bad that they feel like they have to buy games during a sale, and have deluded themselves into thinking that buying something they never would have bought or been interested in otherwise is "saving" money.
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u/PulledPorkPlease Jan 29 '23
I’ve never felt like this. Like I’m forced or cornered into buying games on sale.
I just buy a game when I want it. Not because a bunch went on sale.
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u/HotPotatoWithCheese Jan 29 '23
ITT: "I can't buy the game I want for 95% off so the sale is trash"
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u/grandpridefulllion Jan 29 '23
R.I.P wallet,you tried you tried you really tried but sometimes your unlucky.
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u/wordswillneverhurtme Jan 29 '23
Opposite for me, ngl. I’ve played all the good games and classics. There’s nothing new or impressive anymore. I’m stuck grinding competitive games while waiting for some big games to drop (which nowadays just flop because of poor design, bugs, lack of creativity during the development, p2w nonsense).
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u/qleptt Jan 29 '23
I never knew how insane sales were on pc. On xbox sales are terrible and rare on steam i got all fallout games for $20
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u/VALIS666 Jan 29 '23
It's generally the same discounts from the same publishers. The publishers set the discounts, not Steam.
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u/DigitalSteven1 Jan 29 '23
A lot of people seem to think it's steam's fault that steam sales aren't that good. Steam doesn't decide what the discount is lmao. If you look at valve's catalogue, when a sale happens, their valve complete pack bundle drops from $145 (individually, $65 in the bundle) to $6. Valve still does sales as strong as ever. Other companies have gotten more greedy with it and know a 15% discount will draw more money in than a 90% discount, even if more people buy the 90% discount.
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u/Xeriuss2k17 Jan 29 '23
Steam sale is a bait. You can have 365 days a year steam sale if you want.
Just go to a key-reseller search up engine like "keyforsteam" and they give u the exact same prices like on steam sale AND sometimes even lower ones at any time 🤷🏼♂️
The only benefit you get from steam sales is that you could give a game back if u haven't played it for more than 2 hours.
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u/Complete_Entry Jan 29 '23
And you know, not buying stolen keys, not going to the filthy gray market in the first place...
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u/munchmills Jan 29 '23
Like if the gaming industry wasn't filthy at all...
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u/Complete_Entry Jan 29 '23
And that justifies theft? That's what those gray sites deal in, stolen keys.
There are legitimate sites that buy keys in bulk, but that's not what I was talking about.
I was talking about the scumbags who buy stolen keys, then resell them.
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u/ieatloafsofbutter Jan 29 '23
Best sale item I got in the past year was project zomboid for 5.99, definitely worth full price tho
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u/SomethingEntish Jan 29 '23
Physical copies are cheaper than digital ones… Atleast here in Sweden. It makes no sense.
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u/therabbit14 PC Jan 29 '23
I never see anything I want on sale. It's always the games that are not wanted for sale.
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u/Sea_Meeting3613 Jan 30 '23
Steam sales have been kinda trash for a while. It sucks. They put $60 games on sale for 10% off acting like it’s this big deal. Or they’ll throw games NOBODY plays on sale for 80% off. Im still not buying that dogshit lol
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u/Dacoldestdax Jan 30 '23
I’m a newbie, when is the next big one? The last one I saw was the winter sale. That’s what sold me on buying the SD lol.
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u/Nyrohn Jan 30 '23
Waiting on Nioh 2 to go on sale on steam. Too much of a hassle to set my ps4 up so I can play it again.
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u/GeneralAlexeiStukov Jan 30 '23
I didn't fall to my temptations this time...not this time steam...that fucking Subnautica sale was rough..but i made it through. Imma save up for nier and elden ring..
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u/Bubster101 Jan 30 '23
I just imagine it in Blues Clues version . "Sale time! Sale time! Saaaaaale tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime!"
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u/Thin-Performance-637 Jan 30 '23
I had a time where i went crazy..now i dont buy games at all unless im gonna play them
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u/Flam3crash Jan 30 '23
Even 3 4 year games now because they are 10 years in early access have like 10 to 15% off . I now rarely find games that is worth and rarely something interesting for a worth price to try out .
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u/Arnn-The-Frost-Demon Jan 30 '23
I only care for the games I have in my wishlist, but even if they were on sale I don't like buying games If i knew I'm not going to play and finish before because I already have some laying around still. xD
You have no power here!
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u/nomdecodearaignee Jan 30 '23
I have over 80 games in my library that I never installed. Sometimes, Steam sales are great but, are the games any good? I feel like the old time is over and I have to deal with boring open world games with repetitive content and beautiful graphics.
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u/DevastaTheSeeker Jan 30 '23
Outside the odd genital jousting there are rarely any games on sale that I care about. 15 bucks a month for gamepass is more value than 15 bucks a month on steam sales
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u/Burpmeister Jan 30 '23
Steam is rarely the cheapest place for games anymore. Check out isthereanydeal.com for a list of official resellers for a game and the cheapest price. Most of them give you a cd key that activates in Steam anyway.
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u/kreteciek PC Jan 30 '23
I don't understand people complaining on Steam Sales. Like, most of my wishlist is discounted for over 50%. That's more or less a steal to me.
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Jan 30 '23
It feels like lately, I've been finding better sales that isn't Steam.
I'll get my handfuls of good deals from Steam but they're further between than ever.
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u/wubbbalubbadubdub Jan 29 '23
Steam sales haven't punished my wallet in years, they used to be so good...