this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2023
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[–] [email protected] 47 points 11 months ago (2 children)

It hasn't. I've only bought ~4 games at full price the last decade, now I just wait for them to be around $20. The $70 price seems to be more focused on cashing in on people that buy on release, but prices go down all the same only like one year after release.

[–] BombOmOm 37 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Games that have fallen to $20 also have the nice advantage of having most of their bugs worked out and the vast majority of the balance passes complete. It's easily the best time to buy and play a game.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Depending on the game though the online scene may have died out by the time the game is discounted.

[–] Dagnet 5 points 11 months ago

Depending on the game the modding scene may be much better than at release

[–] hawgietonight 2 points 11 months ago

20€ mark is a common one for me also. Another benefit from waiting is that you can avoid newest hardware purchase

[–] [email protected] 32 points 11 months ago (2 children)

They can raise it to $90 if it makes them feel better and I’m still a buyer at $10 or less, and an immoral archivist until then.

[–] JoeKrogan 7 points 11 months ago

Preach it 🙌

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

SoF 2, still playing it to this day.

It's kinda funny how much faster it is now compared to when it came out, almost like the hardware got better or something

[–] [email protected] 28 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I always wait for sales. No way I'm aying $70

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Same here. I wait for sales.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I was very and am very tempted to get baulders gate 3, as all the good reviews and bg2 is one of the first pc games I remember playing with my dad. But still, I have not bought a new game at 60 in close to a decade.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

I made an exception for Baldur's Gate 3. I'm only human.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I wait until it costs 20 € or less. No need to hurry, if it's a game is good now, it will be good in 2 years.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago

Same. Especially since every game basically barely runs on release day, I don't get why people don't wait for a sale to get it.

If you pay $80 (or whatever) for a game that's full of bugs on release day, you're just a sucker.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

*it will be better

[–] kn33 20 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'm underutilizing my rig tbh. I've been playing primarily Factorio for the past few years. My monthly game spending is low. Tempted to get a steam deck for mobile Factorio with mods, though.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Just started playing Starsector. My rig isn't some obnoxious beast....but like Starsector doesn't even have a recommended cpu. You only need like 1gb of ram and a gfx card from over a decade ago.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago

There's nothing coming out AAA these days that's worth the price of admission or pre-ordering. Blizzard hasn't made anything worth playing for years, I don't give a shit about the yearly reskin of Call of Duty, Starfield was a try before you buy with Gamepass - it really feels there hasn't been anything in years worth getting at full price. Even Baulder's Gate, which I would consider worth the full price, I picked up below average price prior to official launch.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 11 months ago

I am pirating EVERYTHING now.

[–] BombOmOm 12 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Given that AAA games have become very samey, I have found myself drawn to more interesting titles from a plethora of other devs. These titles also have the nice advantage of almost never costing anywhere near $70 on release, not that I tend to buy them on release, I just add them to my wish-list while I buy something cheap that came out earlier.

[–] rustyriffs 9 points 11 months ago

I've never bought a $70 game and probably never will. $60 was too much for me. I think this is the point where I continue to just step out of the mainstream gaming field.

#oldergamers #gamingbacklog #patientgamers #steamsales

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Hard to say, because none of the games with that price tag so far have piqued my interest in getting them on release in the slightest. If anything, it's surprising how pretty much all my favorite games this year (Hi-Fi Rush, Talos Principle 2, Cocoon, Jusant) were available on release for just ~30€.

[–] mrfriki 9 points 11 months ago

Been buying for under €20 the lasts 5 years or so. Can’t see this trend changing anytime soon.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

Recently, if it's through Steam, I haven't bought hardly anything. And the last things I've bought were either under $20 or on sale for under that price. Otherwise, the most expensive game I've bought in the last year was Pokemon Violet. Otherwise I have bought some used old games from a nearby shop for a cheap enough price.

Though I do have plans to buy some indie games on my Steam list, some of which I first pirated and played, when I have the money because I'd much rather my money be going towards those indie devs than [insert soulless multi-million dollar company #3859].

[–] Muhr 7 points 11 months ago

No, I still wait 1-2 years and buy them for a few € at at least 70% discount. I can wait... Like horizon zero dawn costs 11€, hogwarts legacy 33€ or starfield already at 40€

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

I haven't purchased games on release day for a LONG time, unless it's a game I just simply cannot wait. Everything else is on Steam for 75-90% off.

There's really no point. Nearly every game launches these days completely broken. They have a ton of DLC or "special" editions for $150 CAD, and overall it's a shit experience.

Buy that shit for 75% off, complete edition, and full of bug fixes (or mods that fix everything).

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

Given how the quality of new releases and zero new games being worth the price, I have not bought a new release in over 10 years, maybe 12 years. I can't justify the price vs. what companies have been putting out.

[–] aluminium 5 points 11 months ago

For the last few years it has been in < 5€ / month territory for me.

This is due to many AAA games not doing it for me in the first place and others being broken and unccompleted at release. And then I just wait a few years and pick them up in a sale - and it works out great every time.

Case and point - Cyberpunk. I still haven't bought it but I hear its actually good now. I'll wait a bit still until they CDPR really finished it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

I just realized that I have bought 2 games at full price in the past decade., Elite Dangergous, and BG3. I did back Wasteland 2 on Kickstarter in late 2013, but I think it was like $20.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I spend less than before. I used to not buy keys from third party stores, but now I do. I always bought on release, full prices, but now I don't care any longer if they get my money. The few indie devs that care, sell for less and with less greedy tactics, they get the full money on release or early access.

Everything from Ubisoft/EA/Blizzard is pirated because they deserve no money anymore, they are shit companies that should go bankruptcy.

And even for the few I bought, I might go gamepass now. I regret that I bought a key for Starfield and Cities Skylines 2, should've not trusted them. I'll not pay for their next games/dlcs as I first have to get my money back I spend on them.

I also started to give way more negative press to friends and online, now that games got more expensive I expect better quality. It's an easy deal.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

There are very few games I've bought at full price. Baldur's Gate 3. Elden Ring. Dark Souls 2 and 3. Those were all worth it. Most things I'll just wait for a sale. My friends don't really play a lot of games, and rarely all want to play the same thing, so I don't have that peer pressure problem.

I can't even think of anything that exciting coming out soon.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

I wouldn't say it has. I don't buy too much these days anyways as I already have a backlog, and there's so much out there that I tend to buy things on sale that have been out for a while.

I'm willing to buy a higher-priced game or DLC on release, but it better be damned good. I'll wait a bit before buying to at least ensure that it's playable on day one.

[–] R2DPru 5 points 11 months ago

MONTHLY spending?! If you’re having to budget for monthly video game spending, you and I are very different. Do they have you on the hook with micro transactions or something?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

No change between $70 and $80 for me

I buy as needed

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

It's fine, last game I bought was Minecraft, 9 years ago

[–] CleoTheWizard 4 points 11 months ago

The only thing that this harms for me is multiplayer experiences. It means that only people willing to pay that high price during economic hardship will be able to play multiplayer stuff that isn’t 2-4 years old. Imagine spending $70 on call of duty. Nope you say. I can wait you say. So you do wait until next year and it’s on sale for $45. You bite the bullet. And guess what? Now you get to come home and play a game that has players who have been playing for a year. Or hackers. On a game without content updates. It’s an awful experience and I’m happy there are plenty of games not asking that full price.

[–] alianne 4 points 11 months ago

Other than they ongoing payments for games I continue to play (hello, World of Warcraft), most of my money now goes toward games from smaller studios that aren't so expensive. Valheim, Timberborn, and many others are well below $70, and now I get to try games from other creators while still affording the couple of big spenders I enjoy.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I bought a couple of newly released games that I would have bought if they were $60 or $80, but other than that, I have been getting my gaming on with cheaper games that are worth the price, like Talos Principle 2 ($30, and worth every penny), as well as older games, like Outer Wilds, Inscryption, Stray, Hades, Spiritfarer.

EDIT: I will add that every game that I have purchased for the full $70 has been worth it. Starfield, Hogwarts (family never played more than 2 hours each), Last of Us Part 1 (haven't finished), TOTK (haven't started it yet).

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

I dipped out when games jumped to $60 CAD sometime back in the XBox 360 era iirc. (For context, games are $80-90 CAD now.) Since then, I've bought maybe 4 or 5 AAA games total.

That era was also when indie games exploded onto the scene. These indie games were/are better than most AAA titles, and way more affordable, so it just made sense to pivot.

[–] RQG 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I have bought less games but it is more due to lack of quality of games if anything.

[–] Stern 3 points 11 months ago

My backlog is still triple digit (Though it has gone down noticeably over the year.) so I only really buy on the summer and winter sales unless something really catches my fancy.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago
  • Total War Warhammer series
  • Jurassic World Evolution 2
  • Half Life Black Mesa
  • Pathfinder Kingmaker
  • Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous
  • BG3

Of which only Warhammer and BG3 were bought on launch, are the only games I've bought since 2016. So roughly 1 game per year, and mostly on discount. Launch price could be 200 USD for all I care, I don't have time for trying out new games all the time.

There are so many old classics to be played, and too many mtx ridden, unoptimised Unreal Engine AAA games being published for new games to be enticing.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

I installed Wabbajack and coughed up the $5 or whatever for Premium Nexus Mods access.

Turns out you can turn your old games into new games.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

@alessandro I’ve always bought the majority of my games during sales or used from websites like eBay, so it doesn’t affect me that much. I considered buying Persona 3 Reload at launch, but I’ll wait for a sale since it’s $70 and SEGA games tend to go on sale pretty quickly.

[–] Paddzr 2 points 11 months ago

The only games i bought were goat simulator 3 for my son. Baldurs gate 3 and battlebits.

But I have skipped on Diablo 4, price played a factor.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

r/PiratedGames is the way to go for offline/single player games

For multiplayer games, I always try to get better deals on sites like Instant Gaming

Epic Games also offers paid titles for free, many of them are garbage though and I absolutely hate Epic Games

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You can use https://gg.deals/ to see all the keyshop prices at once, and can log in with your steam and gog accounts to sync wishlists. I have bookmarked views for $5 or less, and historical lows.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

That's really cool, thanks

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You’re welcome, it simplifies things so much, and I find deals I would have missed. Note you can also filter out DRM sources so you can remove Ubisoft, EA, Epic, etc. My bookmarks only include GOG, Steam, Battle.net, Rockstar, DRM free, and Other.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

That's a nice feature, especially when gaming on Linux

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