- Monday, 9 November 2009
- INQ Mobile
- RSS
How does the toilet really work? I don't know - Captain James T. Kirk
Digital distribution rip-off suspected
IN THE VIDEO GAMES MARKET, online retailers have been trouncing the high street shops on price for the last decade. However, since the potential cost savings inherrent in the latest digital distribution models are even greater, it's reasonable to assume that a fair chunk of those savings will be passed on to the customer!
With that in mind we compared the prices of PC games on Steam; the digital distribution platform developed by Valve, with those of Play.com; one of the most the popular online retailers in the UK. Although we had our suspicions, we were not prepared for the truly enormous pricing differences between the two means of distribution. This price comparison snapshot was taken on April 10th 2009 and compares the cost including postage, of fifteen of the most popular games available from both companies. The games included were : Company of Heros: Tales of Valor [Steam = £29.99 / Play.com =£17.99] Football Manager 2009 [Steam = £29.99 / Play.com =£14.99] Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II [Steam = £34.99 / Play.com =£22.99] Empire: Total War [Steam = £39.99 / Play.com =£29.99] Half-Life 2: Orange Box [Steam = £16.99 / Play.com =£14.99] Call of Duty: World at War [Steam = £29.99 / Play.com =£29.99] Bioshock [Steam = £13.99 / Play.com =£9.99] Ton clancy's: End War [Steam = £34.99 / Play.com =£14.99] Drakensang [Steam = £29.99 / Play.com =£17.99] X3: Terran Conflict [Steam = £22.99 / Play.com =£14.99] Grand Theft Auto IV [Steam = £26.99 / Play.com =£24.99] Vin Diesel: Wheelman [Steam = £29.99 / Play.com =£17.99] Tom Clancy's H.A.W.K. [Steam = £34.99 / Play.com =£17.99] Fear 2 [Steam = £24.99 / Play.com =£24.99] Crysis: Maximum Edition [Steam = £32.99 / Play.com =£26.99] You can't stop progress, digital distribution is the new way foward in the merchandising of all digital media and eventually you can expect high street video game shops and DVD rental shops to start disappearing, just like music shops are fast disappearing today. The total price difference between Steam and Play.com over fifteen games was: £134 in favour of Play.com or an average of £9 per game. As a reader pointed out, it should also be noted that Play.com exploits a tax loophole by being in the Channel Islands, so their prices do not include VAT. This, you may or may not have to pay when the game is shipped to you. If you add VAT to the Play prices, the issue is far less dramatic. Steam is not cheap, it doesn't discount but the majority of the difference is due to the whole tax loophole thing. Still, it would seem that any cost savings gained from the use of the latest digital distribution models are currently being passed on to the games companies, rather than the customer. Either that or it currently costs more to distribute games digitally. Please explain Valve! µ
Share this:
ShareBusiness Intelligence Software
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Enterprise Accounting Software
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Enterprise Systems Management
Basically it comes down to the fact that the publisher can't piss off the channel, therefore they have to keep the digital prices the same as retail prices. Likewise, anti-virus companies sell their products in their own digital store for the same price as the suggested retail price is cause they don't want to piss off the channel which might stop selling their product and go for some other anti-virus company's product.
I pointed this out to a few of my friends online just a week or so ago.
I'm sure Valve will point to fluctuations in currency, weaker pound against the dollar, blahblahblah, the usual corporate smokescreen when they're caught in a position they can't possibly defend.
This isn't just a fluctuation, or a variation, or a discrepency, or whatever management bull they'll use to try and make it go away, it's bare faced, blatant robbery. Charging, in some cases DOUBLE what Play (And even Amazon) are charging is just indefensible when they don't even give you a physical copy of the media!
Maybe publishers do not want to piss off the channel, and this can be understood.
But the fact that Steam prices are higher non only than play.com but even higher than commercial centers is somethong that I do not understand.
Considering also the DRM limitation of Steam I simply use it for Valve Games only.
They still think the Pound is much more valuable than the Euro.
Reality: Pound*1.1=Euro
Play.com: Pound*1.3=Euro
It seems you pay a premium for digital dist
also
Steam was a lot cheaper before localised pricing
empire total war was the same aswell. though the tax thing didn't matter when I got it because amazon was cheaper too, by £10 I think.
If i remember right, a while ago Steam switched from USD to (wherever possible) regional pricing. That was were Steam went downhill. I bought Steam Silver which was $60 (~£30), which was a great deal.
At Call of Duty 4 release though i noticed that when i was not logged in, it would offer me the game for $49.99. When i did it was $69.99. So a $20 difference on digital distribution just because i'm from the UK and not USA? Oddly enough, i still don't own Call of Duty 4, despite being told it is awesome.
Then i started buying things in sterling and any real discount seemed to disappear unless the game you want is on a Steam special. Apart from indy games i rarely use Steam for big purchases unless it is on special.
old news check out
http://steamunpowered.eu
EU prices are 30%+ higher on many titles since desember 2008
there is even a price compare engine here
http://steamrepowered.eu
there is also a community group with soon 19k+ members
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/1e1us
Obviously Steam hates you and wants to kick your dog. I think it is rather ridiculous to think that Steam has it out for the EU crowd just because they can. The EU has some pretty messed up tax laws for foreign companies, maybe you should petition your governments to fix that?
Hi' use this site for the currency calculations...
XE - The World's Favourite Currency and Foreign Exchange Site
Independently ranked as the world's favourite free Internet currency tools and services.
http://www.xe.com
Keep in mind this is in the States, but I've done well on pricing with Steam by waiting for sales.
------------
Left4dead for $37.50 when the going rate was $49.99
------------
Bioshock for $5 at Xmas. Even in the game stores the lowest I've ever seen it was $10.
-----------
Peggle for $5 when the going rate is $10
-----------
I also buy a fair amount of indie games which usually has good pricing. (Defense Grid, World of Goo, Tank Universal are all fantastic!)
Plus, you can sell your physical copy on ebay when you have finished the game, or buy a second hand copy to start with.
What a rip off.
The only digital downloads I will buy myself are computer books, because they do actually pass on the cost savings, the rest of them can take their digital dust and fuck off.
F*ck Steam and (itunes) Microsoft Live too. Call me old fashioned but I like my digital stuff (games & music) bought in a brick and mortar shop. They want to stop it and then you only rent games from their servers, aka Steam. Not for this old timer. After they screw enough people around maybe they will wake up.
Valve do not set the regional prices on Steam, they are set by the publishers.
This has come up several times on the SteamPowered forums, and has been answered in some detail by Valve employees.
It is not a mystery really.
And, personally, having net-based access to my game collection on Steam, wherever I go, is worth more to me than a scratchable/change-disc-every-ten-minutes/lose-down-the-sofa dvd in wasteful packaging. I am more than willing to pay the premium.
So, what got your back up about all this?
...because Play.com have always been cheaper (and you get a box and disc too). Valve may not want to upset the channel, but they're just profiteering when an etailer can sell for a lot less.
Oh, and I've never paid VAT on a Play.com order. They don't have to add it for under a certain price, and the Channel Isles loophole means they don't need to.
Funny, you'd think you Brits would be used to being overcharged. Watch your government patch that tax loophole so that nobody can gain any benefit.
Keep a stiff upper lip!
I've just bought L4D from asda for over £10 less than it is on steam, taking vat into account is one thing but the differences in pricing for Game and Gamestation in the retail shops and online can differ by quite a margin. I like steam but when i can save a fair bit by buying from online retailers I will, sure I have to wait longer to get it but I can wait just a couple days more. The other trouble UK users have with online distribution is the majority of crap ISP's that still insist on rediculous limits for downloads such as 40GB for a month sure its good for light users but if you want to download GTA 4 its gonna cost you over a quarter of your monthly limit. Even then thats before you even have to update the damned thing.
As it has been said before, digital distribution costs are fixed by publishers. Unfortunately, until this is fixed, we will be paying premiums for downloaded equivalents of games, videos, music etc compared to boxed versions of the same products bought both online and in retail stores, bearing in mind these store-bought copies can also be digitised and usually don't have drm either.
So why do we bother with digital copies which are limited to certain devices or platforms? (eg itunes movies only work on apple hw/sw)
I've noticed this too. My latest purchase being Counter-Strike: Source.
I got the Retail version from Play.com for £14.99 and for that I got CS:S, DoD:S and HL2DM. On Steam, though, you get CS:S alone for £13.99 and if you want the same three games they do the Source Multiplayer Pack (exactly the same three games) but at a cost of £16.99.