Anyone else notice an almost industry wide shift in the pricing and sales of games in physical and digital stores in the last year?

[Caliaztec]

So not to put on my tinfoil hat or anything but I feel like in the last 6-8 months there has been a massive if not industry wide shift to the pricing and sales of videos games and when I say sales I mean deals/discount type sales not sales numbers or anything.

So while I believe the digital front has been shifting for a bit more then a year with Steam sales over the last few years losing their luster and their flash deal days of old have long since been gone. But I felt more so after this years Lunar sale, and it kinda seems to me that we are getting a close to normalized if not industry fixed priced for game sales now...

Best Buy losing GCU hit my game buying habits hard... when GCU as a Best Buy service was active it wasn't crazy to see games for $9.99-19.99, we were getting the 20% off of sale games and rewards and preorders. Amazon took 20% off for pre-orders and Amazon and GameStop regularly battled it out with sales since GS doesn't price match. But now I'll be dammed to find decent sales of games at $9.99-19.99 they seem to normalize at $29.99 or so now else you wait for that big price drop and minor sales but even during the holidays I felt like the deals were lacking.

We also had digital stores doing deep discounts of 85-90% off games... the under $5 and Under $10 tabs of steam during sales were treasure troves... now I'd be interested to see how many of those titles even hit that low anymore or just get discounted 50-66%.

I just feel that as it has been a somewhat gradual thing with digital stores. It seems like When GCU and Primes benefits ended there was something discussed on an industry wide level and just seems like the best deals we are offered now are what we would've considered decent a couple years prior.

 

[ASaiyan]

I honestly thought this thread would be about there being more sales, lol. Especially on console, I feel like there are far more digital sales and at lower prices than ever before. Even Nintendo puts their games on sale now....

The loss of Prime/GCU was a big blow though.

 

[LewieP]

I think it's just physical production runs for big games being scaled back, and so we're not seeing them get heavily discounted as much, because an increasingly digital market necessitates a smaller supply of physical copies, and those physical copies are in less need of being liquidated.

 

[CloseTalker]

You're crazy, digital sales are cheaper than ever. PSN sales can get stupid cheap, and even Nintendo games tend to get up to 30% off on eShop sales once in awhile.

 

[DannyClash]

Yeah, I've seen that OP

Game prices aren't bottoming out as quickly or regulalry

Don't need to convert gamers to digital as aggressively anymore and Nintendo has maintained price on their products as a rule of thumb for decades

 

[Rodney McKay]

I mean, it was several years ago when steam killed the lightning sales that their digital sales stopped being particularly impressive. It's been pretty consistent since then.
Honestly, the recent Chinese New Year sale was nice because I got an extra $5 off my order, which finally brought AC: Origins with all DLC to a point I wanted.

But on consoles I find that digital sales have been pretty good the last several years. PS+ especially can get some pretty impressive discounts, and I've been MUCH happier with Switch's online deals than I have with any other Nintendo eShop.

 

[Deleted member 2785]

More data drives more reliable findings.
Companies are getting smart at picking the right discounts at the right times to maximize returns based on analysis of the growing sample size of historical promotions they've been doing.

It's not a conspiracy or magic. It's just math.

 

[Lant_War]

I think it's pretty much the opposite in digital stores. There's no week without a bunch of $5-10 recent AAA games on the PSN store.

 

[texhnolyze]

Yes, digital game sales are more 'resilient' nowadays.

1. Full price game at launch
2. 25% - 50% off a few months later
3. 60% - 70% off a year or two later
4. Finally reach 75%, 85% is a rare case
4. Base price drop to $30 or something
5. Release GOTY/ultimate edition at $60
6. Back to 25% - 50% off discount for both versions
7. Then it will reach 60 - 75% off a year or two later
8. Finally 75% off or more, the cheapest possible

Ultimately, it may take more than 5 years to reach that point.

I think it's pretty much the opposite in digital stores. There's no week without a bunch of $5-10 recent AAA games on the PSN store.

Click to shrink...

Can you give some examples?

 

[Legend J 858]

I'm glad I renewed my Best Buy GCU membership right when I pre ordered Detroit Become Human and was literally less than a week right before Best Buy announced they were canceling and no longer selling GCU.

They still are honoring and giving 20% off new games to active GCU memberships.So I'm good until April 2020.

 

[duckroll]

Yes, digital game sales are more 'resilient' nowadays.

1. Full price game at launch
2. 25% - 50% off a few months later
3. 60% - 70% off a year or two later
4. Finally reach 75%, 85% is a rare case
4. Base price drop to $30 or something
5. Release GOTY/ultimate edition at $60
6. Back to 25% - 50% off discount for both versions
7. Then it will reach 60 - 75% off a year or two later
8. Finally 75% off or more, the cheapest possible

Ultimately, it may take more than 5 years to reach that point.


Can you give some examples?

Click to shrink...

In December I bought Horizon Complete for like 9 bucks.

 

[Jimrpg]

Yes, digital game sales are more 'resilient' nowadays.

1. Full price game at launch
2. 25% - 50% off a few months later
3. 60% - 70% off a year or two later
4. Finally reach 75%, 85% is a rare case
4. Base price drop to $30 or something
5. Release GOTY/ultimate edition at $60
6. Back to 25% - 50% off discount for both versions
7. Then it will reach 60 - 75% off a year or two later
8. Finally 75% off or more, the cheapest possible

Ultimately, it may take more than 5 years to reach that point.


Can you give some examples?

Click to shrink...

And humble bundles/monthlies.

You can guess which titles are going to be part of the humble monthly by looking at kinguin/G2A prices as they're quite close to the wholesale price.

 

[Lant_War]

Yes, digital game sales are more 'resilient' nowadays.

1. Full price game at launch
2. 25% - 50% off a few months later
3. 60% - 70% off a year or two later
4. Finally reach 75%, 85% is a rare case
4. Base price drop to $30 or something
5. Release GOTY/ultimate edition at $60
6. Back to 25% - 50% off discount for both versions
7. Then it will reach 60 - 75% off a year or two later
8. Finally 75% off or more, the cheapest possible

Ultimately, it may take more than 5 years to reach that point.


Can you give some examples?

Click to shrink...

Over the past few weeks I've seen:

Wipeout for $6
Dirt Rally for $10
Mortal Kombat XL for $5
Batman Arkham Knight for $7
Battlefield 1 for $5
Titanfall 2 for $7
Horizon for $11
Need For Speed Payback for $11 (and it'll be $6 on tomorrow's sale)

Hell, the Witcher 3 is $11 in tomorrow's sale.

 

[Wulfric]

Lower print runs means there is less urgency to discount leftover stock.

 

[Velocity:Design:Comfort]

More data drives more reliable findings.
Companies are getting smart at picking the right discounts at the right times to maximize returns based on analysis of the growing sample size of historical promotions they've been doing.

It's not a conspiracy or magic. It's just math.

Click to shrink...

This, I'm unsure as to why it took til that specific time point and why they all caught on at once though. Maybe some third party offered a new product that helped publishers do this type of business math.

 

[Josh5890]

As far as physical sales, you will keep seeing less and less of them. B&M stores don't use video games to get people into their stores like before. Most of them are downsizing their shelf allotment. There will still be some sales, just not good ones like last gen.

 

[Velocity:Design:Comfort]

Also op the fact is maybe there were just better games that sold better in 2018 which would lead to this (or less competition for them)

 

[Deleted member 4413]

I honestly thought this thread would be about there being more sales, lol. Especially on console, I feel like there are far more digital sales and at lower prices than ever before. Even Nintendo puts their games on sale now....

The loss of Prime/GCU was a big blow though.

Click to shrink...

This. Sales are crazy on Xbox it seems. Constantly picking up games that came out in the last couple months for half off. Got AC Odyssey for half off a little over a month ago. Shadow of the Tomb Raider was half off a month after release and it recently hit GamePass already.

Between all the XBL Gold and PS+ sales, digital gaming on console has never seemed cheaper. Hell even Nintendo is discounting their games on the eShop more than usual it seems.

 

[Deleted member 11421]

I'm finding the average prices between PC to and console storefronts to be closer than ever, and fewer incentives to go physical...especially once my GCU runs out!

 

[Natsunoyuutsu]

Yes. Feel the same.
Welcome to the all digital future.

 

[Deleted member 12833]

PSN has gotten pretty amazing with pricing, especially with added plus discounts. Feels like it is on par with physical now which is great since I only really buy digital now.

 

[Alandring]

I totally agree OP, at least for Steam. Now, some games are never available for less than 10€/$, even many years after launch and in sales.

For example, Planetbase was released in 2015, but it never had more than 33% off. Rise of the Tomb Raider was 80% off, but its official price never decreased, so even with that the game didn't go below 10$/€.

I think it's a bad strategy. Of course, it doesn't make sense to drop the price by 75% six months after launch (hello Jurassic World Evolution), but I think every game should be available for less than 10€/$ sometimes and even for less than 5$/€. It can be many years after launch, but if you never go this low you will miss some sales.

 

[Twister]

I'm not completely sure I agree. Sony's PSN sales have been pretty good lately, and even Nintendo has put physical copies of their larger titles (Mario, MK8D, Splatoon 2, Mario Party, etc.) on sale multiple times in the past few months now. I still have GCU until February 2020 and I feel like I'm still getting good deals from Best Buy.
Just a few weeks ago, Target was selling Nintendo Selects 3DS games for $5.
As much as I don't want to admit it as a diehard physical collector, I think we'll start seeing more and more digital sales to incentivize people to go digital. It results in greater profits for the publisher/developer, and because you can't sell the game whether you like it or not, it means that if someone else wants a game, they can't just buy it used. They have to pay for a digital copy themselves. I've long said that console digital games are anti-consumer, and I still believe that, but most people seem to value the convenience and aren't going to fight back against it, so physical sales are going to slowly fade away as publishers and the big 3 try to push digital sales

 

[ContraWars]

More data drives more reliable findings.
Companies are getting smart at picking the right discounts at the right times to maximize returns based on analysis of the growing sample size of historical promotions they've been doing.

It's not a conspiracy or magic. It's just math.

Click to shrink...

 

[-girgosz-]

Over the past few weeks I've seen:

Wipeout for $6
Dirt Rally for $10
Mortal Kombat XL for $5
Batman Arkham Knight for $7
Battlefield 1 for $5
Titanfall 2 for $7
Horizon for $11
Need For Speed Payback for $11 (and it'll be $6 on tomorrow's sale)

Hell, the Witcher 3 is $11 in tomorrow's sale.

Click to shrink...

NBA Live 19 is 5$ too.

 

[Rahvar]

Maybe it's a regional thing? Physical games rarely went very cheap in Sweden. Digital sales have been the better deal for years.
Obviously there are exceptions when retailers try to get rid of old stock, but that's usually 3-4 years after release.

 

[Not a Horse]

I remember buying 6-12 month old games for under half price pretty regularly and complete/definitive/goty editions coming a year later with all the DLC included for full price.

Assassin's creed Origins(2017) is still $79.99 Canadian on steam, Assasin's creed Syndicate(2015) is still $59.99.

It gets worse when you click through into the game page and there's still $129.99 gold editions and $49.99 season passes

It's frustrating to finally see a 3 year old game on sale at a reasonable price to click through and see it's still over $100 for a "complete" game.

Near-immediate discounts obviously weren't sustainable, but modern pricing models just make me nope out when i see 5 different editions and full price season passes on older games.

 

[Illusion]

I think it's just physical production runs for big games being scaled back, and so we're not seeing them get heavily discounted as much, because an increasingly digital market necessitates a smaller supply of physical copies, and those physical copies are in less need of being liquidated.

Click to shrink...

It mostly comes to this.

I'd argue Best Buy GCU did a lot for having competitors fight for their share of game sales. Made the value of games depreciate faster if they weren't already going to retain value. And ultimately that loss leader Best Buy did was probably too good of a value.

But then again I was spending more on games then I ever had. I was also getting more quality games then I'd normally be able to purchase, afford, or let alone was on the fence about. Once my GCU expires I'll be back to waiting for sales and only getting the games I REALLY want.

 

[Necron]

Zelda: BotW is a lot more expensive here on the Nintendo eShop than the physical version (CHF 89 instead of 69). What gives? What is this nonsense?

I first thought it was a bundle with the expansions but nope.

 

[Pargon]

I've noticed this happening a lot over the past 18 months or so. Base prices for games on PC have been going up, and discounts have been going down.
Discounted pre-order prices for many games are now as expensive or more expensive than the base prices used to be - and that's including resellers like CDKeys.
CDKeys' prices have increased by the equivalent of ~$20 (USD) for most AAA releases at launch.

Zelda: BotW is a lot more expensive here on the Nintendo eShop than the physical version (CHF 89 instead of 69). What gives? What is this nonsense?

I first thought it was a bundle with the expansions but nope.

Click to shrink...

Nintendo prices have always been high, but their digital prices on Switch are ridiculous. The prices here convert to ~$80 USD and are rarely discounted.
The exchange rate seems to be almost 1:1 for CHF to USD, so that's even worse.
Their outrageous digital pricing played a big role in my decision to get rid of the Switch, when you're also paying more for the worst version of multi-platform games.

 

[Ravelle]

Europe has been boned for years with digital PSN prices. Digital games are 70 euro's instead of the retail 59,99 euro's.

 

[Arrakis]

This gen is the first gen I've made digital purchases because of no tax ( ONT) on PSN , there just isn't any good deals from gamestop/EB/Best buy anymore. They should be lowering their price to counter digital but they aren't even though $5 profit is better than $0 profit

 

[Necron]

I've noticed this happening a lot over the past 18 months or so. Base prices for games on PC have been going up, and discounts have been going down.
Discounted pre-order prices for many games are now as expensive or more expensive than the base prices used to be - and that's including resellers like CDKeys.
CDKeys' prices have increased by the equivalent of ~$20 (USD) for most AAA releases at launch.


Nintendo prices have always been high, but their digital prices on Switch are ridiculous. The prices here convert to ~$80 USD and are rarely discounted.
The exchange rate seems to be almost 1:1 for CHF to USD, so that's even worse.
Their outrageous digital pricing played a big role in my decision to get rid of the Switch, when you're also paying more for the worst version of multi-platform games.

Click to shrink...

This is ridiculous and one of the main reasons I don't fully support digital. Once digital sales grow even larger there will be a dilemma. For this reason alone physical needs to remain as long as possible to keep digital pricing in check. One store, regardless of platform, shouldn't be dictating prices.

 

[Take5GiantSteps]

I've moved entirely to Gamefly other than Nintendo games because of this.

 

[Pargon]

This is ridiculous and one of the main reasons I don't support digital. Once digital sales grow even larger there will be a dilemma. For this reason alone physical needs to remain to keep digital pricing in check. One store, regardless of platform, shouldn't be dictating a prices. There will come a day where the base prices are increased if this continues.

Click to shrink...

This is where Steam/Steamworks has generally been great for consumers, as it allows for stores to compete with one another on price - but that only works to a point. As I have seen over the past 18 months, stores are clearly not free to set whatever price they desire, since the prices have been going up by roughly the same amount everywhere.
And of course we now have Epic buying up exclusives, and publishers pulling their games from Steam to be exclusive to their own storefront, which severely restricts this or eliminates it entirely.
The day Metro Exodus went exclusive to the Epic Store, the price went up $20 (USD) here, and the "Gold Edition" sells for $90 (USD).

 

[chrominance]

Yes, but not over the last year. There's been a shift over the last generation; I feel like it was easier to find deeply discounted games in the PS3/360 era. But I haven't noticed any major shifts more recently.

If anything, I feel like we're seeing more big games get significant discounts fairly early in their lifetimes. At least in Canada, lots of major discounts happen around Black Friday and Boxing Day even on recent releases, and that's remained fairly steady over the last six or seven years. What's changed is what gets thrown into the retail bargain bin. These days, the answer is not much, but in Canada that's probably as much because there are fewer retailers making video games a priority and shrinking their inventory. Once you get past the initial wave of clearances from such a move, stores have fewer copies and a smaller variety of games, and this makes clearances more difficult to find and benefit from.

For digital, people have already mentioned Steam's shift in sales strategy. PSN sales have been as strong as ever, as far as I can tell. Don't pay as much attention to Xbox sales but those seem pretty good as well.

 

[Barrel Cannon]

I feel like we've been having these type of deals for a long ass while now tbh.

 

[Thuddert]

Europe has been boned for years with digital PSN prices. Digital games are 70 euro's instead of the retail 59,99 euro's.

Click to shrink...

We've been getting more and more sales tho. The narrative that Europe gets boned is a false one.

 

[Ravelle]

We've been getting more and more sales tho. The narrative that Europe gets boned is a false one.

Click to shrink...

No complains about the sales and stuff but new releases are nuts, no matter how pumped I am for a game, 70 is just too much for a new digital game. I payed less for physical collections editions.