Steam HL2 options are expensive

[blahblahblah]

May be, but it's ALSO a contractual problem, because Valve would be able to sell HL2 for $35 and still make two times more money per copy than with retail, and they'll sell more too. I could understand if VUG isn't too thrilled about that.

So they raise the price so Valve earns a higher profit margin to make Vivendi happy?

 

[dscowboy]

The prices are so high even though their are no prodcution or distribution costs. That's why I am angry.

Did you not read any of the posts above yours? Valve is not allowed to undercut Vivendi with lower prices. Is that difficult to understand?

Do you know why game prices are set as they are? Well let's see... Vivendi, being a useless media publisher and leech on society, has over 700 employees in their US games division alone. These people earn salaries. Same with tens of thousands of retail business employees who sell Valve's games. Everyone in this story needs a little cut of your precious money wonkers! All so you can have a 10 cent CD, a manual nobody reads, and a glossy cardboard box. Wait, I've got a crazy idea! How about instead of wasting billions of industry dollars annually on oppressive publishers and retailers, why doesn't a game developer create some sort of direct electronic content distribution network to bypass them all and call it Steam!

Oh that's right, it's already been done, and the only thing stopping it from beating the stranglehold that publishers and retailers have on the game industry is fruitcakes who invent reasons to hate it. Are you people paid by Vivendi to post anti-consumer crap on forums? Or do you just not understand what's happening?

 

[Dabs]

Gold = £50
Silver = £33
Bronze = £28
The standard HL2 & CS:S retail DVD I have on pre-order right now = £23.75

I'm tempted to cancel the pre-order and go for Silver instead, though bearing in mind I have a boxed copy of HL2 and CS:S on pre-order for £23.75, the Steam prices are kind of steeper than I expected. CS: S right now is a bloody big incentive though! :?

Hmm .... *ponders the decision*

 

[Mr. Redundant]

Hmm, I see what you mean. But hey, £35 for HL2, CS:S, DOD:S, HL:S, and the rest of Valve's games, is pretty damn good in my book.

well I paid $65 for Doom3 and paid $60 for Farcry, in my book anything would be an improvement, and I honestly don not care how much they charge me for HL2.

Im going to pay like $150 for two copies of Hl2 regardless of how I feel, facts are facts.. Im not whining or bitching Im simply stating the obvious.

Fact: Hl2 will/does Kickass.. if anything, it will be the game we will be playing (as HL1 is now) for the next 5 or so years.

Fact: I need at least two copies for my two pcs.. preferably 3 since I want my server up on hl2.

Fact: HL2 has no multiplayer component besides CS:S.. but from the start valve merely said that CS:S was a test to see how easy their conversion tools were. This bothers me immensely.

when you are paying the same price for store bought copies as the Steam version.. you are getting the short end of the stick.
regardless of how much you think valve deserve it (or VU doesnt) or how amped you are for HL2 and CS:S.
selling me HL2 for 50 bucks when I have no interest in CS:S is bs.

lets put things into perspective (just where Im coming from on this)

Half-Life:
I own Half-life.... 3 copies (one for each of my computers) to be exact. I got it warez from a friend of mine a month before its official release, I then purchased my retail copies the day it came out at the store.
total cost around $180

Counter-Strike:
man I loooooved this game so damn much I was infactuated with it... when it came out.. I tried the first alphas, loved it.
however 6 years later its not as "fresh" anymore.... in fact its quite loathesome. It was a free modification, it still is.


Day Of Defeat:
Another awesome and free mod for HL, played it as soon as it was made publicly available.. I still play it every now and then.. and it really could be an awesome mod if more stuff went into it. (somewhat why I have hope for DOD:S)

ok so heres my beef.
they want me to pay for HL:S, DOD:S, CS:S, all of which I currently own (albeit in their original forms).

sure they are ported over to the source engine and all.. and CS went through an overhaul graphically... but isnt HL:S supposed to remain untouched?
and they have said NOTHING about DOD:S... doesnt it worry you that Valve want to sell you something that you have NO IDEA what it could be.... people will simply purchase it with the notion of "well its only 10 bucks more, and valve kickass wootyhaaaaah!"

thats all fine and good, but as an intellectual consumer regardless of how cool something is, I look at value for money.

oh and as a last note, I wouldnt give a shit what the price were if they had included a ****ing muliplayer component.

 

[PvtRyan]

So they raise the price so Valve earns a higher profit margin to make Vivendi happy?

They don't raise the price, they equal it to retail prices, to prevent unfair competition (Valve is able to offer their products for a much lower amount than VUG can) this will decrease the number of Steam purchases dramatically as opposed to a price of, say, $30-35.
Valve isn't going to make more money with higher prices. If it wasn't for the very good euro-dollar exchange rates, I wouldn't be even tempted by the offer.

and they have said NOTHING about DOD:S

DoD:S will receive the same graphical overhaul as CS:S had.

oh and as a last note, I wouldnt give a shit what the price were if they had included a ****ing muliplayer component.

So Max Payne, Max Payne 2, Mafia, GTA3, Vice City, Morrowind, Hitman (2) to name a few shouldn't be able to go full retail prices because of the lack of a MP mode? That's bullshit.

 

[Mr. Redundant]

DoD:S will receive the same graphical overhaul as CS:S had.

link please.

So Max Payne, Max Payne 2, Mafia, GTA3, Vice City, Morrowind, Hitman (2) to name a few shouldn't be able to go full retail prices because of the lack of a MP mode? That's bullshit.

I actually own all of those and a shitload more.
that was not my point, as a last contradictory note I was implying I would be part of your crowd, and blindly pay.. if it had an mp component.

 

[Mr. Redundant]

please delete this post.

 

[PvtRyan]

link please .

http://www.dayofdefeat.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=39444

Q: So it is planned that you, maybe, will add more nations in DoD: Source? Like Russians, to simply own the crap out of RO.
A: It's been talked about.. since we're redoing all the art anyway, might as well do a different setting (not necessarily East Front) Too uncertain to even give a percentage. (m_b,08/26/04)

And I believe there's another mention of it too.

 

[Mr. Redundant]

http://www.dayofdefeat.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=39444



And I believe there's another mention of it too.

thanks for the link, thats news to me. (and probably a lot of others)

 

[hasan]

wel for US I think the price is not too high, for UK it's probably cheap, but in CDN it's a bit too much

I hope they have different prices for different regions.

 

[AMPED]

wel for US I think the price is not too high, for UK it's probably cheap, but in CDN it's a bit too much

I hope they have different prices for different regions.

I agree. And I can't belive what they have done to Alyx.

 

[Parrot of doom]

Really, I don't understand why people want a box and some cds. What, are you going to take it to bed and rub your c0x0r all over it or something?

No, its going to sit on a shelf collecting dust, doing **** all. One day in the distant future, your wife will pick it up and throw it in the bin. You'll complain bitterly, before realising its just a game and who cares about a silly coloured cardboard box?

 

[DrEvil]

There goes my 89.99.

I didn't expect the prices to be this high, but oh well. There must have been an agreement where Valve will not undercut their own publisher. That would outrageous.

 

[Yombi]

Really, I don't understand why people want a box and some cds. What, are you going to take it to bed and rub your c0x0r all over it or something?

No, its going to sit on a shelf collecting dust, doing **** all. One day in the distant future, your wife will pick it up and throw it in the bin. You'll complain bitterly, before realising its just a game and who cares about a silly coloured cardboard box?

I love boxes and all, but i changed my mind since im gettin much better value of gold version over retail now. The game in retail (no CE) cost 110nzd. I can pay 130nzd and get everything. Only 20 extra bucks.

I was going retail, but now its steam just because it will be more worth wild than the normal retail and chepaer than the CE retail. Atleast i get some sort of CE Box with the gold version hehe.

 

[blahblahblah]

They don't raise the price, they equal it to retail prices, to prevent unfair competition (Valve is able to offer their products for a much lower amount than VUG can) this will decrease the number of Steam purchases dramatically as opposed to a price of, say, $30-35.
Valve isn't going to make more money with higher prices. If it wasn't for the very good euro-dollar exchange rates, I wouldn't be even tempted by the offer.

You are wrong. Internal financial transactions (ie between a parent company and a related party) must sold at the same cost as if Vivendi was selling a unit of HL2 to Best Buy. Otherwise the IRS and SEC would be bring Valve and Vivendi down rather fast. From my understanding, HL2 is developed by Valve, transfered to Vivendi for distribution. Steam happens to be a distribution client so Vivendi is effectively selling copies of HL2 back to Valve that will be sold on Steam. I believe Vivendi is upset about Steam because its profit margins will be reduced since they are not able to add any additional value (where additional profit can be made) to HL2 (ie the box, manual, CD's). That makes Vivendi upset.

This talk about unfair competition is still absurd. The fact of the matter is that Vivendi and Valve is effective making a higher profit margin on steam.

Oh and for you Europeans, don't be surprised if you see exchange rate adjusted prices to compensate for any advantages. They have never announced prices for the Euro of GBP.

 

[MiccyNarc]

I'm happy about Steam because I don't have to make a trip to the store to pick up the game, considering that my family lives in the country and my parents hate making extra trips. But for HL2, all I have to do is fire up Steam and hit "Unlock". Now I'm playing. That's worth the extra amount I'm paying.