Will Steam match EA Memorial day Sale prices? (I like steam, but not so much origin.

[Naruzuru]

Summer sale in a month, just be patient

[chopstix]

Originally Posted by crunchyfrog555

No, Steam do not price match. Why? Because they don't own the products they're selling (their own creations excepted, of course).

Funny, Amazon Digital price matches all the time now against other US based distributors, and they certainly do not own the products they are selling. Gamersgate also price matches from time to time.

Steam likely doesn't price match because nobody cares, and people are willing to pay a premium to continue using this service. Steam has no incentive to price match.

[Naruzuru]

Originally Posted by chopstix

Funny, Amazon Digital price matches all the time now against other US based distributors, and they certainly do not own the products they are selling. Gamersgate also price matches from time to time.

What're you talking about? Amazon's a retailer. They stock up on keys(which are limited until they restock, and can probably be treated the same as physical inventory), price matches and asks customers in a certain forum what they'd like for sale very very frequently.

They most certainly do not operate in the same manner as Steam. If you still disagree, then what do you think Valve meant by this?

And as always, we promise that the team responsible for negotiating the spectacular Steam sale discounts is not the same team responsible for writing the slightly disappointing Steam sale slogans. All of our best people are 100% focused on pricing, so expect incredible, crazy deals that completely outshine the substandard quality of the slogans describing them.

http://store.steampowered.com/news/6844/

Steam likely doesn't price match because nobody cares, and people are willing to pay a premium to continue using this service. Steam has no incentive to price match.

People don't care because we're pretty much guaranteed on midweek madnesses, weekend deals and 2 huge seasonal sales.

[chopstix]

Originally Posted by Naruzuru

What're you talking about? Amazon's a retailer. They stock up on keys(which are limited until they restock, and can probably be treated the same as physical inventory), price matches and asks customers in a certain forum what they'd like for sale very very frequently.

They most certainly do not operate in the same manner as Steam.

They most certainly work the exact way Steam works. In fact, their rep addressed this tonight on the other forum you are likely referring to. Here is an excerpt in regards to why they do not price match a physical retailer for their digital products:

"...Because the physical gaming industry relies on things like inventory management, it doesn't make sense for us to price match pricing like this. We don't have product sitting on shelves that we need to move, and we still pay the publisher/developer X % for every unit sold."

Additionally:

"This isn't the case with digital products, we don't buy inventory up front, it doesn't sit on a shelf somewhere, we just pay the publisher/developer when the product is sold."

Steam works the EXACT same way. They sell a game license, take a percentage cut, and give the rest to the developer/publisher. Both services also "stock up on keys." This is evident by the fact Steam also runs out of keys often, and requires customers to wait to play games they purchased until the publisher/developer can deliver more keys. I believe this has happened with Crysis and quite a few other titles in the past.

[Bilateralrope]

Originally Posted by chopstix

Steam likely doesn't price match because nobody cares, and people are willing to pay a premium to continue using this service. Steam has no incentive to price match.

Steam is one of the cheapest places, if not the cheapest*, as long as you are willing to wait for the game you're after to be at 75% off. So the only people paying a premium to use Steam are the people who must have the game on Steam on day 1.

*Every time I see a game on sale somewhere, I look at its price. Then I compare that price to a quarter of the Steam price, since it will get a 75% off sale eventually. I've yet to see anyone beat Steams sale price.

[TwRecks]

Because of the massive breadth of Amazon's inventory, they're willing to take loss leaders (or more likely greatly reduced profits) on price matches to get market share and to get people looking at their other more profitable items. It's the same tactics that Walmart used for many years in order to become the world's largest retailer. Ironically Amazon uses it against them as well. If Steam matched prices, Amazon would likely slash prices to loss levels until Steam either abandoned it or matched themselves into oblivion.

[freeman4all]

Physical retailers buy mass quantities of a curtain product so they can sell that product as they see fit, if that product isn't selling very good they will slash the price while its still popular. Digital distributors don't own the product their selling so its not their place to cut prices until they get the "ok" to cut prices. Apples to oranges
STEAM and Origin are two very different distributors and they have their own business strategies.

[Jophiel]

Originally Posted by Bilateralrope

Steam is one of the cheapest places, if not the cheapest*, as long as you are willing to wait for the game you're after to be at 75% off. So the only people paying a premium to use Steam are the people who must have the game on Steam on day 1.

*Every time I see a game on sale somewhere, I look at its price. Then I compare that price to a quarter of the Steam price, since it will get a 75% off sale eventually. I've yet to see anyone beat Steams sale price.

Amazon price matches regularly and has "big" sales more often than 2-3 times a year. Right now, for example, Saints Row the Third is $16.50 at Amazon. Steam's lowest price for it has been $25.

People do pay a premium to use Steam. Not everyone but it's not at all rare to see someone say "Extreme Windmill Zombies 3 is $3 at StoreX, $15 cheaper than Steam" and the responses "Doesn't activate on Steam? Never!" come rolling in. I don't understand it (especially since Amazon stuff doesn't require a special client unless the publisher requires Steam/Origin) but, hey, it's their money.

Way I see it, shop around and look around. You can get great deals on stuff without waiting for late June or late December.

[crunchyfrog555]

Originally Posted by chopstix

Funny, Amazon Digital price matches all the time now against other US based distributors, and they certainly do not own the products they are selling. Gamersgate also price matches from time to time.

Steam likely doesn't price match because nobody cares, and people are willing to pay a premium to continue using this service. Steam has no incentive to price match.

Erm, they DO own them, as Amazon BUY those keys, so they're free to do what they like with them. Valve do not. That is the apparent and clear difference.

No disrespect, but these are fundamental differences.

From your quote, Amazon clearly say they pay when the code is sold. That still means they are buying them; they're just paying afterward (it's not unusual in any industry to have goods "on spec").

Valve/Steam is different. Think of them as brokers. They take a percentage cut, and never during any part of a transaction profess ownership of any codes.

[chopstix]

Originally Posted by crunchyfrog555

Erm, they DO own them, as Amazon BUY those keys, so they're free to do what they like with them. Valve do not. That is the apparent and clear difference.

No disrespect, but these are fundamental differences.

From your quote, Amazon clearly say they pay when the code is sold. That still means they are buying them; they're just paying afterward (it's not unusual in any industry to have goods "on spec").

Valve/Steam is different. Think of them as brokers. They take a percentage cut, and never during any part of a transaction profess ownership of any codes.

Sorry, but this still makes little sense in my opinion how they are any different. Both stores receive a lump of keys for a product, sell the product, and then divide the money according to contractual agreements previously made.

The Amazon rep is even specifically says they do not buy the product up front. Money is only distributed after the fact, the same as Valve runs Steam.

So since their method of selling is the same, how is it Amazon is "buying" keys and owning them while Steam is a broker?

Amazon itself may be a standard retailer, but their digital gaming side is run the exact same way as pretty much all other services, Gamersgate, Steam, Gamestop Impulse, etc.

[crunchyfrog555]

Originally Posted by chopstix

Sorry, but this still makes little sense in my opinion how they are any different. Both stores receive a lump of keys for a product, sell the product, and then divide the money according to contractual agreements previously made.

The Amazon rep is even specifically says they do not buy the product up front. Money is only distributed after the fact, the same as Valve runs Steam.

So since their method of selling is the same, how is it Amazon is "buying" keys and owning them while Steam is a broker?

Amazon itself may be a standard retailer, but their digital gaming side is run the exact same way as pretty much all other services, Gamersgate, Steam, Gamestop Impulse, etc.

The method of selling is quite different, and it deals with ownership. I'm sorry you can't see it, but I don't know what else to say that I haven't said already.

Let me try a different explanation.

If you've a product you want to sell, and I say to you "I'll buy 1000, but I won't pay you for them up front. I'll pay you once I've sold them". You could agree to to this, and I would be able to take ownership of the keys, as I'm free to sell them at what I wish (it's part of the agreement after all). I "return" the price to you, less any commission. These are known as "Commission" sales in retail.

I could alternatively say to you "I'll take 1000 to sell on your behalf, and I'll pass the sales back to you periodically, as they're sold". That would be similar to a brokerage scheme. I would not hold any ownership rights to the product at any time. You would have the right to adjust any sales accordingly (price, etc).

Those are two very different arrangements, but from the consumer's viewpoint, they appear very similar.