• index@sh.itjust.works
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    21 hours ago

    Can someone explain videogames sales to me? How can a game be 12$ and 8.99$ the day after?

      • index@sh.itjust.works
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        1 hour ago

        Grocery deteriorates, when it’s about to expire it goes on sales and if nobody buys they throw it away. Software doesn’t rotten.

    • sushibowl@feddit.nl
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      13 hours ago

      Can you elaborate where your confusion lies? It’s a digital good, there is no marginal cost. So they can pretty much price a game however they want. So pricing is mostly about maximising revenue, i.e. get as many sales as you can at the highest possible price.

      A sale is a relatively straightforward strategy where you first sell the game at a high price to all the people who are fine with paying a lot, then you lower the price to sell more copies to the people who weren’t willing to pay the higher price. The result is more total profit. There is a time limit too to create a sense of urgency (“I better buy now so I don’t miss the opportunity”).

      • index@sh.itjust.works
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        54 minutes ago

        Can you elaborate where your confusion lies?

        Real goods have a limited lifespan, they usually go on sales when they are about to reach the end of their life or when you physically have to get rid of them. Software doesn’t expire.

        A price is usually set to cover the initial costs and to make a reasonable profit not to squeeze how much money you can from people.

        • Kacarott@aussie.zone
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          26 minutes ago

          Games on Steam are not usually recurring purchases, one person won’t buy the same product over and over like they need to for food. This means the market of people willing to pay the full price gets saturated over time.

          Sales are a way to increase the market size by lowering the “barrier to entry” (price). Sometimes a price will be permanently lowered, however usually not because a temporary sale encourages people to buy now instead of later.

    • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
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      20 hours ago

      Its for the people that only buy when its a “good deal”. Its usually for old games that are well liked or for newer games that are maybe a year old now. The non sale price is for people who can’t wait for the discount. Sorta like waiting for a movie to go to video/streaming rather than go to the theater.

      • index@sh.itjust.works
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        19 hours ago

        So what you are saying is that it is only a marketing move to appeal to poorer people?

        • sushibowl@feddit.nl
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          13 hours ago

          You can also view it as a strategy to extract more money from richer people, without sacrificing all the poorer customers.

        • PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca
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          18 hours ago

          I’m not rich but I’m definitely not poor. I only buy video games when they’re like $30 CAD or less. Only time I went against this rule was for Baldurs Gate.