EA Says Steam Sales Hurt Industry

[Turquoiside]

Well EA is hardly doing well lately:

link

Not to mention that this is having a knock on effect with future games they're releasing because they need to get a ridiculous number of sales in order to break even. Dead Space 3 is probably the most high profile example:

"In general we’re thinking about how we make this a more broadly appealing franchise, because ultimately you need to get to audience sizes of around five million to really continue to invest in an IP like Dead Space,"

link

I don't doubt that companies in general are having problems due to the economy but EA is doing worse than most due to it's recent flops like Star Wars and milking reasonably successful games like Dead Space for all they're worth.

Interesting reads, I had no idea their shares were falling even as their profits were steadily increasing...

 

[NBAfan]

So says the company that is competing with Steam.

 

[Adam7Eight]

EA is just pissed because they can't buyout Valve and own/run everything themselves. A bit of irony, really. If anything has hurt the industry, it's EA.

 

[NickyJ]

Obviously, I hate to play Captain Obvious but..... EA sucks.

There, I said it. I feel dirty. Obviously.

 

[NBAfan]

Someone at the Paradox forums said something about this.

Apparently the steam sales hurt developers greatly can anyone confirm?

Johan's answer:

hell no

 

[Sonereal]

Someone at the Paradox forums said something about this.
Johan's answer:

 

[Samez]

Let's just say selling whole publisher catalogs and plenty of cheap indie bundles is a very good idea. You can find new games /developers you would have never bought as single game.
The great blockbuster games like Diablo3 or Skyrim still sold good in preeorder because most gamefreaks can't wait even an hour longer than release date to play the games.

 

[GenMarshall]

Sounds like EA is butt hurt about this. Ain't my fault you decided to pull out of steam and then backstab Valve.

 

[Andvare]

Oh Ea, you rapscallion you, does your antics never cease to amuse?

"Dear Santa.
I have been a good boy this year, so could you get around to destroying EA like you promised?"

 

[Civ'ed]

Someone at the Paradox forums said something about this.
Johan's answer:

That, that's something EA developers will never do
That said, I think the sales benefit, since when you consider it, more people buy during sales, so that makes up for the lost money in the discount right?

 

[codepoet]

Honestly... the steam sales do two things IMO:
- Make games more available to buy (used to be that I'd wait too long and not be able to find a game I would have gotten eventually... not a problem with Steam)
- The bundling and sales have me buying games I would not have bought otherwise. Same thing would happen in stores with the bargain bins; but with steam it's so much more accessible.

How could EA see either of the above as negative? I think they're just crying.

 

[Turquoiside]

Honestly... the steam sales do two things IMO:
- Make games more available to buy (used to be that I'd wait too long and not be able to find a game I would have gotten eventually... not a problem with Steam)
- The bundling and sales have me buying games I would not have bought otherwise. Same thing would happen in stores with the bargain bins; but with steam it's so much more accessible.

How could EA see either of the above as negative? I think they're just crying.

Sure, but who can say whether you (and really most gamers) wouldn't have spent that money on something newer, more expensive, and generic? Steam seems to introduce gamers to a variety of cheap alternatives to what EA likely views as their products.

Also, how much say do developers have in Steam's sales once they agree to let Steam carry their products? I ask because of this: http://simsvip.com/?p=13099. Steam

 

[Maniacal]

Afaik Valve and the developer both have to agree on the sale price, during the winter sale last December Terraria was mistakingly put on a 75% off sale when the developer only wanted it to be 50% off and this was corrected after a couple of hours.

 

[Glassmage]

EA should worry about their own failing company.

 

[Northen Wolf]

I'm very poor(student) and I can't spend more than 10-15 euros a month for games (often I don't buy anything in a month). I just don't have more. And until recent year or two, I did not even buy games and pirated everything. Why? Because I had the opportunity - I had no way to spend 20+ euros on a 2-3 year old games (and that's what you have to spend when buying from local resellers). Now I buy most of my games, because I can afford it.

The way I see it: If you want the game quickly(skyrim, battlefield 3), you'll buy it for 40+ USD, netting in a lot of money. But If I do want to play and I know I can get it within My price range, I'll rather wait to buy it legally and bring some money in for the company. If I do want the game but I know It'll never reach my price range, I'll rather pirate it (for an example Sims 3, I'd buy complete pack for 20-25 euros, but not for more), bringing in no money to company at all. I do not think piracy is a good thing, nor should anyone ever do it, but this is the way I think and see the world. Mainly because I don't have 40 dollars to throw at the games.

 

[Little Faith]

I think there's an underlying supply-side assumption behind the big publishers position along the line of:
"If we just remove the alternatives our target audience will magically have the disposable income to pay the full price".

Valve is independent enough (by virtue of not being publicly traded) to, so to say, think different without all the institutional pressures barreling down on an organisation like EA.

 

[Captain2]

Steam doesn't seem to depreciate in such a way, I mean Dan of War 2 was released years ago and it's still £20.

I preferred the original Dan of War, he was much more bad ass in the first one.

That said, they mention how its horrible for the developers to be making less money because Steam has a sale. I can say for a fact that I've bought a multitude of games that if they were on EA's "Reduce the price only if we absolutely have to" model, I wouldn't have given a second look.

The Hitman series for example has now gained me as a fan because I got Blood Money for like ten dollars years ago, I wouldn't have cared otherwise.

Its probably why I don't care for any of EA's games these days.

 

[Malachi256]

I bet the movie industry said the same thing when video rentals showed up on the scene. "OMG no one will go to the movies anymore if they can just rent it for 1/10 the price in a year (or less)." We all know how that turned out - movie industry revenue is currently around 10 billion dollars.

 

[Sonereal]

I bet the movie industry said the same thing when video rentals showed up on the scene. "OMG no one will go to the movies anymore if they can just rent it for 1/10 the price in a year (or less)." We all know how that turned out - movie industry revenue is currently around 10 billion dollars.

The best part is that the same video rental places are now struggling to survive because of the Internetz.

 

[Andvare]

I bet the movie industry said the same thing when video rentals showed up on the scene. "OMG no one will go to the movies anymore if they can just rent it for 1/10 the price in a year (or less)." We all know how that turned out - movie industry revenue is currently around 10 billion dollars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZadCj8O1-0

Copyright math!