JonCole

General Video Game Deals Thread

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I was thinking about Titanfall this evening on my bike ride. Really great game, that. Unfortunately, I think its time has come and gone for me, personally.

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The best place to get games is G2A.com.  It looks dodgy but I'm fairly confident it's legit.  There are many YouTubers out there who endorse the site.  I've recently started using it a bit and had an excellent experience.  I bought Pillars of Eternity, Gal Civ III and Grey Goo on there for £12 each. It's like a Steam sale every day of the week.  

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There's a financial incentive to endorse G2A because of the referral link commission.

I'm not saying it's right or wrong, just something to consider when evaluating an endorsement.

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There's a financial incentive to endorse G2A because of the referral link commission.

I'm not saying it's right or wrong, just something to consider when evaluating an endorsement.

 

Well, I think that people should have the right to trade on a second-hand market.  Especially, if companies are going to charge so much for their games, as they do these days, and almost all endorsements are rooted in a financial incentive I suppose.  

 

However, if codes are being stolen are obtained deceitfully simply to sell on for profit, then I'm not down with that at all. 

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Especially, if companies are going to charge so much for their games, as they do these days.

 

Really? Yes, it's true that PC games have become more expensive in the past 20 years if you ignore inflation. AAA PC games were between 40 and 50 euros 20 years ago, right now there are on par with console games (for RRP) at 50 to 60 euros. But in that case you're ignoring inflation.

But besides the big studio games, there's a shit load of awesome games between 10 and 20 euros.

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Yeah that comment strikes me as weird. Games are only more expensive if you are exclusively talking about AAA games with tons of DLC, but despite the ubiquity of DLC, that's still not the majority of games.

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When I was 10, an N64 game was $80 in 1997 prices. A "budget" game was $60. (This is Canadian dollars). Today, a full price game is $70 and a budget game is $40 - $50. Even ignoring inflation, games are cheaper now.

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Really? Yes, it's true that PC games have become more expensive in the past 20 years if you ignore inflation. AAA PC games were between 40 and 50 euros 20 years ago, right now there are on par with console games (for RRP) at 50 to 60 euros. But in that case you're ignoring inflation.

But besides the big studio games, there's a shit load of awesome games between 10 and 20 euros.

 

Well ok, I accept that there's no blanket statement that can be made on this.  Maybe it's subjective.  I have no problem paying £50 for Witcher 3 but when it comes to paying £45 for a half finished Gal Civ 3 only to be drip fed the rest of the game via numerous dlc or to pay hundreds of pounds to receive the entire offerings of Destiny or Mortal Kombat, then I think that is abusive.  Not that this justifies any trade in shady game codes you understand.  

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http://www.polygon.com/2015/2/9/8006693/the-truth-behind-those-mysteriously-cheap-gray-market-game-codes

 

Polygon did a super interesting piece on those grey market second-hand key sellers.

 

That's a really interesting and well written article. One of the more engrossing ones I've read in a while. I do my best to only buy games new and from official sellers (or the developer itself if I can) but I realize I'm in the rather privileged position of having more money to buy games than I have time to play them. Still, it really surprises me that people who choose to buy from these sites aren't at least peripherally aware that it could be attached to theft, money laundering, or other shady business practices. 

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That's a really interesting and well written article. One of the more engrossing ones I've read in a while. I do my best to only buy games new and from official sellers (or the developer itself if I can) but I realize I'm in the rather privileged position of having more money to buy games than I have time to play them. Still, it really surprises me that people who choose to buy from these sites aren't at least peripherally aware that it could be attached to theft, money laundering, or other shady business practices.

I think there's a sentiment that feels like the games are over priced beyond what's reasonable or fair. So people feel like the grey market price is the more honest one, and won't consider that they may have illegitimate sources.

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I think there's a sentiment that feels like the games are over priced beyond what's reasonable or fair. So people feel like the grey market price is the more honest one, and won't consider that they may have illegitimate sources.

 

For some people, thinking they are getting something through an illicit/black market/stolen channel actually convinces them they are getting the best deal possible.  So some people will view grey markets as the best option simply because they are grey. 

 

A friend of mine made a living for awhile selling shit from the back of a van that was all completely legally sourced, but he'd sell it like the shit was hot, and it was ridiculous how many people thought they were getting away with a great deal because of that. 

 

Humans are dumb.

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Weird, I guess I'm just paranoid. I can't imagine buying anything like that. I barely even used eBay because of that concern.

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For some people, thinking they are getting something through an illicit/black market/stolen channel actually convinces them they are getting the best deal possible.  So some people will view grey markets as the best option simply because they are grey. 

 

A friend of mine made a living for awhile selling shit from the back of a van that was all completely legally sourced, but he'd sell it like the shit was hot, and it was ridiculous how many people thought they were getting away with a great deal because of that. 

 

Humans are dumb.

 

This is maybe the greatest thing I've ever read.

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i'm sure this happens everywhere, but I remember in the 90s around metro NY "speakers that fell off a truck" were everywhere. Dudes did just what Bjorn said. Selling "high end" stereo speakers out of a van, usually in a Circuit City or Media Play parking lot. Actually, I just remembered I HAVE A PAIR at my parents that a friend bought back then!

 

Also, like Dewar I've tried to pay full, or prerelease price for games where I want to support the person involved, and wait for sales for the maybe stuff from the big dawgs, like Far Cry 4. I also concede this is super privileged but there aren't TOO many studios/people I'm that invested in.  

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For some people, thinking they are getting something through an illicit/black market/stolen channel actually convinces them they are getting the best deal possible.  So some people will view grey markets as the best option simply because they are grey. 

 

A friend of mine made a living for awhile selling shit from the back of a van that was all completely legally sourced, but he'd sell it like the shit was hot, and it was ridiculous how many people thought they were getting away with a great deal because of that. 

 

Humans are dumb.

 

It makes sense.  It gives the buyer a reason to believe they are getting an especially good deal.  When I was briefly a telemarketer, a lot of the job was to convince people the deal they were getting was unique and special for them.

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I think that there are many people out there that don't even know to consider that games not through "official" resellers could be illegitimate. If you're a young person without the experience of growing up with a straight up black market and pirated/cracked games, if you're paying for something you're buying a legitimate copy. Money=Legality. Popular Internet Stream Personality is advertising Kinguin, so why wouldn't it be legit, they might say.

 

There are so many legitimate online sites vying for your dollar that if you can relax your purchase requirements to Not Day One I think you're in good shape. Steam and GOG and Humble and GMG and Amazon, etc. Someone's having a sale.

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i'm sure this happens everywhere, but I remember in the 90s around metro NY "speakers that fell off a truck" were everywhere. Dudes did just what Bjorn said. Selling "high end" stereo speakers out of a van, usually in a Circuit City or Media Play parking lot. Actually, I just remembered I HAVE A PAIR at my parents that a friend bought back then!

 

Haha!  The "speakers in a truck" type guys are who he learned the schtick from.  Guys like them just kept moving from city to city.  He started working for them and did it for a couple of months in Kansas City, and when they were ready to move on, he didn't want to go, but he just bought a van and started buying his own shit wholesale. 

 

The speaker thing had an entire pitch behind it.  They'd say that they were professional audio installers who hooked up bars, restaurants and other venues, and they were on their way to an install and realized they'd been loaded with an extra 4 towers and no one had realized it, so like, there was no way anyone would notice (or if they were almost sold out for the day, they'd say they had 2 left over from a job).  They'd say that bars would buy these speakers at $500 a pop, but since they only had about 30 minutes before they needed to get to their install job, they'd sell them right now for just $250 each.  Half fucking price man, how can you pass that up?  Having speakers like your favorite bar uses man, but just half the price.  If I remember right, the speakers actually cost like $125 each and they had a whole fucking warehouse full of them. 

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I think that there are many people out there that don't even know to consider that games not through "official" resellers could be illegitimate. If you're a young person without the experience of growing up with a straight up black market and pirated/cracked games, if you're paying for something you're buying a legitimate copy. Money=Legality. Popular Internet Stream Personality is advertising Kinguin, so why wouldn't it be legit, they might say.

 

There are so many legitimate online sites vying for your dollar that if you can relax your purchase requirements to Not Day One I think you're in good shape. Steam and GOG and Humble and GMG and Amazon, etc. Someone's having a sale.

 

If you're getting it for half of retail price, it's probably shady? Goes for real life things like electronics at Costco just as well as it does for games.

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If you're getting it for half of retail price, it's probably shady? Goes for real life things like electronics at Costco just as well as it does for games.

 

I'm throwing out hypotheses, not making a definitive statement. I didn't grow up in an all-digital game economy and I don't know if someone else thinks differently than I do.

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Yeah, I know, it just seems crazy to me. One of those things that feels like it should be common sense, but isn't. 

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I think there's a sentiment that feels like the games are over priced beyond what's reasonable or fair. So people feel like the grey market price is the more honest one, and won't consider that they may have illegitimate sources.

ARghhh that mindset winds me up! Although I understand not having the budget to get everything you'd like, I think 'games are overpriced' is a crazy position for people to take, especially over the past couple of years and especially in the US. Bundles and sales on PC and consoles mean you can pick up dozens of games for pennies. Trip-A games are discounted within 2 weeks of release, and even Nintendo RRPs are creeping down (I can get Splatoon for €33 ). Maybe I'm still remembering the days when Conker was £59.99 and stayed that price for months, but it always grates when people throw beer down their neck at £5 a pint or drop £80 on a few tops from Zara or spend £20 on a trip to the cinema and then say games are an expensive hobby!

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