• neo (he/him)@lemmy.comfysnug.space
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        8 months ago

        This game is hardly the only one being discounted heavily and early on in it’s life cycle, it’s just the most egregious example that I’m aware of.

          • Throwaway@lemm.ee
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            8 months ago

            Anthem? Immortals of Avuem? Starfield? Forspoken? Pretty much every bad game discounts early, because word of mouth spreads, independent reviewers review, amd sales plummet. Even Starfield had a 25% discount about a month after release once people realized the magic was missing.

          • imecth@fedia.io
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            8 months ago

            Diablo 4 got 40% off within a few months I find AAA games are increasingly starting with a high price point to capitalize on the hype and advertising campaign, and once that peters out they quickly reduce the price.

            • Deceptichum@sh.itjust.works
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              8 months ago

              Wasn’t Diablo 4 kinda trash as well? Just looking on steam and it’s rated mixed, with people complaining about the monetisation of the game.

              It’s a shame what Blizzard has become, because they used to make amazing games.

              • candid@lemmy.ca
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                8 months ago

                It is trash, and Last Epoch launched at half the price being twice as good if not more this year, and with an offline mode. Diablo 4 was my biggest disappointment last year. Blizzard is a husk of its former self, amazing how mask off greedy they have become.

              • imecth@fedia.io
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                8 months ago

                Gotta distinguish popularity from ratings.
                Diablo 4 is maybe a mediocre game, but it sold truckloads.

          • neo (he/him)@lemmy.comfysnug.space
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            8 months ago

            Star Wars Jedi: Survivor 55% off right now (Steam)

            Street Fighter 6 44% off right now (Fanatical)

            Starfield 33% off right now (40%, microsoft store, Feb 8 2024)

            Fairing a little bit better than the above:

            Resident Evil 4 Remake 25% off right now (Steam)

            Persona 3 Reload 15% off right now GameBillet

            Baldur’s Gate 3 10% off historically (10%, gog, Dec 21 2023)

            These are just the ones I’m familiar with off the top of my head. Of them, only Baldur’s Gate 3’s discount levels are what I would call “healthy”. 10% for Christmas and no discount since means it’s doing well.

            • Deceptichum@sh.itjust.works
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              8 months ago

              I’d say anything under 30% is simply a reflection of how high the profit margins are for sellers. Seeing as 30% is the industry fee tacked onto titles by storefronts.

              Star Wars, Starfield (Not a good game at all), Resi, and Persona are all ‘free’ on GamePass. So they’ve most likely already made their expected profit from sales if going that route was the more profitable decision. That really just leaves SF6, which these days isn’t that strong a franchise and fighting games are niche.

              Videogames are the largest entertainment industry in the world, dwarfing books, film, and music. The industry is seeing record profits year-on-year. Add to that gaming being one of the most resilient entertainment forms during economic downturns due to its price-to-hour ratio, I don’t see these discounts being a reflection of market difficulties.

              • neo (he/him)@lemmy.comfysnug.space
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                8 months ago

                Didn’t DLC and MTX come about because consumers wouldn’t accept a rise in sticker price for games?

                I’m not saying you’re wrong, either, you may very well have a point. I’m just having a hard time reconciling “We added DLC in order to make more money since we can’t raise the sticker price” with “30% discounts are a reflection of how high the profit margins are for sellers”

            • conciselyverbose@kbin.social
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              8 months ago

              None of those games are that recent.

              Discounts over time are a perfectly standard part of their pricing strategy. It’s not even mildly unhealthy. Resellers don’t count at all, because that’s always their strategy.

              The unusual part of suicide squad and skull and bones is that they’re brand new games. The discounts are not huge because there’s a problem with the market. They’re huge because they’re dogshit excuses for products and nobody is stupid enough to buy them.

                • conciselyverbose@kbin.social
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                  8 months ago

                  3 months is recent.

                  A game having a significant sale 6 months or a year later is perfectly normal behavior. It tells you absolutely nothing about the industry. It’s worked that way for decades. It’s not the tiniest bit unusual.

            • mosiacmango@lemm.ee
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              8 months ago

              Lots of those games are nearly a year old, were way overhyped vs their actual reviews, or had technical issues that may or may not have been resolved.

              The Baldurs gate discount is only 10% because its still very popular but the sales have dipped a bit because their initial fan base already bought it.

              Those are just bog standard game discounts that have been going on forever for common reasons. They have nothing at all to do with the industry, which is making record profits, laying off people to make even more record profits.

              • neo (he/him)@lemmy.comfysnug.space
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                8 months ago

                I literally googled “recent aaa titles” and picked the first 6~ off of the list. I don’t hold any personal opinions of any of them except for Starfield, which I have seen my roommate play.

                Regarding Starfield: it seemed to me that it was a 6/10 game.

    • SturgiesYrFase@lemmy.ml
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      8 months ago

      No, this is a sign they made a shit game, and are trying as hard as they can to break even.

      I suppose that one could make the argument about it being market difficulties, if one meant the difficulty that “AAA” devs have understanding that a shit game cannot just be pushed out the door and make literally all the money, when it is in fact absolute shit.

      • neo (he/him)@lemmy.comfysnug.space
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        8 months ago

        I didn’t mean to be that vague. And you’re right. I think part of the problem is that some studios have lost touch with what their customers want in even the broadest sense.