Has the game been free to play?

[Bjørn]

Sorry if this is a silly question, but...

I've decided to get this game after having it recommended by several, but I'd like to catch it while it's on sale, if possible.

Having checked the sale history on Steam, it indicates it was free in august of 2023:

https://steamdb.info/app/1086940/

Is this correct, and if so, any chance of a new free trial soon, you guys think? A 'free weekend' thing would be perfection.

Other than that, I see the sales so far have been at 10%, 15% and lastly at a 20% discount.

Chances for 30% or more (50%! ) discount in the following months leading up to Christmas, you guys think?

I'm currently quite broke after a new PC investment, so trying to find good game deals

Thanks for any tips!

[Orion Invictus]

No free-to-play.

The chance of a 30% discount before Christmas is slim, 50% is non-existent.

[Zloth]

That's not when the game was free, that was when the game was released.

If you're looking for similar that's cheaper, there are tons of options! Just avoid the new releases. Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of the greatest RPGs in history, and it's only $12.50 right now on GOG: https://www.gog.com/en/game/the_witcher_3_wild_hunt_game_of_the_year_edition

[Chaosolous]

No it hasn't. This game will likely be no more than maybe, at best, 20% off for the Winter holidays.

You will see no significant sale price reductions on this game for at least another year or two. Even then, 35% is probably the best you can hope for.

The game is so good that it sells well at full price. Larian has no reason to discount it. I mean, it's a single player game from over a year ago that regularly gets well over 70,000+ players a day.

There are live service games that envy Larian's player count.

[Bjørn]

Ah thanks guys. I misread the chart where it said it was free.

I have Witcher 3 already, of course, but thanks for the tip. I prefer to have all my games in one place, though, so it will have to be on Steam. Not fair to the competition, I know, but just a preference. I tend to forget about games I buy elsewhere

I'll wait for the next sale, then!

[.Master Jiren, The Strongest]

itll never be free to play, this isn't a microtransaction game. free to play games make money by selling battle pass or cosmetics, this game doesnt do that. eventually itll be 90% off but that could be 5 years down the line.

usually a game hits the huge discounts when the sequel comes out, but this game will never get a sequel and if it does it wont be the same studio. And if it *does* itll be 10 years down the line.

[Bjørn]

Yes, thanks, I only later noticed that the drop in the graph where the price was 0 was the day of release, sorry. The graph prior probably indicated the pre-purchase period, if there was any.

Regarding free to play, I did play the game Anno 1800 for free during a 'free weekend' event here on Steam about a year ago, but like you say, that was several years after it was released.