Why the game is heavily discounted on Fanatical?

[b9thirty99]

I mean really, 35% in Fanatical vs 17% on Steam? Why are they even allowing that? Now, I feel like I am being cheated. I probably going to cancel the pre-order. Let's see. And now it is coming to Gamepass too.

Those who got lucky, Congrats. Since product is already out of stock.

[The Former]

Don't know much about Fanatical, but that sounds like one of those shady grey market deals to me. 35% off? It probably won't even go on sale for that much the first time around.

[b9thirty99]

Publicado originalmente por Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd:

Don't know much about Fanatical, but that sounds like one of those shady grey market deals to me. 35% off? It probably won't even go on sale for that much the first time around.

I swear it. 30% sale then 5% extra since it is a summer sale (or if you're a new member). Fanatical is owned by Fandom and their keys are licensed. That company is legit, like steam. And the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game from there also comes with all the pre-order bonuses too. So that's what is irritating me a lot.

[b9thirty99]

Check this out @Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd:
https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/humankind-digital-deluxe-edition


Keep the pre order rules same for EVERYONE! I am 1 click from hitting cancel my pre-order. Then buy it years later when it's on deep sale. That way I will have two benefits: get at a cheaper price and see how they're with their business model, so if it's a dlc fest I will know.

[AdahnGorion]

Grey markets = buy boxed copies with region lock (ie in Turkey for 1/4 of the price) then circumveen (easy) regional locking by making it digital and resell. sell it for ½ the price, you still earn.

Some also used stolen cc´s to buy a lot of copies, then sell them fast. Some use "promotional, free copies, etc" to resell..

All in all. it is not a good way to support the dev/pub and your own sensetive information.


Games that don´t have regional pricing, often don´t have this problem (then only black market exist)

[jlawleraz]

I don't have the answer to your "why" question, but I just wanted to mention that it isn't only Fanatical (which I agree is completely legitimate and I have used many times). I bought it on humblebundle.com. Because I am part of their monthly plan, the game was less expensive for me there than it was on Fanatical.

[b9thirty99]

Publicado originalmente por Darkie:

Grey markets = buy boxed copies with region lock (ie in Turkey for 1/4 of the price) then circumveen (easy) regional locking by making it digital and resell. sell it for ½ the price, you still earn.

Some also used stolen cc´s to buy a lot of copies, then sell them fast. Some use "promotional, free copies, etc" to resell..

All in all. it is not a good way to support the dev/pub and your own sensetive information.


Games that don´t have regional pricing, often don´t have this problem (then only black market exist)

No no...that company is owned by Fandom. They sell official licensed keys (if we were to believe their website) and them on top of that just found out filthy Gamespot had 20$ off deals just a few days ago:

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/save-20-on-humankind-with-this-sweet-preorder-discount-exclusive-deal/1100-6489072/

WTF!!! Dude why would they create an unfair deals?!

[b9thirty99]

Publicado originalmente por jlawleraz:

I don't have the answer to your "why" question, but I just wanted to mention that it isn't only Fanatical (which I agree is completely legitimate and I have used many times). I bought it on humblebundle.com. Because I am part of their monthly plan, the game was less expensive for me there than it was on Fanatical.

See your deal makes sense. And I respect that. You have already invested in a premium service (just like an Xbox pass) so you getting a deal doesn't make me mad at all (and you being in Humble Bundle is very commendable and excellent)....but then we have sites like these where SEGA is allowing their products being sold at a lower price, and creating an unfair ground for those who entrusted this product early on. So now tell me, why should we support these people?!

[The Former]

If they're legit, the only thing I can figure is that the company is either taking a loss or a very narrow profit margin, giving the developer the difference in full price out of their own cut, in order to generate hype around their platform. If so, it's gutsy because it has a reasonable chance of backfiring monetarily.

[b9thirty99]

Publicado originalmente por Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd:

If they're legit, the only thing I can figure is that the company is either taking a loss or a very narrow profit margin, giving the developer the difference in full price out of their own cut, in order to generate hype around their platform. If so, it's gutsy because it has a reasonable chance of backfiring monetarily.

That makes sense, but I am just pissed. Publisher has no saying in how the game gets distributed. Man...such a disappointment. I will move on. Spending $12-15 extra on a product is nothing. Hopefully they can see high sale and give us good expansions and not small cash grab dlcs.

[Qoojo]

I find almost every game that steam sells is cheaper on other sites, which are licensed and legal vendors for various publishers. Steam takes a 35% cut (? I forget exact amount, but it goes down for very popular games), so these places can offer games cheaper due to lower cost and overhead.

[b9thirty99]

Publicado originalmente por Qoojo:

I find almost every game that steam sells is cheaper on other sites, which are licensed and legal vendors for various publishers. Steam takes a 35% cut (? I forget exact amount, but it goes down for very popular games), so these places can offer games cheaper due to lower cost and overhead.

I understand. Steam punishes gamers for being on its platform. And the people who don't pirate games have to take the hit. Like us. Feels so stupid now for buying here. Wish we could have seen this sooner.

[Astasia]

Fandom has money to burn, they have a lot of investors and have been buying up a lot of other companies and trying to get people to use their stuff more. I'm sure they are taking a loss to try to get people to use their store, like how Epic Games is constantly giving away free games and burning through hundreds of millions in losses every year to try to make their trash store a thing.

Fanatical is a small fish compared to Epic though, they capped their sales pretty low so they wouldn't lose that much, the game is listed as "sold out." I guess the steam key printing software ran out of keys hmm? Hehe. They were probably like, "We'll sell 1000 of these at a much larger discount than other stores to get people to check us out." And it worked, you dropped a link here and people clicked on it to see what was up.

[jlawleraz]

Publicado originalmente por misterMBBS:

Wish we could have seen this sooner.

I use isthereanydeal.com and the Augmented Steam browser extension (which checks prices on isthereanydeal.com). They both help a lot. They aren't 100%, but generally when they don't show the lowest price, what they are showing is still within 5% or so of the lowest price available. And you can filter it to just sites where you are comfortable, like sites you are sure are legitimate.

[Satoru]

Note most legitimate 3rd party sites operate on buying keys from distributors with a built in margin of around 30%

They’ll then undercut this margin in order to entice customers. This isn’t a big problem for them since 3rd party sites don’t need to host the game content so their fixed costs are lower

[GuNNuP]

fanatical and Green man gaming are the real deal, they aren't like G2A or Kinguin. They buy the keys from the developers, and price them as low as they can to still get a decent return.