why is everything so much more expensive on steam?

[Shawn AKA The-Nooch]

Hello, iv been out of pc gaming for at least 5 years. now im back online, and every game I see that I want to play on pc is way overpriced, way over retail, why is that? games like cod black ops II is still $60 even after its been out for 2 years and it now retails for 29.99 in stores, so why so much on steam? Modern warfare 3 retails for 19.99 but on here its $40? the original COD is on here for 20 when that still retails for $10. Every game I have checked out costs about double, in a few cases triple what the retail price is here on steam, why is that? I work in a Videogame store so I know what all of these games retail for new, I just don't understand Steams reasoning for the pricing.

[Seretti]

I think it's the devs / publishers who set the prices, not Valve, but I'm not sure...

[Astraea Kisaragi]

Now comes to the basic logic why you would buy games at full price and not in a sale. Retails cannot beat -75/80% offers. I'm patient to wait for, are you too?

[LEOdf]

So they can apply a "higher" discount during the Steam sales. Most people put off buying anything on Steam until the sales come around. So they leave the prices high, that way the 50% discount on Steam sale for Blops 2 for example will equal 30$ - the normal retail price... Get it? LOLOL

[Muppet among Puppets]

Only buy on steam if the price fits your expectations.
Then steam is quite good.