Should i buy through Steam or retail?

[76561198212283095]

I'm planning on building a PC within the upcoming months but i just saw steams prices for games i was thinking about buying and they're crazily overpriced. For example i was thinking about buying the zombie cod games such as waw, bo1, bo2 etc. and i noticed waw was $20, bo1 was $40 and bo2 was $60, pretty much thats crazy considering all three of those games can be bought on amazon for only $47. I know that steam cant control the prices, But is there any reason to spend almost triple the amount. Doesnt all newer retail games come with a steam code anyway? will the dvd still have to be in the drive, or will i even need a drive? I dont think waw uses steam so any downfall of not using steam?

[geekrawker]

well i just had a convo with a "person" (no ideal M/F), where they reminded me that your dealing with a steam wallet... a little digging into steam shows that once you deposit... its no longer real money, rather a 1-1 conversion to steam points. Just know once you deposit, you'll never see it come back. So if you buy retail, you could still techincally re-sell your hard copy, but i'm sure there is a policy about account transfers for money, which would likely fall into RMT... real money trading, and a lot of games have a strict ban policy on such. So i say no way, buy retail... i'm not duping any more money into my steam wallet after finding out its no longer money.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Steam is well know for its sales events for good reason -- if you're an experienced Steam user, the base prices of games are rarely the actual prices you'd have paid, unless you're really in a hurry for a newly-released game.

[HLCinSC]

Nguyên văn bởi matt.zepess:

I'm planning on building a PC within the upcoming months but i just saw steams prices for games i was thinking about buying and they're crazily overpriced. For example i was thinking about buying the zombie cod games such as waw, bo1, bo2 etc. and i noticed waw was $20, bo1 was $40 and bo2 was $60, pretty much thats crazy considering all three of those games can be bought on amazon for only $47. I know that steam cant control the prices, But is there any reason to spend almost triple the amount. Doesnt all newer retail games come with a steam code anyway? will the dvd still have to be in the drive, or will i even need a drive? I dont think waw uses steam so any downfall of not using steam?

Activision is notorious for keeping their games at high prices. You should buy wherever is cheaper for you. If the disc version is for steam then you usually do not even need the discs, just the code. You can plug your wishlist into IsThereAnyDeal.com to see price histories and be notified when a game you choose goes on sale throough a variety of legit retailers. Just keep in mind any used games that require Steam will NOT work.

Nguyên văn bởi geekrawker:

well i just had a convo with a "person" (no ideal M/F), where they reminded me that your dealing with a steam wallet... a little digging into steam shows that once you deposit... its no longer real money, rather a 1-1 conversion to steam points. Just know once you deposit, you'll never see it come back. So if you buy retail, you could still techincally re-sell your hard copy, but i'm sure there is a policy about account transfers for money, which would likely fall into RMT... real money trading, and a lot of games have a strict ban policy on such. So i say no way, buy retail... i'm not duping any more money into my steam wallet after finding out its no longer money.

Yes just like iTunes, PSN, XBLive, Amazon or pretty much anywhere that uses a gift card/store credit system, the funds have no value outside of the business and cannot be exchanged for cash. Being allowed to transfer the funds outside of steam, opens up all kinds of issues with banking any money laundering laws both internationally and within countries.

Most PC games only include a one time single use key that binds the game permanently to the account it is registered to. After that is done, the discs are nothing more than drink coasters as no one can do anything with them. Yes account trading/selling/buying is against the SSA and can result in the account being permanently suspended.

[MainframeMouse]

To repeat what people have said, for most games buying retail still binds you for all eternity to VALVe and Steam.

However buying retail is more likely to be cheaper than steam, specially for older games.

Now while steam does have great sales, they're unpredictable. A game thats £10 retail, is £20 for 350 days a year on steam. for 10 days it might be £10 and for 5 days maybe (MAYBE) less than that.

You'll never know when. It could be this week, this month, this year, or last week when you where with out internet.

Steam sale create the illusion of a cheap market place, and stoke the fires of the economy.

About 1/4 of games are sold during sales, the rest are sold at its inflated price.

[tung tung tung sahur]

nothing

[76561198212283095]

So pretty much go for the better deal?

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

All basically depends on what games and portability/transferrability you want. Obviously, DRM-free is the ideal arrangement and the digital equivalent to being able to run off of disc only, but most recently-released games, especially AAA titles, won't give you that option. In fact, some games will give you onlg one or two options -- such as a choice between Steam and Steam-activated retail. But some other games may be a choice between Steam and non-Steam retail. Indies are less likely to have retail releases but more likely to do multi-vendor and DRM-free.

Your best bet is to check out the purchase options for each game you're interested in buying, and decide which one you want, based on price and features and limitations.

[MainframeMouse]

Nguyên văn bởi Quint the Robot Girl:

In fact, some games will give you onlg one or two options -- such as a choice between Steam and Steam-activated retail.

sure we give our customers a choice, either use steam or don't buy our game.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Yeah, it's pretty crummy.

If you're not absolutely dying to play the game, I suggest not buying and waiting for it to come onto some better platform/vendor (e.g. GOG) if that's something that matters to you.

[MainframeMouse]

Nguyên văn bởi Quint the Robot Girl:

Yeah, it's pretty crummy.

If you're not absolutely dying to play the game, I suggest not buying and waiting for it to come onto some better platform/vendor (e.g. GOG) if that's something that matters to you.

Thats pretty much what I do now.
I'm seriously irrate with the guys behine "Never Alone", they've dropped support for their stand alone client forcing me to use Steam for that game. Very annoyed since I would not have bought it had I know it would be bound to Steam.

I'm hoping the next TombRaider game will be available via Origin, because I've played every game since the original and its going to be hard not to play it.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Nguyên văn bởi MainframeMouse:

Nguyên văn bởi Quint the Robot Girl:

Yeah, it's pretty crummy.

If you're not absolutely dying to play the game, I suggest not buying and waiting for it to come onto some better platform/vendor (e.g. GOG) if that's something that matters to you.

Thats pretty much what I do now.
I'm seriously irrate with the guys behine "Never Alone", they've dropped support for their stand alone client forcing me to use Steam for that game. Very annoyed since I would not have bought it had I know it would be bound to Steam.

I'm hoping the next TombRaider game will be available via Origin, because I've played every game since the original and its going to be hard not to play it.

Never Alone used to have its own standalone thing without Steam/Origin/UPlay/etc.?

[Slimebeast]

Buy whatever is cheapest if it's a game that can be activated on Steam even if's a retail copy (Black Ops 1&2), but if it can't (COD World at War) then I would consider waiting for a future sale and get the Steam version.

Because you really want to have all your games linked to Steam. I made the mistake of buying Witcher 3 at retail and I hate that it doesn't show up properly in my Steam game library and that I can't see the play time stats, and I have no achievements and tradingcards and can't even post on the Witcher 3 forum.

I won't do that mistake again. If a game has a Steam version, that's the way to go.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Nguyên văn bởi Slimebeast:

Because you really want to have all your games linked to Steam. I made the mistake of buying Witcher 3 at retail and I hate that it doesn't show up properly in my Steam game library and that I can't see the play time stats, and I have no achievements and tradingcards and can't even post on the Witcher 3 forum. :UnhappyMask:

I won't do that mistake again. If a game has a Steam version, that's the way to go. :dwarven:

That presumes that one wants those Steam features. Which is why I said it depends on what featues the OP wants.

Contrast me, for example. I'd rather not have profile-linked achievements or be forced to use Steam's launcher or use Steam's way of organizing my games, so naturally I prefer DRM-free, though I'm certainly not entirely dead-set against Steam if the price is right and the game is something I want despite Steam's drawbacks.

[MainframeMouse]

Nguyên văn bởi Quint the Robot Girl:

Nguyên văn bởi MainframeMouse:

Thats pretty much what I do now.
I'm seriously irrate with the guys behine "Never Alone", they've dropped support for their stand alone client forcing me to use Steam for that game. Very annoyed since I would not have bought it had I know it would be bound to Steam.

I'm hoping the next TombRaider game will be available via Origin, because I've played every game since the original and its going to be hard not to play it.

Never Alone used to have its own standalone thing without Steam/Origin/UPlay/etc.?

Yep, it was a deciding factor in buying it.

[MainframeMouse]

Nguyên văn bởi Slimebeast:

Buy whatever is cheapest if it's a game that can be activated on Steam even if's a retail copy (Black Ops 1&2), but if it can't (COD World at War) then I would consider waiting for a future sale and get the Steam version.

Because you really want to have all your games linked to Steam. I made the mistake of buying Witcher 3 at retail and I hate that it doesn't show up properly in my Steam game library and that I can't see the play time stats, and I have no achievements and tradingcards and can't even post on the Witcher 3 forum. :UnhappyMask:

I won't do that mistake again. If a game has a Steam version, that's the way to go. :dwarven:

I'm guessing you're single, or don't have another gamer living with you. Give it a few years and if Steam doesn't change you'll be hating valve for not letting you use 2 different games st a time.

Witcher3 is yours, once installed you'll never get a server timeout or forced update stopping you from playing. You are in control not the shop you bought it from.