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STEAM Announcements & Updates 2014 II - The Definitive Edition

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Blablurn

Member
This whole user gift / region locking story confuses me. I also bought SouthPark from strong hammer. I activiated it once I got it and it's in my list. Will it work in the end? (info: I'm from Germany)
 
This whole user gift / region locking story confuses me. I also bought SouthPark from strong hammer. I activiated it once I got it and it's in my list. Will it work in the end? (info: I'm from Germany)

There shouldn't be any problems with it, as long as you've activated it and it's in your library.

I'm lucky that I activated my copy (didn't get from Strong Hammer) as soon as I got it, because I wasn't going to initially.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
Some publishers have opted out of AllowCrossRegionTradingAndGifting-gate. The following games are now freely tradeable/giftable:

- 7 Days to Die
- Banished
- Deadfall Adventures
- Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar
- Kerbal Space Program
- Rust
- The Banner Saga
- Whatever this is
 

Turfster

Member
GetGames sales:
Civilization sale
  • Civ 3 Complete 75% off
  • Civ 4 Complete 75% off
  • Civ 5 75% off
  • Civ 5 Gods & Kings 75% off
  • Civ 5 Brave New world 75% off
LEGO sale
  • LEGO Marvel 66% off
  • LEGO Batman 75% off
  • LEGO Batman 2 75% off
  • LEGO Lord of the Rings 75% off
  • LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4 75% off
  • LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7 75% off
 

Big_Al

Unconfirmed Member
Notice how (most of) the ones that opted out are indie games.

Aye I expect that going forward as well. TBH as long as I can still get game keys for decent prices from places like GMG I'll be happy enough but price gouging bastards like Ubisoft charging £40 for South Park can fuck right off.
 

Turfster

Member
I might be wrong, but I think indie games don't benefit from locking (region or gifting) at all, in no way, because of bundles mostly.

Nobody benefits from region locking, no matter what the big publishers (them being the only ones that want it/use it) might think.
If people aren't paying your price now, but are willing to pay half or 60% or whatever the cheaper copy costs, those people aren't going to pay the full price. They're going to wait for a discount that matches or is even lower than the cheaper 'full' price, so all you do is lose that potential plus/early sales profit rating boost.
 

Arthea

Member
Nobody benefits from region locking, no matter what the big publishers (them being the only ones that want it/use it) might think.
If people aren't paying your price now, but are willing to pay half or 60% or whatever the cheaper copy costs, those people aren't going to pay the full price. They're going to wait for a discount that matches or is even lower than the cheaper 'full' price, so all you do is lose that potential plus/early sales profit rating boost.

Ya, that's what I think too, but in case of bigger publishers, discounts are at times too long to wait for people, that's why publishers keep trying to lock them, but for indies that could never work, because of "that's too expensive, I'll wait for a bundle with it, mindset". Don't you agree?

AKA LucasArts nee Disney hates money.

The games discounted are published by WB. No Disney/Lucasarts (PotC, SW, Indy) ones here.

oh! missed your point entirely lol
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
Some publishers have opted out of AllowCrossRegionTradingAndGifting-gate. The following games are now freely tradeable/giftable:

- 7 Days to Die
- Banished
- Deadfall Adventures
- Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar
- Kerbal Space Program
- Rust
- The Banner Saga
- Whatever this is

Divinity: Original Sin, Injustice and Payday 2 now, too.
 

Caerith

Member
Nobody benefits from region locking, no matter what the big publishers (them being the only ones that want it/use it) might think.
If people aren't paying your price now, but are willing to pay half or 60% or whatever the cheaper copy costs, those people aren't going to pay the full price. They're going to wait for a discount that matches or is even lower than the cheaper 'full' price, so all you do is lose that potential plus/early sales profit rating boost.

Isn't there some benefit to locking Russia vs ROW though?
 

Turfster

Member
Ya, that's what I think too, but in case of bigger publishers, discounts are at times too long to wait for people, that's why publishers keep trying to lock them, but for indies that could never work, because of "that's too expensive, I'll wait for a bundle with it, mindset". Don't you agree?
Yes, definitely.
I mean, how many times have we seen "I'll wait until it'll 1$ in a bundle"?
(Which kinda makes me sad, but I digress)

Isn't there some benefit to locking Russia vs ROW though?

Well, there's a benefit to keeping the prices/storefronts separate so they can offer a cheaper version to match living costs/combat piracy, but not really in locking it tightly.
Only the people that know about key trading/have friends over there can get the discount at the moment, most users weren't really aware of the difference.
I mean hell, for most games, I'll poke a US friend to get me a copy because even that is usually a ridiculous 30% or more cheaper for me than the EU price.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
So, of the games that had the flag added retroactively only Assetto Corsa, Hawken, South Park and Thief remain.
 

Divius

Member
header_292x136.jpg


Finished The Swapper. It was pretty great. It is very atmospheric, has great ambient music and the puzzle gameplay was really fun. Once I got in 'the zone' I did not have much problems with most of the puzzles (there were like 3-4 that took me a while to figure out). I noticed I did not get any of the achievements, but apparently they are very well hidden throughout the game and honestly I can't be bothered to go get them. Didn't read all of the logs (honestly, who does :p) but from what I gathered, the backstory seemed quite interesting as well.


There was a weird bug where I would launch the game and it would be in slow motion until I opened the menu, resumed and then it would return to normal.
 

Arthea

Member
Isn't there some benefit to locking Russia vs ROW though?

It might be anecdotal evidence, because it's based on my experience, but I can't believe I'm so original in this. All times I bought games through Russian store, these were games I was waiting to hit certain price point, or buy it from traders now. So not that publishers got less money from me, they got more or less same amount only earlier, what in my opinion, benefits them.
As for South Park situation, people quite massively preodered it through certain trader, but you see, we need to ask ourselves, how many of them wouldn't have bought it now, if not this option. We'll never know the answer. But again anecdotal evidence, I haven't bought it even with this option available, because I'm not fan of South Park, and I'm comfortable to wait for half a year or even full year to play it, when it's cheap.
What I'm trying to say, publishers may benefit some from such measures (even that is debatable), but by no means it can really be beneficial for anybody, publishers or us.
 
Ya, that's what I think too, but in case of bigger publishers, discounts are at times too long to wait for people, that's why publishers keep trying to lock them, but for indies that could never work, because of "that's too expensive, I'll wait for a bundle with it, mindset". Don't you agree?

Yep this is an interesting thought. The "I'll wait for a bundle" mentality could put pressure on indie devs to remove the region locking. They might see it as getting sales at half price instead of just getting a few cents from bundles. On the other hand, they're the ones who control when their game goes into a bundle too.
 

Caerith

Member
Yes, definitely.
I mean, how many times have we seen "I'll wait until it'll 1$ in a bundle"?
(Which kinda makes me sad, but I digress)
I think the big difference between indies and big publishers doing this is that big publishers can afford to piss off their customers-- they have marketing budgets, they'll sell millions of copies regardless, who cares. Indies only have word of mouth, and that can't be good for sales if all the word of mouth of "fuck those guys."

(I think there's a very real case to be made that the proliferation of indie bundles-- and the expectation that any indie game will be less than $1 in a bundle-- might be detrimental to the overall indie scene.)

Well, there's a benefit to keeping the prices/storefronts separate so they can offer a cheaper version to match living costs/combat piracy, but not really in locking it tightly.
Only the people that know about key trading/have friends over there can get the discount at the moment, most users weren't really aware of the difference.
I mean hell, for most games, I'll poke a US friend to get me a copy because even that is usually a ridiculous 30% or more cheaper for me than the EU price.

I'd be curious to see numbers on "reduced" sales from trading with Russians/economies with weaker currency, etc, in the absence of region locking. Like, how many are actually "in the know" compared to people who just buy it in their home region?

But yeah, the regional price discrepancies have always been handled pretty poorly. If they don't already, Valve should really have some sort of regional pricing recommendation to give to publishers when they put stuff on the store, maybe even let the publisher pick the USD price and have all the other regions adjusted accordingly based on current exchange rates, instead of just dollar = euro.
 

Arthea

Member
Yep this is an interesting thought. The "I'll wait for a bundle" mentality could put pressure on indie devs to remove the region locking. They might see it as getting sales at half price instead of just getting a few cents from bundles. On the other hand, they're the ones who control when their game goes into a bundle too.

Well, yes, but we already live in reality where bundles exist, and they do help popularize indie games.
I don't subscribe to this mindset, if l want a game, I don't care is it indie or not, but since joining steam, I've played probably hundred if not more indie games I would never bought if not in bundles, you know, games that aren't my typical games and some I even liked. So bundles definitely aren't all bad for indie devs.

It would all be easier if there's a region option during the check out process, pay less for the locked region, pay more for the ROW version. That way, the developers won't lose money, and the customers don't get fucked over, win win.

exactly! Seems so simple solution.
 
It would all be easier if there's a region option during the check out process, pay less for the locked region, pay more for the ROW version. That way, the developers won't lose money, and the customers don't get fucked over, win win.
 

Tomodachi

Member
I'm about to perform the ultimate blasphemy, I'm getting Anno 1404 directly from the uPlay store. It's only 2,50€ for the Gold Edition in my country. May Gabe have mercy on my soul.
 

Arthea

Member
I'm about to perform the ultimate blasphemy, I'm getting Anno 1404 directly from the uPlay store. It's only 2,50€ for the Gold Edition in my country. May Gabe have mercy on my soul.

you have no faith in Jasec?!

wait with us for steam one to be available again
 

derExperte

Member
I'm about to perform the ultimate blasphemy, I'm getting Anno 1404 directly from the uPlay store. It's only 2,50€ for the Gold Edition in my country. May Gabe have mercy on my soul.

Strangely 1404 isn't available here at all in the Uplay store, only 2070.

And Ubisoft is throwing out bonus games if you buy something like cheap candy, they must be desperate. Good.
 

Turfster

Member
But yeah, the regional price discrepancies have always been handled pretty poorly. If they don't already, Valve should really have some sort of regional pricing recommendation to give to publishers when they put stuff on the store, maybe even let the publisher pick the USD price and have all the other regions adjusted accordingly based on current exchange rates, instead of just dollar = euro.

Instead, now the indie bundles/stores are getting in on the 1$=1€ fallacy.
 

Arthea

Member
Instead, now the indie bundles/stores are getting in on the 1$=1€ fallacy.

You know what I don't understand? how this exploit loophole is still a thing. I feel like we haven't done enough to discourage everybody from such practices. I mean it's like we are so stupid and tame, that nobody even cares what we think about it (><)
 

Knurek

Member
You know what I don't understand? how this exploit loophole is still a thing. I feel like we haven't done enough to discourage everybody from such practices. I mean it's like we are so stupid and tame, that nobody even cares what we think about it (><)

You may be wise enough to skirt such bullshit, but if other 999 people buying the bundle won't, that still hell of a lot of money for the publisher.

Unfortunately, 1dollar = 1euro will not go away fast (unless, of course, euro drops down to be below 1 dolar, then, obviously they will adjust the prices).
 

ngt

Member
Some publishers have opted out of AllowCrossRegionTradingAndGifting-gate. The following games are now freely tradeable/giftable:

- 7 Days to Die
- Banished
- Deadfall Adventures
- Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar
- Kerbal Space Program
- Rust
- The Banner Saga
- Whatever this is

My Banished gift still shows a lock.
 

derExperte

Member
How is Nuclear Throne according to SteamGAF? Got a 50% voucher after badge crafting, reviews on Steam are great and I don't think it will become cheaper anytime soon.

Looks like I might finally get AssBro if it's 75% off.

I haven't played this series since AssII.

BroHo is still best Ass after Ass2.
 
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