• neo (he/him)@lemmy.comfysnug.space
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    8 months ago

    Star Wars Jedi: Survivor 55% off right now (Steam)

    Street Fighter 6 44% off right now (Fanatical)

    Starfield 33% off right now (40%, microsoft store, Feb 8 2024)

    Fairing a little bit better than the above:

    Resident Evil 4 Remake 25% off right now (Steam)

    Persona 3 Reload 15% off right now GameBillet

    Baldur’s Gate 3 10% off historically (10%, gog, Dec 21 2023)

    These are just the ones I’m familiar with off the top of my head. Of them, only Baldur’s Gate 3’s discount levels are what I would call “healthy”. 10% for Christmas and no discount since means it’s doing well.

    • Deceptichum@sh.itjust.works
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      8 months ago

      I’d say anything under 30% is simply a reflection of how high the profit margins are for sellers. Seeing as 30% is the industry fee tacked onto titles by storefronts.

      Star Wars, Starfield (Not a good game at all), Resi, and Persona are all ‘free’ on GamePass. So they’ve most likely already made their expected profit from sales if going that route was the more profitable decision. That really just leaves SF6, which these days isn’t that strong a franchise and fighting games are niche.

      Videogames are the largest entertainment industry in the world, dwarfing books, film, and music. The industry is seeing record profits year-on-year. Add to that gaming being one of the most resilient entertainment forms during economic downturns due to its price-to-hour ratio, I don’t see these discounts being a reflection of market difficulties.

      • neo (he/him)@lemmy.comfysnug.space
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        8 months ago

        Didn’t DLC and MTX come about because consumers wouldn’t accept a rise in sticker price for games?

        I’m not saying you’re wrong, either, you may very well have a point. I’m just having a hard time reconciling “We added DLC in order to make more money since we can’t raise the sticker price” with “30% discounts are a reflection of how high the profit margins are for sellers”

    • conciselyverbose@kbin.social
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      8 months ago

      None of those games are that recent.

      Discounts over time are a perfectly standard part of their pricing strategy. It’s not even mildly unhealthy. Resellers don’t count at all, because that’s always their strategy.

      The unusual part of suicide squad and skull and bones is that they’re brand new games. The discounts are not huge because there’s a problem with the market. They’re huge because they’re dogshit excuses for products and nobody is stupid enough to buy them.

        • conciselyverbose@kbin.social
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          8 months ago

          3 months is recent.

          A game having a significant sale 6 months or a year later is perfectly normal behavior. It tells you absolutely nothing about the industry. It’s worked that way for decades. It’s not the tiniest bit unusual.

    • mosiacmango@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      Lots of those games are nearly a year old, were way overhyped vs their actual reviews, or had technical issues that may or may not have been resolved.

      The Baldurs gate discount is only 10% because its still very popular but the sales have dipped a bit because their initial fan base already bought it.

      Those are just bog standard game discounts that have been going on forever for common reasons. They have nothing at all to do with the industry, which is making record profits, laying off people to make even more record profits.

      • neo (he/him)@lemmy.comfysnug.space
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        8 months ago

        I literally googled “recent aaa titles” and picked the first 6~ off of the list. I don’t hold any personal opinions of any of them except for Starfield, which I have seen my roommate play.

        Regarding Starfield: it seemed to me that it was a 6/10 game.