Community MetaSteam | June 2019 - Microsoft does what Epican't

Status
Not open for further replies.

Arsene

On a break
Apr 17, 2019
3,280
8,305
113
Canada
according to what.
"DEATHLOOP” transports players to the lawless island of Blackreef in an eternal struggle between two extraordinary assassins. Explore stunning environments and meticulously designed levels in an immersive gameplay experience that lets you approach every situation any way you like. Hunt down targets all over the island in an effort to put an end to the cycle once and for all, and remember, if at first you don’t succeed… die, die again. "
 

Ex-User (307)

MetaMember
Dec 11, 2018
1,105
2,597
113
"DEATHLOOP” transports players to the lawless island of Blackreef in an eternal struggle between two extraordinary assassins. Explore stunning environments and meticulously designed levels in an immersive gameplay experience that lets you approach every situation any way you like. Hunt down targets all over the island in an effort to put an end to the cycle once and for all, and remember, if at first you don’t succeed… die, die again. "
Yeah, but lashman said the press release says multiplayer.

That just sounds like a prettied up way of describing their game.
 

texhnolyze

Child at heart
Oct 19, 2018
3,620
8,654
113
Indonesia
I've given up on reasonable regional pricing from big publishers a long time ago. :negative-blob:

No more day 1 AAA for me, except Cyberpunk perhaps. I wouldn't be able to resist Cyberpunk.
 

Digoman

Lurking in the Shadows
Dec 21, 2018
854
2,390
93
Good lord... Not to sound like a broken record, but Cyberpunk and Doom Eternal and Destiny 2 having shit regional pricing is just taking the piss.
Was just about to type the same thing about Doom including the sounding like a broken record part....

I mean, over here (Brazil) we are actually paying more than the US, $64.20... That's not how regional pricing is supposed to work :(
 

Pixieking

MetaMember
Dec 7, 2018
88
190
33
Was just about to type the same thing about Doom including the sounding like a broken record part....

I mean, over here (Brazil) we are actually paying more than the US, $64.20... That's not how regional pricing is supposed to work :(
Yeah. I'm wondering if the "store-wars" have actually given publishers the leeway to run a "Steam tax". They're now so confident that consumers would rather pay more for Steam versions, even in countries where low-salary can make US prices exorbitant, that they don't care about the lost-sales from overpricing. Which is directly contradictory to the lessons that Valve taught publishers years ago - lower the cost in poorer regions to negate piracy and get more sales. But perhaps the PC gaming market is now large enough that that lesson is no longer relevant, outside of, say, Russia and China.
 
Last edited:

texhnolyze

Child at heart
Oct 19, 2018
3,620
8,654
113
Indonesia
Yeah. I'm wondering if the "store-wars" have actually given publishers the leeway to run a "Steam tax". They're now so confident that consumers would rather pay more for Steam versions, even in countries where low-salary can make US prices exorbitant, that they don't care about the lost-sales from overpricing. Which is directly contradictory to the lessons that Valve taught publishers years ago - lower the cost in poorer regions to negate piracy and get more sales. But perhaps the PC gaming market is now large enough that that lesson is no longer relevant, outside of, say, Russia and China.
Yeah, that's probably it.

These publishers must be using some data to back up their every move and decision. The PC market is growing, and the audience is maturing, so they can also adjust their strategy. It is known that PC games have long legs. So instead of getting most of the sales from day 1, they can now split them into day 1 buyers who are okay with high prices, then get more sales on discounts months/years later from people who couldn't afford it at full price.
 

QFNS

Plays too many card games
Nov 18, 2018
1,284
3,109
113
Based on SE's previous things, it will be PS4 only for exactly 1 year and then drop on PC with barely any fanfare or annoucements.
 

Pixieking

MetaMember
Dec 7, 2018
88
190
33
Yeah, that's probably it.

These publishers must be using some data to back up their every move and decision. The PC market is growing, and the audience is maturing, so they can also adjust their strategy. It is known that PC games have long legs. So instead of getting most of the sales from day 1, they can now split them into day 1 buyers who are okay with high prices, then get more sales on discounts months/years later from people who couldn't afford it at full price.
Yeah. It's frustrating, because the long-tail on PC digital is a really big plus to the dev/pub bottom-line, especially when compared to games that also get a physical console release (and thus go onto the second-hand market). But it really hurts when fair regional pricing is a thing they consider an acceptable loss to go with that long-tail.
 

Digoman

Lurking in the Shadows
Dec 21, 2018
854
2,390
93
Yeah. I'm wondering if the "store-wars" have actually given publishers the leeway to run a "Steam tax". They're now so confident that consumers would rather pay more for Steam versions, even in countries where low-salary can make US prices exorbitant, that they don't care about the lost-sales from overpricing. Which is directly contradictory to the lessons that Valve taught publishers years ago - lower the cost in poorer regions to negate piracy and get more sales. But perhaps the PC gaming market is now large enough that that lesson is no longer relevant, outside of, say, Russia and China.
Unfortunately this isn't a Steam-only issue (and I think Valve has some clause about prices discrepancies between Steam and other stores). Bethesda awful pricing is also on the own store. Ubisoft isn't that bad yet bad is has been "adjusting" prices up on UPlay, including for the Russian market. Cyberpunk is almost a EA levels over here ($51) on GOG.
We reached the point where good regional pricing is the exception rather than the rule. As to whatever the publishers know what they are doing.... it's hard to say. Not only the PC market is bigger, the GaaS model also make things different than what they were 10 years ago. Maybe they do have data that suggest that is worth it...

But on the other hand. when I see for example the regional price of something like Sekiro, and Argentina is paying $29, Brazil is $51.50, Peru $60 and Chile $64 I think maybe they are just guessing how much they can charge.
 

Pixieking

MetaMember
Dec 7, 2018
88
190
33
But on the other hand. when I see for example the regional price of something like Sekiro, and Argentina is paying $29, Brazil is $51.50, Peru $60 and Chile $64 I think maybe they are just guessing how much they can charge.
Hah! Yeah, we're going "Oh, they have data!", and really it's just

"Hey Bob, what do you think a good price for this game is in South America?"
"Dunno Jim - how about we just throw a few D10s at each-other for each country and run with that?"
"Yeah, sounds good. If it doesn't sell, we'll just use D6s for the next release."
 
  • Like
Reactions: lashman and Digoman

fsdood

Junior Member
Jan 9, 2019
465
441
63
I remember reading somewhere that Steam automatically gives you prices to set for different countries, so maybe they have an idea on how to price correctly but choose to ignore it. Most indie games I buy are fairly cheap and have fair pricing, while the bigger games almost always are more expensive then the US prices. I think the only AAA games in recent memory that are priced really good in my country was Nioh and all the Yakuzas, but AAA publishers are inconsistent at times.

Sometimes the first games are cheap (Valkyria Chronicles), the follow up games are way expensive (Valkyria Chronicles 4 is like 10 or 20% price increase compared to US) which sucks, because it feels like even if I support them and actually buy the games, there's no way of knowing that they'll keep the prices consistent. SteamDB really is helpful to look at every entry in a series and how inconsistent they are with pricing.
 

Ex-User (307)

MetaMember
Dec 11, 2018
1,105
2,597
113
There must be some weird internal calculation that they’ve derived that tells them something like there’s a small market in these countries to buy these games, but the small market is dedicated, so you can get away with ripping them off.

Or something bizarre like that.
 

inky

🤔
Apr 17, 2019
999
2,797
93
I don't think it works like that. Small indies for the most part follow Steam's recommendations on pricing because they trust their judgement where regional pricing is based on trends and purchasing power/spending in developing regions. (Or they don't know any better, considering how many uninformed pundits have gone on social to complain that Valve forces those prices on them, and not you know, simply suggests them).

Big publishers simply ignore Steam recommendations altogether and go with their own data that they gather through their own local partners or from their retail publishing business or other sources. Most of them are publicly traded so they respond to the financial market movements like global exchange rates and currency volatility rather than game specific data from sources like Valve.

Simply put they don't give enough of a shit about people to even care if they are a small but dedicated segment or a massive group that only buys at a discount or an in between. They don't even acknowledge customers to that small group or individual level, it all depends on which way wall street is pointing generally. That's why it sometimes seems random even within the same publisher's games or neighboring regions.
 
Last edited:

bobnowhere

Careful Icarus
Sep 20, 2018
1,696
4,346
113
Looks like Steam has a page for all the pages that are coming up this E3, it's really useful, not that we have that problem here tho :coffee-blob:
Live from LA
Interesting that Biomutant appears at the bottom. I wonder is Egsclusivity has been rethought? It's a page put together by steam.
 

Ascheroth

Chilling in the Megastructure
Nov 12, 2018
5,307
12,274
113
Damn, Abzu is a stupidly pretty game. Thanks Game Pass.
Next up, ReCore. Gotta make use of this thing as much as possible before they jack up the prices :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: derExperte

Milena

Lost in VR
Jan 4, 2019
532
1,628
93
I really liked Microsoft's presentation last night.
Spiritfarer looked really interesting, Cyberpunk was amazing, Wasteland 3 looked good, Age of Empires is finally talked about again, The Outer Worlds looks fine and I'm tempted to play it on gamepass, they somehow made me interested in playing Forza (never thought I'd say this) and even Gears 5 looked ok, possibly because they didn't show the cover system.
 

kio

MetaMember
Apr 19, 2019
1,607
5,147
113
I don't usually like multiplayer games but that first game from the devolver presentation seemed interesting. A mix of battle royale with those japanese game shows from the late 80s/early 90s. Could be fun if it manages to capture a decent playerbase.
 

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
7,870
15,903
113
While subscribing to gamepass I noticed that I still have money on my US MS account... from when... I had some money to enjoy life... and an Xbox One X (no, no, I'm not crying :loudly-crying-face:)
Is there a way to spend it on PC ? Can I change region like on console, buy a game, and play it on my usual account ?
 

Stone Ocean

Proud Degenerate
Apr 17, 2019
2,358
7,485
113
Sorry Bethesda but I ain't paying more than 200 BRL on a single fucking videogame ever again. Even at 200 your game better be something I've been waiting on for years like Cyberpunk for me to even consider it.
 

Arsene

On a break
Apr 17, 2019
3,280
8,305
113
Canada
I’m really looking forward to all the new games Bethesda and Devolver showed off.

Ghostwire Tokyo and Deathloop in particular seems right up my alley. Too bad they’re likely next gen games so we wont hear anything about them until next E3. I love The Evil Within, Dishonored and Prey though so definitely on my radar.

It hurts that Bethesda does so much dumb stuff because they got some really fuckin good dev teams.
 

fantomena

MetaMember
Dec 17, 2018
9,844
26,502
113
Gowans on ERA made a nice overview of some of the titles that will release on game pass. According to Klobrille, out of the 60 games shown, 36 will release on game pass.

MS First-party
  • Age of Empires 2 DE [PC]
  • Wasteland 3
  • Psyconaughts 2
  • Gears 5 - 10th Sept 2019
  • The Outer Worlds - 25th Oct 2019
  • Bleeding Edge
  • Ori and the Will of the Wisp - 11th Feb 2020
  • Minecraft Dungeons - Spring 2020
  • Battletoads
  • Halo Infinite - Holiday 2020
  • Microsoft Flight Simulator
Third-party
  • Phoenix Point
  • Afterparty
  • The Good Life
  • Pathologic 2
  • Secret Neighbor
  • Killer Queen Black
  • Blazing Chrome
  • Spiritfarer
  • The Legend of Wright - 2020
  • Totally Accurate Battle Simulator
  • CrossCode
  • Creature in the Well
  • Unto the End
  • Felix the Reaper
  • Underwine
  • ikenfell
  • The Lord of The Rings Living Card Game
  • NIght Call
  • Totem Teller
  • way to the woods
Xbox Game Pass |OT| Game Pass and Chill
 

Arsene

On a break
Apr 17, 2019
3,280
8,305
113
Canada
  • Like
Reactions: Dandy

fantomena

MetaMember
Dec 17, 2018
9,844
26,502
113
That was Xbox. I didnt know it was going to be on PC too but I dont mind at all.

I fucking love Oxenfree and was really looking forward to playing Afterparty so the EGS deal really hurt. Glad I can enjoy it on PC day 1 instead of having to drag out the Xbox and play it on Gamepass there like I was planning.
Good question, I truly hope it is on PC game pass too. I can't see why it shouldn't.
 

Eferis

MetaMember
Nov 12, 2018
1,343
4,203
113
I like this timeline where MS is the good guy.

I'll be definitely using GamePass for Exodus, Outer Worlds, Phoenix Point and other Epic (not-so-)exclusives.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dandy
Status
Not open for further replies.