Sales can devalue games when they become a race to the bottom. Like if you see a game heavily discounted a month after release odds are you won't be as eager to buy a game by the same company for full price later.
Eh, I don't think I see it that way. It's more like we're seeing the value of time. So if you buy a game day one, it's because you value having it now. I mean, people even preorder because they value
now so much (perhaps too much?) So when I think "well that'll be in a bundle in 6 months" I don't value
now much at all, and I can wait (backlog and all). A seller brings down the price until they hit my
now point, and since I don't want to spend more than I have to, I'm more inclined to agree. The lower price is more competitive, because all stuff competes with all other stuff. I've got a lot pulling dollars away from me, not just games. But $5 EA games, that's compelling and fits into my budget without even having to think about it.
So I think it's not a race to the bottom, but that we're seeing how valuable the game actually is over a time. Often, that is to say, sorry it's not very valuable in this super saturated market and world of backlogs.
I've been thinking about this since Epic's sales have been messing up price history sites. Games are weird, because there are several games on my wishlist that i'd definitely pay full price for. They're on sale right now, but I know they'll go cheaper in the future, so I'm waiting. Are the games devalued? The other reason I'm not buying right now is because of my backlog. Aside from games, I can't think of much else that wildly varies in price so much where demand has almost no influence. Anyway, I don't have a point, I just think it's interesting.
I think why we'd choose one thing instead of another is pretty random. I might wake up the next morning and just buy something because YOLO, whereas the day before I was like "nah, got to be responsible" or something. I guess it probably balances out somehow. But there are lots of games that are already "devalued" in my eyes, like Factorio at never-on-sale $30. That's a steal.