Rrp £39.99?

Just saw the advert: who sets the RRP? Someone at Sega? £39.99 seems OTT, given that it's a game that's out of date in 12 months. You can buy an album that you'll enjoy for the rest of your life for £10 on iTunes.

On Steam the price seems more reasonable at £29.99, but I can't tell if that's for pre-orders only? They've put a strikethrough on £39.99 next to it in the pre-order box, which seems to indicate that the price will rise after launch. One of the advantages of digital distribution is supposed to be that SI don't incur any distribution costs...

I'm all for paying a fair price for a game that I get a lot of use out of relative to other games, but it's totally transient in comparison to an album. It's here for a year and then gone. In the DRM thread the bod from Sega said they were committed to providing FM at a fair price. Judging by the haphazard approach to spelling on these boards, I'm guessing that a lot of FM players are either teenagers or not in jobs that command tremendous earning power: given that we're in the longest recession in history, wouldn't it have made sense for SI to offer the game at a price reflecting the economic climate?

The RRP for games is almost always £39.99. However, very few places retail the product at that price.

£39.99 is only a reccomended price, just check out console games. They usually have a RRP of £50 but sell around £40. £30 quid is about standard if you were to buy FM brand new from a shop on release day. Games do depreciate in value, much like cars! Its not unheard of to be able to pick up FM2010 after christmas for around £10-£15.

Im going to take a few quotes from your last paragraph:-

"Judging by the haphazard approach to spelling on these boards"

Its an internet forum, not an English lesson. There are quite a few members here that dont use English as a first language aswell.

"I'm guessing that a lot of FM players are either teenagers" "not in jobs that command tremendous earning power"

Wrong again! Me personally, im 27 and have been playing FM for years, and still will be for years i hope. In fact polls that have been put up in this very forum suggest the age demographic may be older than you realise!

"not in jobs that command tremendous earning power"

Would you care to quantify tremendous earning power? I dont earn a 6 figure salary, but i do earn £34,000 pa. Last time i checked, that was above the average UK earnings. What does that matter though? Even at £40, the hours of game time i get out of FM make it far more worthwile than any other game i own.

"given that we're in the longest recession in history, wouldn't it have made sense for SI to offer the game at a price reflecting the economic climate?"

Perhaps you should tell that to any business you like, gas, electric, petrol companies, all of them!

£39.99 is only a reccomended price, just check out console games. They usually have a RRP of £50 but sell around £40. £30 quid is about standard if you were to buy FM brand new from a shop on release day. Games do depreciate in value, much like cars! Its not unheard of to be able to pick up FM2010 after christmas for around £10-£15.

Im going to take a few quotes from your last paragraph:-

"Judging by the haphazard approach to spelling on these boards"

Its an internet forum, not an English lesson. There are quite a few members here that dont use English as a first language aswell.

"I'm guessing that a lot of FM players are either teenagers" "not in jobs that command tremendous earning power"

Wrong again! Me personally, im 27 and have been playing FM for years, and still will be for years i hope. In fact polls that have been put up in this very forum suggest the age demographic may be older than you realise!

"not in jobs that command tremendous earning power"

Would you care to quantify tremendous earning power? I dont earn a 6 figure salary, but i do earn £34,000 pa. Last time i checked, that was above the average UK earnings. What does that matter though? Even at £40, the hours of game time i get out of FM make it far more worthwile than any other game i own.

"given that we're in the longest recession in history, wouldn't it have made sense for SI to offer the game at a price reflecting the economic climate?"

Perhaps you should tell that to any business you like, gas, electric, petrol companies, all of them!

that's all fair enough but the OP wasn't aiming this at individuals, he simply stated many of the players will be teenagers/unemployed which is probably true so to say he's "wrong" because this is not the case for you seems far too defensive.

Anyway, games always retail at 39.99 rrp but I'm sure the makers, mabnufacturers and customers are aware that 99% of the time it sells for considerably less. Look on any website that sells games, they will point out the RRP and show they are selling under it.

that's all fair enough but the OP wasn't aiming this at individuals, he simply stated many of the players will be teenagers/unemployed which is probably true so to say he's "wrong" because this is not the case for you seems far too defensive.

Anyway, games always retail at 39.99 rrp but I'm sure the makers, mabnufacturers and customers are aware that 99% of the time it sells for considerably less. Look on any website that sells games, they will point out the RRP and show they are selling under it.

If you look back at polls regarding age of users, then you will find he is wrong.

duplicate post

Almost all games RRP is 39.99. The RRP isn't actually what the game will sell at, it only the recommended price, retailers themselves decide what price to sell at.

Also, making an album and making a game is a very different process.

Im going to take a few quotes from your last paragraph:-

"Judging by the haphazard approach to spelling on these boards"

Its an internet forum, not an English lesson. There are quite a few members here that dont use English as a first language aswell.

Very true. It seems however so that most of the blatant grammar raping and text speak users are from a country where English is the first language though.

For all those with English as second language (such as me for instance) it would be so helpful if at least the native speakers would use correct English (like It's and don't for instance )

In my opinion the English on these forums isn't that bad at all compared to a lot of game forums to be honest.

To answer the question, Saga will put the RRP on there products.

pointless post/thread imo... being jobless or what ever age has nothing to do with it, you can clearly buy this game cheaper than 39.99 if u look around and go into game shops around the town or internet ect blah blah blah people need to make threads that are not pointless. just maybe its a business thing they do like say its 39.99 and people will see it in shops cheaper so they buy it from there w.e who knows and who cares?

Just saw the advert: who sets the RRP? Someone at Sega? £39.99 seems OTT, given that it's a game that's out of date in 12 months. You can buy an album that you'll enjoy for the rest of your life for £10 on iTunes.

Good example, I can buy a paper clip for 10p I can enjoy the rest of my life, why should it cost me £39.99 for something I can only enjoy for a year?

Are you implying that the costs of music CD's and PC games should be the same because it costs the same amount for the end materials? Because I can't think of any other reason you've chose to link it to CD's. If so you have a lot to learn about how business and retail works.

Good example, I can buy a paper clip for 10p I can enjoy the rest of my life, why should it cost me £39.99 for something I can only enjoy for a year?

Why pay 10 quid to see a movie you can only enjoy for an hour and a half?

Why pay 20 quid for a bottle of wine you can only enjoy for 1 night?

Dont be daft.

I was being sarcastic to prove a point to the threadstarter.

Although I ordered mine from Zavvi, I wouldn't mind paying £40 for FM seeing as the average user plays it for 240 hours IIRC.

every one knows that RRPs mean nothing other than make it look like the shops are giving us a good deal. "buy the game for £29.99 thats £10 off the RRP"

The RRP for games is almost always £39.99. However, very few places retail the product at that price.

I know this, the broader question I was asking was why this was the case in a recession, and why Steam's pre-order price is juxtaposed with the RRP of a physical media version. Surely it should start at a discounted rate and then be advertised at a lower rate?

£39.99 is only a reccomended price, just check out console games. They usually have a RRP of £50 but sell around £40. £30 quid is about standard if you were to buy FM brand new from a shop on release day. Games do depreciate in value, much like cars! Its not unheard of to be able to pick up FM2010 after christmas for around £10-£15.

I wasn't contesting any of that.

Im going to take a few quotes from your last paragraph:-

"Judging by the haphazard approach to spelling on these boards"

Its an internet forum, not an English lesson. There are quite a few members here that dont use English as a first language aswell.

Again I'm aware of this. The people on here who don't have English as a first language frequently have a better grasp of it than those who do. I was just saying that it's reasonable to infer a correlation between the quality of one's prose and their age and, by association, earning power. That's an entirely reasonable assumption.

"I'm guessing that a lot of FM players are either teenagers" "not in jobs that command tremendous earning power"

Wrong again!

What was I wrong about before?

Me personally, im 27 and have been playing FM for years, and still will be for years i hope. In fact polls that have been put up in this very forum suggest the age demographic may be older than you realise!

Here's what you just said: "No, a lot of FM players are not teenagers, because I am 27."

It wouldn't matter if 60% of FM's players on this board were forties. I think you're assuming that a lot and a majority are the same thing, which they obviously aren't.

"not in jobs that command tremendous earning power"

Would you care to quantify tremendous earning power? I dont earn a 6 figure salary, but i do earn £34,000 pa. Last time i checked, that was above the average UK earnings. What does that matter though? Even at £40, the hours of game time i get out of FM make it far more worthwile than any other game i own.

Again, disappointingly, you're trying to disprove a generalisation with an individualisation. I'm assuming your £34,000 per annum isn't paid in a capacity that requires a lot of critical thought

"given that we're in the longest recession in history, wouldn't it have made sense for SI to offer the game at a price reflecting the economic climate?"

Perhaps you should tell that to any business you like, gas, electric, petrol companies, all of them!

You're comparing services to luxuries (and not in a particularly pertinent way: what if I was doing that? This doesn't diminish my argument at all), but moreover a lot of people are reducing prices due to the recession. But your point is irrelevant in any case.

that's all fair enough but the OP wasn't aiming this at individuals, he simply stated many of the players will be teenagers/unemployed which is probably true so to say he's "wrong" because this is not the case for you seems far too defensive.

Exactly. I'm glad I'm not the only one who reads posts on here before knee-jerking

Anyway, games always retail at 39.99 rrp but I'm sure the makers, mabnufacturers and customers are aware that 99% of the time it sells for considerably less. Look on any website that sells games, they will point out the RRP and show they are selling under it.

Sure, I don't disagree with that, but I was wondering (evidently between the lines) why the Steam price was the RRP and not a reduced price.

If you look back at polls regarding age of users, then you will find he is wrong.

I'll put this in bold to try and help you out: It isn't possible for the statement I made to be wrong. If I had said a majority, as you erroneously believe I did, then it could be.

Almost all games RRP is 39.99. The RRP isn't actually what the game will sell at, it only the recommended price, retailers themselves decide what price to sell at.

Again I'm not disputing that. I'm wondering what SI's justification is for this game in particular. I can't ask them to qualify why other games RRP at the same price they did before the recession.

Also, making an album and making a game is a very different process.

My point is the longevity of their usefulness to the purchaser. But yes I concede that it may be at least as expensive to make a game as it is an album.

Good example, I can buy a paper clip for 10p I can enjoy the rest of my life, why should it cost me £39.99 for something I can only enjoy for a year?

There is a degree of joined-up-thinking required in my original post but I didn't think it was this much. My point was that an album by, say, U2, costs hundreds of thousands of pounds to make when you consider the advance; the studio time; the engineers; new equipment; promotional campaigns; artwork, et cetera. A U2 album will shift more units (U2 would hope anyway) than FM 2010, but enough so that it can be sold at a quarter of the cost? Not sure.

Are you implying that the costs of music CD's and PC games should be the same because it costs the same amount for the end materials? Because I can't think of any other reason you've chose to link it to CD's. If so you have a lot to learn about how business and retail works.

See above. Nobody was making that point. The point I was making about physical media is that the Steam price appears to be (unless I've misunderstood it) £39.99, then reduced to £29.99, which is the same as you can buy it in a shop.

I was being sarcastic to prove a point to the threadstarter.

Sarcasm isn't a particularly effective way to 'prove' anything.

every one knows that RRPs mean nothing other than make it look like the shops are giving us a good deal. "buy the game for £29.99 thats £10 off the RRP"

Yes. I'm wondering why that's the case on Steam when it should be cheaper on Steam because there are no distribution fees.

Just saw the advert: who sets the RRP? Someone at Sega? £39.99 seems OTT, given that it's a game that's out of date in 12 months. You can buy an album that you'll enjoy for the rest of your life for £10 on iTunes.

On Steam the price seems more reasonable at £29.99, but I can't tell if that's for pre-orders only? They've put a strikethrough on £39.99 next to it in the pre-order box, which seems to indicate that the price will rise after launch. One of the advantages of digital distribution is supposed to be that SI don't incur any distribution costs...

I'm all for paying a fair price for a game that I get a lot of use out of relative to other games, but it's totally transient in comparison to an album. It's here for a year and then gone. In the DRM thread the bod from Sega said they were committed to providing FM at a fair price. Judging by the haphazard approach to spelling on these boards, I'm guessing that a lot of FM players are either teenagers or not in jobs that command tremendous earning power: given that we're in the longest recession in history, wouldn't it have made sense for SI to offer the game at a price reflecting the economic climate?

The 'haphazard to spelling on these forums' then based on their opinion this is either due to the fact that they assume that the users on this forum are predominantly either 'teenagers or not in jobs that command a tremendous earning power.'

Ok this is a casual forum where people spend there free time to talk about the language of 'Football Manager' and other topics. It is a forum where people have already said, English may not be their native tongue and are trying their best. People may come onto to these forums to 'get away' and spend some time on something that they enjoy. I don't think they want to be judged and put into a category as you have already done from your 'high pedestal.'

Then you base people’s flaws in spelling on them not having a great wage. A 'bit of a generalization' I think! Yes in some professional more formal jobs you would expect a good level of spelling, grammar, and writing in a coherent manner due to the job and the qualities needed for that particular job. But don't think poor speller, poor earner. I could name many high earning jobs that disprove this but you would just come back with a counter argument (that is fine we both have different opinions) and we would get nowhere.

Also in terms of the longevity of FM 2010 and the series as a whole there is no other games console/pc game/series that has the longevity that FM has in my opinion. You can play for one hundred years and unlike many games where you complete the game and that is it, more or less finished. Take the price FM and divide this by the amount of time you spend on it to get your cost per time spent on the game. My hourly/minute cost would be in pence. Any other form of entertainment and this would be far superior. In terms of value for money then FM is unrivaled, in comparison for like for like goods.

You can buy FM2010 for £17.95. Judging by your haphazard approach to researching the price of FM2010, then I will not assume that you are or are not a teenager nor will I make an assumption on your earning capacity, but from your OP and from your assumptions I believe you have an agenda!

The 'haphazard to spelling on these forums' then based on their opinion this is either due to the fact that they assume that the users on this forum are predominantly either 'teenagers or not in jobs that command a tremendous earning power.'

Ok this is a casual forum where people spend there free time to talk about the language of 'Football Manager' and other topics. It is a forum where people have already said, English may not be their native tongue and are trying their best. People may come onto to these forums to 'get away' and spend some time on something that they enjoy. I don't think they want to be judged and put into a category as you have already done from your 'high pedestal.'

Then you base people’s flaws in spelling on them not having a great wage. A 'bit of a generalization' I think! Yes in some professional more formal jobs you would expect a good level of spelling, grammar, and writing in a coherent manner due to the job and the qualities needed for that particular job. But don't think poor speller, poor earner. I could name many high earning jobs that disprove this but you would just come back with a counter argument (that is fine we both have different opinions) and we would get nowhere.

Also in terms of the longevity of FM 2010 and the series as a whole there is no other games console/pc game/series that has the longevity that FM has in my opinion. You can play for one hundred years and unlike many games where you complete the game and that is it, more or less finished. Take the price FM and divide this by the amount of time you spend on it to get your cost per time spent on the game. My hourly/minute cost would be in pence. Any other form of entertainment and this would be far superior. In terms of value for money then FM is unrivaled, in comparison for like for like goods.

You can buy FM2010 for £17.95. Judging by your haphazard approach to researching the price of FM2010, then I will not assume that you are or are not a teenager nor will I make an assumption on your earning capacity, but from your OP and from your assumptions I believe you have an agenda!

Absolutely, excellent post, well put

given that we're in the longest recession in history, wouldn't it have made sense for SI to offer the game at a price reflecting the economic climate?

Sega set the RRP no SI, and just because an economy isn't growing, it doesn't mean Sega will drastically cut an RRP for a product which is expected to sell well regardless, as this would cut profits, not increase them

I was asking was why this was the case in a recession, and why Steam's pre-order price is juxtaposed with the RRP of a physical media version. Surely it should start at a discounted rate and then be advertised at a lower rate?

Sure, I don't disagree with that, but I was wondering (evidently between the lines) why the Steam price was the RRP and not a reduced price.

Steam will advertise the RRP set by Sega and then show their price so it seems cheaper, most retailers use this business practice.

What seems to be confusing you is that Steam is a download service as opposed to a physical media version. This is irrelevant to the RRP set by Sega, and any retailer is free to sell the product at what they deem appropriate for their business model.

Hope this helps

Sega set the RRP no SI, and just because an economy isn't growing, it doesn't mean Sega will drastically cut an RRP for a product which is expected to sell well regardless, as this would cut profits, not increase them

I'm aware that it makes good business sense to keep the RRP the same, but it doesn't make bad business sense to reduce it, since it wouldn't cut profits (RRP != the retail price) and it might entice more people into buying the game. I think what's more surprising is that SI have a very healthy relationship with their userbase but this doesn't seem to be reflected in the price of the game.

Steam will advertise the RRP set by Sega and then show their price so it seems cheaper, most retailers use this business practice.

But one of the selling points for Steam is that you get the game cheaper as a matter of course, because there are no distribution costs involved in your acquisition of the game. If the RRP is £39.99, say (and I am deliberately overestimating this for simplicity's sake) £10 of that is to cover transit, packaging, box art, the manual and the production/printing of the DVD. It's odd that this being removed from the equation doesn't seem to change the price on a download service.

What seems to be confusing you is that Steam is a download service as opposed to a physical media version. This is irrelevant to the RRP set by Sega, and any retailer is free to sell the product at what they deem appropriate for their business model.

Yes. I wasn't arguing that Sega were somehow ripping people off through Steam, I was wondering if anybody knew for definite whether the game would be sold at RRP through Steam, as appears to be the case. One of the criticisms of the direct download services is that although it costs SI less to distribute the game through those channels, the prices very rarely reflect that.

Hope this helps

Nice to receive a reasonable response that wasn't written entirely in txt speak And for the record, thank god there was only one Ali Dia

Chill out OP! £39.99 is the standard RRP price, the RRP price is always much higher than what retailers actually charge for them!

Yes. I wasn't arguing that Sega were somehow ripping people off through Steam, I was wondering if anybody knew for definite whether the game would be sold at RRP through Steam, as appears to be the case. One of the criticisms of the direct download services is that although it costs SI less to distribute the game through those channels, the prices very rarely reflect that.

No. Like shops it wont sell at RRP on Steam. The cross-through part, as has been mentioned, is just of part of glamming it up to make it sound better/bettre value for money.

Ok this is a casual forum where people spend there free time to talk about the language of 'Football Manager' and other topics. It is a forum where people have already said, English may not be their native tongue and are trying their best. People may come onto to these forums to 'get away' and spend some time on something that they enjoy. I don't think they want to be judged and put into a category as you have already done from your 'high pedestal.'

I didn't mean for this thread to get bogged down in that. It seems a reasonable supposition to make that people who don't know the difference between they're, there and their aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer, but you're welcome to disagree. I'm 100% not criticising the foreign members of the board, and I think you do me a disservice to assume that I would confuse a lazy/dense native speaker with them.

Then you base people’s flaws in spelling on them not having a great wage. A 'bit of a generalization' I think! Yes in some professional more formal jobs you would expect a good level of spelling, grammar, and writing in a coherent manner due to the job and the qualities needed for that particular job. But don't think poor speller, poor earner. I could name many high earning jobs that disprove this but you would just come back with a counter argument (that is fine we both have different opinions) and we would get nowhere.

I'm sure there are some. Yes I would come back with a counter-argument, but then this is a discussion forum

Also in terms of the longevity of FM 2010 and the series as a whole there is no other games console/pc game/series that has the longevity that FM has in my opinion. You can play for one hundred years and unlike many games where you complete the game and that is it, more or less finished. Take the price FM and divide this by the amount of time you spend on it to get your cost per time spent on the game. My hourly/minute cost would be in pence. Any other form of entertainment and this would be far superior. In terms of value for money then FM is unrivaled, in comparison for like for like goods.

I'm not saying it's not good value for money. In fact I did say that from the outset. I was questioning why Sega had not adjusted the RRP to reflect a depressed market. Moreover I wanted to know if anybody could shed any light on the fact that Steam hadn't adjusted the RRP (or had they? Nobody has answered this yet), but people are apparently either not reading the post or misunderstanding it based on baker.simon's knee-jerk reaction (I note with interest that he's shut up now that he's been shown the error of his ways fairly comprehensively )

You can buy FM2010 for £17.95. Judging by your haphazard approach to researching the price of FM2010, then I will not assume that you are or are not a teenager nor will I make an assumption on your earning capacity, but from your OP and from your assumptions I believe you have an agenda!

Hahaha! That's a fair assumption, although correlation doesn't imply causation. You also err because I wasn't discussing the actual price of the game, I was discussing the RRP. I don't have any intention of buying FM 2010, so I'll repeat the questions in the hopes that someone can shed some light on this and get the thread back on track:

1. Does anybody know why Steam haven't adjusted the game's price from RRP? (Or, have I misunderstood, and the game will retail @ £29.99 on steam regardless of whether you pre-order or not)

2. Does anybody know why in a depressed market Sega aren't adjusting the RRP? It wouldn't change what the game retails at, and might be something of a publicity coup for them if they were to do so.

No. Like shops it wont sell at RRP on Steam. The cross-through part, as has been mentioned, is just of part of glamming it up to make it sound better/bettre value for money.

That's better! My confusion was whether or not Steam were crossing-through the price because it was a pre-order price, or whether they'd retail it at that anyway.

That's better! My confusion was whether or not Steam were crossing-through the price because it was a pre-order price, or whether they'd retail it at that anyway.

Nah, they are just doing the same tricks as the shops do

That's better! My confusion was whether or not Steam were crossing-through the price because it was a pre-order price, or whether they'd retail it at that anyway.

And further to your comment about me shutting up, as you can see i havn't! I also belive you got the confirmation you were looking for from me, no?

And further to your comment about me shutting up, as you can see i havn't! I also belive you got the confirmation you were looking for from me, no?

I meant you'd shut up about the lots of/majority of issue, but you're quite right Thanks very much indeed for your assistance sir!

I meant you'd shut up about the lots of/majority of issue, but you're quite right Thanks very much indeed for your assistance sir!

(silly 10 letter rule)

Just saw the advert: who sets the RRP? Someone at Sega? £39.99 seems OTT, given that it's a game that's out of date in 12 months. You can buy an album that you'll enjoy for the rest of your life for £10 on iTunes.

On Steam the price seems more reasonable at £29.99, but I can't tell if that's for pre-orders only? They've put a strikethrough on £39.99 next to it in the pre-order box, which seems to indicate that the price will rise after launch. One of the advantages of digital distribution is supposed to be that SI don't incur any distribution costs...

I'm all for paying a fair price for a game that I get a lot of use out of relative to other games, but it's totally transient in comparison to an album. It's here for a year and then gone. In the DRM thread the bod from Sega said they were committed to providing FM at a fair price. Judging by the haphazard approach to spelling on these boards, I'm guessing that a lot of FM players are either teenagers or not in jobs that command tremendous earning power: given that we're in the longest recession in history, wouldn't it have made sense for SI to offer the game at a price reflecting the economic climate?

you my friend are a homo:p

But one of the selling points for Steam is that you get the game cheaper as a matter of course, because there are no distribution costs involved in your acquisition of the game. If the RRP is £39.99, say (and I am deliberately overestimating this for simplicity's sake) £10 of that is to cover transit, packaging, box art, the manual and the production/printing of the DVD. It's odd that this being removed from the equation doesn't seem to change the price on a download service.

You have to consider that though some costs are removed, others come in to take their place. Steam will have bandwidth costs, server costs, their staff will be more specialised than a shop keeper and their shop front is a continually updated website. Whilst a game store would have similar costs, in comparison to the costs Steam incurs they'd be a pittance. Being a download service doesn't mean that overheads are slashed, more that some are reduced where others are increased and entirely new ones come into play.

But one of the selling points for Steam is that you get the game cheaper as a matter of course, because there are no distribution costs involved in your acquisition of the game.

Iv never seen Steam use this as a selling point, and if they did it wouldn't be a good one as they are generally just as expensive as other retailers both for online deliveries and instore. I believe their main selling points are the servers for online multiplayer games, automatic patching of games and the fact you can log onto your steam account from any PC with an internet connection and play your games.

If the RRP is £39.99, say (and I am deliberately overestimating this for simplicity's sake) £10 of that is to cover transit, packaging, box art, the manual and the production/printing of the DVD. It's odd that this being removed from the equation doesn't seem to change the price on a download service.

It's not odd, the RRP has nothing at all to do with Steam! Sega couldn't set one RRP but say ''oh, except for Steam they have an RRP £x lower because its a download service.'' The RRP is just what the publisher (Sega) recommends the retailer sells it for, whether the retailer is Steam/Game/Amazon etc is irrelevant.

One of the criticisms of the direct download services is that although it costs SI less to distribute the game through those channels, the prices very rarely reflect that.

SI don't distribute the game, Sega do, but anyway, neither SI or Sega control what Steam sell it for, so I guess this point would be better made in Steam's own forums.

And for the record, thank god there was only one Ali Dia

Hmmm, your not Graeme Souness, are you?

you my friend are a homo:p

Hahahahaha. You're my hero for this post.

You have to consider that though some costs are removed, others come in to take their place. Steam will have bandwidth costs, server costs, their staff will be more specialised than a shop keeper and their shop front is a continually updated website. Whilst a game store would have similar costs, in comparison to the costs Steam incurs they'd be a pittance. Being a download service doesn't mean that overheads are slashed, more that some are reduced where others are increased and entirely new ones come into play.

I was thinking more about the cost from SI's perspective, though.

1. From a shop:

SEGA set the RRP, and theirs and SI's chunk is based on the game being sold at that price. The shops then work out what profit they can afford to make on the game based on the units they'll shift, and can downwardly adjust the price to match. So if Sega & SI take a combined £15 per unit, the shop could sell it at £25 and make, say, a £5 profit with £5 for "costs".

2. From Steam:

The same process as above but SEGA aren't (shouldn't be) involved, or shouldn't be taking as big a cut. I'd imagine that the SEGA / SI contract stipulates that SI take a bigger cut for games sold on Steam. Steam have lower overheads than a nationwide chain of shops because they have fewer staff members and the overhead of bandwidth & hardware combined probably doesn't equate to the rent Game pay on their stores across the UK.

It's an interesting one. I thought the big advantage of Steam was that companies like SI could cut out the middlemen and be able to get more money (i.e. taking an increased cut) whilst the purchaser would get the benefit of a cheaper game. Instead it seems to be that Steam is just a slightly more convenient but not necessarily cheaper way to get the game.

It hasn't gone unnoticed on Steam's forums, either: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=862190