FM 2013 £14.99 on Amazon but £29.99 on Steam!!??

[g0nz0uk]

Hello,

I use Steam for all my games nowadays and want to get FM 2013, but wondered how it can be £14.99 on Amazon and £29.99 on Steam? Surely having no CD media, box and delivery should make the Steam one cheaper.

Thanks

[Guest]

Amazon are probably holding too many copies of the game & are trying to shift them at near cost price, in a couple of months any stock of FM13 that they hold will be more or less worthless so it makes business sense to get them sold as quickly as possible.

If anyone from the business world ever says that digi-download will allow for a lower retail price point they are lying, the main aim is to increase profitability by reducing fixed costs while maintaining the original physical copy pricing policy.

[Herbert Fandel]

It should, but it doesn't.

Amazon are free to sell it for however much they want, and they are experts at selling things cheaply, unlike steam who are grossly over-priced when not conducting their amazing sales.

If you buy from Amazon you will still have to play the game via steam, and after installation it will be just like you have bought it on steam.

The only difference is that you will have to wait for devliery, but even with expensive speedy delivery it will be cheaper than steam.

Only other option is to wait for a steam sale. There was one recently, so might not be one too soon.

[OlivierL]

I bought recently via STeam , Call of Duty Blackops (yes the old version) and payed 59.50 EURO ! Later i found out it was sold for 30 euro in game stores..

:'(

[Herbert Fandel]

I bought recently via STeam , Call of Duty Blackops (yes the old version) and payed 59.50 EURO ! Later i found out it was sold for 30 euro in game stores..

:'(

I have over 100 steam games, none of them 'indie' games. Thanks to FM and Fifa I have only ever played about 10 of them.

Other than FM I have only ever paid more than £8 once, (£15 for farycry3).

I don't have any CoD games, as I hate them and they NEVER get sizeable discounts as so many mugs buy them anyway, but I have lots of big recent releases.

Moral of the story = never buy from steam apart from during the sales. You can often get games which are only 6-12 months old for 75% off.

Of course FM is a partial exception, in that it should be bought in the pre-release sales and not in post-release sales.

[forameuss]

Steam are fantastic during sales, but not too competitive outwith that.

Really don't understand this being used as a stick to beat Steam with though - there is no obligation to buy from Steam. Personally I'd buy for convenience, as once you've paid, the game is there (once it's downloaded of course). But at least Steam are quite happy for you to buy your games elsewhere and activate on their platform. At least they aren't Origin.

[OlivierL]

I have over 100 steam games, none of them 'indie' games. Thanks to FM and Fifa I have only ever played about 10 of them.

Other than FM I have only ever paid more than £8 once, (£15 for farycry3).

I don't have any CoD games, as I hate them and they NEVER get sizeable discounts as so many mugs buy them anyway, but I have lots of big recent releases.

Moral of the story = never buy from steam apart from during the sales. You can often get games which are only 6-12 months old for 75% off.

Of course FM is a partial exception, in that it should be bought in the pre-release sales and not in post-release sales.

Ok thanks for the advice . The only reason is bought CoD is to play this on multiplayer level.. payed a big price for this

[Herbert Fandel]

Ok thanks for the advice . The only reason is bought CoD is to play this on multiplayer level.. payed a big price for this

I didn't mean to have a dig at your right to buy CoD, you are entitled to like any game you want!

My advice doesn't even really apply to CoD games on steam, as they never get good reductions.

Last time I checked even 4 year old MW2 was still more expensive than most new releases

[Silent_Thunder]

Makes sense if Amazon is selling physical copies. While steam doesn't have much maintinace costs for a single product (After all, its all done digitally, so its literally just taking up around the space of a single install, plus the bandwidth and server costs shared by the whole system), but Amazon has to move physical copies. The problem with physical copies, especially of a yearly franchise, are that if you fail to sell all of them before the next one hits, you're stuck with a warehouse filled with product that sin't ever going to sell. Which means you have three choices, either sell it at a loss, let it sit in the warehouse forever, costing you money indriectly, as you could be using that space for marketable product, or dump it, which naturally costs money as well. Not to mention the fact that a lot of the time, Amazon is simply a hub for other merchants.

[OlivierL]

I didn't mean to have a dig at your right to buy CoD, you are entitled to like any game you want!

My advice doesn't even really apply to CoD games on steam, as they never get good reductions.

Last time I checked even 4 year old MW2 was still more expensive than most new releases

It was my mistake not to check the accurate price in the stores.. it was on a sunday , i was really up for it to play it etc.. and then buying it online is the fastest way.

Thanks for the help.

[Ryknow]

Steam is great while the sales are on. For instance on the weekend, Batman Arkham City GOTY edition was $7.50US, and Hitman: Absolution $12US!

In general though, their normal prices aren't great and you can get better prices that sell steam codes. Just need to shop around.

I got FM2013 for $30AUS while it was $79.99US on steam, here in Australia.

Like any shopping, you just need to shop around, and keep checking sales.

[YKW]

Amazon has to move physical copies. The problem with physical copies, especially of a yearly franchise, are that if you fail to sell all of them before the next one hits, you're stuck with a warehouse filled with product that sin't ever going to sell. Which means you have three choices, either sell it at a loss, let it sit in the warehouse forever, costing you money indriectly, as you could be using that space for marketable product, or dump it, which naturally costs money as well.

This is my line of thinking as well, although Game have a downloadable version also for sale at £14.99:

http://www.game.co.uk/en/football-manager-2013-182133. Great deal!

Is it possible that retailers buy 'allocations' of the game even in digital form and Game are also clearing stock? I have no idea if this is just a ridiculous suggestion.

[Herbert Fandel]

Is it possible that retailers buy 'allocations' of the game even in digital form and Game are also clearing stock? I have no idea if this is just a ridiculous suggestion.

I think that is what happens, in that I have seen some retailers 'run out of product keys' during periods of high demand.

[YKW]

I think that is what happens, in that I have seen some retailers 'run out of product keys' during periods of high demand.

Wow I had no idea! Is that for FM specifically you have seen that or a different game/games?

[Herbert Fandel]

Wow I had no idea! Is that for FM specifically you have seen that or a different game/games?

I think it was for the pre-release discount offered by Green Man Gaming for FM 13.

I guess they buy product keys for activating the game at a certain price, so once they sold all they had at the discounted price they couldn't keep on selling at that value, as they would have to themselves pay the going steam rate, or some other higher rate.

I am of course only taking what I see and making assumptions, so I could be totally wrong.

This post http://forums.greenmangaming.com/topic/3875/?page=1#post-38570 seems related, but I think they are just talking about games in general rather an FM13

[soccer.joel]

Steam always has rip-off prices compared to when you look around

[Bobby Gurney]

Steam always has rip-off prices compared to when you look around

Apart from in the sales, when they're pretty much the best value.

I got FM13 for £15 off Steam.

[Richard76]

Steam always has rip-off prices compared to when you look around

You're paying for convenience. Like itunes.

[MorrisseyMuse]

It's a simple case of Steam having a captive audience online and being extortionate in general. Amazon are generally thr opposite, amongst the cheapest games retailers out there. My advice is always buy from Amazon.