Origin boss: Steam sales 'cheapen intellectual property'
The head of EA's digital distribution platform Origin has spoken against offering big discounts, as Steam does, because it "cheapens your intellectual property."
You and I may get very excited about the big sales frequently run by Steam and many other PC digital distributors, but the chap behind Origin at Electronic Arts is not convinced such huge discounts are good. Interviewed at E3, EA's senior VP of global ecommerce David DeMartini opined that offering big discounts on Steam "cheapens your intellectual property."
"Obviously they think it's the right thing to do after a certain amount of time," DeMartini said of Steam to GamesIndustry International. "I just think it cheapens your intellectual property."
"We're trying to give you a fair price point, and occasionally there will be things that are on sale you could look for a discount, just don't look for 75%-off going-out-of-business sales," he explained. That "certainly works for Valve," he thinks, but "I don't know if it works as well for the publishing partners who take on the majority of that haircut."
"If you want to sell a whole bunch of units, that is certainly a way to do that, to sell a whole bunch of stuff at a low price. The gamemakers work incredibly hard to make this intellectual property, and we're not trying to be Target. We're trying to be Nordstrom."
It's a curious comparison to draw, as Steam beats Origin by far on both pricing and client experience. However, plans are supposedly afoot to win customer's hearts and minds in a way other than cutting prices, to "form a longer-term relationship with them and draw them in that way." What exactly this will entail is under wraps for now. Ponies, maybe.
He's not the only one to have criticised Steam for this, mind. In April, GOG commented that huge Steam discounts damage the "long-term value of your brand because people will just wait for the next insane sale."
That said, Steam discounts have certainly been a huge success for some developers who don't mind making less money per sale if the volume increases massively. Darwinia creator Introversion has credited a Steam promotion with saving the studio from closure.
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Alice O'Connor posted a new article, Origin boss: Steam sales 'cheapen intellectual property'.
The head of EA's digital distribution platform Origin has spoken against offering big discounts, as Steam does, because it "cheapens your intellectual property."-
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Grown up with job and real life to deal with Ryuuseki commented by saying "I don't have enough time to be spending $60 on every game I want to play. In fact, I probably wouldn't buy half the games I do if it weren't for steam sales. I feel guilty about dropping $60 on something I may not even get a chance to play fully."
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Yeah, and the sales generate more revenue than keeping prices high. Not just more unit sales, but more revenue. DeMartini should be fired for not wanting more revenue, and something that also makes consumers happy.
EA can try as many loyalty programs or paid premium services as they want, but we'll still be chasing after Steam sales, and those publishers and developers will enjoy the revenue boost. EA can join in the fun as soon as they stop worrying about devaluing bits and bytes.
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One fact that is completely left out, the developers/publishers have to opt-in and set the sale prices. If they don't want to do a 25-75% sale they don't have to and no one is forcing their hand. The sales do help some companies get a foot in the door and build fan base for their products which can extend to future more expensive projects.
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It's just a low-blow method of a big company trying to hurt another big company's sales. Steam's sales are awesome and help boost sales if anything, because think of it this way: either you can have people buy your game at a reduced price, or people don't buy them at all.
On top of that, if Steam sets the sale price it doesn't mean the original company loses on any money, they still get the same amount. Steam is taking the hit on it but is just making more money in other areas.
On top of that, sales of that magnitude attract massive amounts of new customers who normally wouldn't buy the game at it's standard market price, but can now afford it because someone has made it available.
EA needs to nut up and realize people can't spend huge amounts of money nowadays. It's just good that at least one company is making gaming affordable and their huge seasonal sales only come around every few months so it gives time for people to buy up a bunch of games, play them to their hearts content, and pad their wallet for the next time a sale comes in.
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People who can actually afford things like this.
http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/carmen-marc-valvo-drape-bodice-tulle-gown/3260502?origin=category&fashionColor=&resultback=1538 -
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I wonder if he knows some of the reasons Nordstrom is so famously good? Things like some of the most insanely good service there is. Also they have trust in their customers (return policies so nice that there are stories of a guy returning some tires to the place because the store that was in the space *before* Nordstrom sold them to him - they took them back).
Somehow I feel like all EA sees is exclusivity and high price tags missing why those things can even exist. (which would be insane considering Nordstrom is a huge case study in business and marketing programs).
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I've got 30+ games in my steam library which I've played less than 10 minutes or not at all. I would never have bought those games had they not been for a significant discount. I don't see how companies lose in my situation. Had there never been big sales, I would never have dropped any money on those 30+ games. I think most PC-shackers are in the same scenario as I am, either by a lesser or greater degree.
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absolutely, and sometimes the sales get me to be a fan of the series as a whole. I would have never found fallout 3 if not for a sale, and that in turned resulted in me purchasing DLC and New Vegas. I'm not just "waiting for the next sale" There are plenty of games I just wouldnt buy if they werent discounted.
This also helps with the used market no? Instead of waiting for someone to put up a used copy cheap I'll get it from steam and some money goes back to the developers.... -
companies that have multi-million dollar budgets lose because there is a portion of people out there that won't buy the game at release when the game is at its highest cost to consumers and where companies usually make their biggest units sold numbers to try and get a profit over all that money they spent making it. if people just wait for it, they don't make as much and making the game for that platform may be considered as not worth it.
for instance, my personal anecdote is that I never buy Valve games for the full price because they have HUGE sales on their games after only a week or 2 of it being released. why bother paying for a game when it's half off 2-3 weeks later?
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How is it not fair? Seems like if you break it down per hour of entertainment it is economical when compared with other things. I mean if you don't want to pay $60 or more that is your business or if you have so many free to $5 games to play and you don't have any reason to buy more expensive games that is one thing, but I wouldn't say $60 is unfair when you actually try and measure it objectively with things like inflation, dev cost, and actual dollar per hour of entertainment.
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EA has such a fucking weird relationship with their IP in general, I'll never understand it. Like, why did they let so many of their older beloved PC game IPs just totally languish for no fucking reason at all, even though it costs them hardly any money to maintain it?
Paul Barnett's story on the bombcast pre-E3 podcast ( http://www.giantbomb.com/podcast/?podcast_id=312 @ 30:20 ) about his quest to get old EA IPs on GOG made me totally confused and angry. How can a fucking corporation built around games treat its games that way? It's fucking mind-boggling and range inducing (Barnett's a fucking saint for being a fucking mensch and getting that shit done, btw... also holy shit he was gonna get the legend of grimrock guys to do another ultima underworld) -
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Every time steam has a sale, I get very excited and involved in all the little side quests to earn entries to their grand prize. I pickup games that I would've have bought otherwise. Valve gets gamers and knows how to reward developers and consumers alike. Origin is all about profit and could care less about creating a community.
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I've bought DOZENS of games that were on sale thinking I'd go through them on a backlog rampage but haven't. I'm certaonly not the only one that has done this. ANY publisher or distribution platforms would love to have people buy a ton of games even if they don't plan on playing them.
EA's Origin is just sour grapes not wanting to join the party and whining about their service not being as good. -
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Isn't the only reason they started Origin was because Steam wanted them to release DLC in a non-exclusive (not to mention stupid and buggy) fashion?
Besides, people will buy when the price is right. Sorry if I can't afford every $60 game at release. Not to mention the level of polish (that is to say, poor) of most games at release time, pretty much guarantees I won't buy a game until after the patches and reviews are still out.
Plus I don't like buying games in pieces, so again, waiting til the GoTY version is out is standard practice as well.-
They could have easily worked with Valve on making Steam work for them, but they straight up shut their doors on the idea, and went for their own approach that gives them full control to screw gamers. There is no doubt in my mind that they just used the DLC thing as an excuse so they didn't look like money grubbing bastards.
Too bad the truth has finally come out.
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And the truth comes out. All the people who thought a major gaming company like EA building an exclusive digital distro system would lead to anything but monopolistic practices is insane.
People criticized Valve for the same thing when they originally launched Steam, then they set the standard for openly advancing digital distribution on the PC platform and giving a free market for developers to compete on pricing and all sorts of things.
Fuck EA, Fuck Origin. -
"Hey ladies although you gave a thing for extremely well endowed african gentlemen that give insane pleasure happy time they also give you AIDS. You don't want AIDS do you slut? You should hump with our virginal offering! Although certainly not hung and virtually guaranteed to dissatisfy, it won't make you feel like the cheap bang bus whore we all know you are."
Stay classy EA. -
I kind of see what he is saying. I never buy Valve games unless they are on sale for 20 dollars or so, not because they are not worth more, but because I know they can be had on sale after a short time.
I will buy a Blizzard game at release because I know I will have to wait years just to save a couple of bucks.
However, I have also bought a lot of games on steam I wouldn't have otherwise, because they were so cheap.-
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I think I've pre-ordered and pre-loaded every Valve game since HL2. Most of the time they have sales on those too, I think every one was $45 pre-order on Steam rather than what's now the standard $60 for most publishers. Definitely been worth that and more.
If more AAA games were priced as such, I wouldn't be waiting to pick them up.-
The L4D games also had further pre-launch discounts by way of 4-packs bundles too.
Anyway, I'll still pay $60 for a game I really want on PC at launch, but after being burned by that in the past I've become quite a bit more discerning towards grabbing all these expensive new games, especially ones without demos. It's hard to know what's wrong with some of them until they are out there. Mouse input, fov, DRM, keybind and performance and save game issues, flat out bugs, etc. Often it's better to wait for some patches when a lot of these games are rushed to a deadline demanded by publishers like EA. It's a bonus if that happens to coincide with a sale.
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RPS's Alec Meer has a good opinion piece up on this:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/06/06/hmm-ea-on-steamorigin-mega-sales/ -
ooooh... he really had the claws out on Gabe with that, didnt he !!!
i wonder if EA realise that a successful business needs loyal customers, and a huge base of them too.. as far as developers are concerned, they'd rather their game was sold fora discount than be pirated... i know i would... and in my opinion, cheaper pricing, gamer-friendly service is the better way to combat piracy than ridiculous DRM measures that EA have employed and lately Ubi and Blizzard are contemplating. -
i definately disagree with this. when those sales come around i end up buying copies (lots of copies sometimes) just so my friends can enjoy a game that they may not otherwise purchase or experience. he has a slightly valid point, but i think word of mouth from these sales is clearly the larger outcome of these sales then the actual units sold during the sales. i've convinced several people to make purchases after the sales are over.... oh well, everyones view is going to be different i guess...
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what does "form a longer-term relationship with them and draw them in that way" mean? To a business, the "relationship" begins and ends with dollars leaving my pocket and entering theirs.
What better relationship than I get the game I want for the cheap price I want.
I then walk away from the transaction and play my fucking game.
How does EA plan to thrust itself onto me further and form the relationship when I just want to play my game now?
Do they come between me and the game in the form of DRM or some other intrusion into my gameplay? Do they attempt to turn their entire catalogue into a full frontal assault of microtransactions and subscription based gaming?
Business make more money by cutting costs at their end or learning clever new ways to lift the customer upside down and shake out their pockets. And I have a sneaking suspicion which one this is going to end up being.
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EA needs to face the facts. Gamers value all games differently. To one, Game A is worth $60 at release to another they will wait a year for Game A to become $20. If it never does then they will never play it. If David DeMartini only wants Nordstrom customers then he needs to expect a smaller customer base. That is something EA's shareholders will not be too keen on hearing.
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I won't lie, I'm cheap. Outside of a Bethseda Elder Scrolls game (I buy those as collector editions!) you'll never catch me pay full price for squat. It doesn't bother me in the least to wait a few months or even a year or two to buy a game.
I find it amazing that devs would rather gripe that their games are going on sale and still making money, giving the frugal buyer a chance to legally own the game.
Guess they'd rather have the $60 price tag forever and more users turn to piracy, because you know, having a million people "steal" your game 4 year old game at $60 a pop makes you sooo much more money than a million people buying it at $20 a pop.
Yup, smart guys.
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OMG you fucking imbeciles, they are right.Stop assuming everything EA says is BS and that their intellect is on high school level.You are all morons.This time they actually do have a point although in the end what actually matters IS the price.What can Origin possibly offer I wonder ? Just to be clear EVERYONE, WHO HAS SENSE IN THE THEM WAITS FOR DISCOUNTS ON STEAM.THERE ARE SO MANY OF THEM .
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