[citation][nom]Zanny[/nom]It might be bad economics for steam in the long run. They are building a brand expectation that almost every game will hit the $10 price point that they stock, and the long term is that more people (myself being my main example) now plan to wait out purchases until they hit the systemic lows 3 - 4 years after release. I got Neverwinter Nights 2 for $5 over the sale, for example, after having bought the first one back in 2003.I mean, there is a natural trend of the cost of games towards $0 since the cost of reproduction is so low (thus the rampant piracy) and it seems Steam has proven that exponentially more people buy games at half the retail price outright. I think if they just launched games at $30 rather than $60 on Steam, they would have significantly more profits just because a lot of people that pirate new releases due to the insane $60 price point would buy the $30 one, along with a lot of people like myself who wait on the blockbusters to go on sale. For example, Witcher 2. I'm waiting for it to go below $10 (also, waiting on my new gaming rig this summer) because I know it will eventually go that low. If it launched at $30, I might have bought it back in March.[/citation]
Zanny, I don't think Valve is concerned at all about losing short term sales. Its a blessing for us PC gamers who are preoccupied with other games or don't have the money to buy all games when they released to pick up a game like Witcher for $20 this past holiday sale or Fallout New Vegas with all DLC for ~$15.
Witcher 2 was among the top selling games on steam during its initial month of release. Skyrim has been the topselling game on Steam nearly everyday since release (only been pushed to #2 or as low as #4 during the peak holiday sales (most of which were cheap $2.50 indie games that outsold it.
There will always be people that wait for a price drop, but the numbers don't lie, lots still buy games at full price on Steam.
By investing into Steams services, they are combating piracy and also pushing the PC gaming industry to a wider audience.
Bottom line is, if you want to wait go ahead and wait. You will take advantage of Steams loyalty to its customers by getting a bargain on the game you want later, but Steam and Valve is making an ecosystem that puts 'us' the customer FIRST, and you should appreciate that fact.