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I'm gearing up to buy Psychonauts 2 in the sale - 80% off! nice! - when I realise it's 90% off in the other store's sale. It's a pretty trivial price difference, but I still hesitate, mostly out of frustration that a publisher simultaneously offers different prices for the same game in rival storefronts' seasonal sales. I'm not going to buy it with DRM, but I also now resent buying it for double its price elsewhere.

Do you have similar thought processes in these situations, or do you shrug and checkout anyway? Also, are publishers doing this voluntarily based on user/sales data available to them, or are they under pressure to do so by dominant parties in the market?
Depends on the game. Those I plan to keep for good, i'm buying here despite the higher price.
For the most part...

... I only purchase elsewhere if a game is EXTREMELY inexpensive (below $5)... or... if the game has a zero chance of releasing on GOG. Even then I go into the purchase with the idea I don't own the game.

Otherwise...

... I would rather purchase a game for a few dollars more here on GOG and have ownership. Although, it's hard to pay substantially more for some games. I wait quite awhile -- on most purchases -- for prices to fall.
I don't shop elsewhere, so can't really answer. In a hypothetical scenario, as long as the price difference was like ~$8 max, I probably wouldn't care.
high rated
No, my principles are worth more than my money. But at the same time, I'm not willing to be extorted for them. I'll just go without until the price is reasonable.
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petravonkant: I'm gearing up to buy Psychonauts 2 in the sale - 80% off! nice! - when I realise it's 90% off in the other store's sale. It's a pretty trivial price difference, but I still hesitate, mostly out of frustration that a publisher simultaneously offers different prices for the same game in rival storefronts' seasonal sales. I'm not going to buy it with DRM, but I also now resent buying it for double its price elsewhere.

Do you have similar thought processes in these situations, or do you shrug and checkout anyway? Also, are publishers doing this voluntarily based on user/sales data available to them, or are they under pressure to do so by dominant parties in the market?
Psychonauts 2 is actually (arguably I guess) DRM Free on steam. I bought it there and I have it backed up on a hdd where it plays without steam installled. (Yes I have seen the link posted here recently that declares that there is no such thing as a drm free game on steam, but whatever. If I can play the game offline and without steam installed,and can copy it , its close enough to drm free for me. Yes I am aware that others might not agree).

To answer your main question, in general I always go for the drm free version even if it's a bit more expensive
Post edited November 27, 2024 by CaptainGyro
I am in the same situation than you. I have see the discount on Steam and i think that is a shame that the developer doesn't make the same discount here. If the discount would be identic i would buy it here.
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petravonkant: I'm gearing up to buy Psychonauts 2 in the sale - 80% off! nice! - when I realise it's 90% off in the other store's sale. It's a pretty trivial price difference, but I still hesitate, mostly out of frustration that a publisher simultaneously offers different prices for the same game in rival storefronts' seasonal sales. I'm not going to buy it with DRM, but I also now resent buying it for double its price elsewhere.

Do you have similar thought processes in these situations, or do you shrug and checkout anyway? Also, are publishers doing this voluntarily based on user/sales data available to them, or are they under pressure to do so by dominant parties in the market?
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CaptainGyro: Psychonauts 2 is actually (arguably I guess) DRM Free on steam. I bought it there and I have it backed up on a hdd where it plays without steam installled. (Yes I have seen the link posted here recently that declares that there is no such thing as a drm free game on steam, but whatever. If I can play the game offline and without steam installed,and can copy it , its close enough to drm free for me. Yes I am aware that others might not agree).

To answer your main question, in general I always go for the drm free version even if it's a bit more expensive
This is useful to know, actually - thanks. I have a folder with backups of similarly "DRM-free" games I own on Steam - Final Fantasy XII, Valkyria Chronicles, FEZ, Baba Is You, Killer7, and a few others, since none of these are available here. They're merely backups of the games as installed by Steam, though. How sustainable such backups might be when moving to my new PCs in future I have no idea. Probably not very.
I would not even claim a free game from a DRM-enforcing store. So I only look at the prices from stores without DRM, no matter how cheap it could be elsewhere.
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petravonkant: I have a folder with backups of similarly "DRM-free" games I own on Steam - Final Fantasy XII, Valkyria Chronicles, FEZ, Baba Is You, Killer7, and a few others, since none of these are available here.
If you want, FEZ and Baba Is You are both available on Itchio (DRM-free store).

Same to others, even more expensive, I always prefer to buy on GOG and Itchio than Steam and others DRM stores.
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petravonkant: I'm gearing up to buy Psychonauts 2 in the sale - 80% off! nice! - when I realise it's 90% off in the other store's sale.

I'm not going to buy it with DRM, but I also now resent buying it for double its price elsewhere.

Do you have similar thought processes in these situations, or do you shrug and checkout anyway?
I mean: €11,99 here vs €5,99 there...aka: double the price...that's quite a price difference.

Since you already stated, that you're not going to buy DRM'ed, but you also don't want to pay double the (possible) price, I'd say you're trapped between a rock and a hard place.

Best advice would probably be: wait for GOG to match the discount on the other store?
I see that as the only way out of your dilemma - if you want to stay true to your convictions.
I don't go shopping on DRM stores in the first place, so I wouldn't know if there's a higher discount elsewhere. I may have an account with Epic just to claim the free games, but I just load the page then hit CTRL+F to bring up the search bar and type free games.
Never had an account for DRM enforcing stores, regardless if they are still alive or long dead.
It depends. Is the price difference that big? Is the game up-to-date on GOG? Do I really want the game all that much?
If I can "rent" a bunch of games for 1 buck and I end up really liking one or more of them, I wouldn't mind double-dipping later.
I don't look at DRMed stores, don't have accounts on them and wouldn't even get a free game from one, so wouldn't know of any price difference. But if a game seems priced higher than you'd deem it worth at that point, there are so many others out there, and for most people usually many already in the backlog, so there's no need to get a particular one when the price isn't right.