If Activision continue to close down their studios, they'll be left with only two, Treyarch, and what's left of Infinity Ward. There won't be any need for regulations then.

(assuming Blizzard splits from Activision)

I think that your point is valid, i understand it. However, i still think there are some benefits from these game sales. Honestly i have seen a lot of people who stopped pirating thanks to the low prices from Steam's sales. Piracy is not worth anymore, games are cheaper than ever, and there are even lots of great games for free now. Of course im not saying that low prices will stop piracy, its proven that low prices dont mean the end of piracy, but i think it does help, a lot.

And developers are once again starting to give more attention to the PC market. I think the huge boom in digital distribution services might have contributed to it.

And i still dont think that huge discounts are harmful. The sales are always applied to older games that dont sell as well anymore. There is nothing else to boost sales of older games other than discounts. People who just cant wait for the game will still buy it at full price, no matter what. And those who arent interested that much will wait. This way you get a lot more money by making the potential consumer base larger.

As an example, i just bought Max Payne 3 for full price last week. I know it will probably go on sale sometime for 5-10 dollars. But i wanted it now, i couldnt wait, i dont care if the price goes down later. Heck, i bought DNF for full price on pre-order and 5 months lates it got down to 5 dollars. And no, i dont regret it.

Now, as another example, i want to play RE Operation Raccon City, but there is no fucking way im paying full price for that. Im just not that much interested in that game for 50 dollars, since there are a lot of better games out there cheaper than it. If Capcom wants my money, they will have to get the price lower. And i believe there are a lot of consumers like me out there.

What i wanted to say is that these huge sales make us buy more games that we wouldnt normally buy. In the end, everyone wins, we get more games and they get more money.

Yes, that is true. As are the points SImonG mentioned.

This exactly, +1 for you good sir.

I'm in Bangkok where I can buy any game released a couple of days after it's released at no more than $4. (Same with DVDs etc).

Do I buy pirated games? No. Have I done? Hell, yeah. Everybody here does and, when I had NO expendable income, if I could buy a game for $3 that a game publisher was exorbitantly selling for $70, you bet I bought it.

But....I don't buy pirated games now. Why?

Three reasons. 1) The quality isn't always great, so you end up wasting time fiddling with crack codes etc. 2) Now I have money, I like to support the developers so buy their games and 3) and most importantly......I can now buy great games a few months after release for $10 or less on sale. At $50-$70 a pop, on a lower income than I had in the US, no, it's never going to be in my budget. In a sale, where the developer is still getting some money out of the deal. Yep. In fact, I'll buy 2 or 3 games at the same time. Thus making me happy, and helping the game industry at the same time.

If games didn't go on sale, though, like just about everyone in Asia, I'd be a huge proponent of the pirating industry.

Same thing here in Brazil. Most people still pirate stuff around here, but Steam's sales are actually making some people (not everyone, of course) to get away from piracy. Many of my friends have started buying games on those sales.

I wouldn't pay a rusty nickel for the whole operation. Honestly, i think it's Karma.

Ah, the time of the bedroom coders. By the way, you can still get this, yesterday I bought a new PC game £3.00 - a lot cheaper then in those days