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steam summer sells: DOS for 31,99 while the game is not even released.

I bought the early access 39,99.

Fuck you larian, as much as you just fucked me.

WTF.

How does this even make any sense? Is this common - for games on Steam to go on sale before release?

I'm not too savvy with Steam stuff. Does anyone know if this would be Larian's decision or simply Steam taking a hit on their own cut of the profits to make some short-term cash? Would Larian be contractually obligated to feature in Steam sales in order to use their service? Why would Larian potentially undercut their imminent release sales revenue?

Yeah, I get that people who find bargains on sale are simply lucky, good on them... but a sale on a kickstartered, early-accessed game just before release...

Can anyone justify this?

Someone was complaining about this on the Steam forum, and I'll say the same thing here I said there: It's not like people got stuck with a pre-order price for a game they haven't played yet. Anyone who purchased this game during early access has had an opportunity to play it since then. I purchased mine back during the Christmas holidays and I'm not going to sit here and pretend that wasn't worth whatever would have been saved with a 20% discount today.

In other words, given the choice of 20% discount versus being able to play Divinity : OS for the past 6 months, I would easily choose the latter (and I did).

As for anyone who purchased the game in the last week or so, purchasing any game on Steam that close to the Summer/Winter sale periods before seeing what shows up is generally not a good idea.

well bargain should have been expected on steam... and if I remember right this was already mentionned before

So perhaps all early access games are worth less upon actual release? ;-)

You'd probably have to pay ME to alpha/beta test a game I so look forward to playing unspoilt at release (or as is usually the case sometime after release after a few patches).

Personally, I don't really mind much what Larian charges for the game, despite having kickstarted it for as lot more than $30. I would like them to make as much profit as ethically possible, so they can reinvest that money into making more and hopefully even better RPGs in the style I like. And they would obviously be in the best position to judge how to to that. However, *puts on armchair developer hat and adopts pompous tone* putting the game on sale now (just before release) is not something that I would personally do, despite a potential increase in profit, as it seems disrespectful to the contribution of backers and early accessers. I can certainly see how CromCrom, and no doubt others, could feel upset, even if it doesn't bother me personally.

Hmm, I'm contradicting myself here. So, is it actually disrespectful, even though I don't feel disrespected? Hmm, I need to think on this more *takes off pompous hat tone*

Cromcrom, shame on you for this.

Everybody knows that games will be cheaper after some time, why didn't you wait then?
You had your advantage to play the game earlier. Impatience has it's price. ;-)

On Steam this action is no new thing. Whatch Dogs or Thief had also a discount before release.

Its standard practice for early access games to go on sale before final release.

Endre, this looks different. Although this is indeed "before release", this is clearly a summer sale.

ANd it's not "games will be cheaper after some time,", the game has not even been released yet.

Bargains ARE expected on steam, this is not the issue.

I can't wait to hear:
"hey, people, we really wanted to thank you all beta testers for the incredible efforts you put into testing the game to try to make better this pile of unbalanced bugs. So here you go, we make a 20% bargain for steam summer sales, so that all of you beta early access can feel it deep in your ass. I really hope you will enjoy it :-)"

Yes, but what exactly is the issue? I'm trying to figure this out. The best I can come up with is a vague notion of disrespecting and devaluing the contribution of backers but I haven't been able to put that into a logical argument. I can't actually say why it is disrespectful or devaluing. Could you enlighten me?

Oh give me a break! Frigging children these days and their tantrums.

You paid for early access. There was no guarantee the price would not be put on sale. There was not agreement as such.

Take some damn responsibility for making a decision to purchase it.

Frigging entitlement generation. Sheesh!

Re: the edit.

To put it another way - How is a bargain now for some lucky others doing anything to your ass CromCrom?

(sigh) It's interesting how, time and time again, these discussions tend to remain largely civil right up until certain people in this community make their way into them.

And, yes, that's aimed at you, Tanist.

Before the Steam Summer Sale Started, on the Steam forums, people were worried that if D:OS were to be released on the last day, sales would suffer because people had already spent their money during the sale.

That's a reasonable point, and I think this day 1 sale is a very clever solution. You get the attention of the sale start, when people have peak money, and then it goes back down afterwards.

As to the argument "I paid for early access..." well yes, but Early Access is pretty much over - the game is coming out in 11 days.

The fact I paid for EA is not the issue. The issue is I paid 39.99 for a game that receives a bargain even before it is released. So what is the real value of this game ? Did I really have to pay MORE for the "privilege" of beta testing the game. You know, how really honest devs do, making the game quite cheap at first, and increasing the value as more features and polish gets added...
This is the contrary. You pay a strong price for testing an unpolished and unfinished beta, and pay cheaper for an almost done game ? Many people here should actually have been paid for the incredible efforts they put into testing the game (not talking about me here), not the contrary.

Obviously, some of us are more ass sensitive than others...

Games going on sale before they release is a pretty common problem, to the point where it's hard to label it as a problem anymore. Wildstar, Elder Scrolls Online, all recent examples. And this is very common with Steam games, where they're usually trying to entice people with pre-order discounts so they don't buy elsewhere.

Some games used to go on sale a month or two after release and people still complained about feeling cheated. It seems like there is no winning when it comes to buyers remorse.

Opinions on all that aside, the fact is you personally have had the game now for months, right? Do you feel like you got $8 worth of fun out of it? Given the opportunity of having the game all this time or waiting until now with the sale price to play it for the first time, would you have really chosen the latter? I wouldn't have, but that's just me.

Well to be honest, I paid three times as much during the Kickstarter campaign and I do not regret a single cent! I have been part of a wonderful community here, I felt like Larians take us seriously and that our opinions and wishes reallt count! And I have already played the hell out of the game (60+ hours) and I have yet to discover much more when the game releases!

Now, I can vaguely understand some people being a little bit disappointed that the game is now marginally cheaper - but come on guys! It is how much off? Just 9 $? I mean, what can you buy for 9 $? The last time I was in the US, it was something like two coffees to go or one frozen yoghurt? People who bought D:OS for full price apparently can pay that price without being left starving - otherwise they would have waited until some kind of a sale anyway. So, don't be greedy and do not begrudge some less fortunate people this 20% discount!

"Obviously, some of us are more ass sensitive than others..."

Indeed, but should we be clenching or not? [insert joke about tight-asses here] I'm still unsure what the argument against this sale is.

Why does purchasing the game during early access entitle us to expect that the game will not sell for less than we paid for it until post release? And at what point would a price reduction become appropriate - and why would it become appropriate?

If part of the argument is that supporting a company & development of its game by purchasing early access should be respected, then why would we no longer want to support the company but actively detract from their profit-making capacity and potential to make more of the product we desire?

They basically got a bunch of people to look for bugs, then decided to screw those people over by making the game cheaper for people who did not actually help them out.

Games these days use early access players and such to hunt for bugs to improve games before release to save money/time on finding the bugs themselves, because the more bugs does not mean a worse game, it means less income as people don't recommend to others/reviews are lower.

Considering the saved game wipes and limited access to the game from early purchase really offers no benefit to people who actually help improve the game, so for people who fail to realise this, commenting "well sucks to be you" is about as helpful as a blind crossing guard.

And offering a sale on something before it is released means it's not on sale, it just means a bunch of people paid too much to help the game company out. I guess Larian studios don't like people being repeat customers.

O my god , alas, no. Those must have been the most frustrating 8 bucks (euros, actually) I ever spent, navigating between false promises (cycles, editor in december almost 100% sure, "Spring is coming"...), shallow features (spells = skills, drag and drop crafting, crates opening in lieu of proper gathering, failure or success system), bugs (countless), unbalances (game is unbalancable), to the point I can't go past Arhu anymore, because just the prospect of "navigating" through Cyseal bores the shit out of me.


I wouldn't even have bought the game, but that's just me.

I would feel cheated for a bargain one or two months after release. So the frustration when the game is not even released yet ^^.

What I say is being a dedicated fanboy = having your ass fucked.

Next time I will do like others smarter than me do. Buy the game when it's worth 5 euros. I am sure devs really love these people, because if they sold ONLY 5 euros games, they would be dead by now. I will love to make this gift to Larian, anyways.

This is a good question. I think that the real value of the game is for all intents and purposes unrelated to the monetary value assigned to it, which is much more determined by the market and what Larian can get for it.

Rather, the real value of the game is relative to each individual.

Larian may have been mindful of backers' sensibilities by not discounting the game below the $25 that backers could get it for, I dunno (maybe they simply considered that a 20% discount was optimal for sales or maybe that was partly dictated by Steam). But it would seem they feel early access 'backers' are fair game.

Perhaps they have reasoned that anyone willing to purchase early access finds inherent value in that access, and that this value is now no longer there as the game is being released. In other words, why would anyone buy early access if they didn't think it (early access to the game) had additional value beyond that at release? If it didn't have additional value to you you'd just wait until release or a sale, unless you wanted to specifically support the company and development of the game? And if you wanted to support the company and development of the game, why would you begrudge them discounting the game for a few bucks to maximise their means to do so, for this game and future ones?