Steam Sale Price Scams

As many of you will know, the Steam Summer Sales have started. However, there are a lot of scams right now as well; companies are being naughty. Some developers have been raising prices in preparation for the Steam sales, so that when the discounts hit, people will buy the game based on impulse buying but also at a higher price. Impulse buying is when you purchase a product on an impulse of excitement commonly. In this case, the impulse buying has stemmed from the fact that sales don't last forever, so the idea is that you better buy the games now before the prices go up again. A key example of this is the Mustang Pack for the game War Thunder. The original price (before the sales) was $19.99, with the Steam Sales, it went down to $14.99. The developers then raised the non-sale price to $27.99, with the discount applied it has gone down to $20.99; $1 more than the original, non-sale price. 

This is an incredibly cheap strategy in all honesty, and is probably the worst thing I have seen a reputable developer do. This isn't unheard of, other companies have done this as well. However, this is the first time I have seen the sale price become higher than the original price. Some people have commented saying that this is just them catching up on the price raise they have/are going to implement on the packs on their site, but its still a pretty cheap tactic to make use of the sale to disguise it.

As of the date of this blog post, 13/06/2015 (UK date), the Mustang Pack has been removed from Steam; meaning that Gaijin Entertainment probably realized that they have been caught with their pants down and are now trying to minimize reputation damage.

The last and largest offender, is Rockstar's GTA 5. The actual game's price jumped to $79.97 making the sale price an even $59.99 after a 25% discount. The way they justify this price increase, is that they have included a "Great White Cash Card", which similarly to the Mustang Pack adds some miscellaneous stuff to GTA Online. Some people are saying that this is price gouging, but by the definition of price gouging, it isn't. This is simply a very old, and dirty, marketing trick so that they don't loose out on additional profits. Stores and online stores have done this for years, and although it is deceptive and unethical, it is not illegal by any means.

These price increases took affect a week in advance of the sales, and by all means, this is a dirty tactic. However, it is entirely the consumer's responsibility to do their research before hand.