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Paradox removed Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 from EGS until the end of Epic Mega Sale
- Thread starter benzopil
- Start date
Wait the developer still gets the amount they usually would if it's full priced right? So why back out
lol.
No, since Epic is compensating publishers and they all knew about the conditions ahead of the sale.
They might worry about the price perception for the title down the line - when comparing the current sale with what it will likely cost on consoles on day 1. We have often people that refuse to pay full price for a game if it was much cheaper everywhere else before.
Epic devalued the game by putting it on sale way before its even released. So I get it. Sucks for people that wanted to get it cheaper there though.
"Why would I pre-order the game now that it's back to full price? I'll wait for the next sale"
it could have something to do with price partnerships, so they are obligated to have parity on all stores
also a possibility, worries of the game being devalued
I mean, the publisher isn't taking a hit. This would have only gotten more sales for Paradox. Just an odd decision
I get the feeling the sale they were doing was not approved by Paradox.
For the record, the game was like, in some territories on EGS being sold for like 50%, and the game doesn't have an approved release date yet. I'm assuming Paradox did NOT approve that, Epic set the sale, and Paradox was not happy.
The thing is, game devaluation is a real thing, and I can completely see why they didn't want this since that sets a standard that they don't want, ESPECIALLY before release. Everyone who is saying it was a stupid choice probably are thinking of this in a short-term, not long-term way. Especially since games are expensive to make and it'd devalue the game down the line from a way a storefront is handling their game.
Anyone who is claiming this is "scummy" is very short-sighted, and this is completely within Paradox's right to do, and honestly it's a good move for them as it is their product and this would have negative long-term consequences due to how Epic decided to handle the sale.
For the record, the game was like, in some territories on EGS being sold for like 50%, and the game doesn't have an approved release date yet. I'm assuming Paradox did NOT approve that, Epic set the sale, and Paradox was not happy.
The thing is, game devaluation is a real thing, and I can completely see why they didn't want this since that sets a standard that they don't want, ESPECIALLY before release. Everyone who is saying it was a stupid choice probably are thinking of this in a short-term, not long-term way. Especially since games are expensive to make and it'd devalue the game down the line from a way a storefront is handling their game.
Anyone who is claiming this is "scummy" is very short-sighted, and this is completely within Paradox's right to do, and honestly it's a good move for them as it is their product and this would have negative long-term consequences due to how Epic decided to handle the sale.
But Paradox already knew about this, apparently, and changed their mind at the last moment.
Yeah, this is the only reason I could see considering Epic was going to cover the amount lost from a normal sale
Possible explanation, prices during sale
To explain it better:
There is a % base discount first in some games that takes it from the base price in the different regions:
Imagine a game that is 60€ in one region and 18 in another, both have a 10% discount, making the game:
60*0.9=54€
18*0.9=16.2€
Then if the game is above the 15€ barrier, it gets a 10€ fixed cut:
60*0.9-10=44€
18*0.9-10=6.2€
The second flat discount makes the first game a total of 27% discount in the normal region but a 75% discount in the poorer region.
In the case of VtM:Bloodlines 2, it was only the flat 10€, which makes it 50 (down from 60) and 8 (down from 18) repectively (and 17% and 54% discount), making it so that they probably fucked their own sales in their own store as well as any possibility of price parity in other stores (such as GMG and GOG running a 10€ discount).
Edit: I want to say that I already called this move a dick move by PDX, but I can understand why it happened.
There is a % base discount first in some games that takes it from the base price in the different regions:
Imagine a game that is 60€ in one region and 18 in another, both have a 10% discount, making the game:
60*0.9=54€
18*0.9=16.2€
Then if the game is above the 15€ barrier, it gets a 10€ fixed cut:
60*0.9-10=44€
18*0.9-10=6.2€
The second flat discount makes the first game a total of 27% discount in the normal region but a 75% discount in the poorer region.
In the case of VtM:Bloodlines 2, it was only the flat 10€, which makes it 50 (down from 60) and 8 (down from 18) repectively (and 17% and 54% discount), making it so that they probably fucked their own sales in their own store as well as any possibility of price parity in other stores (such as GMG and GOG running a 10€ discount).
They probably knew it was a 10€ discount in big regions, not that it would be a 10€ discount OVER ANY PRICE, creating loopsided discount % in some regions, discounts that VtM:Bloodlines 2, their biggest game ever is too young to have yet.
Edit: I want to say that I already called this move a dick move by PDX, but I can understand why it happened.
This is the first thing that came to mind. Yes, it's easy to say "They don't lose money because they'll receive the whole amount as if it hadn't been discounted", but there are a few other factors to take into account.
See Nintendo. Their first party titles hardly get any discounts (which fucking sucks for the consumer if you ask me, so it sucks for me), but knowing their games don't get these kinds of deep sales often, if ever, is what made me buy BotW at full price in October 2018 and why I'll get Mario Kart 8 at basically full price soon as well.
I think they don't want to tank their sales in the future in the regions in which it was VERY low priced. Here in Russia it was like 5$ - people who did not buy it on Epic would just want to wait for steam summer sale or something and expect the same price cut as EGS gave.
benzopil threadmark this.
There's no benefit if your game is being sold as low as 5$ in several regions.
They clearly didn't know about it. Their game wasn't on sale. It was only discounted because of epics $10 off thing. The game was like 65% off in some regions.
Wow, thanks professor. Not even being sarcastic, this explained it really well.
In that DTF article Galyonkin actually says that Paradox approved the sale.
4. Издатель был заранее информирован о механизме распродажи и знал о её условиях. - "The publisher was informed beforehand about the particular aspects of the sale and it's conditions"
Please provide a source on this, because I am pretty sure EGS actually prevents this. You can only get those prices if you live in the actual region.
They approved the 10 bucks off, not selling their game at 5$.
Paradox thought that the 10 bucks off is only for high value regions and not for the poorer ones.
I'm sure they approved it, but I also am just as certain that "approving" in this case didn't include how the game ended up priced in certain territories since Epic's really weird with regional pricing. I'd also place a bet there was a developer/publisher split on this viewpoint, but ultimately they changed their mind and I think it's for the best. So contribute probably not everyone being on-board, and how stupidly cheap Epic made the game in some territories, and yeah it's really easy to tell the extent of the sale wasn't exactly approved by Paradox in how it was being priced in some regions.
Cheapest region was $15 - $10 = $5 that's 92% discount a year before release. (well cheapest that was eligible for $10 discount)
Dusk Golem and eonden explained it well. Whether you like or dislike Paradox as a company, it's understandable why they did what they did.
Galyonkin said they approved the sale though. Of course, he could be lying or be under the wrong impression.
You can't actually complete a purchase while running a VPN though. It will block you from doing such, you can only get regional prices of this nature if those prices are active in your region.
At the very least, Paradox weren't aware of all the aspects and repercussions of this sale. That's the only reason they'd pull it.
Whether or not that's due to poor communication from Epic or poor understanding from Paradox we'll likely never know.
Yeah, if it ended up only costing people $5, I can see why they'd pull it.
No offense, but Galyonkin's version of truth has a tendency of changing quite frequently.
I'd guess the former. Or they didn't know it was $10 off regardless of region. Which was a crazy decision.
I read that you can actually use it if you use VPN + Real addres from that country and something more...
In fact theres people buying games on that forum with this method.
Well that's true, and I'm not supporting him. Just saying that's his direct words on all this.
I mean...this is common? Like you can find almost any new pc game for a discounted price on storefronts like gmg/gamersgate/cdkeys, etc and it doesn't hurt those games.
My big takeway from this is that the EGS back end infrastructure is apparently so busted that it was easier to take the game off the store entirely that blacklist it from this sale.
I believe the problem in this case is that the formula for calculation the discount wasn't thought out very well, so the customer ends up with unintended massive percent drops in some regions.
I believe the problem in this case is that the formula for calculation the discount wasn't thought out very well, so the customer ends up with unintended massive percent drops in some regions.
There's a difference between 20% off out of 60$ game and selling your game at 5$.