So I was browsing SteamDB.info looking at the various games on sale when I noticed there were a bunch of games (usually from the publisher Hede, but there’s quite a few others) listed as having a discount in the high nineties, yet still costing in the neighborhood of 30-50 dollars. Even odder when I go to the game’s Steam, it’s not listed as being on sale and costs the… “normal” price of $99.99.

I’m just wondering A) What the scam is here, B) How a SteamDB.info is getting $99.99 dollar game as costing 30-ish dollars when it’s 97% off but at the same time it’s apparently not actually on sale?

  • airplanesarecool@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Just guessing but it’s probably the same age old scam of the permanent sale people like to think they are getting a deal also I think you can list games by discount percentage same as all the Amazon prime day “deals” where they jack up the prices then put them on sale for the normal price

    • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Who would ever look by discount percentage? Why should I care what the price used to be?

      • thatsTheCatch@lemmy.nz
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        1 year ago

        It’s a psychological trick where people tend to view discounts by how much they’re saving than what they’re actually spending

        • Sludgehammer@lemmy.worldOP
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          1 year ago

          That kinda breaks down at some point though. At the very least I don’t look at a mixed review hidden object game and think “Sweet! It’s only $2 rather than the hundred dollars it normally sells for. What savings!”

          And that’s ignoring all the weirdness with the third party sale tracker somehow thinking a 98% discount on a $99.99 game is $46.20, when the game is still full price.

      • vd1n@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Bro balance out your privilege. I only buy games under 3 dollars if they also have 90% discount.

  • Botree@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    steam game shady price

    You’re right. Funny how they’re all the games with “hidden” in the titles and they all look somehow similar. It’s super suss. I don’t think it’s as simple as a cash grab. High chance they’re used for money laundering or transferring funds from stolen steam accounts or credit cards.

  • Vcio@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Yeah it’s really annoying, i would like a way to tag and block this kinds of games. One really funny, they would increase the price and the “discount” each week/month.

  • SGforce@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    The reason it might not be on sale when you look it up yourself is that a lot of jurisdictions don’t allow fake sales and price manipulation so they’re forced to keep them at full price as the sale gets voided.

  • Dioz@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    My guess would be that heavily discounted games might be getting an advantage by the steam recommendation algorithm. So they’d rather go for 99,99 and constantly discount it instead of starting with 4,99