The Steam Sale, and Why I Haven't Updated

There are times when it is a good thing to have not really very much money at all. One of those times is during the Steam sale when you can feel much better about having spent all your money on games your computer cannot and will not ever run.

Why must you taunt me so?

There is a very obvious question that comes up every year, "How can they afford this?", the answer to which is the equally obvious question, "Would you buy it anyway?". Would you really look at that game at it's RRP and think, "Yeah, I want that.", or has the thought process turned into "Well fuck, it's only £3"? Steam is still making money here, money that they wouldn't have otherwise, because they take that sense of "Hey, I'm saving money!" and apply it to absolutely bloody everything, and suddenly for a week or two, you have a host of people going "Well I wouldn't usually play that, but damn, it's so cheap" for a whole host of non-usual product. Voilà, you have a new customer, who may even end up being a fan of the series/genre/theme music and stick around to buy more at regular price.

The trouble of course is when the regular buyers think "I'll just wait for these Steam sale". Luckily for those on the production end, as we all know the gamer is a horribly impatient breed.

In short, Valve know their markets, their demographics, and know how to work them. They are probably one of the best, if not the best software developers of the age, but it is always worth remembering that they are a company, and they are out to make money. Even if they do take the much more endearing route of actually building a loyal fanbase and not being complete assholes all of the time.

In other news, I haven't updated in a while because I have been trying to remedy the no money situation through the method of working 12 hour night shifts. Very nice pay, but it completely wiped me out when they were finished. I have just gotten my sleep schedule back into something like normal, so ideally there should be some more activity here soon.

Now if you'll excuse me, Thief II is going for under £2. I think my computer should just about handle that.

Sweet, sweet polygons.