# Steam Summer Sale begins today you guys!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [June 11, 2015, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-summer-sale-begins-today-you-guys/722258 "2015-06-11T15:12:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BrianJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/54ee81/32.png) [@BrianJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrianJ)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-summer-sale-begins-today-you-guys/722258/41 "2015-06-14T12:44:44Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > [We have a thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=758479) for the summer sales already, but too late now unless someone wants to merge them. > > GTA 5 didn’t do anything shady and I don’t understand why everyone gets insanely entitled and ragey during steam sales. Here’s how the GTA 5 thing went: > > “Hey, there’s a steam sale coming, people are going to want us to put GTA 5 on it” > “We just released two months ago and we’re selling a ton of them, we really don’t need to put it on there” > “Well, we should do something, we’re putting the rest of the game on sale” > “Well, uh, alright, throw in one of those online cash cards and keep the price at $60, that way at least people waiting for the summer sale feel like they got something out of it” > > That’s all there is to it. People are acting, as always, like someone raped their family because they’re not getting the exact shit they feel they’re entitled to. If Rockstar just left GTA 5 at $60, people would be disappointed, but they wouldn’t be outraged. But because they actually added a freebie bonus, so you get more, that means people are fucking livid. It makes no sense at all. > > There are posts all over the steam forums like this: > > So then buy the game for $60, for fucks sake, just like you could last week. No one took anything away from you. People are actually raging at the idea that there’s an extra freebie bonus thrown in. They’re angry at the fact that they can’t buy the game without the freebie. It’s like if you got some great salad bowl at a store that you really wanted to get, and they threw in free salad tongs, and you refused to take the tongs and threw a fit because you don’t need salad tongs. > > Oh, and they could’ve kept the listing for GTA 5 and also had GTA 5 + game bundles or GTA 5 + cash card, to somehow satisfy the idiots who get offended that there’s a free bonus, but then when other people just bought GTA 5 normally, and then saw that there was a bundle they could’ve had for the same price, then those people would be (understandably) upset about that. > > There’s no winning. Everyone gets a hysterical, illogical sense of entitlement during steam sales. There’s no room for salad tongs in my junk drawer, man. There’s no f\*\*ing room! I am not familiar with GTA5 (well, I am familiar with the series). What is the cash card for? Does it have microtransactions? Why does it need this for a single player game? ---
**Author:** ![BrianJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/54ee81/32.png) [@BrianJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrianJ)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-summer-sale-begins-today-you-guys/722258/42 "2015-06-14T12:49:49Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > I don’t know why this is so hard for you to understand. There is (or was) a big 25% OFF banner over GTA5, and it’s not actually 25% off. That’s what people are pissed off about. If they hadn’t said 25% OFF!! and instead said FREE!! card thingy with purchase of GTA5 then there wouldn’t have been a furor. > > Also, on my Steam client at least it absolutely showed the bundle pricing breakdown with GTA5 at a regular price of $90, discounted 25% to $69. That’s deceptive marketing and actually illegal in some jurisdictions. Mine shows the same thing. I’m reading it as “game + cash card = $90 but we are giving you 25% off”. I agree it looks misleading. It sounds like people want 25% off the actual game, not a free cash card though. They want to get the game for $45 without a cash card. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-summer-sale-begins-today-you-guys/722258/43 "2015-06-14T14:17:05Z")
> [@BrianJ](#): > > I am not familiar with GTA5 (well, I am familiar with the series). What is the cash card for? Does it have microtransactions? Why does it need this for a single player game? As I understand it, it’s basically just a game cheat: Get a bunch of money early to buy guns, cars, apartments, whatever without having to do any work. Which probably lends to some people’s annoyance. I know a lot of people dislike DLC that shortcuts the game. The Sleeping Dogs DLC bundle came with a bunch of ‘cheat’ stuff (maximum faction points, etc) or the Saints Row the Third vampire DLC that let you neck bite anyone. Steam eventually added a function allowing you to disable individual DLC so you could buy a DLC bundle without those affecting your game. Even if you don’t have to use the game cash, having it offered in lieu of an actual discount isn’t going to sit well with some people. Like expecting a discount with dinner but being told you’ll be given tickets to a bad community theater opera instead. ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-summer-sale-begins-today-you-guys/722258/44 "2015-06-14T14:32:26Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > As I understand it, it’s basically just a game cheat: Get a bunch of money early to buy guns, cars, apartments, whatever without having to do any work. The game cash is for GTA Online, and doesn’t affect your single player cash balance. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-summer-sale-begins-today-you-guys/722258/45 "2015-06-14T14:54:05Z")
> [@Teuton](#): > > The game cash is for GTA Online, and doesn’t affect your single player cash balance. Fair enough. So what does it affect? It’s either for microtransactions or for getting a purchasing power boost (which I suppose microtransactions effectively provide anyway), right? ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-summer-sale-begins-today-you-guys/722258/46 "2015-06-14T14:59:40Z")
Yay, it seems this is finally Borderlands day. If you like me were waiting for the pre-sequel DLCs to be on sale, they all seem to be 50% off, but you have to search for them. Or at least I did, the summer sale link to the Franchise is only showing the whole pre-sequel season pass, rather than the individual ones, ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-summer-sale-begins-today-you-guys/722258/47 "2015-06-14T15:10:16Z")
I am hoping for a steep discount on the Game of Thrones Telltale game. I suspect they will do better than the current $10 off. ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-summer-sale-begins-today-you-guys/722258/48 "2015-06-14T15:54:18Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Fair enough. So what does it affect? It’s either for microtransactions or for getting a purchasing power boost (which I suppose microtransactions effectively provide anyway), right? I think so - I’ve not played much in GTA Online myself, but you earn money by doing jobs in that form of the game which you can spend on cars and houses and guns and stuff. You can use the bought money to give you a boost., perhaps catch you up to the sort of level your friends have if you’re starting late. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-summer-sale-begins-today-you-guys/722258/49 "2015-06-14T17:01:45Z")
[I saw an article on the sudden price changes.](http://steamed.kotaku.com/the-truth-behind-the-steam-summer-sale-controversy-1710941999) Sounds like most cases are overblown, but the big mistake for GTA V was actually slapping a 25% off label on it. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-summer-sale-begins-today-you-guys/722258/50 "2015-06-14T17:30:01Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > [I saw an article on the sudden price changes.](http://steamed.kotaku.com/the-truth-behind-the-steam-summer-sale-controversy-1710941999) Sounds like most cases are overblown, but the big mistake for GTA V was actually slapping a 25% off label on it. I do not think anyone is mad that GTAV is or is not on sale. They are mad at what they see as deceptive marketing practices. Can the consumer see through it? Yes and no. Certainly we can all easily understand what is going on here. But then this stuff works anyway. Same reason that [$99.99 works instead of $100](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_pricing) no matter how much you insist you “really” know $99.99 = $100. In the scheme of things I agree this fuss, as so many internet things are, is WAY overblown. Was is deceptive of R\*? Yeah. This tactic is kinda skeevy. Is it worth getting our panties in a wad over it? Not really. \*\*_DISCLOSURE: I have owned GTA-V since almost the day it was released on PC and I paid full price for it. I have enjoyed it a lot and not regretted my purchase._ ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-summer-sale-begins-today-you-guys/722258/51 "2015-06-14T21:17:06Z")
Road redemption is fun. Just chaotic combat, a worthy successor of the road rash style of games. I recommend it. Release date aim is Q3, so it’ll probably go official in the next couple of months. Defense Grid 2 is something I’ll pick up today since I liked the original a lot. It seems to have a co-op mode, not sure how good it is. Insurgency is actually a really good shooter with really good gunplay. It’s basically a modern version of Red Orchestra, but IMO feels better to me. I recommend it if that sort of game sounds good to you. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-summer-sale-begins-today-you-guys/722258/52 "2015-06-14T21:50:22Z")
In good developer news, Undead Labs has the DLC for State of Decay on sale for 80% off. You have to [search for it directly](http://store.steampowered.com/search/?snr=1_4_4__12&term=state+of+decay) since the front page link is only for the Year One Edition. Why is this laudable? Well, the base edition of the game was pulled from Steam in favor of the updated “Year One” edition. So not only keeping the old DLC available for those who own the base game but also giving it a substantial discount (rather than expecting everyone to just buy the YO edition) is a pretty nice move. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-summer-sale-begins-today-you-guys/722258/53 "2015-06-14T22:34:14Z")
I strongly recommend _not_ buying State of Decay unless the developers have had a change of heart and pulled their heads out of their asses. When I tried the game, it actively punished you for any time not spent playing the game - if you save the game and close it, you will come back to find your neighbours dead, your resources consumed and sidequests failed. This sort of mechanic is bad enough in a MMO strategy game where a shared, persistent world makes such interference understandable. It is inexcusable in a single player campaign. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-summer-sale-begins-today-you-guys/722258/54 "2015-06-14T22:56:26Z")
Anyone know why the flash sales are currently set for three times longer than usual? ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2015, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-summer-sale-begins-today-you-guys/722258/55 "2015-06-15T00:55:39Z")
I’ve mostly picked up a couple of independents I’ve wanted. _This War of Mine_ and _Papers, Please_. I grabbed _Civ5_ because it was only $12 for the entire set. I’m hoping _Sunless Sea_ and _SubNautica_ drop to between $5 and $10 and I’ll be done for the summer. I’m already well behind on playing 75% of the games I bought during the Winter Sale. I’m pretty much done with big budget games until Half-Life 3 or Portal 3 drop. I can’t think of anything else I’m looking for. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2015, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-summer-sale-begins-today-you-guys/722258/56 "2015-06-15T03:25:43Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > I strongly recommend _not_ buying State of Decay unless the developers have had a change of heart and pulled their heads out of their asses. When I tried the game, it actively punished you for any time not spent playing the game - if you save the game and close it, you will come back to find your neighbours dead, your resources consumed and sidequests failed. This sort of mechanic is bad enough in a MMO strategy game where a shared, persistent world makes such interference understandable. It is inexcusable in a single player campaign. It doesn’t punish you. It just simulates a world other than the player character. You manage a group of survivors, switching between them. Survivors that you aren’t controlling can do their own thing. They can defend your base, they can scout for supplies, and sometimes they’ll get in trouble and need you to bail them out. The health and defenses and supplies you leave everyone with affects how likely their results are going to be positive or negative. Part of that is that when you come back into the game, some hours of random events happen. Sometimes someone will have brought back supplies or another survivor. Sometimes someone gets sick or killed defending the base against zombies. But it only advances a little bit after you play. You make it sound like if you stop playing for a week everyone starves to death because you weren’t there to get food for them. But they take care of themselves, and in any case, leaving the game for 10 hours or 10 months has the same result. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2015, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-summer-sale-begins-today-you-guys/722258/57 "2015-06-15T03:43:46Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > It doesn’t punish you. It just simulates a world other than the player character. You manage a group of survivors, switching between them. Survivors that you aren’t controlling can do their own thing. They can defend your base, they can scout for supplies, and sometimes they’ll get in trouble and need you to bail them out. The health and defenses and supplies you leave everyone with affects how likely their results are going to be positive or negative. > > Part of that is that when you come back into the game, some hours of random events happen. Sometimes someone will have brought back supplies or another survivor. Sometimes someone gets sick or killed defending the base against zombies. But it only advances a little bit after you play. You make it sound like if you stop playing for a week everyone starves to death because you weren’t there to get food for them. But they take care of themselves, and in any case, leaving the game for 10 hours or 10 months has the same result. If the game did as good a job of protecting your hard work while you’re not playing as you do while playing you would be correct, but it doesn’t. Even if it was just bad RNG that made bad things and only bad things happen, I shouldn’t have to put up with that bullshit just because my schedule doesn’t revolve around their game. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2015, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-summer-sale-begins-today-you-guys/722258/58 "2015-06-15T03:52:53Z")
I think you’re misrepresenting how much you need to play. If you play once per day, it’s the same as if you played once per year - there are only a few hours worth of off-line events that happen and then it pauses indefinitely. There’s an intended amount of stuff that happens when you’re gone. The game doesn’t expect you to play very frequently, nor is the system intended to punish you if you don’t do so. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2015, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-summer-sale-begins-today-you-guys/722258/59 "2015-06-15T04:00:22Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > I think you’re misrepresenting how much you need to play. If you play once per day, it’s the same as if you played once per year - there are only a few hours worth of off-line events that happen and then it pauses indefinitely. There’s an intended amount of stuff that happens when you’re gone. The game doesn’t expect you to play very frequently, nor is the system intended to punish you if you don’t do so. Those few hours worth of off-line events are enough to ruin things. The problem is not that you have to play every day, it’s that you have to never stop in the first place if you don’t want to get screwed by this stupid mechanic. ---
**Author:** ![Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrogance_ex_machina/32/192_2.png) [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2015, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-summer-sale-begins-today-you-guys/722258/60 "2015-06-15T08:22:07Z")
> [@G0sp3l](#): > > I’m hoping _Sunless Sea_ and _SubNautica_ drop to between $5 and $10 and I’ll be done for the summer. Sunless Sea is already a daily sale, it won’t go below the -40% during this Summer Sale. I’ll buy it at some point as well but I’m not sure I’ll enjoy the limited resources thing at all so I’m waiting for it to be around 5 euro or included in a bundle. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-summer-sale-begins-today-you-guys/722258.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steam-summer-sale-begins-today-you-guys/722258.md?page=4)