# Winter digital distribution sales **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 18, 2014, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561 "2014-12-18T08:54:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [December 18, 2014, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/1 "2014-12-18T08:54:42Z")
Rumor is the steam winter sale is going to start later today. If not, it’ll be within a week. In the meantime, you’ve got a few hours left on their big auction thing. So if you have steam trading cards sitting in your inventory, you can sell them and get a game for them. [Nuuvem](http://www.nuuvem.com.br/promo/ressaca-fimdeano) started their christmas sale. It’s a Brazillian site, so you’ll want google translate. Conver to USD by multiplying by .40. It’s legit - except for games specifically labelled as region locks, they give global steam keys that can be redeemed anywhere. And they take paypal. They’ve had some of the biggest discounts I’ve ever seen on games. [Humble store](https://www.humblebundle.com/store) is running their sale. Greenmangaming is having the [12 days of indie sales](http://www.greenmangaming.com/12-days-festive-indie-deals/). The steam sale will be the biggie, obviously. Amazon used to actually come up with some great deals, but hasn’t had a great track record lately. GMG often has discount codes for 25-35% off everything in their store, including preorders, which is unique as far as I know. Nuuvem sometimes has the lowest prices on particular games. Will update when/if the steam sale starts today. ---
**Author:** ![elninost0rm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ed655f/32.png) [@elninost0rm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elninost0rm)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/2 "2014-12-18T15:16:18Z")
I’ve sold a lot of CS:GO skins I won from bets so my wallet is sitting at like ~$300 right now. “Free” games inbound! ---
**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:** [December 18, 2014, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/3 "2014-12-18T16:05:41Z")
Nuuvem has Shadow of Mordor for $17 after Paypal conversion. That’s about 66% off which is cheaper than Steam had it during the fall/Thanksgiving sale. Last year, Steam’s winter sale discounts matched their fall sale discounts so this might be the best price you’ll see it this season. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/4 "2014-12-18T18:05:23Z")
Ssteeammmm saallleee!!! Ahem… It seems like it’s the same set-up as the last few times. There’s the flash sales every twelve hours and the featured sale once a day. As always, it’s best to wait until the last day of the sale to pick it up. You don’t want to by something and then it becomes a featured sale the next day. ---
**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:** [December 18, 2014, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/5 "2014-12-18T18:12:52Z")
Community Choice is now daily instead of every 8 hours which is kinda lame. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/6 "2014-12-18T18:20:08Z")
I’m hoping the newest DLC for Europa Universallis IV, “The Art of War,” goes on sale. And this is another lesson on why I should never preorder games. I preordered CIV: Beyond Earth. Not only is it already on sale, I’ve only played it a couple of times because I don’t like it very much. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/7 "2014-12-18T18:47:28Z")
Can I order something as a gift for myself? I want to get something for my girlfriend but she uses my Steam account so I don’t want to show up in my library until I give it to her. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/8 "2014-12-18T18:50:31Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Can I order something as a gift for myself? I want to get something for my girlfriend but she uses my Steam account so I don’t want to show up in my library until I give it to her. Yes and no but mostly yes. You can’t give “yourself” a gift, but if you buy something as gift and then say “I will send this later” then it ends up in your Steam Inventory (not the same as your Steam Library) and you can then either gift it to someone else or “open” it and give it to yourself. Edit: And yes, Rand, no one should ever preorder games. I have this conversation pretty much every time someone mentions the idea. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/9 "2014-12-18T18:51:00Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Can I order something as a gift for myself? I want to get something for my girlfriend but she uses my Steam account so I don’t want to show up in my library until I give it to her. According to Steam FAQ, you can have the gift in your inventory but send it at a later time. > [@](#): > > How can I deliver the gift at a later date? > If you are interested in purchasing a subscription for someone as a gift but do not want it delivered until a later date, please purchase the game as a gift and add it to your Steam Inventory to send it later. As long as you do not redeem it, you will have a gift for this subscription on your account that can be resent at anytime. [Here’s the link](https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?p_faqid=549#gifts-delayed). ---
**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:** [December 18, 2014, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/10 "2014-12-18T20:52:46Z")
> [@Airk](#): > > Edit: And yes, Rand, no one should ever preorder games. I have this conversation pretty much every time someone mentions the idea. I’ve missed it. Does your reasoning have something to do with the fact that not only are games often buggy on release, but they don’t even bother to tempt you with actual physical tschoch, but virtual tschoch you probably won’t even use because it’s not that powerful, will be inferior to content later added by the mod community, and will probably be available as a cheap add-on later anyway? Because I have nearly stopped falling for that crap. But I do still sometimes pre-order to take advantage of a ‘couple of bucks off’ special or because my assumption is that for smaller studios, good pre-order numbers put them at less of a disadvantage when dealing with MBA-tards who run the industry. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/11 "2014-12-18T20:57:54Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > I’ve missed it. Does your reasoning have something to do with the fact that not only are games often buggy on release, but they don’t even bother to tempt you with actual physical tschoch, but virtual tschoch you probably won’t even use because it’s not that powerful, will be inferior to content later added by the mod community, and will probably be available as a cheap add-on later anyway? Because I have nearly stopped falling for that crap. But I do still sometimes pre-order to take advantage of a ‘couple of bucks off’ special or because my assumption is that for smaller studios, good pre-order numbers put them at less of a disadvantage when dealing with MBA-tards who run the industry. Basically my points are: A) You don’t even know if you’re going to like the game until you know more about it than you do at preorder. B) Even if it’s a game you “should” like, you should wait to find out if it’s buggy as crap (Assassin’s Creed: Unity) or poorly implemented (MOO3). C) The game is only going to get cheaper over time D) There’s not really that much ‘advantage’ to getting the game early unless it’s a multiplayer release of some sort. Of course, there CAN be mitigating factors, and I, oddly, don’t really count Kickstarter as a “pre-order” if for the simple reason that I think of pre-orders as “This game is going to come out whether you like it or not, but give us your money early, sucker!” whereas stuff on Kickstarter feels more like “Well, we’re gonna do our best to make this game, and having some money is going to make it way more likely.” Or to put it another way - preorders are from big companies, and Kickstarters are from small ones. This is not to say that points A-D are irrelevant for small studios or Kickstarters, but rather that sometimes, a chance that someone will make the game right is worth some money over the likelihood that otherwise, no one will make it at all. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/12 "2014-12-18T21:07:17Z")
Not as excited about this sale as I usually am. I’ve got pretty much all the games I want that are out, and in the meantime I’ve still got at least a dozen games that are nearly or completely untouched that I bought in previous sales. ---
**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:** [December 18, 2014, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/13 "2014-12-18T21:08:24Z")
Preorder games should come with a hefty discount, something like 30%. You’re getting rewarded on gambling on a potential game, and they’re rewarding your interest/support/loyalty. Otherwise fuck it. This almost never happens with any major publisher, because they have contracts about release price and various other factors. Otherwise the bonuses are usually trivial and there’s not much upside to the risk. Standard advice: don’t buy anything that’s not a daily/flash sale until the last day. If you buy something because it’s 50% off, and then it’s 75% off tomorrow, and you whine about it, we all have to sit on you until you’re smothered to death. You can always buy them at the current discount on the last day, when you know it won’t get any cheaper. The featured deals seem to last 48 hours. I assume there will be a new set every day, and the previous set will still be available for the first 24 hours of that. That’s how they did it last year. The actual number of deals is somewhat underwhelming. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/14 "2014-12-18T21:10:34Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Preorder games should come with a hefty discount, something like 30%. You’re getting rewarded on gambling on a potential game, and they’re rewarding your interest/support/loyalty. Otherwise fuck it. This almost never happens with any major publisher, because they have contracts about release price and various other factors. Otherwise the bonuses are usually trivial and there’s not much upside to the risk. > > Standard advice: don’t buy anything that’s not a daily/flash sale until the last day. If you buy something because it’s 50% off, and then it’s 75% off tomorrow, and you whine about it, we all have to sit on you until you’re smothered to death. You can always buy them at the current discount on the last day, when you know it won’t get any cheaper. It’s like the system punishes you for impulse buying. Which, actually, I kindof endorse. 😛 ---
**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:** [December 18, 2014, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/15 "2014-12-18T21:25:22Z")
Anyone play [damned](http://store.steampowered.com/app/251170/)? It’s a co-op 4 player horror game where a fifth player plays the monster hunting them. It’s a fun premise, so I’m probably going to encourage some people to buy it to try it out. Reviews say it’s buggy, but a lot were from early access. ---
**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:** [December 18, 2014, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/16 "2014-12-18T23:23:01Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Standard advice: don’t buy anything that’s not a daily/flash sale until the last day. If you buy something because it’s 50% off, and then it’s 75% off tomorrow, and you whine about it, we all have to sit on you until you’re smothered to death. You can always buy them at the current discount on the last day, when you know it won’t get any cheaper. But, but… 6207 games for sale! Those 253 pages aren’t going to be incentivized to slog through themselves just so they can screw me later with a better price on a flash deal. ---
**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:** [December 18, 2014, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/17 "2014-12-18T23:43:10Z")
[GameAgent.com](http://GameAgent.com) has Civilization V and its major expansions for 80% off. That’s $10 for Civilization V: Complete or $6 for the base game, Brave New World or God & Kings. Civilization V is “Steamworks” so it works on PC or Mac no matter which supposed version you buy. To get the discount, you need to have an account (free) and access the sale through the [Dashboard](https://www.gameagent.com/dashboard). Just searching for the games only shows 50% off. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2014, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/18 "2014-12-19T00:49:20Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > I preordered CIV: Beyond Earth. Not only is it already on sale, I’ve only played it a couple of times because I don’t like it very much. I played it for longer than you did, but I do not endorse it either. ---
**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:** [December 19, 2014, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/19 "2014-12-19T00:49:33Z")
A bunch of us are going to try [damned](http://store.steampowered.com/app/251170/), so if you want to give it a go with us, grab it in the next 5 hours. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2014, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561/20 "2014-12-19T00:59:58Z")
Just out of random curiosity, does anyone know what the story is behind [steam.com](http://steam.com)? Everytime there’s a sale, I go there to check it out (I don’t have a steam client on my desktop). And everytime I surprised by the fact that Valve doesn’t own the site. Instead its just an empty page, saying the page is owned by “Steam Tunnel Operations”. Surely Valve would pay decent money for the domain name, and the person who owns it hasn’t done anything with it for years. I always wonder why he doesn’t sell. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winter-digital-distribution-sales/707561.md?page=2)