Steam: セールはどのくらい売り上げに影響するのか

Gamesutra の Steam sales: How deep discounts really affect your games という記事は面白い。昨今の Game Bundle などのディスカウントがゲームの売り上げに悪影響を及ぼしているのかどうかなども少し確認できる。

According to indie developer and Super Meat Boy co-creator Edmund McMillen, these promotions can increase sales to an almost staggering extent. His 2D dungeon crawler The Binding of Isaac, for example, saw sales multiply by five when it was marked down by 50 percent, and once it hit the front page as a temporary "Flash Deal" (for 75 percent off), sales multiplied by sixty.

こうなると Steam の影響力はかなり強いと分かる。Steam のセールでこれだけ売れるとなると Developer などは Steam で自分達のゲームを取り扱って欲しいと思うだろう。

Valve's Holtman says he's never noticed any negative consequences from these promotions. Instead, most games still see positive trends in their sales numbers well after the discounts are over. At the very worst, a game's sales will just revert back to what they were before the promotion began.

Steam も強気だ。ただし、確かにコメントにある通り、安く買ったゲームはプレイしない傾向にはあるかもしれない。良いのか悪いのか。