Talking Point: Is the PlayStation Store Starting to Rival Steam Sales?

I'd say no but it's catching up. PC games generally are cheaper than console games, but the deals we are getting now are starting to improve on consoles where for many, many years they were sorely lacking.

Its heading in the right direction, and with a PS5 digital edition I think we could see some aggressive deals from Sony next gen.

While the PS Store definitely has a lot of good deals on games, I notice stuff on my PSN wishlist rarely ever go on sale while my Steam wishlist always has sales, and if a game isn't cheap enough on Steam, it'll be cheaper on Humble Store thanks to my added discount from being with their monthly subscription service or sites like Fanatical that always has really good deals.

PC has a lot of different places to get Steam keys, while you're kinda restricted to just the PS Store for digital releases.

But that's just my experience. I don't buy digital on my PS4 very often so my mileage varies.

PS Store sales are better than Steam for me personally, but that's only because I don't have a Steam account and do 98% of my gaming on Sony hardware, so I feel like I shouldn't count.

This pointless comment was brought to you by RogerRoger.

Steam sales are no longer as legendary as they once were, thanks in large part to the refund policies they implemented (to stop people refunding purchases from just before sales/flash sales). 5/6 years ago they were awesome when they had flash sales and daily deals. Don’t get me wrong, they’re still good, however, with G2A etc you can pretty much get sale prices all year round. PlayStation sales are much better than they were, although I wish they would include more PS3/Vita games from time to time.

The "legendary" Steam sales have been anything but for several years now. They lured people with really good sales and as soon as it became huge, they knew they no longer had to.

I get it, it's business, but I avoid it. I prefer to buy from less successful online stores than from the giant. Very often, they offer better deals anyway.

The PS sales are about as good as Steam sales, but it's hard to compare since they do sales differently. Steam has a few huge sales a year, where most games have massive savings. Sony on the other hand are doing smaller, more frequent sales.

Games bought on Steam this July: 13
Games bought on PSN this July: 0

Here in Brazil, Dead Cells, for example, cost 3 times more. So, not at all.

Because of Sonys digital sales, I'm going all digital next generation. PS Now is appealing too

They are definitely getting closer. I seem to spend £30-50 on random, unneeded stuff each month. Haha.

Sony doing sales more and more at the moment they just had a mid year sale. Kudos to Sony anyway.

When it comes to Vita games....NO, lol.

In short, yes. Over the past two years... yes. Steam sale right now, isn't that great.

Wallet shrinks...shame pile grows.

@get2sammyb You strike a very good point about Sony having us locked into their ecosystem. My digital library is vast, totalling hundreds, if not thousands of titles across the generations through sales and PS Plus.

Coupled with trophies - granted not a big deal for some, but a large digital footprint for me - it would be very difficult to game anywhere else.

My only frustration with Playstation sales is that they have completely dropped vita sales, less cross-buy titles. It doesn't make much sense to me. There is money there for the taking, even if the console has largely been dropped. There are a number of games i still want to pick up, but are not worth the inflated standard price on the store.

I think Sony could be much better at advertising theor sale items too. Where i would be without psprices i do not know. I'd be wealthier, and Sony poorer thats for sure!!

The PSN store sales never offer the breadth of games that Steam store sales do, but they are more frequent, and quite often the cuts are just as big. The PSN is certainly catching up to Steam on this front and might already be on a par. I've had many discussions about this topic now, so it's certainly at the point where it has entered the zeitgeist.

For me the answer is no, or not yet. PS Store sales are getting better with time, but Sherlock Holmes is just a drop in the ocean compared to Steam prices. Most games on PS Store don't drop low enough compared to Steam but I don't expect them to. Sony earns money off of PS Store more than consoles, Steam on the other hand rips developers off with their 30% ransom for hosting the games. To sum up, I'm good with PS Store sales as they are now.

No, hell no. Lol.

Steam is struggling because of the better sales everywhere else on PC.

@Sinton 13? I buy 2 games and worry if I'll have time to play them

@carlos82 Yeah, it was a rather good sale.

A key difference is that Steam sometimes feels like everything is on sale. Games that are a decade old, or a month old.
The PS3 and Vita haven't had significant sales in the past year, maybe more. And you see mostly the same games on sale on PS Store.

games on psn take far longer to drop to the same price points as physical games... 6-12 months can often see a physical game go beyond the 50% off mark at retailers... that same game may take 2+ years to fall to the same price point on psn. you can get even better deals on physical games by buying used from a local seller in many cases as well. physical prices will always rival digital, especially if you know where to look, but digital psn sales are better than they used to be no doubt.

I dont buy digital only if i dont have a choice. 😆

@Deadlyblack cdkeys is really good

No. /characterlimitations

@gollumb82
Doesn't PS take 30% as well?

Oh they sure are. PSN sales are not only amazing, but seem to be often.

Only thing is PC still has better discounts for launch games.

Cyberpunk 2077 pre-order was $42. And I got my F12020 pre-order for $35. But PSN sales still gives tons of value for the dollar 👍

Not while two (if not technically FOUR) of its six currently represented platforms are increasingly underrepresented in these sales. Not to sound entitled - it's their biz and the publishers' biz whether/when to discount anything, - but as long as we're running comparisons, Steam continues to discount 1995-2005 games regardless of how many users' hardware can still run them without shamanic compatibility dances.

@LiamCroft @get2sammyb
Ummm...

http://www.insidewalessport.co.uk/talking-issue-is-the-playstation-keep-commencing-to-rival-steam-income/

Maybe in the AAA space but insofar as some of my indies wishlist aa an example, (according to ps prices),their last sales on: Cursed Castilla & Super Hydorah (Aug 2018),Chasm (Sept. 2019 apparently).....
Then we come to:
Timespinner (released 2018), Blazing Chrome (Rel. Oct. 2019),Castle Crashers Remastered (Rel. Oct 2019), Battle Princess Madelyn (Nov.2019 EU PSN), Xeno Crisis (Oct 2019), River City Girls(Rel. Sept. 2019),Fight'n'Rage (Dec. 2019, Afterparty (Oct. 2019). None of these games have had a single psn sale since launch yet most had Steam &/ or Eshop etc. discounts...some smaller indies/ publishers have said its difficult trying to contact Sony about even getting a sale discount/or that they heavily curate what does get a discount. Other small indie publishers decline to respond on twitter or say no plans at this time.
Bit frustrating seeing the same old AAA stuff when ps4 owners seem to draw the short straw on indie sales.

Psn sales is better than before, but most of the times steam sales (and sometimes epic games store) is still cheaper since they have regional pricing for my country, I bought remedy control for about $20 new on EGS at launch.

@Akimi
To be honest, I don't know. It's possible, I guess. But there's only one PS Store, as opposed to like 9 or 10 storefronts on the PC. This is one of the reasons I switched to Playstation entirely. I'd rather have all my games in one place. I suppose it also works to the devs' advantage. My guess is negotiating releasing a game on 10 different storefronts (on differerent conditions) is a pain in the neck. Makes sales bothersome, I imagine (also from regional pricing standpoint).

I've been comparing PSN and Steam sales over the past year or so in an attempt to persuade PC-owning friends that console gaming isn't more expensive, as they seem to suggest. I'd say 75% of the time PSN is cheaper than Steam, but the discrepancies either way appear only to be a pound or two.

Sony sales are far more frequent, yes, but perhaps there becomes less incentive to pick things up when prices drop with such regularity. There can be an overwhelming amount on sale at any given time, so it's often better to keep waiting, as most games are going to be cheaper a couple of sales/months down the line if you are not desperate to purchase something right away.

There is also a lack of consistency to the PSN sales - a game could be £14.99 in one sale, then two months on it will be £17.99 in another, making it more difficult when waiting for the right price. Games are now seeing often dramatic reductions in price not long after release (of course this may be to boost poor sales), so there is less reason to buy games full price/on release.

I've purchased a total of four games on release from PSN and another not long after release for full price. I'd say the rest of my library is made up of sale purchases.

You cannot compare Consoles to PC simple for the fact of price difference on full RRP games, PC gaming is a lot more cheaper that get free games from time to time and free graphical upgrades (Remasters). At the expense of consoles players who have to buy their games, remasters etc, subscription etc. But Playstation store is a lot better with sales, I always check them out.

@lacerz

Have no clue what's going on there, but makes for amusing reading.

"Conversing Place to be of a fairly acceptable length".

"Location your vote in our poll and set your dollars where by your mouth is in the remarks beneath".

@Vacuumator
Yes. A very bad effort at plagiarism.

@lacerz Thank you for pointing this out.

@lacerz wow, that's a pretty blatant case of plagiarism of this article.

Nudge Circle

I shall register this domain, along with Tease Triangle, post-haste.

@Rob_230 Yep, the crossbuy Vita discounted games seem few & far btwn ala Timespinner sadly. Also add to it the old ps1 classica playable on ps3/vita. For a time i picked up stuff on sale like Blood Omen legacy of kain, suikoden 1 & 2...
And the old ps1 FF back catalogue where u had access to FF6 etc..on ps3/Vita...coming to.switch (& XB?) but ps4 owners been frozen out!
Still this ventures in part on the b/c chessnut so i don't like to look at my ps3 library ala RDR 1/Undead Nightmare when i look at my old gen consoles!

Not used Steam for years, so this poll is lost to me. One thing Steam doesn't have is Knack 2. So Steam wins?

Playstation store is light years behind Steam. But, I see the majority here are delusional fanbois.

Not quite Steam levels but not bad to be honest. I exclusively buy in sales or second hand so it’s definitely the time to go digital if you want a good deal.

I left PC because Steam took over PC gaming with all digital sales. Don't forget 70% of Steam sales are shovelware anyway. I have had a Steam account for over 10 years. I think I have bought 12 games from them most being old retro games.

@SuperNintendoMii yeah I used to get some absolute bargains on steam for under £5 all AAA not much on PSN under a fiver that isn't an indie title, but it's definitely going in the right direction

No, PSN Sales are far far away from steam sales, PSN Regionalized prices are awful compared to Steam prices in the same countries.

Steam sales offer huge bundles at such a price you will never see on the playstore. But this is because they have a lot of competition on pc. The playstore will never be the same since they have zero competition on their console

No. Steam has more frequent sales of at least equal quality over the entire store. Some of the stuff on my wishlist hasn’t been on sale for ages or ever. You’re wearing PS glasses or it’s because you’re on PSN more is you think they’re better. They’re just more relevant to some of us than Steam sales.

They're getting better, but no where near the level of Steam in terms of value. Steam have triple A titles for absurd prices, literally a few quid.

Steam also have the benefit of having a lot less overheads so can afford to make these kind of cuts, not sure if Sony can do the same, hence the gap.

I keep reading the replies and I think that a lot of people here are misinformed.

I wish there were a website that compared prices on psn + steam to show what's factually correct.

@Spooder ironic.

Its doers not matter about the cost at some point they will nearly be the same in terms of sales. Out of sale console titles are higher in price. Also Steam store experience s**ts on the PS store they do everything better and are years ahead of where the PS store should be after years of been terrible.

Yes but it is a different scenario. The PC market has competition - users can go to alternate store fronts or buy steam codes elsewhere. Therefore there is more natural competition. Sony has no competition if you have a Sony device.

The thing with PSN sales is it's still often cheaper to buy physical copies. A few months ago there were heavily discounted games on PSN that were double the price of a new physical copy on Amazon. Steam doesn't have that problem as physical on PC is dead.

Not for me. Until consoles join in on free multiplayer, it won't come close for me. Steam wins every time.

PSN is focusing only on ps4 games recently, haven't seen deals on vita/ps3 games for more than a year which is kind of a letdown...

I only buy exclusive games on the ps4. I used to be crazy and buy up all the psp, ps vita, ps1 and ps2 stuff on the ps3 but since Sony thought BC was a bad thing, I've stopped buying games that aren't exclusives.
Think I've bought like 23 games on steam this month and nothing on psn. Last psn game I bought was Medievil.

I don't think that PS Store is a rival to Steam, really