Thanks, I updated the table.

You are all mad. Steam is as cheap as retail.

First, it's clear that some people here don't know what they're talking about because in the real world 1$ = 1€. You go to any store in europe and you'll see a new PC game at 50€, while it's 50$ in the US. That is just how it is. Console games are also 60/70€ in Europe, while 60/70$ in US.

A few years ago, the US Dollar was stronger than the Euro, and the prices of games were exactly the same scale of 1$ = 1€. So for those people bashing Steam because of pricing, stop talking out of your ass and do some research.

Second, I see no reason why companies should decrease the price of their games if they're sold Steam. Nowadays companies no longer give goodies on their boxed games, and instead only give them on more expensive limited editions. And in exchange for the game's box, if you buy the more accessible version Steam you get things like:

- Auto-patching

- Being able to download from anywhere and on any computer without DVDs

- A thriving community

- Steam Cloud (when it's released)

- Voice chat support

- Achievements tracking

- Less hassle

- Most Steam games offer pre-purchase deals like a 10% discount or give another game for free.

- etc...

Read what I wrote above. It's a matter of weighting the pros and cons of Retail and Digital Distribution games. Your first mistake was not comparing the pros and cons of each buying method, and that disrupts your entire argument (I'm studying Critical Thinking).

I think that it pretty much falls down to which method the someone prefers: Retail or DD. The first time I bought a game through digital distribution only had happened earlier this year, and since then I have bought more Steam games than Retail. I love the automatic patching and not cluttering my room with DVDs.

1. This is just plain wrong. If you check Amazon, a game that launches at 50 dollars is usually 40 dollars on UK. It is like that on almost everything.

I do agree with your post though.

Second that,

I got my L4D (PC) off amazon with pre-order and it took me £ 19.99 at that time (with free shipping, even though I still got my copy at 21 Nov then I just register it on Steam. I never remove the DVD off case :p )

And you still got all the pro from steam. (Auto-patching, download everywhere, community, steam cloud, voice chat, achievement, and mostly retailer was cheaper than steam)

This is why piracy is not always evil.

that sucks. in canada we get 1:1 with US prices tho our dollar is less valuable. And dont bad-mouth steam, its all about the community :( (wth a small c)

If you want to get American prices go to steamgifter.com

That sucks. I feel for you Europeans.

You people need to learn that due to the difference in wages and standard of living that for all intents and purposes a Euro is as good as a dollar. It has greater exchange, but that's meaningless unless you're importing/exporting or traveling from one place to another.