The absurdity of Oblivion on Steam

The oddest release of a game ever...

By aLap on June 20, 2009 1:04:39 AM from

A good price for Oblivion: Game of the Year Edition!

On June 17th, Steam had an advertisement of Oblivion: Game of the Year Editon with 20% off. The price was at $16.79. An excellent deal! I clicked on that advertisement that took me to the game page. In that page there was also an option to buy a package of Oblivion + Morrowind, but nothing else. I then purchased the Oblivion GOTY, which has the Shivering Isles expansion and the Knights of the Nine add-on.

But wait... there was a DELUXE edition?!?

After I made the purchase, I downloaded it and played a bit. I eventually went to Steam's game tab and noticed that there was also a DELUXE edition, with the expansion and all of the 9 official add-ons at $19.99. This was one BIG WTF moment. Only 3 dollars difference? What a mess of an advertisement!

I went to Steam's game forum and see people complaining that, like me, they wanted the Deluxe instead, and others even that wanted the GOTY instead because that version has more languages than just English (the Deluxe is only in English). What a mess of things!

I then proceeded to contact Steam's support to try and change from GOTY to Deluxe (I asked for the possibility of an upgrade), since that would be a better purchase in my view. I noticed that other customers got a refund and were quick to change versions, but were asked first if they wanted the refund.

What...? What happened to the prices?!?

Somewhere on June 18th, the base price suddenly increases (still with the 20% discount). No justification, no community communication whatsoever, no nothing. From $16.79 and $19.99, for the GOTY and Deluxe respectively, they're suddenly at $23.99 and $27.99. WTF?!?!? Another slew of complaints ensued in the forum. Whatever reason for that decision, it was a greedy one...

But wait! Here comes support... to... the... rescue...?

It's now June 20th, Saturday morning, after an exhausting work week. I open my email and got the following answer from support:

Thank you for contacting Steam Support.

Unfortunately we are unable to charge you the difference for a different package, as such we have processed a refund to your account where you will now be able to repurchase the game, this time the deluxe version.

Third and final WTF moment... They didn't even ask me if I wanted the refund or not.

I first payed $16.79 for the GOTY and the Deluxe is now $27.99. With a price difference of $11.20, that's a lot more then the initial 3 dollars I was willing to pay. Did they really expect me to go buy the other version now with such a steep price difference? Under the circumstances, of course I would have preferred to keep the game I had if I would be given the choice.

I complained in the same support ticket about the unilateral "generosity", but I know that I lost the game I purchased. Hey, at least I got my money back. Unless something extraordinary happens, it will be a pleasure to take my business elsewhere...

Though my overall luck with digital distribution platforms hasn't been going that well lately, Stardock has something really good going: communication. No matter the rant or the misunderstanding that whatever is said may bring, I think it's a lot better than the rather autistic treatment people get from other places. I don't want to be treated as a brainless meat with money, any more than the next guy.

+16 Karma | 18 Replies

Stardock is good, yes, but Steam tends to have better deals going alot of the time. I don't buy a lot of games on Steam, but I check there almost every other day to see their sales. Every week for the past 12 weeks or so, if not more, they have had a better good weekend deal. AND, I know that if i see a deal there today or a weekend deal, I need to jump on it asap, as the price MAY come back around, but MAY NOT as well. Plus, Steam's sales are on a big splash screen. In impulse, you have to click a tab and there is nothing that points out that this is an awesome deal. Just look at steam right now and see their huge 50% empire total war spread. Do you not consider buying that game just because of the marketing on that page alone? It's just solid marketing. In impulse, I just see a price with a dollar amount crossed out and a new price listed... nothing looks like its 50% off and nothings indicating a 50% off sale.

I get it though. I was just crying to myself over not purchasing Sword of the Stars this past weekend (its price went from like $8 - $30 overnight)... but on steam, the ultimate edition is now like $18 bucks (including an expansion that was just released). On impulse, its going for like $30. I have zero loyalty when it comes to the deal at this point. If it was the same price on both sites, I'd buy it on impulse. If they can't keep up with the sales, I'll purchase on Steam... and vice versa. Thanks for the post!

I'm betting someone in marketing got cute. One person isn't a company..but they can ruin the reputation all the same.

Heh, and here I thought this was going to be a post about how you can't use half of the newer community mods because they require a third-party tool which can't legally interact with Steam's encrypted Oblivion.exe.

I think the worst part is where they refund you the $16,79 after raising the prices. If you were to re-purchase the GOTY edition now, you'd pay an extra $7,20 for something you never asked for.

Yes. Steam sucks.
Digital distribution at large suffers from a lack of accountability. There's no clerk or 'the boss down at the shop' that you can go and punch in the face.

Quoting tejondour,

reply 3

I love how you said legally.

I just had a great experience with Impulse. I foolishly thought an expansion was stand-alone only to find out that I could not install after purchase as I lacked the base game. I sent customer service an email. They responded within a day indicating they would be more than willing to refunded my money. I ended up getting the refund and then I went back and for $5 more bought the complete package with original game.

Very professional.

Quoting pacov,

reply 1

Stardock is good, yes, but Steam tends to have better deals going alot of the time.

You are very correct, unfortunately. I keep reminding myself that patience is required to see Impulse grow to a similar level - as long as Stardock is able to learn from what's happening with the competition. It seems that Steam is busting at the seams and cracking all over from their own weight. You're either very, VERY careful on your purchase, or you get something similar to what happened in my case. ALWAYS check the forums.

Quoting SnallTrippin,

reply 2

I'm betting someone in marketing got cute. One person isn't a company..but they can ruin the reputation all the same.

Yeah... it takes a lot longer to build up your reputation. But the crazy thing is that people that got to purchase the game after the price change or had no problems right from the start, absolutely love what Steam does. This is the internet, where anything can be forgotten and forgiven...

Quoting Luckmann,

reply 4

I think the worst part is where they refund you the $16,79 after raising the prices. If you were to re-purchase the GOTY edition now, you'd pay an extra $7,20 for something you never asked for.

Digital distribution at large suffers from a lack of accountability. There's no clerk or 'the boss down at the shop' that you can go and punch in the face.

You got that right. Also, the original price with the 20% discount was supposed to remain for a week. It took them only a couple of days to change their mind about it. Did Steam screwed up with Bethesda's indication on the price? Did they got greedy when seeing that the game was still selling well? Were they pressured by the retailers? (it's now more expensive to buy on Steam than in retail) We may never know...

They could get away with murder as long as only a minority of people is affected. But we, the customers, also contribute to this. We can be selfish bastards, not caring about anything but our own arses. As long as everything is fine, there's even some of us that absolutely adore to make fun of other people's frustration. On the other side of the spectrum, if something goes bad then it's like the apocalypse is about to happen. The general idea that companies might get from the forums is that they're dealing with a buch of immature children QQing and counter-QQing about everything.

And truth be told, if I ever see a good deal from Steam, I would buy from them again. You'd just have to be quick and very cautious about it. Talking about a love-hate relationship... WHAT KIND OF SICK PERSON AM I?!?

Quoting tejondour,

reply 3

If you're referring to the Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE), they were quick to fix that in a recent update. All that blunder was good for something I guess.

My thing is I never spend over $10 on Steam, unless it's a major title like TF2. That way if somethign happens, I'm not out more then $10.

Don't bitch about your good fortune, you are one lucky fucking duck.

Go to Wally World, pick up the boxed copy of GOTY Oblivion for $20. Save yourself the hassle of finding out this or that modding tool doesn't work. They just fixed OBSE yesterday, I don't know if you can use Wrye Bash yet. Restrictive DRM platforms and open modding game systems don't mix very well.

Quoting psychoak,

reply 8

Don't bitch about your good fortune

Well, everything that happened was very odd, to the point of me complaining about a refund (very odd indeed!) but I actually wanted to keep the game. I got my lesson learned for the next time I see a good deal.

Steam is generally more restrictive than Impulse (another good selling point, as people take more notice of that). Stardock is trying to cut a deal with Bethesda, and modding is something that these guys are well accustomed to. I hope to see Oblivion on Impulse with no major hassles with the modding tools. I also hope it doesn't get regional restrictions.

Digital platforms have the advantage of being a permanent backup for every software I purchase from them. It's less things to stash and carry and that suits my needs perfectly. But users have to be much more aware of not breaking the rules since the account can get banned and then you may lose all your collection. That is a possibility a bit too extreme for my taste and it is an unchecked danger for users. That wouldn't happen with a retail copy. I'm living in China, so it's not like I have much of a choice with getting games. Once in a while I get tempted to circumvent a regional restriction, and that would be a cause for harsh action...

Some times I forget that only Coke has permeated the entire planet. Places without Walmart just don't compute.

I can sorta blame SD for missing out on the awesome price for the deluxe package. I posted the first day inquiring if Impulse was going to gain bethsoft as a publisher. The second day I was posting some more to try and get some more info out of them. By the 3rd day I'd decided to buy on steam, but the price had gone up so I said screw it. I already own the games and at that price it wasn't worth the digital versions. So now I'm going to wait either for another awesome deal on steam or for Impulse to get the titles. All in all, I wont spend more than $30 on the two titles combined in one package, so hopefully if Impulse gets them, they will have a package for $25 or so. Even if it wasnt on sale, I would buy it at that price in a heartbeat on Impulse.

Steam really did shoot themselves in the foot though. I was willing to spend $28 on the ES combo package and, had all that not gone down the way it did, I would have been willing to spend another $25 on the total war sale they had this weekend. Further I've been leaning toward getting Fallout 3 at full price (and its DLCs), so thats steam out over $100 that they would have had (and bethsoft out about the same with the game and DLCs).

Anyway, this whole thing gave me time to think and I'll probably wait for Bethsoft to come to Impulse and have all of their titles at least 50% of what they are currently.

Such is life.

Bah to Steam. Go pick it up at Walmart. Around here it's always in stock and 20 bucks for the GOTY edition. I've got 2 copies.

I can sorta blame SD for missing out on the awesome price for the deluxe package.

They are starting to pick up more mainstream games, which is good to see. It's getting better, the more titles they get the easier it will be for them to get contracts for more - that's how Steam is going now.

I can sorta blame SD for missing out on the awesome price for the deluxe package.

I didnt mean that as a bad thing. I was simply commenting. As soon as Impulse gains those titles, I'll pick them up in a heartbeat (though I do hope for a reasonably decent price). Anyway, I'm done with steam for a while unless they have a simply amazing price on something that I cannot get on Impulse. By amazing, I mean 75% or better.

Looking forward to more on Impulse.

Update to absurdity - 2K is bundling ESIV with Bioshock - and packing says you need to internet connection to activate. Don't know if this applies to ESIV now as well, but enough reason to avoid that "greatest hits" package. Go buy ESIV at Walmart for $20 and save yourself the trouble of dealing with it.

So digital distribution platforms are really convenient if you live in a area where it is difficult to find cheap(problem in germany) or genuine(problem in china) software.

And what is the bitching about the discounts? If you bought some cheese and the next day the cheese is on sale, do you bring back the cheese and complain?
If you were willing to buy the product for the original price you have to live with it. But for some reason people always complain when the "ware" is software.

Grottenolm85

comment 16

Ever thougt about that there are places on this world without Walmart? I am livin in China as well and there is no Walmart. Even if i am back in Germany there is no Walmart.

Nice to know another person living in China and sharing the convenience of digital platforms.

Grottenolm85

comment 16

And what is the bitching about the discounts? If you bought some cheese and the next day the cheese is on sale, do you bring back the cheese and complain?If you were willing to buy the product for the original price you have to live with it. But for some reason people always complain when the "ware" is software.

It all depends on how the 'cheese' is sold.

As in my case, if Steam would've respected their own deadlines, then you'd be right; one week is indeed a generous amount of time for discounted prices.

However, they reajusted the price of their 'cheese' about one to two days after they started that promo.

In a store selling cheese, the manager would probably have no choice but to either respect what they started or at least provide a rationale. The customer is, after all, right there in the flesh demanding for an explanation.

There are differences between online and retail. I would hope that more people would 'bitch' about it.

Quoting Grottenolm85,

reply 16

Ever thougt about that there are places on this world without Walmart? I am livin in China as well and there is no Walmart. Even if i am back in Germany there is no Walmart. Only Media Markt and Oblivion is still 35€ there(As all Computer games tend to be a lot more expansive in Germany).

So digital distribution platforms are really convenient if you live in a area where it is difficult to find cheap(problem in germany) or genuine(problem in china) software....

If you don't live near a Walmart (which in this case you clearly don't), then you cannot buy it at a Walmart. If you do live near one, buy it at Walmart. That comment of mine was intended for folks in the US, where they are ubiquitous as convenience stores.

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The absurdity of Oblivion on Steam

The oddest release of a game ever...