I almost never play games when they are new. I usually take my sweet-@ss time getting around to them. And by then there's been patches and updates and sales/price drops. I didn't like paying $50 for newly-launched games. Now they want us to pay $70 or more? Riiiiiiight, let me open up my wallet and get right on that. And while I'm at it I can bend over and spread my cheeks too. When games start getting $30 or below is when I start paying attention. My sweet spot is $20 or less. $5-$10 and you usually got a deal. That's why Nintendo sales never work out, cuz games raaaaarely go below $40, and when you see Nintendo games below $40 it's usually due to the balls of a retailer like Best Buy or Target. On other platforms games are 50% off or more within a few months to a couple years after release. I paid $30 for Doom 2016 like 3 months after release, and the year after it was on sale at FIVE F*CKING DOLLARS!!! The most I ever paid for a PS4 game was $20. All the others were $10 or less, and that's including brand-new physical copies of top Sony IP games like GoW4 and HZD. Nintendo will re-sell you old-@ss f*cking games and continue to keep the prices of those games up real dang high.
And then there's stuff like Steam Family library sharing, where I can access the games that other people in my Steam Fambly own. Or if you go DRM-free and buy on GOG, then you can just give a friend a copy of your game. I consider these options to be the digital equivalents of letting a friend or family member borrow a physical copy of a game.
Also not many developers out there still publish demos. I don't buy before I try. I've been alive and playing video games too long to deal with that bullsh1t anymore. I need to ascertain a game's value before I put money down on it. If the developers don't provide, and I don't have a friend who owns a copy I can try, then that's where the community comes through with their "community demos". And I have made quite a good number of purchases just because I was able to check out a community demo first.
Yeah like I didn't see Baldur's Gate 3 having any problems selling copies.
