Grand Theft Auto V Pricing in Steam Summer Sale Draws Controversy
Game developer Valve's annual Steam Summer Sale kicked off yesterday. PC gamers who waited for Steam's online storefront to refresh thought they were in for a big treat when it appeared Grand Theft Auto V, one of the biggest games in recent history was on sale. The game was marked down 30% yet was still retailing for the usual price of $59.99. How could that be?
That's because the game was being bundled with downloadable content and another older game without the option to purchase GTA V as a standalone product. GTA V was being packaged together with in game currency and either Max Payne 3 or GTA San Andreas a bundle valued around $80. Hence once the 30% markdown is applied, the bundle drops down to $59.99.
Gamers on message boards and online communities have called out Rockstar, GTA V's developer, for the disingenuous pricing tactics they employed to make it seem like the game was on sale. Reddit user base12XB was one of the first to call out the move saying:
"This move by Rockstar is incredibly shady and misleading. They jacked the price up to around $85 by adding useless in-game addons and then threw a 30% discount on it bringing the game back to $60. I planned on buying it, but not now."
Website Craveonline notes that neither Valve nor Rockstar have done anything illegal:
"But a little scratching below the surface reveals that the only thing Rockstar are guilty of is releasing a deal that isn't very enticing, and that it doesn't appear likely that the company is trying to swindle us out of our money by introducing a sudden price increase of GTAV prior to the Steam Summer Sale. For one, each of the initial, supposedly "marked up" prices of the bundles appear to represent the price of GTAV, GTA: San Andreas/Max Payne 3 and the virtual currency that is included with each bundle."
In response to the criticism, Valve and Rockstar have made some changes to Steam's storefront. The GTA V logo is no longer prominently displayed on the sale page while the base, standalone version of GTA V is available again at the standard price.
