I knew something was up when they made TF2-One of their biggest money makers, free to play. I finally found out what it was for. The hats. Some games, like the Witcher 2, not that I would buy it, have logical Steam pre-order bonuses (i.e. Music, I don't like this, but extra content, etc.). Now with TF2 being free, they can assume everyone has it and be lazy and give hats. Are you kidding me? Don't start saying, "You could pre-order a game at ____ and get _____ so stop whining". I prefer digital copies. *OFF TOPIC-DO NOT MAKE THIS ABOUT WHERE TO PRE-ORDER/BUY* But due to Steam's terrible-spree, I will buy the Skyrim CE *ON TOPIC*. I'm surprised nobody is pissed at this.

:tinfoilhat:


I just want to hear your thoughts on Steam doing this, not where to pre-order etc. Keep this one on topic guys.

Did you not notice that all of Steam has basically been a thinly disguised hat-peddling service since Team Fortress 2 came out? It seems exactly the same since the game became free as far as I can tell.

Yeah but if that Skyrim hat was real, I'd buy it IRL, on Steam, definitely a turn-off. A baaaaad one, no way am I buying Skyrim through Steam

Before TF2: No preorder bonus.
After TF2: Hats.

Not seeing the problem here, it's a digital distribution service, it's not like you need to pre-order.


What are you even talking about? You won't buy it on steam because you get a TF2 hat? That's a very weird line in the sand you've drawn.

No they used to give 10% off on almost every preorder purchase.

And I see out of the preorder games on the main page, 2 give 10% discounts, 2 give in game items/maps, and one gives a TF2 hat.

If you think about it, there's not really much of a reason to preorder a game through a Digital Distribution service since you can download it on day 1 regardless. You don't have to worry about limited stock, so there needs to be some incentive to do it. It just happens to be a TF2 hat this time around.

It's not laziness, it's actually a pretty good business move: offer an exclusive item in a F2P game, so you might start playing that game as well if you haven't already (and why haven't you?).

So I'm not all that familiar with Steam.

Are hats a big deal in TF2? They're just for show right?

Yeah, they're a cosmetic item. Most of them are either rare or promotional though.

Well I dunno. It doesn't really seem that bad. That's what most preorder bonuses are anyways.

I would much rather have 10% off. As it stands the hat is a pretty poor pre-order bonus, at least for me. I don't particularly care about TF2 hats so it's not going to sway me into buying it. Since it's the same price as it will be after release I'm not losing anything by not buying it. If it was 10% I'd be losing ~$5 if I ended up buying it after release, but it's not so I see no reason to preorder. Hell I might even be able to get it for less than $60 on Newegg or Amazon. Or I can even wait for a sale.

I bought TF2 a loooong time ago through Steam. I have played it, and never really got into it.

But no, they used to have actual pre-order bonuses, nothing Too cool, but I'd rather have anything other than a hat. Come on, it is being lazy. They made it F2P for this purpose exactly. Why else would they make their biggest-cash-cow free? Bad marketing. The people I know IRL who have Steam are pissed, but not as much as me. Of course I'm being overly dramatic, but seriously, think about how dumb it makes the customers who realize this feel. I love Steam for everything but pre-ordering. Yes I will do all of my pre-ordering through retail and always have. Very disappointed. A small list BTW:

Pre-orders/New or upcoming games.
With Hats
Skyrim
From Dust




Other
Red Orchestra 2 is 10% off, but includes a hat as well

Screw this, here's a list
http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Promotional_items



IMO Stuff for the game, should stay IN the game.

It's one thing to not agree with what Valve is doing to the gaming industry [encouraging micro-transactions] but you can't say that they have bad marketing. TF2 was $2 a number of times, free really isn't that big of a leap.

Most of these items are from indie games.

What exactly do you expect to get for pre-ordering digitally? If the developer doesn't make pre-order DLC, what is Steam supposed to do about it? They're just giving you a free bonus.

Yeah but just say 10,000 people buy it annually (very low number). 10,000x2=20,000 (obviously). $20,000 and that's if sales were all year. I think they make probably $40,000-$50,000 a year on it alone. Why would they give that up (In b4 rick-roll) to add stupid hats for other games? You say marketing but they still loose money with that deal. I don't think there are many (there are probably some) who are looking around to pre-order a game, bump into Steam, and decide to do it through them to get a freakin' hat. Come on Valve, very disappointed.

You might not think it's worth it, but some people who play TF2 might. You'd be surprised at the lengths some people are willing to go to for hats in that game.

Of course, they're not going to try to please everyone with the preorder bonus, that would be impossible. But seriously, a preorder bonus is just that: a bonus. It's not necessary to play the game (either game, for that matter) or anything like that, and if you don't like the bonus one service/retailer has, then I'm sure another has one that you'll like. Complaining about a bonus offered by one company is quite frankly pretty ridiculous.

TF2 had already reached market saturation, your assumptions don't really apply. Making it F2P at what was basically the end of it's life was quite possibly the best thing they could have done.

And $40-50,000 a year? What?

There were no hats in TF2 when it came out. They were added in a later update. Even then, it was a long while before the first promotion (Left 4 Dead).

Seriously? It's a pre-order bonus. That's it. Why are you complaining? Some games will offer hats as a pre-order bonus. Other games will offer something else - sometimes digital comics or music. It's just the name of the game.

And trust me, Valve does not lose money on TF2. Some items and hats in TF2 cost around $8 a pop. And then there are keys to open up special crates that unlock special items that are $2.50. They would have never made TF2 free to play if it wasn't a sound financial decision.

True, yeah that number was a little high, but there are 25 million Steam accounts, and at least 300k TF2's sold before it went free. It was still going strong and is probably one of the (if not the) best selling game (s) on Steam. Again, even before it went free. So many people have it and were still buying. 30,000-40,000 copies a year doesn't seen so high now, if you balance the sales out since the release and time lapse since then. It was lacking recently, but there are plenty of games that sell less than TF2. Why not make one of them free? Now, I'm just questioning their sales idea, but I digress.

Yeah you're right about, "It's just that-a bonus". It is, it's a nice little extra or extras thrown in there. Even if it's practically nothing, don't make it for a separate game. They were even doing this BEFORE TF2 WAS FREE.

Again, keep the game within the game. The guy who, in 2009, wants to buy Fallout 3 or something on Steam (They never actually did this, hypothetical), who probably doesn't have the (at that time full price) TF2, does NOT want a hat for it, the game he does not have.


I have TF2, I want to clarify that. I'm not to into it, and IMO the worst game of the Orange Box, which I bought it in. But let's not argue about that, just my opinion. But the opinion above, well, that is open for debate. Am I really the only one against this? Come on guys.

So instead of a hat you want nothing at all? If you don't want it, don't pre-order; the people who do want it will pre-order.

A guy who doesn't want the hat just won't pre-order, it's not like Steam sells out of games anyways.

I understand it's a free bonus and don't look a gift horse in the mouth, but look at the forums. The Skyrim ones, just because it's currently or recently in debate. EB games pre-order vs. Gamestop's pre-order. If everyone is doing it, it becomes more of a standard thing than a, "Oh look it even comes with ___ sweet!". It's more of a, "Do I want the ___ or do I want ____?".


And please stop saying, "You don't have to pre-order it through Steam, so stop complaining" Not only am I not talking about only Skyrim, but I know that and I won't.


And to the guy who said, "It's mostly indie games" one word for you Mostly. Steam should keep the games within the games. I know a few people who don't want TF2 and are sick of the hats.

You seem to be making a mountain out of a molehill here.

And what else would that person have gotten for FO3 in 2009 instead of a hat? Some in-game weapon, which tend to be relatively useless / situation specific (a la Mass Effect 2)?

Here is the thing. TF2 had been out for around 4 years until they made it free to play. Most games at that point sell for less than half of their original price point. Hell, Portal 2 is $28 dollars right now and the Orange Box is $19 and that includes Portal, TF2, HL2, HL2: Episode One and HL2: Episode Two. If we divide $19 by 5 we get $3.8 per game. Since TF2 is now free, people are more likely to spend a little money buying a hat or two, which are anywhere from $4 to $8. Cross-promotions for other games means that the new game gets a cheap promotion (Valve makes the hat, I believe) and Valve gets potential money from someone trying out TF2 or playing TF2 even more (and thus increasing the chance that they will buy a hat or a crate or a key).

Yeah. Companies want people to buy the product at their store. Valve simply offers a hat instead of, say, a piece of armor or a special weapon.

There are, currently, 74,064 people playing TF2 right now. A good proportion of them buy hats (all evidenced by TF2Stats).

Oh and I'm not totally pooing on Steam. I love Steam, it is amazing, and I love it <333. But, this move is annoying. More annoying than anything. I will continue buying games through Steam, but when it comes to pre-ordering, sticking to retail.