Amazon PCDD - Important Update New Community Manager Incoming!

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Hey CAGS,

I’ve got some news I’m both excited and sad to share with you at the same time. I’ll be leaving the Digital Video Games team in Mid-March to join the marketing team for Amazon.com’s Loyalty and Rewards program, Amazon Coins. My boss and I have talked extensively about how to maintain and continue our presence here and across the other communities we’ve created in the past couple of years. To that end I’d like to introduce you to Josh, who take over monitoring, updating, and responding to this thread. Josh will be ramping up over the next couple of weeks, he  will be posting shortly to introduce himself.

Now that the “what’s going on” part of the message is out of the way I want to tell you all how much I love CAG and the posters here. This was the first community I joined when I started this job (anyone still remember that first thread?) and all of you have had a huge hand in shaping how we think about and execute Community Development and Management here at Amazon, which has in turn shaped my career these last two and a half years.

I started to write out a section calling out the regular posters and realized the list would be both overly long and incomplete at the same time. Instead I’d like to thank you all again, you all have my deep and sincere gratitude. I’ll still be around and my gaming accounts aren’t going anywhere so feel free to hit me up anytime you want to chat. I’ll probably still hang out in the thread too :).

Thanks again everyone, let me or Josh know if you have any questions!

The Indie Store has launched!
Amazon.com is launching a storefront dedicated to supporting and promoting PC/Mac/Web-based Indie Games. Our Digital Video Games team is a small group of passionate gamers and we’re all really excited to help Indie developers reach more customers quickly by providing a quick and simple process for bringing their games to market. Additionally we’ll be supporting the Indie Store with a ton of promotions, both at and after launch. Many of these promotions are designed to give the developer the opportunity to maximize their revenue. For example, Amazon is forfeiting all royalties from bundle sales and passing them along directly to the developer, we’ve also created an “Indie Spotlight” program to help customers learn more about the games and developers they love. We view the Indie developers as some of the most creative in the industry and we want to help them continue to create new and innovative experience for customers.

Why we are doing this:

  • Allow customers to discover an entirely new category of games on Amazon.com
  • Help developers reach new customers quickly. Our onboarding process is straightforward and we want to sell every Indie game available
  • We want to leverage our strengths to support and help the developers who are driving forward innovation and creativity in the games industry
General Information

Hi CAGs,
I'll be posting deals we're running on Digital Games (PC/Mac, Free to Play, Sony/Microsoft Points/Subs).

I'm also here to answer questions you might have, get you closer to the developers by hosting Q&As, setting up podcasts, live streaming gameplay etc. If I don't respond to a question you have in thread please send me a PM. These ping my email address and make it more likely that I will see your question and respond more quickly.

Cheers,
Tony


FYI. EA Games sold by Amazon will not activate on Steam.
F.A.Q.S.:

1. Does the game I'm buying from Amazon Activate on Steam/Origin/Uplay? What DRM does the game use?

There are two places to identify DRM on a digital video game detail page:

At the top of the page, below the title:

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In the "Product Description" section:

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2. Note on Electronic Arts Games - For the most part, EA games sold on Amazon do not activate on Steam. Most activate on Origin.

3. Note on DRM with limited activations:

Our Policy



4. Sometimes I'll do giveaways.

5. I work with developers and publishers to get fun (or at least what I think is fun) content to share with you all. Here are some examples:

a. Check out the Pax Gameplay videos here: Xcom: Enemy Unknown I played Xcom with Jake, the Creative Director for the game, a few months before the game came out Also, on this page, check out the Q&A, also a community driven event.

b. Check out the interview on this page: Borderlands 2 we did this interview at E3 with Randy Pitchford this year.

c. We've partnered with the ++GoodGames Podcast to feature many of the games we carry. They talk to the developers about the game development process, how the games are conceptualized and managed, all kinds of fun stuff. I'm working on putting together full link list and will update when I have it.

What else do we sell?

Xbox Live Points and Subscriptions:

1600 Microsoft Live Points
4000 Microsoft Live Points
12 Month XBOX Live Subscription
3 Month XBOX Live Subscription]
12 Month + 1 XBOX Live Subscription

PSN+ Subscriptions and PSN Points:

$20 PSN Points
$50 PSN Points
12 Month PSN+ Subscription
3 Month PSN+ Subscription

We also have a Free-2-Play store supported by our GameConnect technology. Gameconnect allows you to link your Amazon.com account with free-2-play and MMO accounts so that you can buy things like in game currency, premium game time/subscriptions, in game items, etc. on Amazon.com using your Amazon.com payment options and have this content delivered directly into your game.

5. Price Matching notes: Generally we do not match international retailers (GMG, Gamersgate, etc) or physical retailers (Best Buy, Newegg.com, etc.)
To check out the Free-2-Play games we offer you can visit our storefront here: Free-2-Play Store

 
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tmwfte said:
I'm wondering if the poor hamsters died when Tony was on vacation.
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Of course not. In fact, they lived high on the hog. They grew fat and unruly. They glanced at those wheels, waved their tiny paws at them dismissively, and then continued to gorge on whatever it is hamsters gorge on. They squeaked derisively anytime someone would say, "Hamsters! To the wheels! There are deals!" and offered the middle finger salute at all those who would try to force them onto the wheels.

They've gained so much weight that not even Tony, defender of gaming dealdom, can do much with them. He has them on a special liquid diet, but they are old and disagreeable now. And so very fat.

When he forced one onto the wheel, the hamster waddled so badly the wheel broke off and the poor fat hamster careened off with the wheel, breaking through its cage and rolling to an unfortunate fate down a flight of stairs.

Mortimer, you will be remembered. He singlehandedly powered the Duke Nukem Forever for $1 and The Witcher 2 for $16 deals way back in the day. RIP. We'll remember the spry hamster who was and not the fat, lazy, cantankerous hamster who came later.

Naturally, the other hamsters are a little reluctant to get on their wheels given what happened to Mortimer.

 
So, the only thing I've bought off Amazon in at least two weeks is the Ticket to Ride USA DLC.  My GC balance is getting dusty...

 
Consider me another person F5ing the Rogue Legacy listing hoping the Steam version is PM'd.  If it isn't, I don't know if I'll be buying from the developer or just waiting for the winter sale.  It really does decide whether Amazon gets my purchase today.

 
smurfinaus said:
So whats the outcome of the Steam sale this time around vs Amazon?
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Steam win! I bought a lot more from Steam this time around than I did from Amazon or GMG**.

I didn't buy anything from Amazon.

There were a few which I would have, but Amazon didn't come to the price-match party on most of them.

As for the other two: I hesitated on Scribblenauts, and the price match stopped after the first day - so I just bought it on Steam; and I decided to pass on Dark Souls until it hits $5 (or, at the least, $7.50 with 20% off coupon, if that happens at a time that I feel like playing that type of game straight away.)

**GMG did have the better discounts on the stuff that I did buy, but that was only a couple of games. I would have bought a couple more games, but I missed them first time around - site was down for one, sleeping for the other - but they nerfed the discount on the recap day.

 
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smurfinaus said:
So whats the outcome of the Steam sale this time around vs Amazon?
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Steam owned Amazon this time. It's like the mirror opposite of what happened at Christmas 2012 (for me at least). I got about a dozen games from Steam and nothing but 1 Ticket to Ride DLC and Triple Town (which I only bought because I knew I could recoup 100% of the cost via Steam Cards, which I did) from Amazon. The past couple of years I've been of the mindset that Amazon >>>>> Steam but they really dropped the ball this time. Same ol' deals on the same ol' games. The 15% Gooncave thing was nice but I couldn't find any good sales on games that I wanted that I didn't already own so I never used it.

Amazon ended up getting their share of my money anyhow, I just ended up spending my giftcard money on mp3 downloads instead of pcdd downloads. I have faith that Amazon will do better next time around. Not sure what happened this sale but it was certainly lackluster compared to previous sales. Then again, maybe that's just me starting to run out of worthwhile stuff to buy from them. I'm not hating, I'm just saying. PCDD summer sale was extremely 'meh' this time around. I think maybe a little too much time was devoted to the new indie store and the summer sale ended up kinda sucking as a result. I'd still rather buy from Amazon then any other retailer, but the deals have to be there or it's no dice.

 
Needles-Kane said:
I didn't know this was supposed to be one of Amazon's big time sales. I thought ~Thanksgiving through January and Mayhem was their thing.
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Exactly. Besides, us vets know that when Amazon doesn't price match it's because they plan to have a better sale in a few weeks. I was actually getting excited seeing Amazon wasn't trying to price match everything. They've been doing big sales during the months that Steam doesn't.

Tony obviously has some cards up his sleeves.

Also, to everyone wanting Amazon to pm Rogue Legacy, the devs site has it at the Steam price and it comes with a DRM-free copy plus Steam key. Just buy it there using one of three payment options.

 
Just chiming in to say that I agree with what appears to be the general consensus that while Amazon crushed Steam back in December 2012, (and has had a few good sales since then), Steam definitely won the lion's share of my PCDD budget this time around. Didn't even end up using gooncave. That said, I'm 100% confident in Tony's/Amazon's triumphant return in the next few months.

 
chaosking121 said:
Just chiming in to say that I agree with what appears to be the general consensus that while Amazon crushed Steam back in December 2012, (and has had a few good sales since then), Steam definitely won the lion's share of my PCDD budget this time around. Didn't even end up using gooncave. That said, I'm 100% confident in Tony's/Amazon's triumphant return in the next few months.
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Everything was worse than the Christmas sale, imo. GG and Amazon definitely, Steam by a little bit (Dead Rising pack, that Dawn of War pack haven't been rivaled this time around), and GMG by a bit.

 
Steam card money changed the dynamic of the sale for a lot of us. One 15% off coupon is potentially nice on a price match, but I essentially got $50+ free from Steam over the last couple of months in my wallet, and while I could have converted that to paypal with some effort, it was just a lot easier to buy directly from Steam. Amazon purchases for me have always been about bundles anyway, and it was pretty clear they weren't making any attempt beyond the coupon to compete with the summer sale.

 
smurfinaus said:
So whats the outcome of the Steam sale this time around vs Amazon?
Click to expand...
Amazon sucked as it did not price match anything I wanted: not one damn thing. Then again Amazon has never price matched any downloadable game I requested here or using the "tell us about a lower price" button.

 
I spent nothing at Amazon this sale and $15 at Steam on Borderlands 2 4-pack, Torchlight 2, and System Shock 2. Christmas 2012 it was wildly reversed. This isn't a victory for Steam as much as they had a few cheapy things that didn't cost much to add to the backlog. Having a years-long backlog changes the calculus since there's nothing you NEED; just things you WANT but can wait for a low price. Bioshock Infinite hits $20, I'm there; until then, whatever.

I was looking at my Steam screenshot gallery and I have a shot of getting an achievement in Fallout 3 that's two years old and the caption is that I hadn't played in 27 months. I still haven't finished FO3 and I bought that the day it came out, whenever the hell that was! I've got FNV waiting, too. And so on and so on...

 
It appears Amazon and Steam are taking turns dominating the big sales.

During Christmas sale 2012, I almost exclusively bought from amazon, but during this sale, I only bought from Steam.

Sorry Tony, maybe next sale you will win me back :D

 
The Steam's daily deals have been pretty good. But their bargain bin/obscure games aren't as good as last year's.

 
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asheskitty said:
CAARDZ?!?

(yeah, I much prefer it when Tony is trying to line up deads rather that merely pricematching steam.)
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Whoa - Amazon DVG is going to do CAARDZ, too?

{jaw drops}

;)

EDIT:

I wonder when we'll see some Paddington and Tony CAARDZ. ;)

I wonder how much Foils of those will be worth.

 
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Amazon typically shines with packs and outside of those indie packs that came in advance of the Summer Sale there really weren't any good bundles.

 
Tsel said:
Not sure if anyone noticed, as it hasn't been mentioned in this thread, but the Steam version has finally been matched.
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That's awesome, but I forgot about tax. So, 11 from Amazon or 12 from the developer? I still can't decide.

 
I think what the last 2 sales show are that reward programs work.  All things being equal, you'll buy from the company providing the reward.  Much like other posters here, I bought almost exclusively from Amazon over the Winter Sale but bought almost exclusively from Steam during the Summer Sale.  My final numbers were 2.49 for Psychonauts to get the 3 free Indie games, and then I bought Baldurs Gate Enhanced Edition from Steam simply to make use of the Gooncave promotion (4.25 + 2.49 total).  Compared to $122 total spent on Steam.  If prices were equal, I would buy it on Steam because the purchases go towards obtaining another Summer Sale card which can be sold.  Over the Winter Sale, if prices were equal I always bought on Amazon for the promotional credit to be used in January, which then led to even more purchases in January on Amazon.  

The cards are a game-changer for me because I don't care about badges at all, and the money used by selling cards can immediately be put to use discounting the games I buy.  I made about $10-$15 selling cards over the Summer Sale, and I have 30 cards in my inventory right now because I stopped selling when cards dropped too far in price (I never sold below .20) that I will hold onto and see if prices increase in the future.  I think these loyalty programs will be the way of the future, so it will be up to Amazon to respond. 

 
Hey guys,

Got the Rogue Legacy Steam PM in place, big thanks to Idiot again who PMed me. Also, I'll be in thread more now that the Summer Sale is ending :).

Cheers,

Tony

 
Amazon DVG Deals said:
Hey guys,

Got the Rogue Legacy Steam PM in place, big thanks to Idiot again who PMed me. Also, I'll be in thread more now that the Summer Sale is ending :).

Cheers,

Tony
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Any chance in the future u try getting Space Marine DLC Bundle possilby and driver sf Deluxe Edition a steam key possilbly. Can you try possible to get those

 
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