Update: Diggidy.net, creators of Auto Dealership Tycoon, have stated that the price increase of the game was not linked with the Steam sale. “The $0.99 increase happened when 2.0 was released on Monday (11/23/2015) and has nothing to do with the sale,” the company said. “We chose to give the new content away for free to existing owners of the game instead of having a paid DLC.”
Original Story: A number of games on Steam hiked up their price prior to the service’s Autumn Sale, in order for them to offer “discounts” during it.
This tactic has been employed many times in the past, and this sale is no exception. As reported by Twitter user Steam Spy, games including Wreckfest, Auto Dealership Tycoon and Epistory each experienced a price increase before the Steam Autumn Sale began, only to return to their standard pricing during the sale under the guise of a discount.
While it has been pointed out that Epistory‘s price increase was likely a result of more content being introduced to the Early Access game, Wreckfest and Auto Dealership Tycoon appear to have used one of Steam’s most routinely exploited loopholes in order to gain an extra sales boost during the sale, without having to actually offer consumers a discount on their games.
A number of games increased their prices just before the Autumn Sale so they can offer a “discount” during it. Again. Why is it allowed?
— Steam Spy (@Steam_Spy) November 26, 2015
Wreckfest was $29.99, now $34.99 with 50% discount Auto Dealership Tycoon was $4.99, now $5.99 – 20% Epistory was $9.99, now $12.99 – 10%
— Steam Spy (@Steam_Spy) November 26, 2015
However, Steam users are now pushing back against this underhanded tactic by raising it with their regional retail watchdogs, with users of the subreddit r/Games contacting the UK’s independent regulator the Advertising Standards Authority. “I pretty much gave them an explanation, and screenshots of the game page (which it asks for) and the steam prices page,” one user wrote.
The Federal Trade Commission in the US also rules against this sort of behavior, with a guide pertaining to deceptive pricing reading: “If… the former price being advertised is not bona fide but fictitious — for example, where an artificial, inflated price was established for the purpose of enabling the subsequent offer of a large reduction — the “bargain” being advertised is a false one; the purchaser is not receiving the unusual value he expects. In such a case, the “reduced” price is, in reality, probably just the seller’s regular price.”
