Buying games is an expensive hobby. The key to saving money is to resist the urge to impulse buy on the day of release. However, game companies are making it harder and harder to wait for prices to go down as they pile on tempting preorder bonuses and collector's editions for games that you may have been waiting for years to be released. However, the key is knowing how long to wait, and how to get the best deal.
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There is a new service is available called camelcamelcamel uk which is an Amazon price tracker which is what I have been using to produce these graphs. It started tracking prices in March 2010, so it's a perfect tool to see how much prices of new games can drop within 6 months.
For demonstration I've take a look at the price fluctuation of Just Cause 2. Just Cause 2 was released on PC on March 26th 2010. This was retailing at an RRP of £34.99. This game began retailing in most establishments at £29.99, including Steam. Incindentally, Just Cause 2 is one of the few games whose serial key within the box will allow a Steam activation. A handy list of other such games is available on Steam Support. As of 23rd September it is available at the price of £29.99 on Steam. However on the retail side of things, Just Cause 2's price has dropped much further than that.
Data involving 'used sales' has been removed leaving only Amazon stock price (green) as well as the 3rd party new price (blue). The lowest price is available from a reputable 3rd party store called 'gzoop' which offers Just Cause 2 for £9.87 + £1.99 shipping which totals £11.86. This is a 61.5% drop in price from the original retail price of £29.99 after just 6 months, between March 26th and September 23rd 2010.
You can also check the current price of Just Cause 2 here: http://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/product/B002ZRQ3U.
The lesson here is to be patient, because games often fall in price much faster than you think!
