So I was browsing SteamDB.info looking at the various games on sale when I noticed there were a bunch of games (usually from the publisher Hede, but there’s quite a few others) listed as having a discount in the high nineties, yet still costing in the neighborhood of 30-50 dollars. Even odder when I go to the game’s Steam, it’s not listed as being on sale and costs the… “normal” price of $99.99.
I’m just wondering A) What the scam is here, B) How a SteamDB.info is getting $99.99 dollar game as costing 30-ish dollars when it’s 97% off but at the same time it’s apparently not actually on sale?
You’re right. Funny how they’re all the games with “hidden” in the titles and they all look somehow similar. It’s super suss. I don’t think it’s as simple as a cash grab. High chance they’re used for money laundering or transferring funds from stolen steam accounts or credit cards.
Yeah it’s really annoying, i would like a way to tag and block this kinds of games. One really funny, they would increase the price and the “discount” each week/month.
The reason it might not be on sale when you look it up yourself is that a lot of jurisdictions don’t allow fake sales and price manipulation so they’re forced to keep them at full price as the sale gets voided.
My guess would be that heavily discounted games might be getting an advantage by the steam recommendation algorithm. So they’d rather go for 99,99 and constantly discount it instead of starting with 4,99
Why make a good product and sell many copies at a low price, when you can scam just a few people with a shitty game sold for hundreds of dollars? 🤷🏻♂️