Xbox store running special 'Buy 2, Get 1 Free' sale on select EA games

This deal, to me, feels like a really expensive way to end up with Wild Hearts.

No thanks. One day not in the distant future Dead Space remake will be on EA Play and GPU, until that time

This seems like a really bad deal. As much as these games go on sale nowadays, you're better off waiting and getting them much cheaper.

They're called special offers because one must be "special" to take the offer

Phenominality said:You just have to know youll use the product. So there is a place for such sales.

Example:

Regular price $4.99
Sale price Buy 2 Get 1 free

$9.98 for 3 items with sale
$9.98 for 2 items with no sale
$14.97 for 3 items with no sale

I am paying less for more. It is up to the consumer to not buy something they won't use.

Could they do a sale for $3.33 and settle for people just grabbing one? Of course. Is it a marketing trick? Of course.

But you do actually save real money with the sales, not "maybe pennies", so logic and math doesn't really go out the window as you suggest.

Sneaky G Wizard said:I totally agree with this. Even when all three products have the same (high) original price, its a max discount of 33% on way overpriced games for early adopters. No thanks. Prices in gaming titles are dropping too fast, just wait a few months more. I have "dead Space Remaster" on watch list and can wait. I mean, there are enough alternatives, especially with gamepass.

Knoell said:But still not really saving money as this trick is aimed at getting the consumer to spend more than they intended.

For example, you go into a supermarket doing your regular shop, one thing in your shopping list is a box of cereal.
The supermarket has a “special offer” on that particular cereal for buy 2 get one half price.
You don’t need 3 boxes of cereal and 2 could easily go to waste, so therefore you’d be wasting money buying into this “special offer”.

The same applies here.
You may only want a single game but the offer makes you think you’re getting a good deal when in fact you’re spending more if you do but 2 for a third at half price.
Not that a game could go to waste, but you’re still being tricked into buying something you didn’t necessarily want.

At those prices it should be buy 1 get everything free

LostSoul 301281 said:I mean its right there in my post. Yes you do actually save money. It is up to the consumer to know if they will use the product.

You aren't being tricked just bc you bought the sale.

Knoell said:Depending on the product you are most likely saving money. For example 2 bottles of shampoo. You are most likely going to need more shampoo at some point so it makes sense. The consumer should decide if they will be needing the product again sooner rather than later. In my opinion it doesn't make sense with new video games because they lose their value significantly over time. If you wait you can pickup those games on sale at some point. If you must play these games immediately then go for it, but I think most people will see thru the rose colored glasses.

Knoell said:That really depends. Why do you think gambling is regulated or some types of advertising and deals actually are illegal? Because at the end of the day we have primate brains that have flaws. We’re not perfect calculators with perfectly rational responses to any calculation.

Also, your example is terrible because eventually all those games will be $2, many of them in the next week or two during the next major sale. It’s like when a grocery store marks the current price as a “sale” at the same time as creating a new, higher price for the item. Yes these games have a specific MSRP but sales are so common now many gamers don’t consider “full price” to be the actual price, the sale price feels like actual price to many (including myself).