PC owners more likely to wait for price drops before purchasing, according to NPD

We all talk in hushed tones about our backlog, and we all feel that weirdly conflicted emotion, somewhere between glee and horror, when the Steam sale commences. So it's no surprise that a new NPD study has discovered that 50 per cent of US PC gamers wait for discounts or price drops before purchasing.

"Consumers' expectations may be the greatest barrier to maximizing spending in the PC gaming space," according to NPD analyst Liam Callahan. "Since half of PC gamers who play digital and/or physical games on the computer are expecting there to always be a sale right around the corner, publishers and retailers alike need to better manage these expectations."

Andy Kelly wrote about his pile of shame yesterday, and it's a 'problem' a lot of PC owners have. Still, when deciding to wait for a sale it's worth considering the effect it has on smaller independent studios, especially the ones developing exclusively for PC.

Thanks, Gamesindustry.biz .

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.