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[Robot Parade Leader]

How do you buy video games for a personal computer anymore...? Seems I can't find a whole lot of them in stores and the ones I do find aren't as cheap as the ones on steam. I don't understand digital goods well enough to really do this at present. I have steam installed. What am I missing?

I am considering purchasing something.

It is about $10, which is 1/3 the store price. How is that a thing?

I also imagine I won't be getting a physical disk for this. What happens if I somehow need to reinstall it? I've always had physical disks as backups as my data has been corrupted before from various virus/malware before (and I've had to restore to factory condition, or just completely reload windows and everything from scratch). Is this an issue?

[Vector]

Steam often has pretty large sales, which is why they've got such a massive markdown.

The way it works is that you download directly from the website once you've purchased--there will be an option for that--and you can re-download whenever necessary :]  You have to be logged into your account to play, though, so there are issues with not being able to share with other people, sometimes.

[My Name is Immaterial]

Well Steam can offer lower prices because 1. They are the most popular retailer on PC. Period. Brick and mortar stores have lost market share, and the other online retailers are pretty small. 2. Unlike the previously mentioned Brick and Mortar stores, they don't have to pay rent, transportation costs, or the cost of the employees involved in sales. Also, they don't have to pay per copy; they buy a license, not physical copies.

Also, they do ridiculous sales around the holidays because it doesn't cost them anything to move units.

Yes, you won't be getting a physical disk. To reinstall, you just re-download it from the cloud. So, no. You can even probably make new physical copies by putting the game files onto a disc. But I'm not sure about that.

[mastahcheese]

There are actually a few games that will only work with steam.

I actually bought a physical copy of the game Warlock: Master of the Arcane, and I still needed to use Steam to install it and play it, so I don't even need the disc anymore.

[Biowraith]

You can even probably make new physical copies by putting the game files onto a disc. But I'm not sure about that.

Once you've downloaded via Steam there's an option to "Backup Game Files" which creates something vaguely equivalent to a zip file,  containing all the game's files, which you can then use to reinstall the game later on without having to download it again.  You still have to run/install the file via your Steam account though.

[Cheeetar]

Once you've purchased the game it's a part of your Steam account for as long as you have it. You can install Steam on any computer and log into your account on it, and then download any of the games you've purchased. Unfortunately, if you lose access to your Steam account, all your games go with it except those you've already installed and that don't need Steam running to launch.

[Robot Parade Leader]

Couple of things.

1.) Oddly enough it's now on sale for 1/2 off instead of 2/3 for some reason.

2.) It sent me a verification email about my IP address. It isn't the city I live in, but it is in the state.

Close enough or...?

[My Name is Immaterial]

1. They cut the price on some games on certain days. Those sales go away at the end of the day. It might be back on the last day of the sale.

2. Probably.

[Sensei]

Yeah, steam's running a big winter sale right now. Check the front page for daily deals.

[jaass]

Try this website it lists the cheapest games for every major online website.
http://www.cheapshark.com/