Is it fair?

life itself is not fair, word fair does not exist, its irrational.

Life is unfairrr
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5Za8HggalY

There's no "fair" or "unfair" in this kind of situation. When you buy a game, there is no agreement of any kind regarding whether the game will be free eventually. You pay for the license to play the game today, that does not entitle you to always having something that is "exclusive" and that won't be free tomorrow.

It's aggravating, sure, but it's rarely about the fairness of things.

Depends on the scenario. If you paid for a game that is pointless without other players populating the servers, you benefit from the game becoming free to play, for example.
Generally you pay what you consider to be a fair price. If the price changes later, shouldn't be relevant for your personal experience and enjoyment of the product.

You can choose to never buy a game and grab them when they are for free. That may result on you playing a game several years after its release ad not playing some others never in your life.

I don't have any more problem with it than I have with games being marked for 75% off during sales while I got them for full price at release. If I want a game I buy it (or pirate it, although I haven't done it in ages), if people can get it for cheaper later then good for them I guess.

I think life is more fair than you think. It wouldn't be fair for developers not to have freedom of the price of their game.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Consumers as a rule have an awareness that pricing isn't static. Whether a game drops to $10, $1, $0.01, or $0.00 is just a technicality, as is the duration to which that pricing lasts.
Consumers understand the price is going to change, and almost certainly by going lower and lower over time. As such there is an unspoken understanding as to how that mechanism works, and the developer is thus acting in accordance to that understanding by lowering pricing, and thus is not acting unfairly.

Of course, if the developer changes the dynamic by making guarantees on pricing, and then doesn't stand by those or offer compensation for changes in the terms, then they're a liar and a scammer, regardless of their intentions.

Solution: don't buy vidya

Yes, why not?

I feel like at one point in my life, this would have been something that upset me a bit. I wound have found it unfair. Though right now, if it were to happen, I probably wouldn't notice, or it wouldn't be very high on the priority list of the things to be upset about.

I'm trying to think of a way this is unfair, but I can't.
So ... I guess that means I think it's fair. :X

If they give some kind of compensation sure.
Be it a discount on a sequel, or in-game items unobtainable by players who didn't buy in originally, something.

On the other hand, I've bought a few bundles over the last few years that included a game that did cost money, and then became free..
Leaving a key to a free game in my inventory >.>

Fair/Unfair it's just a man-made concepts which renders them irrelevant on the grand scheme of the universe.

View attached image.

If it gets free soon after release, then yes, it pisses me off. With soon I mean less than a year.
If it gets free after, say, several sales with 80% off, price drops and so on, then I guess it's fair.

I have been pissed off with Planetary Annihilation. I was so excited because I played a lot of Total Annihilation in the past, so I paid 29$ on their site before release, but my pc was crappy and ran it very poorly. Then, soon after I changed my pc, the game went free! What the...?
Never played it again.

Will never buy games at full price again.

Schnapser29:
If it gets free soon after release, then yes, it pisses me off. With soon I mean less than a year.
If it gets free after, say, several sales with 80% off, price drops and so on, then I guess it's fair.

This, pretty much. Also, I get pissed off if a game is marketed as exclusive, pre-order or similar and gets given away free quickly after. For example, Minion Masters on HB Monthly (so basically $2 game) got given away like a week after. Yeah, so very exclusive, thanks HB, thanks devs. On a regular bundle and bundle games, don't really care.

ETA: but of course I don't mind EA games that cost money while the full release will be f2p. With a clear disclaimer to the paid version being a support thing, nothing wrong.

In the case of games that go free like King's Quest Chapter 1 or Life Is Strange Episode 1... Yeah, I did get a little ticked off, but mainly at myself because I bought them way back when but they are still sitting in my backlog. Both of these happened X months amount of time after my purchase so in general I don't mind that much. I remember hearing that people who got the free LIS1 keys didn't have card drops while the paid LIS1 does drop cards. That I think is a fair and nice way to handle the change. While probably the customers will 'lose' money, it's still a great way to recognise the earlier support.

tl;dr: yes, generally, very fair.

Bad luck...yeah...

Well, it's neither fair nor unfair because there wasn't any promise to break or fulfill, but I know the feeling. Last summer I bought Dirt 3, Dirt Showdown, and GRID. One by one they all went free during the next several months :)

It is not unfair.

It might be worth action if there were a contract stating that price would not change but those are rare. Generally, I think they have the right to sell or giveaway their product as they wish within the scope of the law.

That's why I always wait for large discounts or bundles to buy. At least this way when the game is given away I didn't miss by much

You forgot to put up a poll with a potato option, though 🙃

Not fairy.

Whether you purchase the game at full price, wait for it to go on sale, or pick it up for free; fair has nothing to do with it, it's timing. Some people gotta have it RIGHT NOW, some are patient enough to wait for it...You decide if it is worth it. Sure it sucks when you paid, then the game goes freebie but you could have waited. I do think it's a tad uncool that you pay for bundled games that go freebie that you can no longer giveaway on SG, and of course no one wants to trade for a 'free' game, right? Fair? Maybe not, but such is life. As long as you enjoy the games...