When this site first started obviously games and DLC that had been discontinued and could no longer be tracked at the time via Steam's API weren't allowed for giveaways but over the years many giveaways have been made for games/DLC that are now no longer in the Store for whatever various reasons. I was talking to a friend the other day who has been using this site for over 4 years and has done over $3000 in giveaways and he said he has several games/DLC that he has given away that now are no longer in the Store and their value is now zero. We looked at the price history for these games/DLC and figured that he has lost a little over $100 in CV value. As time goes on this can become frustrating, especially for those who one day think they are close to raising a level but then get knocked down because one or more of the games/DLC that they gave away here a few years ago was removed from the Store. If Rockstar decided to pull all of their GTA products from Steam just imagine the outcry that people who gave away their games here would have!

I don't know if anything can be done about this but if I can look up the price history of a product that used to be sold on Steam and compare it to the date that the giveaway started for it and come up with its CV value then there should be a way for the system can do so too so generous people who gave away copies of Skyrim don't lose their CV if Gaben wakes up one day and decides that he doesn't want to sell Bethesda products anymore. Skyrim and GTA are extreme examples but even enough losses from low dollar and/or indie games and DLC that are removed from the Store will eventually make a dent in the CV value of an account. It seems to me that there should be some way for the system to cache these so that their CV value can still be applied. The number of games/DLC that fall into this category will only increase as this site ages and will eventually become a much larger issue than it is now.

Sorry I don't have a giveaway at this time. I just got out of the hospital after having major surgery and money is very tight right now. I will hopefully be able to make some again as soon as I'm back on my feet. I'm just asking for opinions on this subject. Am I barking up the wrong tree here or do others also see a potential issue that will only get worse as time goes on?

EDIT

So I see that there HAS been something done about this (thank you cbones) but I still have a DLC I gave away 2 years ago showing 0P. I will have to ask my friend if he got any of his back the next time I talk to him. Was this feature supposed to be retroactive?

6 years ago*

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Is this what you want?

July 3, 2017

...

  • Updates to how we sync game prices with Steam, which should result in games keeping their value when they're removed from the Steam store, instead of changing to zero value.

source

6 years ago
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Was this retroactive? I ask because I gave away a DLC that is still showing 0P and when I submitted a ticket about it a while back I was told that because it was removed from the Store there was nothing they can do.

6 years ago
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I haven't gone through all of the responses (there has be discussion about this elsewhere, but I can't remember which threads). I don't think it is, though it may be in the future ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

6 years ago
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This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

6 years ago
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Unfortunately I have a giveaway from 2 years ago that still shows 0P and now I'm wondering if this feature was retroactive.

And thank you. This time things weren't nearly as bad as they were last year so to me this surgery was more "routine" than what others might consider.

6 years ago
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I do not see it as a serious issue, no - I see it as a very minor inconvenience compared to other, potentially more urgent matters. However, my opinion may be biased by my attitude towards CV (CV is the least of my concerns when making giveaways).

But opinion aside - this topic has been discussed in the past, and the same argument has popped up every time; Steamgifts uses Steam's API to determine pricing. Storing pricing info locally would be nearly impossible, especially in keeping it updated. Whether or not some games could be added to an "exceptional" list where pricing would be set based on average value of the game in the past, I do not know. I do not have the knowledge about web development, etc. to answer that question.

6 years ago
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Another example

"Social Interaction Trainer" dev encreased price from 4,99€ to 179,99€ and removed "game" from steam store
Now everyone who made giveaway got $200 cv 😝

6 years ago
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a lucky few, but there appear to have been only 12 total GAs for it

6 years ago
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Closed 6 years ago by bmh67wa.