Is it?
The point where a game gets bundled is 95%, but it's 95% as compared to the US prices, so if a discount is high enough in Russia, it will count as bundled. What this effectively means is that an 85% discount in the steam store will usually result in a game being bundled, but it needs to reach a 95% discount on a site that does not offer any low-price region prices.
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I believe Alien: Isolation had a low enough price to be considered bundled. Less than 85%. Rust and Payday 2 is not considered bundled and they were in an monthly bundle too.
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It's -95% to be bundled.
On Steam, with regional pricing and weak rubles, even -75% in Russian can mean -95% of US price.
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You're right of course. Meant to say all of that, but I got my figures wrong. Anyway, let me slunk away in humiliation. Slunk Slunk slunk ...
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I think it depends on each game. Some of these have got huge discounts in the past and thus were bundled regardless. Such as alien isolation. (Don't forget that russian prices matter too). But those of them that have kept a high price, were not bundled. (I think)
To be honest since there's thousands of people who get those games through the monthly bundle, the logical thing from my pov would be to have most of them bundled if not all. If not, this seems like the most easy way by far to raise CV levels in this site. It's almost an overkill since you can easily get more than 80-100 dollars full cv++ , with just ~12$.
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DOn't forget that not all games in those packs are unbundled. They only promised one unbundled game monthly.
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Indeed. Though I've seen some of the packs had more than just a few unbundled ones.
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Well, there can be more, but they only guaranteed one. All others are a bonus. :D
And, frankly, I think some of those currently unbundled indie ones will find their way to a regular bundle sooner or later.
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Being in that pack won't make a game bundled. There are many other factors that can. Alien Isolation was a victim of the usual "Russians got it dirt cheap" effect. (If Steam store has a 80-85% discount, you can bet the game will get bundled because of that.)
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So what's the difference between a pack and a bundle?
there were some "bundles" in Bundlestars that cost ~27$, I'm assuming they are not considered bundled here? (forgot what games they were)
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Those are mostly deals on Steam packages (or Steam bundles). It is difficult to tell the difference since everything is called bundled…
When it comes to Bundle Stars, you can just look at the discount. For example, the Fallout pack there went with 80%, but it had no regional prices. Therefore, it is not bundled here. (The games on the bundle list give 15% of the base price, and if you got them at 20%, that'd be a loss.)
Similarly, if you see these packages at great sales anywhere else that only deal in USD, EUR, and maybe GBP (GamersGate, GreenMan Gaming, Humble Store), having a 80-85% sale there won't hit the bundled game threshold.
If you see a deal like that on Steam, where some regions start with a 30-60% lower base price than the USD/EUR one (CIS, India, Indonesia, to name a few), and you add the 80% sale on top, it results in a price where a Russian can get a normally 60 dollar game for about 3 dollars or less. This has been exploited for quite long time (this is why Steam enacted cross-region key lockouts, because there were entire groups who made a living buy bulk-buying Russian Steam gifts and selling them with a 100-500% profit), so SG itself combats it by putting these games to the bundled list.
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Oh, I forgot the easiest method: just look up the game's price history on IsThereAnyDeal. It lists most known bundles and also a Steam price history. If it ever dipped under 80% on Steam, you can expect it to be on the bundled list here. If Steam didn't get a good discount but some other store did (rare, but can happen), then the game should be safe.
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Here's the math, as I understand the rules for "bundle" list eligibility:
Alien: Isolation regular price = $49.99 USD
Average cost per game in February Humble Bundle = $2.00 USD
($12.00 / 6 games = $2.00 per game)
$2.00 / $49.99 = 4% of regular price = 96% off
96% ≥ 95%, so the game is on the "bundled" list
Other games in the same bundle have cheaper regular prices, so the percentage off based on average price per game in the bundle is less than 95% off; thus, those games do not appear on the "bundled" list. Broken Age, for example:
Broken Age regular price = $24.99 USD
$2.00 / $24.99 = 92% off
92% < 95%, so the game is not on the "bundled" list
For games that get put on the "bundled" list due to regional pricing and currency conversions, the most sure-fire way to find out whether it is going to be considered "bundled" or not is to check the lowest regional prices at steamdb.info, apply the currency conversion, then compare that amount to the regular price in USD and see if it is 95% or more off.
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If yes, then why aren't any of the previous games are considered bundled?
If no, then why is Alien: Isolation considered bundled?
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