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.

The news comes via the NPD's 'Understanding PC Gaming 2014' report, which surveyed 6,225 PC owners. While it's well known that PC software is much cheaper than on console, the report seems to indicate that more is at stake than a terminally bloated and guilt-inducing backlog.

"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 .