Stellaris Expansion Subscription Frequently Asked Questions

[MrFreake_PDX]

Hello everyone!

We've gathered up some of the most frequently asked questions from the launch of the Stellaris Expansion Subscription.

Will I lose access to my existing content purchases?
No. All existing purchases will remain, and you will not have to sign up to the subscription service to maintain your access to your previously purchased content.

Will future content be subscription-only?
No! Our main model will remain focused around expansions and other content, as we have done so far. We have introduced a subscription service to lower the barrier to entry for new players.

Who asked for this?
We are experimenting with this additional option to provide players access to the full Stellaris experience. We are simply offering another choice, as we understand that many players would be interested in trying Stellaris with all the content without having to commit to purchasing all the existing content.

Why did you not just create content bundles?
We already have bundles available that we have designed with the help of our community. We are happy with the currently available offerings, but may look into this again in the future.

If I play multiplayer with the subscription, does everyone else in my lobby still get to use my content for that game?
Yes! Subscription ownership of the content comes with all the features that a regular purchase does. You can share the content from the subscription in multiplayer with your friends that only have the base-game.

Are there any plans to expand the subscription service to other stores/platforms?
No current plans at this time, but something on our radar long-term.

Does the subscription model signal the end of development on Stellaris?
We currently have several years of Stellaris development planned.

Will individual content still be available for sale?
Yes! Stellaris content will continue to be available to purchased individually, as it always has been.

Why isn’t there a discounted price for the subscription for players who already own some/all of the content?
The Stellaris subscription is geared towards allowing new players more avenues into the full Stellaris experience. As such, we attempted to keep the initial public offering as simple as possible. We may look at expanding our offerings in the future, however.

Why can't I buy Stellaris content while my subscription is active?
[Updated: 2024-10-17] You can now buy expansions while you have your subscription active, however you still cannot purchase dynamic Steam bundles when your subscription is active.

We hope this provides more clarity into our process and alleviates some of the concerns of the Community with regards to the Expansion Subscription. If you have further questions, feel free to ask them in the thread below and we will do our best to provide answers!

If you want to read the announcement Dev Diary, you can find it here.[forum.paradoxplaza.com]

Thanks,

The Stellaris Team

[Valthejean]

What a garbage decision. Stop trying to pretend this is about getting new people into the games. If the barrier to entry was so awful, put the dlc on sale given how old most of them are.

All you're doing is trying to milk more money out of people. Stop it, this is insulting. I almost made it to 1000 hours played on this game, and I was looking forward to more dlc in the future. Not anymore. Uninstalled and I won't be buying anything from your company so long as this continues.

[New To This]

Will I lose access to my existing content purchases.
REAL answer(WE have decided that after the base foundation players of stellaris poured their hard earned money into the DLC, that we will be attempting to make even MORE money off the game by introducing a second model of giving us money, SUBS! Because WE know we will never lower the price of DLC to a logical range, and we would prefer to charge a perpetual monthly amount of money to new users for an endless cash revenue flow.)
PS (We will also not be giving refunds to the players who spent 200$ on DLC, and we would like you to pretend we didn't do this to CK2 RIGHT before we murdered the game forever!!! And released CK3.)

Will future content be subscription only?
REAL answer (WE WILL OF COURSE be releasing new content, at a much MUCH higher base price, to entice more and more players into the endless cash flow of subscriptions instead of creating good low cost content, we would never do that, haaaaa)

Who asked for this?
REAL answer(WE did, WE want more money, WE want more opportunities, WE want MORE, and we have realized once you purchase all the DLC, we need to MAKE more, but we don't want to WORK for more, we just WANT more.)

Why didn't you create content bundles?
REAL answer (We did, but we made them basically the same price, didn't include the good content, never really did good SALES, made sure to never reduce the older base game price, and made DAMN sure to exclude features for new players that feel VITAL behind paywalls that will encourage them to sub instead for that infinite cash revenue. Seriously, just read any of our corporate profit related messages, Money money money, gotta get that dolla!)

If i play multiplayer with subs does everyone else still have access to my content.
REAL answer (Yeah we want more people to play, so....yeah, this is the only thing that's not inherently a money grab....we NEED MORE people, though all games do.)

Are there any plans to extend this to others stores/platforms?
REAL answer (IF you stop pushing back on this one, that is tearing us bad PR constantly, Then OH GOD YES! If you sit back and take it? of COURSE we will want more infinite cashflow in the future!!! We will jam this down the throats of every single player on every platform of every game we touch!!!! That's the whole point! We KNOW this is your main concern, and even in our fake reply we admitted that this is PRECISELY what we are envisioning for OUR future cashflows opportunities, because SO MUCH MORE MONEY)

Why isn't there a discounted sub price for someone that owns some DLC?
REAL answer (that would defeat the purpose, also that would take micromanaging of calculating what you HAVE and what discount to give you, and as any stellaris player knows, we REFUSE to micromanage, we leave that to YOU in your games.)

WHY cant I buy DLC with an active sub?
REAL answer (Because we know lots of people forget they are subbed to a game for years at a time, and we want to slowly collect that sub money, and if we made it easier for you to cancel/buy the DLC and avoid the sub, that would defeat our entire corporate mega plan for easy future cashflow.)

We hope this has cleared up any misunderstandings you might have had.
We want to assure you we do not care about the player base, and only want to gain future cashflow opportunities.
While we COULD listen to your feedback, and do your plans instead to compromise and secure our good name.....we would prefer not to.
Because being different than other companies is hard, we don't do hard, we haven't even fixed the late game issues our still 32 bit game has, but no worries.
When we finally get around to making it REALLY 64 bit? We won't support the game anymore.
And Stellaris 2 will release, because why would we improve the game you already have?
When a new game, has unpurchased DLC?!?!?!
You would have to start all over again!!
Just like what we did with CK3.
So again, think of all the money you can give us, if we just IGNORE your pleas, and attempts to get us to understand.

Thank you, and have a wonderful time playing the game after you give us your money.
We know we will!
Sincerely yours, a panicked developer that realized the backlash needed to actually be addressed, but missed the whole point.
Because hey, I need to get paid too, am I right? hahaha.

[Kruxed]

Paradoxical nonsense, which is an apt metaphor for the last few years of Stellaris development.

I'll never understand the need for these companies to risk so much bad press and sour relations with fans just to earn a couple extra % on their margins

[Exzenosis]

Oh hey, there's a question I think that's been purposefully ignored, I'll put it here with the answer you have, but won't say outright.

Q: "Why not just lower the price of DLCs so new players can get into the game?"
A: We love money.

[New To This]

Originally posted by Sel Und Irae:

So TLDR; no apology for kicking the hornets nest and continued damage control.

Would Hate to be a forum moderator or developer at this company right about now, You foster tons of good will and then the higher ups just take a massive dump on all your effort then make you defend it.

Classy move by Paradox Higherups.

Well said, I satirized their TLDR into a funnier form if you want a chuckle.

[DrLamp]

Originally posted by New To This:

Will I lose access to my existing content purchases.
REAL answer(WE have decided that after the base foundation players of stellaris poured their hard earned money into the DLC, that we will be attempting to make even MORE money off the game by introducing a second model of giving us money, SUBS! Because WE know we will never lower the price of DLC to a logical range, and we would prefer to charge a perpetual monthly amount of money to new users for an endless cash revenue flow.)
PS (We will also not be giving refunds to the players who spent 200$ on DLC, and we would like you to pretend we didn't do this to CK2 RIGHT before we murdered the game forever!!! And released CK3.)

Will future content be subscription only?
REAL answer (WE WILL OF COURSE be releasing new content, at a much MUCH higher base price, to entice more and more players into the endless cash flow of subscriptions instead of creating good low cost content, we would never do that, haaaaa)

Who asked for this?
REAL answer(WE did, WE want more money, WE want more opportunities, WE want MORE, and we have realized once you purchase all the DLC, we need to MAKE more, but we don't want to WORK for more, we just WANT more.)

Why didn't you create content bundles?
REAL answer (We did, but we made them basically the same price, didn't include the good content, never really did good SALES, made sure to never reduce the older base game price, and made DAMN sure to exclude features for new players that feel VITAL behind paywalls that will encourage them to sub instead for that infinite cash revenue. Seriously, just read any of our corporate profit related messages, Money money money, gotta get that dolla!)

If i play multiplayer with subs does everyone else still have access to my content.
REAL answer (Yeah we want more people to play, so....yeah, this is the only thing that's not inherently a money grab....we NEED MORE people, though all games do.)

Are there any plans to extend this to others stores/platforms?
REAL answer (IF you stop pushing back on this one, that is tearing us bad PR constantly, Then OH GOD YES! If you sit back and take it? of COURSE we will want more infinite cashflow in the future!!! We will jam this down the throats of every single player on every platform of every game we touch!!!! That's the whole point! We KNOW this is your main concern, and even in our fake reply we admitted that this is PRECISELY what we are envisioning for OUR future cashflows opportunities, because SO MUCH MORE MONEY)

Why isn't there a discounted sub price for someone that owns some DLC?
REAL answer (that would defeat the purpose, also that would take micromanaging of calculating what you HAVE and what discount to give you, and as any stellaris player knows, we REFUSE to micromanage, we leave that to YOU in your games.)

WHY cant I buy DLC with an active sub?
REAL answer (Because we know lots of people forget they are subbed to a game for years at a time, and we want to slowly collect that sub money, and if we made it easier for you to cancel/buy the DLC and avoid the sub, that would defeat our entire corporate mega plan for easy future cashflow.)

We hope this has cleared up any misunderstandings you might have had.
We want to assure you we do not care about the player base, and only want to gain future cashflow opportunities.
While we COULD listen to your feedback, and do your plans instead to compromise and secure our good name.....we would prefer not to.
Because being different than other companies is hard, we don't do hard, we haven't even fixed the late game issues our still 32 bit game has, but no worries.
When we finally get around to making it REALLY 64 bit? We won't support the game anymore.
And Stellaris 2 will release, because why would we improve the game you already have?
When a new game, has unpurchased DLC?!?!?!
You would have to start all over again!!
Just like what we did with CK3.
So again, think of all the money you can give us, if we just IGNORE your pleas, and attempts to get us to understand.

Thank you, and have a wonderful time playing the game after you give us your money.
We know we will!
Sincerely yours, a panicked developer that realized the backlash needed to actually be addressed, but missed the whole point.
Because hey, I need to get paid too, am I right? hahaha.

I agree with pretty much everything here. I wholly support leaving comments to bash PDX for their anti-consumer behaviour.

MrFreake, while you are moderating these forums please know that many understand that you are not the one making these decisions. I know (hope) everyone completely understands that, but I'm saying it anyway because some people seem to forget that. However, as a moderator in direct contact with PDX customers and you ARE a defacto representative of PDX. PDX has put you right in the line of fire. I hope you do not receive any flak that is personal in nature. Additionally, I hope you are being paid appropriately, if in fact at all, to deal with the stress and hate (even if not directed at you personally). If you are not...well, that's between you and PDX.

I do not know if the moderators are a one way message medium for PDX. However, if the door swings both ways then moderators, please convey to PDX that the community hears their message, but it seems the majority does not believe a single word of it. Please let PDX know that the community feels betrayed. Please let PDX know that there doesn't seem to be very much goodwill between customers and PDX, and what little remains is rapidly eroding.

They will not receive the whole picture by just listening to the people on the PDX official forums and ignoring the comments they don't like. That's just shoving yourself in an echo chamber and surrounding yourself in confirmation bias.

[New To This]

Imagine buying two games.
One game is Janky but gets patched, gets new content added VERY rapidly for free, doesn't require you to pay for additional DLC, and actively makes you wanna replay the game to see what the new content is, MULTIPLE times.

Now imagine.

The other game, changes as well, so the very moment it gets into a state you find fantastic, it will only stay that way for a handful of months, before changing into a nearly unrecognizable version of itself that begins to feel like a cheap copyright issue, however it's the "same" game.
The other game also has a LOT of issues, does not work upon launch, has a day 1 patch, a day 2 3 4 patch, and takes ages upon ages to get into a good state.
Then gets patched out of that good state every time they find a way to make you buy the game AGAIN. Which also invalidates a lot of mods/ruins OTHERS efforts to actually fix the problems you refuse to address.
Then imaging being told that the OTHER game, also now has a subscription model, because the developers realized they cannot make more money because the game now costs over 250$ since they refuse to include nearly 10 year old DLC, in the base game model, or reduce the game base price, or make irrelevant DLC free(Creature packs.)
Then the other game also tells you, that this will make the game better, because now people who cannot spend the money that YOU spent on it, can now play it the way YOU do.
Then imagine realizing, they never fixed the issues that the MODDERS have been fixing since day one, and instead kept releasing new content that messed up the modders efforts(Albeit briefly) while ALSO asking you to then buy the new content they released....that MODDERS will have to fix.
....Because they won't, they'll just release another DLC....AGAIN.

Imagine if you will, a time in the future the OTHER GAME company, releases a NEW GAME.
Imagine if you will, remembering all the complete utter nonsense, cash grab, nonsense, the ruining of good game states, the adding of new content without fixing the old, the refusal to address the growing technical burden of endless additions to the DLC.

Imagine....that company.....thinking you will buy their NEW product.

Imagine if the shareholders realized, just imagine......that they realize the PLAYERS of the other game, HATE The company now beacuse of the way it treated them.

Imagine every single new venture they attempt to do in the future ending the exact, same, way.

Imagine, because it has now happened AGAIN to paradox.

Imagine your playerbase, which talks in discords 24/7 while gaming, and plays a LOT of games other than just yours...discuss what they did and why they will not be returning to the game company.
It does not take a genius to realize, if Paradox ever releases another title, MUCH LIKE TOTAL WAR has discovered, if you keep giving us the bird the fan base will quit on you.

Just imagine thinking NONE of this will happen, despite the year that Baldurs gate 3 has had, which was the FIRST game.

Imagine..... because it's happening in front of your eyes, and instead of seeing it, I must ask all of you to IMAGINE it back at headquarters.

Your company has a VERY limited time window to solve the problem it has created, and there is no reason to imagine the long term damage.
I've just written it out for you, in the most peaceful way that I can....Imagine writing it.

[RecoiL_Cdn]

So much for me ever buying Paradox software ever again.

Post capitalism society, you will own nothing and be happy. Good luck playing in the ashes of what you built.

[Wartime Pacifist (Coward)]

I have a question. What exactly was it that made you increase the subscription price from 5 to 10 dollars PER MONTH? Did you think nobody would notice or did you really just want to shove it as far up as you figured we would take it? I'm not buying this on general principal even though I quite enjoy the game. What's with the general inconsistency on pricing for subscriptions?

[chorion]

Originally posted by Sel Und Irae:

So TLDR; no apology for kicking the hornets nest and continued damage control.

Would Hate to be a forum moderator or developer at this company right about now, You foster tons of good will and then the higher ups just take a massive dump on all your effort then make you defend it.

Classy move by Paradox Higherups.

Who says the lower down people dont defend this???
What side do you think they are?... the side that makes them most money.
Also what goodwill creates releasing 22 DLC at a cost of $300+?, and constantly nerfing and breaking mods?

[New To This]

The simplest solution to this insane situation, incase the mod that posted here ever wants my calm honest opinion.

Tell your superiors that the best way to solve the problem with the price of entry.
Is to lower it.
Include all DLC over 2 years old into the base game, call it a bundle, and now all but a handful of DLC are in it, it's original 40$ price will seem much more reasonable.
If you then make a habit of including 2-3 year old DLC into your base content after a set time period, and only sell the new DLC, your wall for entry will never be prohibitive.

I know you won't listen, I know you won't compromise, I know it's your job to placate us, and never actually make us happy.

However this is a compromise that costs your company NOTHING, fixes this PR problem, lowers the cost of entry, makes the base game more valuable preserving its original cost, and you can even EASILY reward those who originally supported your game by buying lots of DLC, by offering them new DLC at a discount, where players who are newer will have to pay full price (Until it is hopefully made free 2-3 years after release.)

Have a great day, I figured if I'm gonna make fun of you, I might as well give you one legitimate way to solve all your issues at once.

Oh, but the current game state is unplayable, so apologize and roll it back to before this tech change nightmare. (Though this is just my opinion, I find this game unplayable ATM and my time better spent logging on here when I want to play, to once more point out it's not been addressed, play something else instead afterwards, and I foresee this being the case for the foreseeable future until I give up all hope on your team listening, or completely forget your game matters because there are too many others.

Have a wonderful day, and remember.

Xeno Delenda Est.

[Elitewrecker PT]

"However this is a compromise that costs your company NOTHING"

Except losing all that potential 0-work profit, and profit from the players who already buy everything by giving them discounts.
Would be great for every player though of course.

Also, by that business plan, CK2 wold now be entirely free.

[chorion]

Originally posted by Plinko:

I have a question. What exactly was it that made you increase the subscription price from 5 to 10 dollars PER MONTH? Did you think nobody would notice or did you really just want to shove it as far up as you figured we would take it? I'm not buying this on general principal even though I quite enjoy the game. What's with the general inconsistency on pricing for subscriptions?

It is nearly a Gamepass subscription, it is absurd.

[chorion]

Originally posted by New To This:

The simplest solution to this insane situation, incase the mod that posted here ever wants my calm honest opinion.

Tell your superiors that the best way to solve the problem with the price of entry.
Is to lower it.
Include all DLC over 2 years old into the base game, call it a bundle, and now all but a handful of DLC are in it, it's original 40$ price will seem much more reasonable.
If you then make a habit of including 2-3 year old DLC into your base content after a set time period, and only sell the new DLC, your wall for entry will never be prohibitive.

I know you won't listen, I know you won't compromise, I know it's your job to placate us, and never actually make us happy.


Have a wonderful day, and remember.

Xeno Delenda Est.

Their whole business model is to sell you 20% of the game upfront, and 2% DLC´s for half the price of the game forever... (forever means till not profitable enough),
STI wasnt profitable enough on launch , so players dont even get a patch, they get the 20% base game only.

It has worked like a dream for pdx for 10+ years, So everybody is happy

[New To This]

Originally posted by Elitewrecker PT:

"However this is a compromise that costs your company NOTHING"

Except losing all that potential 0-work profit, and profit from the players who already buy everything by giving them discounts.
Would be great for every player though of course.

Also, by that business plan, CK2 wold now be entirely free.

True enough.
CK2 has stopped being updated/improved. I believe it should now have a base game cost, and all DLC be free.
So yeah, TBH, if you abandon your game I will abandon buying it, and I see little reason in its value not diminishing over time.
(I remember the death of CK2, and the instant birth of CK3, that sucked)

In the meantime, I am now reading into/watching Helldivers 2, and the fact it may be the game I go to for my space urge.
Infact, this debacle with Stellaris is making me want to abandon Paradox entirely, because they don't have the ability to compromise as a corporate entity, and I know the game will likely never improve.
(Also their track record of abandoning games I enjoy, after making them worse near the end to encourage you to buy the NEW game.)

So now I am looking at a single purchase, one time, for Helldivers 2.(Imagine that lol)
Instead of an endless sub, or constantly increasing cost of entry for Stellaris (Most of which I own, minus a few DLC I don't want because species packs.)

Though I'm having fun satirizing their reply, and giving them a legitimate last piece of advice before I abandon their COMPANY.
Not their game, their COMPANY, and all its future endeavors.
I will probably play Stellaris again in the future, but only after they TRULY abandon it, so its finally in a condition I can predict.(Eventually) No more money for Paradox on any of their games though, proven a bad investment.
Look what they did to my boy!!(Stellaris)
They ended him with no grace what so ever, after I invested in his growth.
Never again.

This is the only viable retort I have, because as we both know they do not care about anything but profit, even a compromise that costs them nothing but adding their old, less broken DLC, into the base game will be met with silence, and in their private circles, derision.

So here I am telling them what I want to, knowing full well they will ignore it, however when they do, I will finally be able to let go of this Stellaris game I love, that I have put 1600+ hours into.

Because the company will continue killing it, just so we will actually desire Stellaris 2.

But to say nothing, would be a LOT worse.
To silently accept the death of one of my favorite games without a struggle is not worth thinking about.

Anyways, have a great day. o/
.....PS Hell divers 2, and Stellaris base game have the SAME COST....HAAAHAHAHAHA.
Devs of Stellaris .... VERY out of touch, WOW.