Why game never on sale? (Answered)

[Cam_8420]

Why game never on sale? - Devs don't like sales apparently and that's fine, just a shame for some people who will be priced out.

[Galileus]

https://steamcommunity.com/app/427520/discussions/0/2592234299545022370/

[knighttemplar1960]

Its always on sale. If you mean why don't the developers double the price and then reduce it by 50%, 4 weeks out of the year to make people think they are getting a deal the way other studious do it, there's a pinned topic at the top of the forum that answers that question.

[Nico]

Because they don't like sales and they don't want to use things they don't like. And it's a similar reason as why they priced their game at 35$ instead of 34.99$

Also, pls don't turn this into another 100+ message thread ...

[Drizzt]

Originally posted by Nico:

Also, pls don't turn this into another 100+ message thread ...

a massage thread? what kind of massage?

oh

ok

misread that......

;-)

[Doom Sayer]

Because not everyone has to use manipulative marketing to sell products?

[Cam_8420]

a Sale isn't a bad thing.

Most other game will go on sale many times a year at 50% plus discounts.

[knighttemplar1960]

Originally posted by Cam_8420:

a Sale isn't a bad thing.

Most other game will go on sale many times a year at 50% plus discounts.

Factorio is on sale 100% of the time instead of just a few weeks a year and over priced the rest of the year.

[Cam_8420]

Originally posted by Dr. Full Frontal:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/427520/discussions/0/2592234299545022370/

bruh thats ♥♥♥♥♥♥ dumb

[Cam_8420]

Originally posted by knighttemplar1960:

Originally posted by Cam_8420:

a Sale isn't a bad thing.

Most other game will go on sale many times a year at 50% plus discounts.

Factorio is on sale 100% of the time instead of just a few weeks a year and over priced the rest of the year.

I love the game but £30 isnt a sale cause the game aint worth £60. Just run like a 50% or 25% sale on the big summer and christmas sales. Or run charities events if they dont care about the money themselves. The devs are greedy but hiding it as generousity.

[Drizzt]

Originally posted by Cam_8420:

a Sale isn't a bad thing.

Most other game will go on sale many times a year at 50% plus discounts.

it's not necessarily a bad thing

or a good thing

it's just a thing

a game that is priced at $50 that gets discounted to $25 may not be a good deal for many people

whereas a game that sells for $25 all the time may be great value to everyone interested in that kind of game

a free game that mines your data and has you wasting hundreds of hours barely interacting with it and not really enjoying it is bad value - even without the data mining it is wasting your time that could be better spent playing something you will enjoy more

whereas paying full price for a AAA game may be good value for many people if they get enough good hours of enjoyment from it - and will only be less of a good deal if they could have got it cheaper by waiting for a discount

you can say that a discount makes a game a better deal

but conversely you could also say it makes the game a worse deal at the other price

is a game that is priced at $70 but is discounted to $35 better value than a game that is always priced at $35?

that is the question you need to ask when comparing game of a similar price

or

can i get a game as good as this game that costs $35 for less? that will scratch the same itch?

if a game uses discounts then it is wasteful of money to not wait for a sale

but if a game does not use discounts then it just has a price, and that price can be used to compare with other games' lowest prices to decide which game or games to buy for the money

discounts do not make a game magically be good value

sometimes they make a game be slightly less bad value

using discounts does not make a company virtuous
not using discounts does not make a company evil

yes i get you want your friends to buy the game and they won't because of the price

that's sad for you

but you would be in the same position if the game cost $70 and was on a 50% discount for $35 - unless your friends object to it not being discounted rather than the price

but actually yes - $35 is pretty top tier pricing for a video game in this age where every AAA game gets a 50% "discount" within a short period of time

but Factorio is the AAA quality game of its genre

it is widely considered the best

actually better than AAA since it is pretty much free from bugs, and has incredible mod support - instead of AAA "anti tamper" software, used to prevent modding - and generally lacklustre bug fixing and only if they really have to

sure it is pricey

but unlike most AAA games, and most of the rest of the market - it has a demo - so people can at least try to get an idea of if they will get good value for their money

it may not be good value if you are someone who does not play games for long sessions and get hundreds of hours

it may not be good value if you are not into this kind of game

but for people who like this kind of game, they are probably guaranteed 50+ hours minimum

and many will play for ten times that or more

whereas Doom 2016 costs 5 bucks or so and i still won't buy it despite the fact that it looks gorgeous and is incredibly slick and was best in class at the time

but i was quickly bored - coz i am over that kind of shooter these days

whereas maybe i will pay 20 or 30 bucks for Captain of Industry

or 15 bucks for Satisfactory

does that mean Satisfactory is better than Doom 2016?

which one is a better deal?

as usual, it is different for everyone

all that not using discounts means is that everyone is making that decision against one price all the time - instead of having to wait for the next discount and check if it was more or less than the previous one

HINT: only ever buy discounted games in the December sale - seems to be the biggest discount of the year for all games - some games even change the discount between the November and December sale - and boy does that suck for people that bought it in November - like a big middle finger from the devs - as they laugh at you for being so stupid as to buy it in November for 15% more than you would have paid if you just waited 3 weeks.

anyway - doesn't change anything

some games use discounts

some don't

doesn't change the comparison

a game that is discounted to $35 and a game that is always $35 both cost $35

a game that is $35 and gets discounted to $20 should be compared with other games that cost $20, not games that cost $35

ok - i know this debate will never be over

but i will keep trying to find the right way to word the argument to see if it sticks for anyone

once a game is discounted that is the price

very few people will ever pay more than the most discounted price they have seen a game on sale for

so once a game uses a 50% discount they must sell twice as many copies as before to maintain the same income

we each only have to purchase a game once

so a 50% discount is nice, but not life changing

for a company a 50% discount could kill them financially

ok - i definitely need to listen to that dude out of Far Cry 3 (and whatever philosopher he was mis quoting) - coz repeating this stuff and hoping people will agree is probably insane :-)

peace :-)

[Drizzt]

Originally posted by Cam_8420:

cause the game aint worth £60.

it's not worth £60 to you

but most AAA games are not worth £60 to most people

which is why they go on sale for 50% off

for the magic price of...... <drum roll>..... £30

this game is the most highly rated game of its genre

a genre it pretty much created (certainly in the mainstream)

and it never tried to sell itself for the over inflated AAA price, even though it is the top game of its genre, as the AAA games are supposed to be for theirs

instead it sold itself for the price those games sell for when they are discounted by 50%

that's all it is

instead of discounting an over inflated price, they just charged the price it would be after the discount

that's what people are saying to you

and you can call the devs greedy all you like

but that doesn't make it true

people could call you greedy for wanting to keep more money while still being provided with the same product that should have cost you more

but people saying that doesn't make that true either

why should a company slash their future income and risk their future independence so you can buy their product for less?

it's a game - you don't need it - no one needs it

it's just a game to the customers - something for fun

but for the developers it's their livelihood - how they pay their bills

people calling them greedy for not giving people a discount that amounts to maybe the price of a takeaway burger for each customer - but cumulatively could amount to a loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars or more for the company - and could cause them to have to sell to some shady publisher in the future to pay off debts - that does not seem reasonable

but after years of this is does seem that many many video game customers are pretty far from reasonable

they want devs to do what they want when they want all the time - and if they don't they are evil and greedy

and the obsession with discounts and always thinking about the discount instead of the price is pretty crazy

this game costs the same as a AAA game at 50% discount

but for people who like this kind of game over big budget shooters, this game is a better deal

and for people who prefer big budget shooters, the AAA game is the better deal

it's the top game of its genre, why should it not also be the most expensive?

and even then, the highest price it has ever been sold for is $35

whereas the "top" games of all other genres generally go for $70 as their highest price (+DLC and in game purchases)

let's compare it to another indie game that is the top game in its genre - Rimworld

also priced similarly to Factorio - sometimes on sale for 20% off (used to be 10%, the smallest Steam allows)

but also with 3 DLCs that are almost as expensive as the base game, and from what i can tell are never discounted, and some of which are considered essential parts of the game, especially for modding

some games are simply the best of their kind - and they get to charge the most - and still this game is only charging half of what other "top tier" games charge - or the same as their lowest price

ok - enough repeating myself - is insane lol

peace :-)

[Geirfinna Lieselotte]

The OP is among the people that is struck by a critical illness : the need for negociation, bargaining, discount.

Just like when you try to sell second-hand goods, they'll require a discount. It's not about the price, it's about the dopamine surge provided by the feeling of having made a good deal.

The flood of threads talking about the price of Factorio proves it : customers don't care if the game is cheap given the thousands of hours it can provide. This is even more critical for this particular forum : they don't even see the pinned thread, their urge is so violent, they can't read. They need the information ASAP, they need to know why, when, how.

I'm sure you heard about the crowds of people sitting on a pile of hundreds of games never installed, bought during Steam sales. This is the pinnacle of that behaviour.

They want.
That.
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.
Dopamine.

They would be so much happier if the game was 59,99 bucks and at 50% discount all year round.

[FlintTD]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP5-pfBmZss

[Roxor128]

Factorio is priced at $50 in Australia. Mass Effect 2 was $70.

I keep coming back to Factorio. I played Mass Effect 2 just once.

[knighttemplar1960]

Originally posted by Cam_8420:

Originally posted by knighttemplar1960:

Factorio is on sale 100% of the time instead of just a few weeks a year and over priced the rest of the year.

I love the game but £30 isnt a sale cause the game aint worth £60. Just run like a 50% or 25% sale on the big summer and christmas sales. Or run charities events if they dont care about the money themselves. The devs are greedy but hiding it as generousity.

I'm happy you have the financial statements from the developer's studios. Can you share them with us so that we all know just how greedy the devs are?

I've run the finances based on the numbers of copies they've sold and if my guesses are accurate they have enough cash set aside to live comfortably and work exclusively on the expansion for about 2 more years as long as the world economy doesn't get any worse. Companies that only have 1 product don't usually run sales event's unless they over priced their product to start with.

They might run a sale on the base game or put together a package deal when the expansion comes out.