What the heck is wrong with all those "This game is too expensive" guys?

[Regicide]

I really don't get it.

There is EA Games, Ubisoft, Blizzard and several other AAA Game Forges who pump out Titles you have to pay 60+ for, and even the double of it, if you want the Ultra Uber Premium Edition. Not to mention all the Ingame purchases still left. There are people who pay 200+ for a game, that they play, well let's say 2-3 months? (maybe even less, until the next hype kicks in.)

And then there are a thousand other game devs, with Early Access, releasing DLC's before they even hit 1.0, because "We need money or we can't finish the game!!!" and afterwards pumping more DLC's out, then moses was able to fit animals on his ark.

And now we have Factorio, a game, with more then 10 years of development and hundreds of players (maybe even thousands) with 2000+ hours playtime. And they never, never ever, released a single DLC. They don't have a ingame Shop, heck not even a Merchandise.

And now when they are about to release a big Addon, and yes, I call it ADDON and not DLC, because that's what is was back the days when you got a nice big expansion/additon for the base game (and not just some greedy "gimme money" extension), you read "too expensive", "not worth it", "it's a rip off" on nearly every fifth comment.

Boyos, pls move on and keep wasting money on devs who just grab your money and give a s*** about you and your opinion.

Because here is the next fact: Compared to 99,9% of all other Games on the world, Factorio has more then 10 years of continued polishment, bug fixing and devs never ever stopped listening to community wishes and feedback.

Dunno what else I should tell here. Please for gods sake stop whining and blaming. This is so far off reality, that you need to invent a new word for it.

And if 35+ (or 70+ for the whole game) is currently too expensive for you, then consider to starz so save your money and buy it a little bit later. Because it simply is worth every single penny.

Sorry for letting out some steam here, but eh... guys. Really. So many things you waste your money on and the one thing that is truly worth every cent, you start to blame about.

Not cool & not fair.

[kremlin]

Because for those people, it's more about collecting games as cheaply as they can get them, than it is about playing games they enjoy. In a way they're collectors instead of gamers, and it's probably morally correct to write off any opinions they have about the games, since they're not interested in the game, just having the game.

[Fel]

Different people have different price points they are happy with, for some it's not even the amount itself and more about getting a "good deal" by getting a discount.

Many have this idea that 2D games are worth less than 3D ones as well.

Plus, Factorio is a great game but within a niche meant for a somewhat small portion of the people playing video games.
When it comes to games outside of what you usually play, you usually want to keep the cost relatively low in case it doesn't end up being something you enjoy (the refunds are only for 2 hours, which is a very short amount of time to decide if you want to keep playing it for a long time or not).

It does get a bit annoying to see threads about the price or absence of sales over and over and I personally don't understand going to forums to complain about it but I can understand the price being a barrier for many regardless of their current disposable income.

[Hurkyl]

People want to pay less for things. I can sympathize since I do too, but it's like turned into some sort of meme that people keep coming up with bizarre rationalizations rather than just being honest about it.

Very occasionally we get some more rational arguments like "Factorio has competitors like Satisfactory so maybe the price needs to be more in line with those" or "Valve screwed up their pricing recommendations for Poland"*, but it's pretty rare.

*: At least the complaints along this line sounds genuine.

And as the responses so far indicate, the people who complain have rather diverse underlying motivations, rather than just being all one type.

[Regicide]

So it's more a generation thing, hm?

I don't want to blame them, they want and have to make their own way, like we did.

But Factorio is really one of the last true games with devs that really care and where everything is about passion and not just greed.

Guess it's me getting to nostalgic here.

[SpookyKitty]

Call me crazy, but you shouldn't be expected to pay more for a game that you will spend more hours on. Thats just one step away from a subscription model.
The base game didn't get much new content since 2018, and nearly doubled in price during that time.
$35 for Space age is perfectly okay though. Though I still don't agree with the $35 base game price.

[ShutEye_DK]

Lies repeated are still just lies.

[Fel]

The reason why it was lower price in 2018 was because it was still in early access, it was clear from the begining that the price was even lower before that because the game was not complete, then it increased when it became mostly content-complete but still not "full price" because it was still in early access.
The price increase due to inflation is more debatable (I don't agree with it) but having the game cheaper while in early access isn't all that weird to me.


@Regicide:
Not sure it's really generational, we had an era where we could get games from the second hand market as well and many people never bought a game at full price during that period either.

[Galileus]

Originally posted by SpookyKitty:

Call me crazy, but you shouldn't be expected to pay more for a game that you will spend more hours on. Thats just one step away from a subscription model.

Depends.

If it's "more hours spent as in more time used up", sure.
If it's "more hours spent because you get so much fun you cannot stop", then no, it has nothing to do with a subscribtion model, it's a well crafted, balanced and intricate game, and that does deserve to be reflected by worth.

[Hurkyl]

Originally posted by SpookyKitty:

Call me crazy, but you shouldn't be expected to pay more for a game that you will spend more hours on. Thats just one step away from a subscription model.

It's unclear what you mean. There are two ways I can interpret this:

• I spent $30 to play this for 120 hours. I need to spend $10 to play it for another 40
  
• Someone should be more willing to spend $30 for something they'll enjoy for a full month than $10 for something they'll only enjoy for a week

(time scales arbitrary, chosen for the sake of argument)

The first is the subscription model. The second is more like an investment: you're paying an up-front cost for something that will give you a return on that investment over time.

The second is what people are talking about when they say the price is worth it.

The first is what the big AAA studios want to do to squeeze more money out of fans. But it can also lower the barrier to tourists, assuming subscriptions are significantly slashed from what an up-front price would be.

[Chindraba]

Originally posted by SpookyKitty:

Call me crazy, but you shouldn't be expected to pay more for a game that you will spend more hours on. Thats just one step away from a subscription model.
The base game didn't get much new content since 2018, and nearly doubled in price during that time.
$35 for Space age is perfectly okay though. Though I still don't agree with the $35 base game price.

Greetings Crazy, nice to meet you.

Why should video games not follow the normal ROI and value assessment used for many other things? Do not many people pay more for a watch they think will last longer than a cheap one? Do not many people shun lower-quality vehicles with poor maintenance histories while willing paying more for a car with the expectation that it will run longer before needing major, costly, repairs? Is not some brand of spray paint, advertised as lasting twice as long as "this other brand" sold for a higher price?

Have a nice day, Mr/s Crazy.

[stach122]

because it is game INDIE! No AAA, and the creators don't want to do any discounts, I don't like it, I wanted to buy the game but I don't buy games at that price!

[malogoss]

Originally posted by stach122:

because it is game INDIE! No AAA, and the creators don't want to do any discounts, I don't like it, I wanted to buy the game but I don't buy games at that price!

If I had 800+ games in my library with less than 15 minutes of playtime, I admit, I'd also consider not buying more games.

Just common sense.

[schnappkatze]

Also remember: The internet is a giant magnifying glass. In a small community, 10 different people (a miniscule part of the millions of potential buyers) can create a feeling in the forum that there is a huge disappointment over something. That is not unique to steam but the same for x (formerly twitter) and such, a relatively small group can create a lot of noise.

How many people did we actually have in the forum in the last 2 years that were complaining about no sales? 20? That is basically a rounding error. You will always find some people that will complain about something. The fact that the base game still sells half a million each year is a much, much more valid point for the question if the game is priced "correctly" than one or two dozen people in an online forum wanting it to be cheaper.

Originally posted by stach122:

because it is game INDIE! No AAA, and the creators don't want to do any discounts, I don't like it, I wanted to buy the game but I don't buy games at that price!

That is completely fair, that is how the market is intended to work. There is a product with a certain price, and when you don't want to pay the price, you don't get the product.

[PunCrathod]

Originally posted by schnappkatze:

Also remember: The internet is a giant magnifying glass. In a small community, 10 different people (a miniscule part of the millions of potential buyers) can create a feeling in the forum that there is a huge disappointment over something. That is not unique to steam but the same for x (formerly twitter) and such, a relatively small group can create a lot of noise.

How many people did we actually have in the forum in the last 2 years that were complaining about no sales? 20? That is basically a rounding error. You will always find some people that will complain about something. The fact that the base game still sells half a million each year is a much, much more valid point for the question if the game is priced "correctly" than one or two dozen people in an online forum.

Originally posted by stach122:

because it is game INDIE! No AAA, and the creators don't want to do any discounts, I don't like it, I wanted to buy the game but I don't buy games at that price!

That is completely fair, that is how the market is intended to work. There is a product with a certain price, and when you don't want to pay the price, you don't get the product.

Yeah. People who are satisfied with the product/price rarely complain about it.

[Galileus]

Originally posted by schnappkatze:

That is completely fair, that is how the market is intended to work. There is a product with a certain price, and when you don't want to pay the price, you don't get the product.

Racismus.