Northgard Pricing Model: Rewarding New Players, Punishing Early Supporters

[B0ERKIE]

Let me start by saying I like Northgard. It's a fantastic game with rich strategy, unique clans, and endless replayability. However, as an early supporter, I’ve come to realise the pricing model over the years has made me feel... well, a bit cheated. I wanted to open this discussion to hear if others feel the same way, or if I’m missing something.

The Issue:
I purchased Northgard back in 2018 for full price, which felt reasonable at launch. Over the years, they’ve added a ton of new DLC clans, which is great content, but here’s where it gets frustrating:

The base game I paid 100% for is now sold for as little as 10% of that during sales.
To get all the DLC clans, I’d have to spend an additional 300% of what I originally paid (At it's sale price, 600% otherwise).
Meanwhile, new players can get the complete game (base + all DLC) for about 150% of the original price I paid.
On top of that, the DLC clans come with their own unique achievements. Even if I wanted to, I can never fully "complete" the game without paying for every clan.
So as an early adopter, I’d end up spending significantly more for the same experience new players can get at a fraction of the cost.

How It Feels:
It feels like early supporters who believed in the game are left behind. We helped fund the game when it was new, unproven, and still growing, but now we’re faced with an ever-increasing cost to stay "complete." Meanwhile, new players can swoop in during a sale and get everything at a bargain price.

Am I alone in feeling this way, or do other early adopters share this sentiment?
Do you think the DLC pricing model could have been more balanced for loyal players?
How do you feel about the disparity between early and new players’ total costs?

Northgard is undeniably a great game, but its pricing model feels like it punishes those of us who believed in it from the beginning. I’d love to hear other perspectives on this, whether you’re a long-time player or a newcomer.

To all the new players: welcome to Northgard, enjoy exploring all the clans. And to my fellow OG supporters: I’ll see you on the battlefield, still using the same six clans we’ve had since 2018.

[Kenpoleon Bonaparte]

It isn't just 'Northgard'. This is a common business model. The upper upper class, the early adopters, and the fanboys all pay premium to "be first". It's where the companies make their biggest profit. But there are only so many people who can "be first". Then the profits drop because, by itself, that business model is unsustainable. So two things must be done to keep the profits coming in.

Firstly, the price drops in order to entice the middle upper class to buy. Then the price drops again to entice the lower upper class to buy. Then the upper middle class, the middle middle class, and so on and so on downward through the income levels. Secondly, the product is designed to soon be obsolete and/or incomplete, thus all those consumers are forced to keep coming back.

[Lactose Intolerant Volcano God]

Originally posted by B0ERKIE:

. I’d love to hear other perspectives on this, whether you’re a long-time player or a newcomer.

I bought the game in 2020, so am neither a newcomer or an early supporter.

I'm fine with the pricing model, but I haven't bought many DLC. I don't think games owe a discount to long-term players. If any debt was owed, I think it's the other way 'round. Those of us who purchased a game for a single fee and have been playing it for years at no extra cost, have likely received exceptional value for our money. Northgard has excellent replayability, making the cost per hour of gametime negligible.

From a business perspective, it often doesn't make sense to give enticements to existing customers. Instead, you offer discounts to attract new customers.

I would be careful of thinking you've provided a service and are due some reward. You might consider that your belief in a game or your early support was noble work, but from another perspective you're just a consumer who purchased a game years ago for your own pleasure.

[Stop the Insanity]

I think games in general have been amazing for decades, but paying absurd brand new prices for games is a ridiculous waste of money, when I can buy like any other amazing game in existence for 50 - 95% off. I got Inscryption for half off a few months ago and finally got around to playing it. It was great.

I may pick up this and Psychonauts 1 and 2 and Spiritfarer all at like 90% off and be set for another half a year. And half a year later guess what will be 80 - 90% off? Like a WHOLE BUNCH OF AMAZING GAMES.

Vote with your wallet.

[JVC]

Originally posted by Kenpoleon Bonaparte:

It isn't just 'Northgard'. This is a common business model. The upper upper class, the early adopters, and the fanboys all pay premium to "be first". It's where the companies make their biggest profit. But there are only so many people who can "be first". Then the profits drop because, by itself, that business model is unsustainable. So two things must be done to keep the profits coming in.

Firstly, the price drops in order to entice the middle upper class to buy. Then the price drops again to entice the lower upper class to buy. Then the upper middle class, the middle middle class, and so on and so on downward through the income levels. Secondly, the product is designed to soon be obsolete and/or incomplete, thus all those consumers are forced to keep coming back.

It applies to most products that aren't daily necessities. It is micro economics' "three degress of price discrimination". And we only see two of those degrees here.

Each consumer has a " reserve price" for a product, a mental "if the price is above X, I won't buy".

The way you see it in stores is that for the same product, one group of consumers is willing to pay a huge price, another group is willing to pay a lower price and a third group isn't willing to buy at all or will only buy for a very low price.

The trick is to try to sell to each of those groups and to get as much revenue in for each group. Which means that many products start with a high starting price + something extra bundled in: that's the preorders and exclusive items range. Or as you might call them, fanboys, collectors, people that have played the last 3 titles in a series. DLCs also fall into this category.

Next tier is the average consumer, this is the price tier that the base game in any franchise tries to capture.

The third tier we see are sales and especially deep sales, now the seller gets a low return for each sold product but the offer is only valid for a short time and these sales capture a market segment you wouldn't otherwise catch.

Bundling something in is one strategy of price discrimination. Another is regulating the price (sales). In the perfect economic world, each customer and each seller would be haggling about the price but this is as close as we get to that situation in a large store.

[Quillithe]

It goes both ways - it's how most games work now. Put the base game on a steep sale to sell the DLC.

Heck, Epic gives away free games and they're usually because the game has new DLC or a sequel.



But the other way is stuff like Factorio. No sales. Ever.

The forums are full of waaaay more people complaining.

[Kenpoleon Bonaparte]

Originally posted by Lactose Intolerant Volcano God:

Northgard has excellent replayability, making the cost per hour of gametime negligible.

Yes. In fact, "cost per hour" is EXACTLY how I decide which games to buy. I take the price of the game and divide it by the estimated time I believe it will take me to finish it. This formula works whether the game has replayability or not.

[Quillithe]

Originally posted by Kenpoleon Bonaparte:

Originally posted by Lactose Intolerant Volcano God:

Northgard has excellent replayability, making the cost per hour of gametime negligible.

Yes. In fact, "cost per hour" is EXACTLY how I decide which games to buy. I take the price of the game and divide it by the estimated time I believe it will take me to finish it. This formula works whether the game has replayability or not.

Eh, whatever works.

Personally my gaming time tends to be more limited than my gaming budget (especially with Steam sales!) so I tend to ignore this. Some of the best games I've played have been pretty short, great experiences.

Especially since the other stuff I buy is like...Factorio.

[Kenpoleon Bonaparte]

Originally posted by Quillithe:

But the other way is stuff like Factorio. No sales. Ever.

Yep. I've got at least half a dozen games on my Wishlist that, according to SteamDB, have NEVER been on sale. Not even 10% off. And if it's never on sale, then it will never be in my account. It's not that I can't pay full price. I just think paying full price is ridiculous. As 'Stop the Insanity' mentioned here earlier, for every full price game available there are dozens of amazing 50% off (or more) games available. More games equals more hours of entertainment, so games that are on sale are the ones which get my attention.

[Kenpoleon Bonaparte]

Originally posted by Quillithe:

1. Personally my gaming time tends to be more limited than my gaming budget (especially with Steam sales!) ...

2. Some of the best games I've played have been pretty short, great experiences.

Both of those statements are certainly true in my world too.

[Catalytic]

This is basic market dynamics. Maybe you're a big fan and want to full price for the game because it's worth it to you. I certainly have for plenty of games. I bought them the day they came out and played the heck out of them.

But then there are games I'm less excited about. Sure, I might check it out, but I have no idea whether I'm really interested or not. They're not worth that much to me. I recently got Endless Legend, a 4X TBS strategy game by Amplitude from 2014, for free. I'd never heard of it before but I had a great time with it. They wanted $160 for all the DLC, for a game that came out in 2014 and which was no longer in development or receiving active support. I waited until the sales. The game was worth the $20-something I paid for it. I would never have paid full price. I ended up buying their companion game Endless Space 2, also on sale, including the DLC, and have gotten my money's worth. Again, I would not have paid full price, even now that I know the game is fun. It's not worth hundreds of dollars they ask for all the bits and pieces.

This is basic market economics. If you're not making the sale, your price is too high and your demand is too low. If you lower the price, demand will rise. It's literally Econ 101.

As for Northgard, I paid $3 to try it out. I've played all of 6-8 hours over the holiday and enjoyed it. I'll probably drop a few more bucks on the second campaign and maybe some DLC if I'm still enjoying it before Dec 4th and the end of the sale. The game is fun, but again, by the time you add up all the bits and pieces they have added, I don't want to pay hundreds of dollars for an old game, but $20-50, and I might. Remember, I could just easily say I'd rather go out to eat for that price, or do a dozen other things with it.

Game companies have to compete and offer value. Sales are essential parts of marketing. My guess is that Steam is a big barrier here. They've got a rule where games have to have a regular price and a sale price and can't always be on sale. So, sales end up being sporadic, and smart companies put their old games on sale as much as their contracts allow to keep revenue coming in.

[JDPUK]

Originally posted by Kenpoleon Bonaparte:

It isn't just 'Northgard'. This is a common business model. The upper upper class, the early adopters, and the fanboys all pay premium to "be first". It's where the companies make their biggest profit. But there are only so many people who can "be first". Then the profits drop because, by itself, that business model is unsustainable. So two things must be done to keep the profits coming in.

Firstly, the price drops in order to entice the middle upper class to buy. Then the price drops again to entice the lower upper class to buy. Then the upper middle class, the middle middle class, and so on and so on downward through the income levels. Secondly, the product is designed to soon be obsolete and/or incomplete, thus all those consumers are forced to keep coming back.

THIS!

[Quillithe]

Eh, I don't agree with the 'class' business necessarily or how sinister it's made to sound.

I just now bought this, and it's not because I'm 'lower class', it's just that there are a ton of games to play and I can't justify spending full price for one I might not even play at the moment. This looked somewhat interesting, but wasn't the top tier of my game interests.

Different people will buy a game at different price points for assorted reasons, and the sales model is designed to sell it to them at these prices. Heck, they're going the other way too now with the 'pay more and play 5 days early' model too lol. Some few games I'm excited enough to play at launch, usually I'm busy playing other stuff.

And releasing DLC doesn't necessarily mean the game is 'designed to be incomplete'. It just means they need to actually sell a game at some point and they usually have more ideas and improvements after that point. I wouldn't be surprised if some developers really do 'design a game to be incomplete' but I doubt it's the case here.


Besides people are so used to it that when Factorio doesn't do it they get upset. I dunno, I like my games on sale but it's also kinda nice to know you can just buy the game right when it comes out if you ever want to buy it with Factorio.

[Kenpoleon Bonaparte]

Originally posted by Quillithe:

I just now bought this, and it's not because I'm 'lower class', it's just that there are a ton of games to play and I can't justify spending full price for one I might not even play at the moment.

You're taking "class" to mean social class. No, it's income class. Income classes and social classes are two different things. It's a proven fact that, in general, the higher the income, the higher price people will pay without even thinking about it. It's the "because I CAN afford it" mentality.

Originally posted by Quillithe:

Heck, they're going the other way too now with the 'pay more and play 5 days early' model too lol.

Yes, and the "I'm first" crowd will pay it. Thanks for giving an example that helps to prove my point.

Originally posted by Quillithe:

Besides people are so used to it that when Factorio doesn't do it they get upset.

Originally posted by Quillithe:

Especially since the other stuff I buy is like...Factorio.

Originally posted by Quillithe:

But the other way is stuff like Factorio. No sales. Ever.

You've made 3 posts in this thread, and every one of them has mentioned 'Factorio''. Fanboy much?

[Quillithe]

Originally posted by Kenpoleon Bonaparte:

Originally posted by Quillithe:

I just now bought this, and it's not because I'm 'lower class', it's just that there are a ton of games to play and I can't justify spending full price for one I might not even play at the moment.

You're taking "class" to mean social class. No, it's income class. Income classes and social classes are two different things. It's a proven fact that, in general, the higher the income, the higher price people will pay without even thinking about it. It's the "because I CAN afford it" mentality.

No, I'm using it to mean income class. I have no idea why you'd assume I meant 'social class' separate from income for no apparent reason. It's a pretty silly assumption.

I mean, I'm not a billionaire, but I wouldn't go broke buying a few more games - and I do buy games at launch relatively often. Just not all of them because sometimes I'm playing other games.

Originally posted by Kenpoleon Bonaparte:

Originally posted by Quillithe:

Heck, they're going the other way too now with the 'pay more and play 5 days early' model too lol.

Yes, and the "I'm first" crowd will pay it. Thanks for giving an example that helps to prove my point.

Well, yeah, the part of your point that people will pay more to play the game earlier is what I was agreeing with there, so my example does in fact help prove it.

Originally posted by Kenpoleon Bonaparte:

Originally posted by Quillithe:

Besides people are so used to it that when Factorio doesn't do it they get upset.

Originally posted by Quillithe:

Especially since the other stuff I buy is like...Factorio.

Originally posted by Quillithe:

But the other way is stuff like Factorio. No sales. Ever.

You've made 3 posts in this thread, and every one of them has mentioned 'Factorio''. Fanboy much?

I mean, it's a game that just had DLC come out recently and it's particularly notable in this regard for never having sales at all so it's a relevant example. It's not like I'm trying to sell anyone here on Factorio - and if I were I'm not sure 'it's never cheap!' would be a good place to start lol

[emanuel92]

i am early supporter myself

very sad that game turned to stupid DLCware

Very disrespectful to fan base

You should increase game price and make dlc free, so early supporters are rewarded

I just give negative review, dont bought any DLC , waiting for anno pax romana