Why are all hex based wargames so expensive?

[Toxicwire†]

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[Silent War]

If you happen to have Strategic Command WWII: War in Europe, you can complete your collection and pay $29.99 for it instead. While I haven't taken advantage of that offer, I did purchase the Europe game for $19.99 while on sale. So in theory you could have both for $49.98 which is a much nicer price point. I'm happy fighting in Europe at the moment and not such a big fan of the Pacific War so I'll stick with it for a while. I will admit that the entire world is less compeling when you already have the Europe game as the Pacific is the side show.

[Nats]

Value of a game is relative anyway.

For someone who doesnt play strategy games much, or is not that interested in a WW2 game, or wont have the time to get much use out of it, they will no doubt wait for a sale before they consider buying.

For someone very interested in WW2 who felt that HOI4 really was not as great a game as was hoped, and has been waiting for a game that depicts the whole of WW2 with a sandbox type Grand Strategy approach, they will no doubt buy this game without a second thought and get loads of value and enjoyment out of it.

For someone who doesnt like strategy games they wouldnt touch this game with a barge pole whatever the price.

I consider the game is a little high on price for me, but I will probably get a lot more value out of it than I do from many Paradox games, many of which have cost me a lot more money than £31. So I was happy to buy. I havent played it much yet because I havent had time, but I will one of these days, and from what I've seen so far the game looks really good and worth the investment.

[Simulacra_53]

I just bought Panzer Battles North Africa - by JTS / WDS - for USD 39,95
Compared to SC3 that engine is antique and these are the “up to date” titles, but still the game is imo worth it (all three Panzer Battles games actually).

[VSente]

As you have said before, this is a niche. It's a computer board wargame. Thanks to the support of fans of this genre it is possible that small companies develop these games.

Personally I think it has a fair price, if you think how many computer wargames with the quality of SC3 WWII World at War have been published in recent years?

No HOI4 is not a computer board wargame.

[TRF]

because they take a long time to make, a long time to research, are made by small teams and have a very niche market. So in order to keep the people making the games fed and housed off the revenue of the size of the market for long enough to make the creation of games worth while they need to charge an equivelant price. Also remember you need to cover the patching of the current game and the creation of the next game (unless you want to make the next game on credit, never a safe move when you're working in a niche)

[kjaekley]

If you get used to buying $2 trash games designed in 20 minutes on a diy engine, then yes this is expensive. Personally I'd rather pay for what I get, since otherwise I'm probably going to get what I pay for...

[Nats]

Publicado originalmente por TRF:

because they take a long time to make, a long time to research, are made by small teams and have a very niche market.

Civilization and Paradox games tend to suggest this is not the case, they are 'niche' games and yet have a massive following. How did they do that? Marketing.

[Silent War]

I know several players who will play the Paradox pausible real time games but will not play the more traditional hex style wargame because they at too fiddly and turn based... Paradox games attraction from my perspective is the fiddllnss - go figure. Truly its the style of game you are accustomed that you are likely to play.

[El Guapo]

Commander: Europe at War (modded) is a wonderful and cheap hex-based ww2 game. Strategic Command 1 as well.

Generally, people shouldn't expect games to be dirt cheap. The same people usually have no problem spending 30 bucks on a night out, but paying the same for a game that entertains you for months is expensive???

[GoldenTalon]

It's fairly priced at $39 and as others said you can wait for a sale.

[Fast Johnny]

Just a guess, but I would say these games are expensive (I don't think they are, but then again I came of age during the Avalon Hill and D&D times) because of the amount of work that goes into it, the huge amount of historical research, the formulas needed to be created to calculate outcomes, the AI programming and a whole crapload of other things that most people don't think about when looking at the hex grid. One might also ask why it takes so long to develop a good hexgame and it would be the same answer.

Also, the hexes themselves are in short supply, hexes sell for lots of money and can only be imported from the deepest mines in the highest mountains by experienced hex miners. Squares are a different story though.

[Nats]

Everything is expensive these days anyway. I go to a supermarket I get only three tiny Wispa bars for the same price as four massive ones used to be a few years ago. It's terrible.

[CageyMoose]

It's a niche game that falls within a small market. It's very well done, super fun to play and the devs are very active on forums interacting with their playerbase. I typically outright refuse to pay the full retail price for AAA titles but will happily pay top dollar for a labour of love such as Strategic Command: World at War.

Amazing hex based wargame well worth the asking price!

[n0kn0k]

Instant buy for me, even though I don't like global or pacific scenario's.
I just want to support the devs for when they make another European WW1 or WW2 scenario.
I know a few indy devs, been testing for them, including Hubert, and I can tell you they don't work normal hours. It's a labor of love, no EA game. ;) They would have made more money being a regular programmer for a big software company.

It's not a mass market game, but it is a quality niche product. 20.000 sales would be a lot. It's not like the market will get bigger and you can sell more when you lower the price. I can imagine they know very well what the expected sales and maximum sales are from other games that Matrix / Slitherine sell.

Considering the amount of hours put into the engine over the past decade, that part is AAA quality for sure. Graphics and audio on a AAA level are almost never affordable in niche market games.
It takes 2 years to develop this game / expansion. And the first one on the new engine took even longer I believe. Also new sound and graphics were made. I can even imagine less or no profit was made from that one due to the extra costs. So that has to be earned on the 2nd and 3rd game / DLC where no massive graphics or audio amounts have to be made.
So 2 years times the numer of developers working on it. Add translation(thats also expensive), marketing, etc.
All those costs have to be divided over a much smaller numer of sales in a niche market.

And there's the cut for Slitherine and Steam.Steam takes 30% if the game is sold on Steam, not sure what part Slitherine takes then. If a game is sold on the Maxtrix/Slitherine site, they get a free Steam key, and Steam gets nothing. I do hope and assume the devs get a bigger cut then also, so always buy on the Slitherine/Matrix site if you want to support te devs a bit extra. Plenty of mainstream games to buy on Steam to support them. ;)

[Silent War]

Publicado originalmente por n0kn0k:

Instant buy for me, even though I don't like global or pacific scenario's.

And there's the cut for Slitherine and Steam.Steam takes 30% if the game is sold on Steam, not sure what part Slitherine takes then. If a game is sold on the Maxtrix/Slitherine site, they get a free Steam key, and Steam gets nothing. I do hope and assume the devs get a bigger cut then also, so always buy on the Slitherine/Matrix site if you want to support te devs a bit extra. Plenty of mainstream games to buy on Steam to support them. ;)

i like to support developers too. That said, friends and family give me Steam Gift cards for Christmas and my Birthday. I still feel I support the wargames I'm interested in, even if its not directly so from their website as much as you do, my "vehicle" for doing so is just different.