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[Zangi]

Eh... most of the people who already own the rest of the game, they'll buy it anyways.  They have been doing so for the last few expansions, that is the primary fanbase, not going to change for this one.  (I'm one of those.  Yes, I consider it worth the money for all the time I have put into this game over the course of its life.)

For the new people getting into it now, its 60 bucks for the full package and modding.  (As one of those people who have been in with the bricks, I say they've got a frackin good deal.)

Though, I guess I can see your point of it being a raw deal for the primary fanbase.  *Shrug*  I'm still going to throw my money at them.

[forsaken1111]

If you don't like the pricing, vote with your wallet and wait for a sale or something.

[Shadowlord]

Where is the pre-order button?  >.>

I surely couldn't find one, not that I'd want to use it.

[Anvilfolk]

I believe the way it is going to work is sales open up on the 23rd, at which point it is called a pre-order for a given period, until it transitions to "full release" some time later and becomes more expensive.

[Majestic7]

Their pricing is still out of this world, I see. Distant Worlds seems like a great game, but they've ensured they stay niche with that price tag. I guess I'll buy it when it is for sale for 20 bucks or something. I don't get it; is it really that hard to understand that many sales at smaller price gets you more customers than a few sales at higher price?

[Anvilfolk]

They've repeatedly done internal studies that show that is no necessarily the case with most of their games, and have posted about these studies before. We had a discussion regarding that a while back.

[BigD145]

Steam exposure is going to make all those numbers obsolete.

[Retropunch]

They've repeatedly done internal studies that show that is no necessarily the case with most of their games, and have posted about these studies before. We had a discussion regarding that a while back.

I can't find those studies, and I'd be hard pressed to believe any of them. By that I just mean that I can't imagine how they could have possibly done a rigorous test of that and as BigD says - it won't play well on Steam at that price I wouldn't think. Steamers are usually used to a lot less for AAA, so it's gonna be a hard sell for something that looks on the surface pretty bad (graphically/interface) in my opinion.

The game itself isn't too niche (there are a lot of GalCiv fans and stuff) and I do understand the economics behind pricing your product highly so it looks better (I can't remember the name of the effect though) -however I just think this seems money grabbing rather than anything else due to it just being a re-pack plus modding, which they said they'd do in a patch in '10 (which I found whilst searching for those studies)

[hemmingjay]

Also, a smaller user base that generates equal revenue is preferable as it is considered a more predictable group with likelier brand loyalty, closer community, less likely to disrupt the forums, etc. A smaller group is generally a more manageable group and therefore requires fewer resources, thereby multiplying the profitability. It's all theoretical but it's backed up by casual evidence.

[Retropunch]

Also, a smaller user base that generates equal revenue is preferable as it is considered a more predictable group with likelier brand loyalty, closer community, less likely to disrupt the forums, etc. A smaller group is generally a more manageable group and therefore requires fewer resources, thereby multiplying the profitability. It's all theoretical but it's backed up by casual evidence.

Seeing as this is their (probably) final release in the series, it seems a bit unlikely they'd aim for that, and even if they did, single player/non-micro-transactions a sort of one shot thing. You either get the customer or you don't, and there's very little management at the other side of it.


 

[snelg]

I would perhaps have expected a bit more in the release, but at least it's less expensive than previously. Hopefully there will be something more in the updates to come after the release, there have been plenty of updates and fixes to previous releases at least. Modding support sounds good if someone picks it up and works it into something great, not sure how extensive it is though.

I'll probably end up buying it anyway since I already have the game and the expansions. I was under the impression that there would be some kind of preorder and getting some kind of coupon based on previous games you own but can't find how. Perhaps that's just after the release?

[forsaken1111]

Call me crazy but I'd be willing to pay upwards of 10 bucks just to have it on steam. Getting new downloads of each game/expansion from their system is not easy. They've changed content distribution systems between two of my purchases so it takes a lot of email traffic and head scratching to get the games I paid for, and even longer to install each one. Maybe steam has me spoiled but I do love the game and go back to play it often. It is the only 4x where I feel like an actual ruler and not some poor guy who has to do everything himself.

[Zangi]

Steam sales, 20$....  you need to sell to 3 people to the one person for a 60$ game.
Reckon that the 60$ per person is bringing in enough to be relatively comfortable, since it probably gets most of its sales from loyalty and word of mouth. 

(Also, you gotta consider, way back when.  Steam was not as big as it is now, when they first decided that it was not a good deal to sell through em.)

[motorbitch]

that pricing policy does not make any sense to me. the loyal player base owns the game already and wont buy the game again. 
looking at the prices, i am leaking the phantasy to imagine someone becomming a new loyal base player at this point.

however, my phantasy totally allows for tons of persons getting interested into the game with the release of the new expansion, but that never spend a dime on it because paying so much on a game  would be crazy stuff. especially a 4 years old game.

[forsaken1111]

So anyone know where you actually get the steam key?