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[Mailo]

Copypasta from the sales thread, in case any price-sensitive watchers haven't bought it yet.

Distant Worlds Universe is -50% / US$29.99 as a Daily Deal @ Steam.

Given that Matrix/Slitherine usually swims against the current on sale pricing, this is a pretty good deal.

Absolutely hilarious price considering that pirating it is free.
 
I like DW. I think it's a decent game. It's not worth $29.99. It's just not worth that much. The lack of real tactical combat, diplomatic options, easy-to-access information regarding resources, cargo, etc just makes it not worth that much.

I'd pay $15 for it.

Nominal value of a new car: ~20000$.
Absolutely hilarious price considering that stealing it is free.

Er ... wut?

Good for you that you do not feel DW is worth 30$, some of us disagree. I personally am happy having payed about 45€ in total for all expansions, and I do not feel the game is lacking, even in the parts you mentioned. Diplomacy works well enough, I get all the info I need regarding cargo or resources, and the combat is nicely challenging, especially considering the in-depth ship design.

[Majestic7]

Pirating DW doesn't take it away from someone else. Thus comparing it to stealing a car is not applicable.

That being said, DW:U is worth 30 buckz, but I think Matrix are insane with their pricing. Before Universe came out, DW+Expansions was something like 100 dollars. I think the current price of 30 buckaroos is sensible, but it should have cost that from the launch. Matrix is clearly stuck in ye olde world mentality and just pocketing the savings from not needing to print manuals and boxes and whatnot anymore... While completely missing the point that many cheap sales is better than one expensive sale. Hey, maybe they think it makes them a quality/luxury brand or something.

[LoSboccacc]

Pirating DW doesn't take it away from someone else. Thus comparing it to stealing a car is not applicable.

what are developers going to eat? your rhetoric?

[forsaken1111]

Pirating DW doesn't take it away from someone else. Thus comparing it to stealing a car is not applicable.

what are developers going to eat? your rhetoric?

Pirating a game does not necessarily remove a sale. Someone who pirates a game would not necessarily have purchased the game if said pirate copy wasn't available. Pirating a game is a choice you make because you do not value the game enough to pay for it, whether that is because you think you deserve it for free or because you cannot afford it and value things like food more.

Or, in my case, pirating a game is a choice I make in order to try a game before I purchase it because video game companies lately have just been shitting in boxes and selling it as gold. If I like the game I always go back and purchase it.

[Majestic7]

what are developers going to eat? your rhetoric?

Several studies show that piracy has little to no effect on sales. People pirating are mostly those who hadn't bought the product anyway, are too poor to pay for it anyway, can't buy it even if they wanted to (due to regional limits etc) or who buy it after trying it or after the price decreases enough. In the case of no-brand products piracy can increase sales by increasing visibility for the product.

Unlike theft, illegal copying doesn't directly remove products from circulation that could be sold otherwise. In my case, I pirated a shitload when I was a penniless student; nowadays I only pirate if there is no demo and I want to make sure the product is not utter shiite. Many of the things I pirated as a student I've since bought from GoG.

[Sonlirain]

EDIT: Nevermind.

[LoSboccacc]

Several studies show that piracy has little to no effect on sales.

people developing countermeasure is a cost. people having to fight with said countermeasure on their pc (see securom breaking dvd) is a cost.

causes and effects are far above sales.

[puke]

Someone on the Matrix forum is teasing a cool sounding new mod.  They stripped out the playable alien races, and replaced them with something like 20 different human factions in different styles.  Left in indigenous creatures and non-sapient aliens, I think.

It should be officially released in the next couple of days. 

[Puzzlemaker]

One problem I have with distant worlds is the ship building.  It's there, but it seems... lacking.  Not enough info, lack of flexibility in some areas, etc.  If they expanded it, I would be so happy.

[Sonlirain]

Several studies show that piracy has little to no effect on sales.

people developing countermeasure is a cost. people having to fight with said countermeasure on their pc (see securom breaking dvd) is a cost.

causes and effects are far above sales.

GOG seems to fare quite well despite being a source of games without any countermeasures AT ALL.
DRM hurts mostly legitimate consumers (example Assasing Creed. The DRM servers went down and the only people who could play the agme were the ones who pirated it and didn't have to be alawys online)
He is right in that if the price is too high people will just pirate it. And it's not really a loss for the developer because otherwise they would simply not buy it at all.

[forsaken1111]

people developing countermeasure is a cost. people having to fight with said countermeasure on their pc (see securom breaking dvd) is a cost.

causes and effects are far above sales.

You are 100% correct. DRM and piracy countermeasures are anticonsumer and worse, ineffective. DRM is often broken within a week of a new release and while legitimate consumers have to contend with it for years, those who pirated the game have a much better experience.

[EnigmaticHat]

I think this conversation has descended somewhat.  Which I had nothing to do with whatsoever.

Back to the pricing conversation, I do think the game is overpriced.  It feels *almost* there in a lot of places, but not quite.  There's something kind of laughable about having a indie space 4x with a questionable AI and weak diplomacy and then pricing more expensive than Galactic Civilizations.

It has a lot of strengths, I'll give it that.  The automation stuff is innovative, the pirates and space animals make it so you have to actually defend your stuff instead of just deathballing spaceships and going on the offense.  Being able to have mixed-race planets and empires is awesome and weirdly absent in other empire builders.  The resource trading stuff is cool but it feels impossible to interact with except on a very basic level (make sure you have a balance of gas and ore, grab the 3 unique resources as they appear).  The ship design is good but that's become standard for the genre and there isn't enough feedback for what some of the equipment does.  I dunno, its a cool game, but its not nearly $60 of good game.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

Someone on the Matrix forum is teasing a cool sounding new mod.  They stripped out the playable alien races, and replaced them with something like 20 different human factions in different styles.  Left in indigenous creatures and non-sapient aliens, I think.

It should be officially released in the next couple of days.

That sounds awesome! I assume it's a DW:U mod?

One problem I have with distant worlds is the ship building.  It's there, but it seems... lacking.  Not enough info, lack of flexibility in some areas, etc.  If they expanded it, I would be so happy.

The only game with better shipbuilding is Star Ruler. The ORIGINAL mind you, the sequel's ship building is actually a little disappointing. Kinetic Void's is not bad either, but it's a little clunky.

[BigD145]

It's an old pricing scheme from 30 years ago when solo devs were rare and had a subset of buyers pissed off at the bigger studios. They could throw their money at fewer games. Times have changed. There are more game makers now, including some midway smallish studios. Consumers have less money to spare as food costs are up and wages are down, except perhaps in Europe and Australia. If your only market is there, fine. But it's not. It's selling worldwide. Smart regional pricing would be a good idea if reselling wasn't a thing. For the age of the game and expansions, $30 is an okay base price for a physical copy. It's a terrible sale price for digital.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

Dude, $30 dollars for the amount of content Distant Worlds has is pretty reasonable. The addition of modding tools, and a ton of replayability makes it a worthwhile buy.