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[GiglameshDespair]

I'd get it.

[jhxmt]

So what, they should've kept the early access price and put the game on sale, even though it's now complete?

(Shrug) Up to them.  What they should not have done is raise the price and instantly discount it.  At best that's deceptive, at worst it's illegal.

What's deceptive about it?  Price goes up due to leaving Early Access.  Price goes down due to Steam Sale.  Seems pretty clear cut to me.  You seem to be arguing that the discount due to the sale doesn't outweigh the increase due to release, which seems like an odd stance to take.  Would you be less outraged if the discount were higher and brought the price back down to the Early Access level?

In other news: Elite Dangerous is on Daily Deal, 25% off (making it £29.99 in my part of the world).  Worth it?

[forsaken1111]

Worth it in my opinion. Some don't agree. I've more than gotten my money's worth from it though.

[Radio Controlled]

They could also keep early access price, bring it down the level it is now, and thereby show the 'true' discount.

[Radio Controlled]

They could also keep early access price, bring it down the level it is now, and thereby show the 'true' discount.

But why would they do that, when it's not early access anymore? This is the "true" price of the game, so this discount is the "true" discount.

Then again, the way they did it does make it look like there's a bigger discount. They could easily have waited that one week before going out of early access, but then their sale looks less like a bargain.

[jhxmt]

They could also keep early access price, bring it down the level it is now, and thereby show the 'true' discount.

Early Access was already discounted.  Because it was early access.  That was the benefit of entering into it at the early access stage (if you don't count the ability to contribute to development etc etc).  The Steam Sale is a different, separate discount process.  You're calling it deceptive that the two don't overlap when, in fact, having them entirely separate actually feels like the clearest that the developer could possibly have made it.

Worth it in my opinion. Some don't agree. I've more than gotten my money's worth from it though.

Hmm, thanks - yeah, opinions and reviews seem rather mixed.  I'll mull it over.  I've got more than enough sale goodies to distract me while I do so! 

[Radio Controlled]

I never called it deceptive, just throwing out other options.

[jhxmt]

I never called it deceptive, just throwing out other options.

Oops, quite right, misreading author names - my apologies!

[0x517A5D]

(Shrug) Up to them.  What they should not have done is raise the price and instantly discount it.  At best that's deceptive, at worst it's illegal.

What's deceptive about it?  Price goes up due to leaving Early Access.  Price goes down due to Steam Sale.  Seems pretty clear cut to me.  You seem to be arguing that the discount due to the sale doesn't outweigh the increase due to release, which seems like an odd stance to take.  Would you be less outraged if the discount were higher and brought the price back down to the Early Access level?

No, ignore the sale.

They put the price up 33% and gave a "20% discount" on the same day.

They did that before the sale even started.

That is deceptive pricing.  That's what it's called.  In, y'know, court cases as such.  Deceptive.

In the USA, it's flat-out illegal for grocery stores or furniture stores to do that.  Also I have heard it's illegal in UK, Canada, etc.

I see no reason why it would not be illegal for digital-only sales.

[umiman]

Regardless of whatever unpronounceable name is saying, I recommend tabletop simulator but only if you have friends who have it.

The UI really sucks but it's basically the best choice for playing pseudo legal fan versions of board/card games online.

I play gwent and stuff with my mates on it. But games take forever because doing stuff is so slow.

[Flying Dice]

Yes, Elite: Dangerous is well worth it even at full price. Get it while it's on sale.

(Shrug) Up to them.  What they should not have done is raise the price and instantly discount it.  At best that's deceptive, at worst it's illegal.

What's deceptive about it?  Price goes up due to leaving Early Access.  Price goes down due to Steam Sale.  Seems pretty clear cut to me.  You seem to be arguing that the discount due to the sale doesn't outweigh the increase due to release, which seems like an odd stance to take.  Would you be less outraged if the discount were higher and brought the price back down to the Early Access level?

No, ignore the sale.

They put the price up 33% and gave a "20% discount" on the same day.

They did that before the sale even started.

That is deceptive pricing.  That's what it's called.  In, y'know, court cases as such.  Deceptive.

In the USA, it's flat-out illegal for grocery stores or furniture stores to do that.  Also I have heard it's illegal in UK, Canada, etc.

I see no reason why it would not be illegal for digital-only sales.

What is your malfunction? Do you not understand that prices on games go up when they leave Early Access? Or are you complaining about the dev giving people who didn't buy it in EA a chance to get it at a discount from the launch price if they picked it up right after launch?

[LoSboccacc]

Do you not understand that prices on games go up when they leave Early Access?

what you think it's fair is meaningless in front of consumer protection laws. they could have chosen not to raise price and have a lesser discount, or raise the price and avoid going on sale (there is a cooldown period after a price change depending on countries)

I know not every case is clear cut whether it's ethically ok or not, but that is completely irrelevant, our society is not regulated by ethics by a fair margin and protection laws exist for a reason, whether you think they apply to every case or not.

[0x517A5D]

What is your malfunction? Do you not understand that prices on games go up when they leave Early Access? Or are you complaining about the dev giving people who didn't buy it in EA a chance to get it at a discount from the launch price if they picked it up right after launch?

Of course the price goes up when it's finished.

Of course there are discounts during a sale.

Phht.

That's not what happened here.  It is clearly documented that on June 5th they raised the price 33% and "discounted" it 20% on the same day.

If they wanted to give people a chance to buy it for a bit less than the final price, then they could have just raised the price by a dollar on June 5th, and raised it again later on.

They didn't do that.  They raised the price by five dollars and lowered it by four dollars at the same time.

The math works out the same.  So what?

Well, it's illegal to do that.  (In the brick-and-morter, physical goods world.)

It's done to fool people into thinking they're getting a really great deal.  In order to sell more product.  It's known as deceptive pricing.  As I've said all along.

[Sappho]

I think the difference here is that the full version of the game is technically a different product than the early access version. If they had simply changed the price, then yeah, it sounds like it would be illegal. But they didn't just change the price. They changed the product, and at the same time they changed the price. In this case, I don't think any court would consider it illegal for them to increase the base price and also offer a discount for the first few days of the new product launch, as long as the "full" version is provably different from the early access version (which it presumably is) and they were honest about the fact that the new base price is higher (ie, not trying to discount the higher price without pointing out that the price has increased). When new versions of things are released, I think it's pretty normal to have a discounted price at first as a promotion. The key is that they were open about the base price increase and the reason for it. They didn't just stealthily increase the base price then try to claim they had a discount.

[Flying Dice]

Personally I'm questioning why this is being directed at a relatively minor game that actually made clear what was going on and had good reasons for doing so, rather than (say) the actual price manipulation of things like GTA V.

Sappho is exactly correct: the launch version of the game is not the same product as the Early Access version. In fact, most games specifically state that when you buy alpha/beta access, that what you're buying is both access to pre-release versions and a copy of the finished game.

What's next, are you going to argue that it's deceptive for a game to advertise its base price when there are also more expensive editions that give you extra goodies?