Hello community of PA Universe (yes that's how I call it) beautiful day isn't it? Here is my little investigation conclusion: What are the fears and hopes of the players of PA Universe (PA, PA:T and other PAs to come). First and foremost: the distinction between the Kickers and the Steamers. The Kickers being the kickstarters and the Steamers being (in this paragraph) the Early Access Backers (EA in this post) when PA was supposed to be Early Access, thus supporting the development of the game. Now Uber made a standalone DLC, erasing the first PA, starting on a new base for reviews (which most of them were unfair regarding how far PA went but it could have been corrected if proper "call to action" was made in my honest opinion) expanding the playability and creating new strategy by introducing new units and titans! (Great! Do you feel the gamer boner?! ). The problem is not releasing a 13 euros DLC / Standalone, it is priviledging one part of the community who supported PA Universe: the kickers. The kickers had free patch but the steamers (who bought the game more expensive) didn't! Now if the steamers (EA I am talking about) had the free patch, everything would have been smooth? I guess smoother than if Uber just privildged the kickers. The steamers felt "out of it" and to be the unworthy one even if they asked to be treated as kickers. Some of the steamers spent "so much more" they thought they deserved at least that free update. But why the kickers and not the steamers? Two reasons could be possible: - The kickstarters invested in the project earlier than the steamers. (After I don't know if steamers could buy the game at the same time as the kickers). So it's like "loyalty" reward. - BREAD AND GAME! As we said in the antiquity. Uber providing the game in exchange for bread from the players. Meaning that it was only possible to give away some copies and still get profit from this effort of making a game. Indeed, giving away too much keys could have led to less sales but could have also done the contrary. More players? More excitement? More hype! Second problem: Titans to be or not to be the standalone! When many see Titans as a standalone, other see T as a "pay to patch". We see this in many new games (CoD like) problem is... the public playing CoD-like games and the public playing PA UNIVERSE (yes I like this name!) is different and does not expect the same things. It took years for CoD to be known as the "pay to patch" and it is still blamed for it. I think people do not want to see this game become a "pay to patch" "pay to win" "pay to skin lolz rekt" game. They want their fairness based on skills and patience and add stuff with mods to change the pace of the game from time to time. Third problem: Titans retro compatibility and limited time discount. Now, I don't say it's a bad idea, it's brillant (the retro compatibility). It is nice to go back to the root (PA) without changing game to be able to play the "old version". Problem is, some people have seen it as a marketing move "manipulation" to make the company look good, just like the limited time discount, to "ease the pain until we buy it". Retro compatibility is definitely to stay, a great move and it will bring more people to evolve from PA to PA:T as PA:T people will, in the long run, want the PA people to join them (we are a big loving community just wanting to live and share formidable and epic experience). The problem is more the limited time discount: where it could have been a coupon for one game, this limited time discount give 2 problems: 1- People feel rushed and forced to buy the game because of the limited time. 2- Because it is a discount and not a coupon, people could get profit from it and buy a bunch and resell the keys after the discount is done. I mean the game is at 40 euros so if in some weeks a guy sell it a 20 euros... Well I will buy it at 20 euros. Coupons were a more profitable (even if more difficult to put in place) way to sell the game to steamers in the long run. But by doing that, some steamers could buy the game for cheap and make other profit from it (I mean, PA was a great game and PA:T is sure another one even if there is some patches and fixes to do...) Fourth problem: Abandoning and the fear of something like this happening again. PA is not available for sell on steam anymore. It's okay, we can understand it, PA:T is better and it's the same because you can play PA from PA:T just like Red Orchestra 2 and Rising Storm! Some steam users disliked it because they lost their achievements and hours of games (pride?) but more: they felt betrayed to see a game they supported fading away and in addition to the other problems their greatest fear is "It could happen again?! Ok I can buy but what if PA:T is replaced by something else? What if we get forgotten again or if the next standalone has no retrocompatibility?". Right now, they want certainty, communication and happiness. Being players instead of complainers. Uber could speak about their projects for PA, PA:T (the PA UNIVERSE ) to get players reassured, to foresee what could be coming and to know what they want. So in short: We cannot change everything, but now we have the opportunity to build a bigger, stronger and more faithful community. Do a little communicate / video to show what you are doing, what people are supporting, that Uber is a good corporation and that money is not thrown away because buying PA:T means : A - B - C blah blah blah. Free expansions in the future? If there is another DLC (to pay) talk about it briefly: people could get pissed but it is better than massive people complaining about it when the next DLC comes out: "We talked about it" so they won't feel betrayed in any way. Should we make a coupon? Make the expansion for free? If yes: do a good action for the one who bought the standalone (free next DLC? Free commanders? Refund?). In any way, as a great company, what will matter to the gamers will be what you will add to PA and PA:T to make them salivate! Want! And dream if they dream it, they will support it so that's why I tell you: communicate about your next moves! Voilà my little conclusion Thanks to all the players who spoke on this forum, the steam forum and thanks to the players who spoke with me about this subject and sharing ^.^ it was great working with you all! Anyway, for most of us: I wish a great gaming experience. EDIT : I hope this will bring more peace and understanding in every possible point of views ^^
I was rather amused by the abbreviations of 'kickers' and 'steamers', although I think the latter could be construed as not all that complimentary (e.g. 'dropped a steamer'), so I'd probably avoid using that over on the Steam forums right now haha!
Well, sure feels like some of the kickers have been doing just that. KICKING US WHILE WE'RE DOWN. And some of the steamers are indeed steaming.
In this post, I will be correcting all incorrect information and unreasonable assumptions. Also any logical fallacies. There are actually three distinct backers: Those that Kickstarted Those that bought early access solely through the Uber store. (KS -> Release) Those that bought Early access off steam in the late Beta - Gamma phase before release. I doubt it. PA has been radically different from its release form for months now. I've seen a few review changes, but they are few and far between. I mean, what incentive would you provide folks to re-do a review essentially saying the game is buggy after a year of not even noticing the thing exists? Steam EA backers did not buy a more expensive game. Far from it - the $90 price tag was fairly middle of the road, in fact. Kickstarter prices ranged from $20 to over $1k, while the Uber store options ranged from $40(release access) to $250(Alpha access and Alpha Comm). I personally payed $60 initially for Beta Access. The few Steam buyers who bought the $90 pack (which was intended to dissuade people from buying the game unless they were going to actually contribute) are far outnumbered by the Kickstarter crowd. Out of what? Uber would be bankrupt if they gave the game away to everyone in the PA community for free. With the way certain development studios have been leaning with price options in the past few weeks, I'm just grateful Uber decided ANY DISCOUNT was acceptable. Why the first reaction of these people was to scream at Uber for being unfair over what is the monetary equivalent of an XL Sausage and Jalapeno Pizza, I haven't a clue. I don't think it's acceptable behavior in our society to criticize someone's product based solely on its price. Especially considering the close relationship Games share with other forms of media and art. I don't know what these people expect, because all I hear are how they just wish it was different - there is no solution presented except those that are impossible. They went with the kickstarters because they wanted to say thank you to the first people who believed in their idea. "Indeed, giving away too much keys could have led to less sales but could have also done the contrary. More players? More excitement? More hype!" In a free market, lowering the price of a product tends to attract more consumers because more people can afford it. However, making something completely free just leads to everyone running around asking for the product with their hand held out. Not buying more of it. That's ridiculous. It's also simple economics. Dude, there isn't even an argument here. You just somehow implied that Titans is play to win with commander skins. I don't even..... who cares? Anyway, Titans is a standalone, not a DLC, because otherwise Uber would be violating a promise to their backers. People seeing such a move as marketing manipulation are literally stupid. It makes perfect sense from both a gameplay and a community standpoint. In addition, marketing manipulation has a high early payoff and, if used consistently, a high reputation hit. This specific feature causes neither of these - it encourages a higher payoff in the future as people realize they can upgrade without their friends because they can still play with their friends regardless. Considering that Jables has said at least twice that they would have made the discount permanent if Steam would let them, I doubt they are planning to take it down. If anything, it's a countdown to the next sale, because they cannot do a sale while it's up. They've been speaking out. Jables has been in the Steam forums and here answering specific questions about the game that aren't trolling. Just go take a look around. Second, those folks are fearing the unknown based on literally nothing. Uber has come through with their promises every time (with exception) and they've provided ample explanation for why things didn't go the way they expected with PA. There's no history to support their fears, which makes them baseless. Made up. Fake. It's understandable for people who've dealt with EA(the company) their whole lives, but come on.
They didn't communicate because they found a problem in the community interaction -> developer creation -> feedback loop. TOO MUCH community can ruin a game - so they took the best of the PA community's balance ideas, threw them into some new units, added alot of awesome, and voila! PAT. They also kept it a secret so we couldn't mess with the final vision that the standalone was meant to achieve. It was the right choice. It was sure to make some folks mad - but so far, I haven't seen any complaints about the gameplay or game quality. Just a bunch of people making a fuss over the pricing system. The amount of entitlement is.....staggering. Uber cares about their community. They've proved that in the most defining way possible with Titans. You've no idea how happy I am that I FINALLY have concrete proof they were listening when I layed out exactly why orbital was borked and how to fix it. It's in the game - most of it, at least (screw them explodey Jigs, man). There is a lot of misinformation being spread around. Take the time to correct it - maybe folks will change their minds.
Well it's all informations mostly based on steam community ^.^ "Here is my little investigation conclusion: What are the fears and hopes of the players of PA Universe (PA, PA:T and other PAs to come)." So basically it's not wrong, it's how people perceive this, no need to try to crush every single one of my observations, I am all for sharing and I know some of them are false The main point was to communicate and reassure the players. Inform them about the future of the game and that the game is strong and will stay in the ages.
