Stardock following Uber's example?

Galactic Civilizations III is available on Early Access for €92,99. Seems like Brad Wardell is taking a page from Uber's book, starting with a high price and lowering it as release approaches - only they didn't have a Kickstarter up.

What do you think, is it better to start with a small number of very dedicated fans and a high price or is it better to open the floodgates during alpha with sale prices to go up later?

Fun fact: Bob '00027' Berry (CEO of Uber) and John 'Scathis' Comes (Mr. Uber Awesome) developed Demigod during their time at Gas Powered Games. GPG's CEO, Chris Taylor, had planned to finance the entire game by themselves but during the last months of development they joined up with Stardock. Stardock's CEO Brad Wardell is now working on the third installment of their priced 4X game
Galactic Civilizations.

Woohooo, typing all those names brings back some memories! Nostalgia, GO!



PS:

IT IS ON NOW, Brad!

Makes absolute sense to me. The earlier you want in, the more you pay. The longer you have access, the more you pay.

yep, seems like a good model to me. But PA really puts that game to shame.

Is it still turn-based? I hate turn-based.

The video I saw on steam looked like a turn based board game.

Yeah, it looked like a turn based, 2D board game. Not really that great. Except for the ship editor, that seemed like a neat idea.

GalCiv is great fun and incredibly addicting. What make me concerned is that I can hardly see any difference between the new announcement videos and the predecessor. I'm not sure how they want to improve GalCiv much anyway. It was already pretty damn good.

Stardock hit a rough patch in recent history, but I like where they're going.

Returning to GalCiv is probably no mistake considering how many players have fond memories for it, nostalgia bonus guaranteed. I wonder how much they can actually change and add to GalCivII before they lose much of the nostalgia. From the gameplay video it almost looks like I remember part II, down to the resource symbols. Nicer graphics of course.

I think they are probably trying to go the same way as Sins of a Solar Empire. Better diplomacy, more win conditions, larger starbases, super capital ships...

Not bad but my turn-based needs are fully covered by XCOM atm. I'm glad they open the game up early to the players again and I really hope they listen to the feedback this time. Being overconfident with Elemental was what caused their rough patch. Seeing Impulse in the hands of Gamestop still makes me cringe...

PS: I forgot to put the trailers into the OP, here they are:

I actually agree with the decision to sell it to GameStop wholeheartedly.

I have to admit I haven't touched Impulse since that day although I have games on it. What changed for the better in your opinion?

PS: Here is some gameplay. The vids are from Das2480 so you need a bit of patience. Faction selection starts at 6:00 and gameplay at 15:00 in the first video.

Oh. AT 17:26....They forgot New Zealand.

I didn't realise the full story behind Demigod's unfortunate history until @garat explained it to me. In a way, though it was a good thing, because it allowed Uber to soak up all the talent

Stardock sank Demigod with their absolutely dire multiplayer setup, all the while making out that they were riding in to save GPG during the course of fixing it. Disgusting.

Stardock does dev streams on twitch as well, there have been two so far.

http://www.twitch.tv/stardock/

I know right? xD

Mike

This business model is complete infamy.
Pay more for a unfinished product is a non-sense.

What proove that the devs will be able to deliver the final product ?
It's like going to the bakery, and the baker tell you that he will prepare some specials bread for next week (and in infinite quantity).
If you want, you can receive one now, not baked, ugly, not tasty, and at 5 time the price.
Or wait next week and received the nicely baked, crispy and tasty bread, at a normal price.
The baker can suddently go down, or decide he will not prepare the bread because of any reason, and you payed an extremly high price for nothing.

And don't say i would be able to ask for some special coating on the bread, it will not happen. Baker will not change his whole receipe for one person.

It's a little more like:
A baker tells you he has a plan for a new special bread. If you pay more now you get immediate access to every single iteration of new bread he bakes, and can give feedback on what you do and don't like about it.

Alternatively you can wait until he perfects the bread and pay normal price when it is ready to be sold for a regular price.

I disagree.
(and i just remembered that you already used that example last time i used my example, have to find a new one )

I'll try a better example.

Take EA.
Imagine them working on a new game (we'll call it Bob).
With two prices :
- Buy Bob now ! You'll have access to all versions we are willing to release to you. It will be buggy, not working, impossible to use at start, but it will improve over time with your feedback and testing during the two next years, so we'll be able to sell a perfect product on release. $100.
- Buy Bob in two years, when it will be finished, nice and clean and smooth and perfect. $20.

Summary :
- pay us to do our job (testing, selected customers feedback...)
or
- enjoy the finished product at a normal price

What version will you take ?
Big chances are you'll take the second.

Small studios have a nice aura for Fans (nostalgia is powerful...), and Fans are ready to do anything to support what they like, despite all common sense.
But even if it comes from a nice idea, it is basically milking your Fans, extract all you can from them (money, knowledge, work) to be able to make more money after.
(in PA's example, they made the Early Access at a higer price to be in line with the Kickstarter's tiers, which was a mistake from my point of view)
(remember, Kickstarter is not a pre-order or a store or anything like that, it's a funding plateform : you're just giving altruisticly some money to some persons for their own interest and profit, and you get thanked for your funding by some goodies (that can be anything, not neccessary related to the product you funded by the way)).

Early Access is already bad (but i can accept it, some small studios could need some funding and get it that way), but Early Access at a higher price is an aberration that must be fighted against.

The price was higher earlier to ensure only people who actually care about the game and will test/bug report end up with the product. I assure you the forums would be FULL of idiots complaining if they hadn't done that.