Solution for the Steam issue

Lately i've noticed the hordes of people complaining about the pricing of PA on Steam, and no i do not agree with them that it is too much to pay at this point.
My suggestion for you to fix this issue is to take down the early access on steam, and only have a preorder with the pricetag for the retail release. For the people who want alpha access, just link them to the uber store, but just have the retail release preorder on Steam with the final retail price.
Although I'm not sure if this is very good damage control against everyone out there on the web complaining about the price, I just wanted to post my solution for the issue at hand.
If any of you have any other suggestions, i'm open to hearing about them.

As someone who would love to have the Alpha launchable via Steam, I'm inclined to agree with you. The sheer number of hissy-fits I've read through as a result of this pricing is utterly staggering.

It might be better just to call the whole Steam thing off until beta / release...

I doubt Valve will be happy about that because they haven't get their % when somebody buy game directly.

That's exactly what i'm thinking.
I was browsing a few gaming sites earlier and was shocked when reading the comments sections.

I think this is a good idea too. It would definitely calm things down. Or better yet, throw in free TF2 hats and skins if you pay the 90 bucks on Steam and you will see all the complainers over there demand Uber take their money now!!

Why can't people understand it would be a slap in the face to the people who backed it thought KS if they dropped the price for alpha access.

It's not hard to understand...

The problem is it does not tell people the price that it will be at release.


What Uber need to do is make 3 clearly marked buttons for each level of access.

Alpha (Instant Access) - $90 - Buggy as hell won't be fun to play, for mental fanbois only. (Thanks for the financial support chaps...)

Beta (Access September) - $60 - Few bugs, a bit better unbalanced though.
For RTS fans and the impatient.

Release (Access December) - $40 - For the unemployed, don't cry when Spinewire crushes you on the ladder as he has been playing it for half a year before you, thems the breaks kid.


If they did this then I think they crying would lessen quite a bit, and $40 for a game is pretty cheap.

However if it was adversely effecting them i'm sure it would change, as they are 2nd? In the top selling titles on steam atm. I'm guessing it's made no difference other and generating a few more hits for there website.

The fact is people and piss and moan about price as much as they like, it's they are still paying for it then it does not matter. If there was all this hate and not a single copy had sold on steam i'm sure someone at uber would sit up and take note. That does not look like to be the case tho.

Just remember, the next time people from the community demand you bring a game to Steam.

• You slap them across the face, and remind them of what happened the last time it was tried.

When I was reading some comments on other sites, some people kept defending the game saying that if they lowered it from $90 it would result in a backlash from the people who kickstarted it. But quite a few people don't seem to care and say that it doesnt matter and the price should be lowered anyway, eg. ("because minecraft was cheaper during alpha").

People are selfish and feel entitled to cheap games on steam. That is the culture it has built around itself.

See the issue occured when people started to attribute backing money to alpha access...

NORMALLY how stuff like this works and every game I have ever alpha'd for works is you either
a) pre-purchase at retail price AND then get added to the alpha/beta
b) some form of closed alpha/beta exists and it is a lottery if you get in (closer to retail more access).During you are given an option to purchase.

The issue with PlanetaryAnnilation is essentially it is viewed as paying to alpha.
Sorry but that is just wrong! paying todo the work for a company? I have done enough alpha for software and hardware to immediately see where hte issue is (in some cases at retail a discount is given due to participation in improving the product).

but thats not what initially happened here. Uber requested additional funds to make this game possible (that or it would have been via some big publisher and a loss of control in the design would have occurred...). Staying independent has its benefits THUS backing it made sense, like HumbleBundle and pay what you want.


The thing is now... its backed, its exists, funding exists to "complete the game" if you believe Uber's PR (now if they turn around and say the kickstart money wasn't enough to finish the game then we have all been lied to.. retail and sustaining is different)
Thing is they then opened it up to Steam with a value at $90, the value attached to "alpha access". Uber are now basically saying "you pay us to fix our game"


should never have gone up on STEAM as an alpha offer...

This is exactly what is going on. And that is how it is supposed to be. Nobody is forcing you to buy the alpha. Try to think about what the purpose of an alpha build is. Then please take a class on economics and exclusionary pricing. Also please try to understand the difference between Steam early access and general retail availability.

Do you have any idea how low budget PA is? $2.2 million is chump change in the game design world. Its so low its almost laughable. There is no way that Uber would be able to fund PA and still turn a profit if they went the HumbleBundle route. There is a reason the games in the HumbleBundle are super mega low budget titles for mobile platforms and not multi million dollar projects.

Once again you totally fail to understand how much it really costs to make a game. Also there is a difference between simply "finishing" a game and really "completing" it before you ship it. Please see KOTOR 2 or Xenogears as examples.

Then don't buy it. Uber does not expect or want most people to buy the alpha. Try to think about what the purpose of an alpha build is. Then please take a class on economics and exclusionary pricing. Also please try to understand the difference between Steam early access and general retail availability.

Why not? Some people in other countries who want to be part of the alpha wouldn't have been able to participate if it were not on Steam. Its not like PA is being marketed as available for retail to the general public. Or do you not understand the purpose of Steam early access as opposed to the Steam retail store?

I think the easiest solution would be to just remove the game from early access and simply provide all of the tiers available on the Uber Store for preorder, and simply note at which levels you get access to what. Steam's Early Access service is just not providing the sort of overall clarity that the situation needs, and leads to people making rather foolish kneejerk reactions. The ability to show all of the available access tiers would be a huge help along these lines.

It's not going to deal with the people who seem to think that they should be paid to bug test (har har) any game they should happen to be in the alpha for, or who believe they should get steep discounts for alpha or beta testing, but I really don't think anything is going to appease such people. But I think better clarification than what Steam is allowing for price points is important.

I agree that clarification would help an awful lot. But it still doesn't mean that people are justified for being whiny little children about it. Its not like the information is hidden or hard to find. I mean everyone knows how to use Google right?

You'd actually be surprised. A lot of people tend to be more interested in reacting than actually gathering information regarding an issue - after all, its more fun to rage about something and feel self gratification and justification than to find out if you are actually correct or not. Crusading against the 'evil company' 'out to gouge is customers' makes you into the hero standing up against the evil empire, something that doing research takes away from you.

I agree it would be nice if people did more research and had better founded opinions - but expecting them to do that sort of thing is just asking for a world of sadness.

But to be honest, this just goes to show that Steam's Early Access program is not a good thing - I don't think its appropriate and it clashes with Steam's nature as a storefront as opposed to a game startup or backing revenue generator. I would prefer to see Uber disengage themselves from that aspect of the service and *just* offer preorders on Steam's storefront. Its bad business supporting bad business with how the setup is now, and its not doing Steam or Uber any good to leave things in their current state. The longer Uber is *not* allowed to show all their offerings on the Steam Store Page, the more they are letting Steam's rather wrong footed policy continue to hurt them.

* I'll add that I do have Alpha access myself from the $90 package in the store. I would just prefer to not see people raging over a game that I'm looking forward to when some minor tweaks could take care of the problem.

Didn't see this topic while I was making my own :? , ah well.

I think there are 2 real solutions to this:

1. Remove early access until Beta

2. Charge Beta price for the entire duration of early access. If Uber were to go with option 2, then find some way to compensate all previous alpha backers. In-game content would probably be acceptable for a majority of people (including myself).

Steam can't handle a $90 early-access title, it's abundantly clear. It doesn't matter if they are wrong, or there is a large demographic of gibbering morons making wild accusations... this game's public image is in danger, there needs to be some solution.

I think you are correct here and that the blame lies with Valve and how they have presented their early access program.

This may be reasonable.

No. Just no. This would defeat the purpose of the alpha. Stop being stupid.

Nothing is in danger. There is no such thing as bad publicity. If people feel that $90 is too expensive then they can choose not to buy it and pre order the game for $40 instead.

Replacing the $90 alpha access on Steam with a $40 pre order might be a good idea though. They will probably get more sales that way.

What they could do is throw in an extra alpha/beta copy to Alpha purchasers to give to friends. It is generally easier to find bugs when you have a partner to find bugs with than an AI interested in stomping you.

Except that there currently is no AI in the alpha.

I'm really not sure why Steam didn't allow for this sort of setup. It would have (probably) completely avoided the "explosion" of the forums there.