$20 just to get a beta key!

I'm all for supporting new games and kickstarters, but charging $20 just for a beta invite is a bit steep!

I didn't have enough money to pledge to the PA kickstarter, as it was running at the same time as StarCitizen and I had already pledge over £500 for that, so i was totally skint.

However PA did get me very interested as its looking to be one of the best RTS games, and the most anticipated RTS i'm waiting for.

PA raised over twice the amount of money they were looking for, and yes bringing in more money will make the game better, which im all for, but having to pay an extra $20 on your preorder JUST for a beta key that we should get free anyway with the $40 preorder is just to high.

The $40 preorder would be better if they had a beta key

The $60 preorder should get a beta key and a special commander, stick some fins or lights on the Theta commander but at least make it different for the extra $20 we are paying. (At the moment the beta key costs half-as-much as the game is worth wtf!)

I purchased the $60 preorder as I needed the beta access, to review the game for my gaming website and I wanted to support the game.

Last i checked all of the other strategy games that don't suck were 50+ on release, and you just got the game and a box. 20 seems quite reasonable for retail access to me :<

KS Backers got somewhat of a discount for essentially having the guts to get the project off the ground.

But I think you're looking at this the wrong way, it's not 20$ for Beta Access, its 60$ to make the Game better than it already is, in return for your support you get a Game Key, Digital Sound Track, Exclusive Theta Commander, Desktop Wallpaper and Access to the Beta in order to further improve the game.

But hey, if you still feel it's "too much" don't get it, that's what being smart consumer is. I don't buy games put out by EA anymore because I know that speak a lot more loudly than online polls or forum posts.

Mike

I initially misunderstood your thread so I deleted my post, hope nobody saw it

This is a preorder so extra 20 bucks for beta access is completely normal, you buy it if you want to contribute and test the game with others.

As a backer I got the game with alpha and beta access and an extra game key for 90 bucks before even knowing anything about it. Now people know a decent amount of info about it and cashing out 60 for beta access is relatively safe since they can assume what will they get.

Lowering the beta price would just make all backers seem like idiots for spending such money before the code for the game existed. Also Uber is doing this from their pocket and a few million dollars is nothing for a RTS game of this style. Either support them or don't, not much else to say :mrgreen:

Why would you want to play the alpha or the beta anyway? Just wait till it's finished, avoid the bugs and have a better experience with the finished product.

Just put it through on expenses, job's a good-un :mrgreen:

<£15 for the retail, and £40 for beta access as well, is pretty good value for a commercial release; pre-ordering on Steam rarely goes below £34.99 (or didn't for the last 2 pre-orders I bought that way). The only drawback with PA is the lack of instant gratification; we're all stuck waiting for Uber to actually finish the project first

I've sunk over a ton in through kickstarter and then purchasing extra keys, and at this stage (having seen the livestreams up to this point) I'd say it was money well spent. It's shaping up to be as good as the promo video promised

As a side note, i always wondered why it cost MORE than the final game to have access to the BETA.
Hell, this is an almost free qualification for the devs...

And for the player, even if he can have access to the game much earlier, there are a lot of drawback :
- will still be buggy
- with maybe less features
=> in summary, not finished

That being said, if I follow my own logic, I must be a complete moron 'cause I have Alpha access...

Because otherwise there's literally no reason to ever not buy the beta version of the game, which means Uber will be stuck with huge numbers of people who have a beta key but probably don't have a clue that beta means "not done" and "please give feedback, and don't tell your friends the game sucks because you thought it was finished".

If they do as i suggest, the preorders would be better value, everyone would get a little bit extra, and they would sell a great deal more preorders, this I 100% guarantee.

We are fans of this game, we have paid and supported it, in the hopes that it will be the best RTS it can be.

Not everyone thinks like that, most of the gamers out there are consumers and want the best value for money, or will pay extra for unique items that other people do not get.
The people who are not yet fans will see it as I have said "$20 for a beta invite" and no extra in-game items.

The current pricing structure, is aimed at fanboys such as myself, not the average majority consumer.

I disagree. As other have stated, generally speaking nowadays you're spending 60 bucks for a bad console port and nothing else. In this case, you're getting a pile of things -and- beta access.
Also, I can see where you're coming from a bit, but remember that it's been almost 8 months since funding was completed, and they don't actually -need- more money. It's just bonus for them. If they desperately required more cash to make the game, doing it your way might have been a better marketing plan. As it is, they don't need more money so doing it your way would just anger all the fans who already paid at the current levels.

Lastly, Star Citizen's Kickstarter started in October, PA's KS ended in September...

Another side note: more people in your beta is not neccesarily better. The quality difference between a good beta tester, a decent beta tester and a poor beta tester is huge, but you still have to make costs for the poor ones because there is still a hardware requirement, community support, etc.

It is usually better to have 10 good beta testers over 50 bad ones in all possible aspects, and I don't blame them for putting a serious price tag on both beta and alpha access.

I payed for alpha to give the game little pushes in the right direction

Seems you mis-understood me.
I'm talking about the logic of the situation regarding the player decision, not about the legitimity of Uber for doing so (it's their game, they can do WHATEVER they want with it).
It's like going to a shop to buy a Super Yummy $10 cake.
You go, ask to the nice lady for it, hand your money, and she says : "Nope, they are still baking it. If you want it now, pay $15 instead of $10".

I can understand why people are ready to pay extra to have early access to a finished product before anybody else (human nature, ego etc).
But paying MORE for an unfinished product ? I'm still questionning myself...

Personnally, i was not really interested in thoses access, but rather by the will to see the kickstarter succeed and the nice goodies...
(another side note : too bad the alpha key transform in a beta key then evolve into a retail key. If they were 3 separate keys, I would have gladly given them away to some friend so they can test and ultimatly decide to pre-order the game...).

(this was a BIG side note, sorry about the derivation from the original topic, i'll try to stay focuced now)

I want alpha access because, well, available earlier. Plus the goodies I get on the backer level i picked. Plus being able to help Uber with bugs and shape the game and it's modding tools a bit.

Reason why I got the Alpha is curiosity, so I can help with proper feedback, personal gain(cause youtube), being involved from the very start, past boners with TA and SupCom.

I do believe out of probably around 70k people(random guess) that have the game pre-ordered, about 40k surely played both TA and SupCom and want a good sequel. I hope I can say in the name of others that we didn't think too much about the price :mrgreen:

especially if you feel like have thrown money out of the window for other not so good sequels. (Sup Com 2, Starcraft 2, Crysis 2...)

I voted with my money to show that I want a RTS game made without any "Publisher" who forces changes on the development team because they lend some money...

Also I hope a Kickstarter project like PA shows other game companies they do not need money greedy publishers like EA and that they truely can make the games they are passioned about!

So.. there you have it why alot of us payed more then the $20, which is CHEAP compared to the sh*t games that are the games are today.. not because we want the beta of even alpha access because we do care about our games and the companies that make them!

Hell yes.
Reminds me of Lucas Arts T.T
Monkey Island one of my first games and all time favorites.

Think of it like this.

"Hey, it's still in the oven, but if you pay $15 I'll let you decide what color they do the frosting in when it comes out."

People join the beta not only because of bragging rights or the desire to help, because they want to their feedback to shape the game for the better. If uber doesn't listen to the beta testers, than the whole beta test is just a huge waste of time. We join up in the beta to make ourselves heard and to hope that makes it a better game in the end.

I didn't get alpha or beta because i thought it would screw my computer with bugs. I don't mind being on the side lines doing nothing till the game is ready.