Commander Prices: Too much?

This isn't a question of us complaining about not having commanders. I more than likely won't buy one. This is about the price vs what you are getting. What I originally payed for as the game package, and what I am being offered in the game. It doesn't match up, and single asset that uses the same tech/skeleton/animation/programming/gameplay is going to be worth the same as a quarter of what I originally payed for.

It isn't fair to the people that it is being sold to, and it is wrong for customers to feel 'obliged' to buy something they want at this price. This isn't DLC its a skin, that as a few others said, won't be seen half the time in-game. What is the justification that these assets are priced at this point.

And as stated previously, the backers that got to design these custom commanders did not do so for the commanders alone. They were supporting the game. What is the reason for these? Because it has never been said to support the development of the game, and they are already selling the game as a product.

And if it is the backers listing these prices... Seriously?

And yet we don';t actually live in a free market. There are laws that protect both content creators and the consumers. Europe is starting a campaign against F2P practices that try to scam money away from customers rather than giving complete experiences that can be enhanced with additional purcahases. This is not one of them, even if it is specific backers setting the prices.

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I also am very pasionate about this as I have family members in the industry and have aspirations of entering it myself. And seeing this kind of thing hits home and is generally a bad practice. I also want Uber to succeed and not all the game to follow down the path that major publishers use to get more money from the customers after they purchase a product.

And if this is a player market, these prices will fall. I want to see what other backers decide to do if this is true. Though if anyone dares use the term 'selling prices for whales'.. I don't know what I'd do.

In addition to my comment about it being wrong for us to run Uber's business, I'd like to add that we also don't have a right to decide what other people are willing to pay. When you buy a commander, you are buying art. Some people are willing to pay a lot more than $10 for art.

We have every right to state our opinions. We should't have to remain quiet on the sidelines while companies are potentially utilising unfair practices.

Imagine what the games industry would look like now if no one ever gave their opinion. Now tell me again that we have no right to do this.

I have and always will oppose microtransactions of any sort in P2P games.

Exclusive buys are different. But microtransactions? No.

Alternate idea: subscription service for dedicated ubernet/playfab servers that can run large planets/many players.

I had to laugh. I'm not buying skins in a game I had to buy to play. Especially not with mods which will probably let you bypass paying for skins entirely. I expect expansions, not microtransactions.

Yet another person who understands and agrees with my point of view

Oh and I was just going to mention that there are some people who are supporting the idea of opening a mod marketplace to sell mods for cash.(I'm not one of those people)

It's perfectly fine. They're cosmetic only and if you don't want the skin, you don't have to buy it and you'll be able to enjoy the game as much as someone who bought them. If you don't think that the skin is worth $15, then that's cool, just don't buy it. If you think that it is, then that's also cool, purchase at will. There is nothing "evil" about these microtransactions and it's not like it's taking taking development time away from other features considering that most if not all of the work is done by the art team, who typically won't contribute much to other areas of a game's development. If Uber extends the period of profitability for PA through these enough to add more features to it before it settles into the "Maybe a bugfix patch every few months or so" state, then I have no issue with this at all especially because it may mean, depending on its success, that what would have been DLC will be free. Would you rather having to pay extra for a cosmetic or for a gameplay feature? I think the answer here is fairly obvious.

The thing is, if they can easily make this much money off of a single model, then where's the incentive to truly put any effort into any future content packs. Why not just save that money for personal use.

Hopefully the devs at uber won't end up like this though. Heck i know they're not the same games, but look at minecraft. They're still getting fairly regular content updates and there are no microtransacitions in sight.

I don't see why the price is such an issue here, it's a skin to support the devs, nothing more. If you really want to get the skin I'm sure you could find someone to give you the file (not that I'm supporting that option). BUT I appreciate the opportunity to donate money to the developers if I wanted to get a skin. -- Delta comm ftw.

The file is in the game files for everyone and it's trivially easy to make a mod to replace the model of a com that you own with one of them. No one else will see the change though.

I don't have a problem with the current commanders being MT, because the backers spent $1000 and it was part of the package, not exclusive ones but it was still part of the package and what they spent costs more than what I just spent on my entire PC.

However, if this is the shape of things to come for all future commanders that Uber will release, I think that it is a terrible idea and even though some might still buy them, the market is generally going to be small and I'm not going to spend an additional $100 on new commander skins (assuming they would of a similar price) on top of the $70 I have already spent.

I love the idea of new commanders, I love that customization option because it prevents the game from getting sterile and boring, but not going to fork out a ton of extra money just to simply have that. considering there isn't different faction armies, every single army has the exact same units always, I think being able to have a lot of different commander customization for everyone really is a must to be honest, but not for a price, not for something we have already backed and paid into, this isn't an MMO.

I know some will disagree thats fine and it is totally Ubers choice this, its their business, not mine I don't even have the knowledge about such things not really, its just my personal opinion which don't really count for much lol...

No one should feel obligated to buy all of the skins unless they already feel obligated to give Uber all of teh moneyz. If you're only going to be using one per game then it doesn't make sense to purchase more than a couple unless you have no intention of using them anyway. Purchase the one or two that you think are coolest and don't worry about buying others that you won't ever use. If you're spending $100 on coms and you think that's too much... you're doing it wrong. It's like if someone tried to buy every skin on a F2P A-RTS. It simply shouldn't happen unless someone's insane.

Game designers have many reasons to put effort in their work, some relating to money, some not. If they would now decide to sod it and not put any effort in, because they make money from commanders, what'd you think would happen at the release? Bam, negative reviews. Say goodbye to sales and potential new games. If they actually put effort in (i.e. status quo), they'll get more players (and eventually more commander purchases), so more money. So they still are required to put effort in it.

On a commercially unrelated note. Game designers are game designers because they love designing games, not because they want to make money. They put effort in it because game designing is their passion, not because they wanted a job that gets paid a lot (and if they did, they made a very weird choice).

The thing is, say they lower the prices to say $1 as opposed to $5 for arguments sake based on the idea that a lower price will attract more buyers, Uber won't be making nearly as good money since no one is going to buy 5 $1 commanders unless they're really into it - you only use 1 in a game anyway. While we may think $5 or $10 is expensive for each commander, they're the best price for Uber and they're still okay for the buyer. Too low and it would be a waste of time...Commanders are meant to be a prized possession, not something for EVERYONE to play with.

I'm absolutely fine with it. It's 100% analogous to valve's cosmetic system anyway.

Here's the thing; you can only make money off in-game sales from a game if it still has a player base. The incentive to add content is there to keep that active playerbase.

Do I think the price point is best for uber, however? Will it sell best at the price it's set at?
Not sure. For one they're definitely high quality skins. They look great, and lots of work went into them. If everyone were like me, I don't think anybody would be up in arms about it, that's for sure.

For the sake of sales however, I think we it should be considered that many people have preconceptions about skin prices that can't really be ignored.
It's impossible to tell definitively how much better something will sell at a different price point, but there are some stats I'm a little familiar with that suggest a $15+ price point for skins is usually less profitable than a comparable one below $10, at least for that game. You could argue that the skins are of lower quality (you'd be right), but you could also argue that they hold more value for a number of other reasons (much larger player base = greater visibility, more noticeable in gameplay, can be traded and marketed, etc).
Example: This item was added on the 10th of October. This one was added in the same update. The first one is $17.5, the second is $10. The second one has generated 25% more from direct sales, despite being priced much lower than the first. Was this because it was more well-received? I don't think so, they're both very comparable, and the first is for a more popular class. I strongly suspect the price point is the reason, because I don't think most people are willing to pay more than $10 for skins.

There's a lot of assumptions and quite a bit of conjecture in there though, so don't take my word for it. I could very well be wrong.

I find the prices absolutely ridiculous! In fact - though I am not interested in micro transactions n general (have never bought one ever) - it really pissed me off and I instantly shut down the game again. So, the price did not disgust me, because I would want to buy one... as I said, I never ever bought a micro transaction in any game... but for a more principle reason.

I remember uninstalling Mech Warrior Online, when I saw that mechs costed 25 dollars each and even more. But that was for a much more complex game asset than a mere commander skin! Yet the prices are pretty similar.

If you don't want the skin, don't buy it. You'll have just as much fun as someone who did and will not be at a disadvantage because you didn't buy it. There's nothing wrong with cosmetic microtransactions. It's not like the art team can do much work on big game features.

If microtransactions end up being a thing in the final game (Which i am still against), I would like it if they would at least provide reasonable prices. $15 is just too much for a single model and skin. If microtransactions like this end up being a necessity I would prefer that the skins and models be kept under the $5 price bracket unless it is a large pack of models. I have paid for a full game, and many have gotten PA for $50 upwards. This is NOT an f2p game it is a full retail game so there is absolutely no defence for microtransactions over the amount of $5, unless like I said before it is a pack and not a single textured model.

Guys, just check the price for gem packs in "clash of clan"......
My kid offered to me a nice bithday present ; 3280$ of ******* gem packs (99$ per pack) (i got refunded by Apple ). Now i'm lobbying to make him switch to Toy Rush - By the way Uber, do not kill the baby with insane micro transaction prices )
And by the way, it's not only about texturing ... it's about modelling ... as far as i understand ...