Commander Prices: Too much?

The price of the skin shouldn't be what limits you from buying all of the skins and if you're thinking as if it was, then you're approaching it wrong. Instead what limits you should be the fact that buying more than a couple of them will be useless because you don't need them. You shouldn't have any need to buy all of them, you should only "need" (If you feel the need to buy any at all, ofc) to buy a couple. They should be priced accordingly.

I really don't care how they price them seeing as how it won't affect my experience in the slightest.

Remember that, that game is a filthy mobile game
It should in no way influence decisions of PC games.
I will become very unhappy if people start using mobile "games" (i use that word lightly) as excuses for high priced microtransactions in PC games.

I'm sure you guys know what happened to the game Dungeon Keeper when EA decided to make a sequel on mobile.

I don't really get the hatred, however I am not an expert in these matters.
I don't think people should feel obliged in any way. If they want it, and can afford it, and don't mind paying, then they can buy it. I would agree that $15 is excessive, and would consider buying a skin I REALLY liked at equal or less than $5, but that's just me.

The way I see it, is that Uber are offering a cosmetic extra at a "small" price, so that they may invest the money in developing further features/extras, that EVERYONE will benefit from, for FREE. This is way better than charging everyone for new features. It isn'tlike ber are now charging us for things that were promised in the Kickstarter. Indeed, this sort of DLC means we will get all of that , and MORE, for our original investment.

Anyway, it obviously is a hot topic as people seem to be split on it, but there was my opinion

Uber did give us free skins already... but this aint a f2p game, so that does not matter. I can accept micro transaction skins as dlc, but here is why this is not okay.

1. These skins were made during development, and as such, paying is the same as pulling out content and selling it.

2. 15 dollars? Really guys? Now you are just greedy.

The skins up for purchase atm were the ones designed by some of the $1000 backers.
As long as Uber doesn't start selling their own skins/models during the dev stage there shouldnt be any big issues.
But I have to agree with you that $15 is way too much for a skin/model.

Well bear in mind this is not just a retextured skin, it is a a new 3d model. Also all of these commanders are exclusive to the $1000 tier backers - you should not have access to these at all. So you're getting something extra you shouldn't have access to. They're also purely cosmetic. Ultimately if you don't want to pay the price then don't buy it.

So what, are we just going to stand quietly on the sidelines as companies become greedier and greedier, till the point comes where they are reaching the greed of the mobile game market?

If anything we should be making as much noise as possible to make sure to keep the greed in check which is slowly but surely killing so many franchises.

Heed my words. Like microtransactions in mobile games, they will start out small and eventually grow to the point where many of our favourite games will die out.

I just wanted to comment on the whole "If you don't like the price don't buy it" thing.

I agree with you guy that it is a perfectly valid thing to do, I do a similar thing with EA games honestly, having not bought anything since the original Dead Space(Technically I also have Titan Fall but that was gifted to me in full.).

BUT there is the catch in that it should never be the First/Automatic response to what is deemed to be an unreasonable price. That kind of thing should be a last resort and no one should never be pressured to not discuss the topic just because there is such an option.

Mike

Im quite unsure how i think about it. Lets be honest, this game took way longer than they thought it would, theyre investing a lot of money and time in it, and they have to run out of money at some point eventually.
If stuff like this let them keep up the work they put into the game, im completely fine with it. Because thanks to this, the game can and will be improved, and i dont need to have the skins to improve my gaming experience, since similar models are already there for free.

It sounds greedy, but in the end there will be more content for me.

PS: Just for the glory of Satan ofc, but please dont compary PA with those filthy mobile games, where u are either confronted with advertising all day long or need to pay to have a decent amount of fun or play at all

It's completely optional cosmetic content that in no way affects gameplay.

They can charge whatever they want. If you don't like it, don't buy it. And before I get quotations of posts above that "the price still isn't correct" or "that shouldn't be the default answer" . . . it should.

This is how economics work. If Uber charge too much for these models, they're not going to see an effective return on investment. It's in their best interests - for both their coffers and PR - to find the correct price for the effort they put in.

Thus, we can assume that either the prices are an accurate reflection of that, or Uber will end up reducing said prices at the detriment of those who've already bought the new Commanders.

Maybe a thread detailing the effort that goes into prototyping a Custom Backer Commander would be appreciated?

I don't see non-Custom Commanders being priced as highly. Uber-only Commanders, I think, may end up cheaper. Only time will tell.

Wrong. PA is not real life market. Nobody can negociate the price, it is fixed.
And don't forget that they sell the game, so they already get an income from it.
=> there is not pressure of return on investment, because, well, you already payed for it.
And the commanders are skins, digital only, and can be provided by an infinite amount.
You do not pay the manufacturing, the shipping, taxes for them.
The distribution cost is just a value change in a database.

And Uber should NOT get money from them. These were supposed to be gifts from Uber to backers that helped them making the game (but it's an other topic).

If PA has an ingame store, it is a real-life market.

You evidently do not understand economics in the slightest. You really have no clue.

If you think that Uber shouldn't sell new Commanders, then I think that Uber shouldn't ever patch the game for you again. Patching a game costs money. Where do you think that money comes from.

There's a fun little irony in that these prices are too large to be true 'micro'transactions.
So all this complaining is about the microtransactions not being "microtransactiony" enough. :grin:
(I think we should coin them as "vaniDLC". "Vanity-Loaded Content".)

Ironically, in this case it's a last resort response to players who are complaining about high prices, because it's already been proven that this does no harm*, and yet there is STILL complaining that it's too expensive.

*Free2play mobile games go to considerable trouble to trap players into a psychological situation where they must purchase microtransactions if they wish to continue playing, even if the game isn't fun. PA provides no more motivation to purchase mtx than backer rewards encourage investment in a kickstarter campaign.

A. Entire games are digital only. Including PA.
B. Uber pays the taxes for any income, including microtransactions.
C. They ARE gifts from Uber to backers... With the option given to those backers to sell that gift to other players for a potential profit. Which is arguably a far better gift than 'just' having a unique status symbol in a video game.

I wouldn't mind paying the price if it meant something other than you spend $10 on one. Maybe when the ladder comes out, your rank would unlock a commander. That guy I would pay for. Like Awh crap he is a diamond player etc.

I have changed commander once since alpha and that was because the smaller commander didn't go on walks as much as others ( I thought so anyhows).

I don't mind microtransactions. It's a part of the game and it's a way I can further support the devs without having to buy the game again and have something to show for it.

Okay, I spent 290$ on this game, and am going to spend 440$ on this game once I get the retail editions. I'm also buying all three commander skins, you don't see me complaining. "Oh some people have spent over 50 dollars!" Well quite a few people that are in this very discussion, including me, have spent 90+ 200+, we are the people who think it's fine, the people that spent the most- don't you think that's silly? Also, who are you to judge what price is correct, too much, too little, when many of you seem to give the point that no matter the price you wouldn't have bought them, if you would never buy any of them, no matter the price- you have no right to judge the price. Unless you go as far as "Well I want it free!" I'm sorry, it's not going to happen; other commanders will however. If you don't want to buy any, ignore the store, flat out ignore it. If you want to get a commander, get your favorite, don't feel you must be crazy like me and buy literally everyone of them, you don't, you don't even need to buy one!

Eh well, sorry if I seemed a little aggressive, I just see this as a pretty silly argument!

On discussing price: remember that Uber (and indeed all companies that sell things in-game) have access to hard data which they use to calculate their prices. They have people working there with good marketing knowledge guiding their decisions.

I certainly have my observations - both as an individual consumer and as a market analyst - about the price Uber chooses to set for their in-game purchases, but ultimately they are a company and not a charity, and they have to pull in enough revenue to cover their costs.

If you feel the price is too high, don't buy the product - this will affect the sales data and is the best way for Uber to figure out what their optimum price point is. I really don't mean that to be flippant "don't like don't buy" comment, I'm trying to make the point that that is the very best feedback you can give.

Well.. if you look at other games, like League of Legends, different cosmetic goods for different prices is a good thing. A commander for $1 maybe be sold a lot, but doesn't feel "special" when everybody uses the commander. Only a few will buy a commander for $25 but they are certain they have something special others don't have. All this I have no problem with.

The problem I have with other games, like Tropico, is that they sold new factories. This mean the DLC isn't cosmetic anymore but forces me to buy it just to get the full experience.

I am sure Uber knows what it is doing so I trust them on this..

Djees the fuzz is great in this topic ^^ Let's be honest those that question the price and make a big deal about this, ask yourself this.

How many commanders are for sale at this moment?
How many more commanders would be introduced?
Will all these commanders have the same high price?
Are you going to final verdict this hole microtransaction thing on only these few commanders?

I have to admit i felt the same way as many of you did when i first saw the commanders and its prices, but then i took a step back and questioned myself the things i just wrote. It's good none the less to make your opinions heard because i hope that uber will be influenced by this and might price the upcomming commanders lower then those that are vailable now. I can understand why they do this and they hope they will get more money out of this then they invested. But they are going to lose some people with this concept and i bet the review score will be lower to because of it. But it seems it's a risk there willing to take, so be it.

It doesn't matter how much they cost to design or realize.

The only thing that matters, in the end, it's if you want to buy what's offered for its price, or do not. It's entirely up to the seller to make their price, and to the buyer to close the deal, or walk away.

You can't question the price, too many factors in play and they do not necessarily affect the final amount anyway.

What you could question is a moral/ethic drift that eventually brings a Kickstarter project afar from its premises. And that's a very subtle thing to judge at this stage.

Not sure whether it's already been mentioned, but the purchasing of commanders is somewhat broken on Steam if you aren't in the US; prices in-game are all in dollars, but then if you purchase something it takes that amount out in pounds (I only have experience of this with UK Steam), which makes them significantly more expensive. I'd rather not have micro transactions to be honest, but as long as it remains aesthetic only I don't care too much.