Commander Prices: Too much?

The issue is that we are growing up in a generation of people who think micro transactions are a good practice. Look at the mobile scene. So many people play games like clash of clans and angry birds racing that they think it's ok to shell out more than $50 in micro transactions. And look at how popular those games are even though they utilise these greedy practices to the extreme. Now think about what will happen to the pc gaming scene if we sit by idly and allow devs and companies to slowly charge us more and more.

Yes that's right I'm saying we'll eventually end up like mobile gamers. In fact it's already slowly happening. Games like Dungeon keeper mobile didn't come out in one day. It started with visual transactions then slowly evolved to that stage because people didn't attempt to do anything about it as it got worse and worse.

How exactly do you buy the commaders? I want to buy one, but when I hit checkout, it doesn't do anything. Is it even completely implemented yet? If not, why is it even there?

issue is that people either abuse microtransactions or just do it wrong ... microtransactions in concept isn´t bad as long as it doesn´t mess with the game

Microtransactions do not = Bad. This is not pay-to-win. You can't claim fraud.

If they think it's ok - it does you no harm. Separately, you're accusing PA of something it has not done.

Who the hell is "we"? Addressed your "greed" schtick earlier. Doesn't work.

Sorry probably shouldn't have used "we" in my comment before. I'm not accusing planetary annihilation of being greedy. I'm just stating what may happen if the consumer doesn't do enough to keep pricing system under control.

Slightly offtpoic. look at how much Aussies are being charged for games compared to the rest of the world. That is because sufficient action was not taken and companies have proven they can get away with it. $99 here for some games compared to their $59 us counterparts.. And yes this is on digital stores like steam as well.

My argument is that you keep your own pricing under control. It's not a "we" thing. For example, I'm not buying these skins because I think the price is silly. Others look and say that it's trivial cash, or I want to support, or MUST COLLECT or whatever. The consumer already does keep pricing under control. You're not the only one not buying. Uber will eventually hit all price points unless they're total morons, which they aren't. It's about trading money for time.

I'm just addressing the unfair and greed issues. I think it's being tossed around a bit hastily. I'm saying that 1) It's not unfair because you've not been robbed and, 2) If high prices are greed on the part of the producer, so are low prices on the part of the consumer.

The base of my arguments to this point have pretty much been. PA is not an f2p game thus the devs should not need to charge as much as they are at this point. some f2p games can get away with charging eg. $15 for skins since they are free and that is the main source of income for the devs of those games. PA is not free and to this day people have mostly paid $50 or more for the game (not including sales) so I see no need for the sale of skins/models around the $15 price bracket. From what I know PA had an extremely successful kickstarter campaign and is also selling quite well so this further lessens the need to charge this amount for skins/models(Yes I know that developing games cost a crazy amount of money). I'm fine with them selling skins/models (especially the backer designed ones) but I am simply hoping that they keep to a lower price point and that they do not put too much of a focus on creating models for sale. If PA was an f2p game (which i'm so glad its not) then i would see the need to sell models/skins for a premium. (This is my main argument, I know I may have gone off a bit at some points)

Remember in the end this is just my personal opinion that I want to make sure is heard by others on the forums including the devs.

Something you missed on that is pretty important is that with Digital goods there is no production cost, you don't have to pay more after the first one.

The scenario you described works in the context of a Carpenter selling Shelves, if each shelve cost him 50$ in time and materials he NEEDS to sell each shelve for 50$ at least in order to break even, more if he wants a profit. But in the case of Commanders that isn't the case, Uber doesn't need to sell each commander "at a profit" so the high price points are just really weird. Especially when you factor in the situation where the 1K commanders were technically already paid for(Maybe not in full but still) so there should be even less incentive to price them high to "make the cost back".

I'd think that you;d do a lot better selling Commanders at a lower and more accessible price, it's literally a win-win situation it feels like. Many different types of consumers can take part, from people who only want a few commanders to the people trying to collect them all, this means more sales overall and essentially more money for Uber. It's the same kind of thing that results in Developers loving Steam Sales because despite the fact the games are heavily discounted they just flat out sell so many copies that they still bring in a huge profit!

Imagine if you had 10 people, 5 would would buy Commanders if they were 10$ while the other 5 said they would only buy them if they were 5$. That meas that if the price were set at Uber would make 50$ out of those 10 people. If the price were set at 5$ then they would make 50$ again.......except that the 5 people who were okay with spending 10$ technically still have an extra 5$.....what if they spend that on a different commander? You total sales would go up to 75$ from those 10 people! Thats with an Even split, more of a minority the "high rollers" become the more it shifts in favor of lower price points. Sure the High rollers won't be able to spend in total(or would "Max out" thier ability to spend money) as much money because everything on offer would cost less but everyone else would be spending money as well. Clearly this isn't a realistic example of what is actually going on in the market but it shows the power of accessibility and it's someting that Digital goods have an unique advantage on and it just really feels like a missed opportunity to not take advantage of it.

All together these weird little factors combine into something is causing serious concern among many consumers because it's just being thrust upon us with no real warning or explanation or even given the chance to offer thoughts before hand.

Mike

Once you add it to the cart. click on checkout and choose your method of payment. Give the correct information. complete the next step. Finalize the transaction.

I think GoodOak has summed this up nicely, and it really comes down to the consumer's willingness to pay. Nothing here is greedy or unfair, see GoodOak's comments, it is simple an extra that has been made available. Take it or leave it.

This is not fully correct.
A good part of the people were maybe not able to pay $50.
And don't forget that giving money in a Kickstarter is like giving money to someone in the street.
Just a plain act of kindness.
Devs just add some rewards to thank the pledgers.

This is not a free market.
Uber don't depend on these sales to survive, thus they have no pressure on lowering the prices.
Thus not buying does not change anything.

This is something I'm concerned about as well, add to that the odd facts that the 1K commanders already had what should be a goodly portion of thier cost paid for by the Backers and such and it just feels.....off. I think at this point we just need to be asking for the contextual info so we don't make poor assumptions because we really don't have all that much relevant info available to us yet.

Mike

Everything here is greedy and unfair. But then again, everything is!

If you know the sweet spot price that yields the best income please tell us and Uber. How do you tell you reached that spot? If Uber would know that sweet spot they certainly would place the price there. Even though the sweet spot just might be 10000000$ if some crazy person with too much money is willing to pay that.

absolutely not ...
they asked for support in order to see how many people are intrested in this game
no one in his right mind would just give some random person 50 dollars .. maybe a few cents to a couple bucks but never 50 bucks unless you are some wealthy dude ...
many people came with the intent of " i want this game to be made" .. giving someone money on the street gives you nothing but a mere thank you .... here you get a thank you and a game!

So people can't be kind now?

This thread is becoming a run away train.

If Uber didn't need the money, then they wouldn't charge for the commander skins at all. Clearly, to continue supporting this game for ALL of the fans, they need to make money from it. Charging for skins, which is optional and entirely cosmetic, is a good idea. It is not greedy. Greedy would be saying,"hey guys, pay for skins or we won't make more content, oh and buy that too because we will charge for it anyway."
This isn't a charity, Uber still want to make money, or did people forget that?
This isn't Amazon avoiding corporation tax in the UK, or billionaires investing their money in offshore tax havens, it is a games company offering micro transactions to fund the continuing development of their game. FFS.

Indeed, would the people annoyed about commander prices RATHER have to pay for new feature content, and have free commander skins instead? I most certainly would not.

And Uber giving money back to the backers who made the comms is them saying "hey, you helped us in the beginning, have something back". A nice bit of reciprocality, if you ask me.

The problem is not that they're using micro-transactions, the problem we're talking about here is primarily about cost. And the current price points leave a lot of people feeling left out because they don't want to spend the money and get so little actual value out of it when other games offer more value, sometimes more value for cheaper as well.

Calm down man, I never claimed to have perfect knowledge and understanding of the circumstances here, but you did give me an idea for a poll......

Mike

That last thing won't happen.

The differences in commander prices may be, but they will be cosmetic. The backers belonging to these commanders get a share, so thats why their price is so high. Now, 5 dollar ones, if you just get the one you like 5 dollars isn't that much. Even if you get 2 or 3. Then, those can have sales like these.

Basically, these prices because they are partially backer influenced, aren't entirely a sample of commander prices.