Disappointed About the Pricing

That's about time when you have to explain to people that games provide MANY more hours of entertainment than most forms of media. Pay $10+ to go see a movie for 2 hours vs $90 on a game you may very well end up investing 100+ hours into. Gaming is actually a relatively inexpensive hobby over time, all things considered.

I suspect I will spend over 500 hours playing this game over its life span. Maybe more, maybe less. For the $200 I invested in it, that's like 40 cents per hour. Now imagine if I had only paid $90...

So in conclusion, get over it. It's $90 whether you like it or not. (@OP)

It's all relative as you've stated. For you, $90 is a mere pittance considering how many hours you plan to play PA. For others who don't plan to devote as much of their free time playing PA, $90 is an extravagance.

Personally, there are a lot of good games on the market and soon to be released that will occupy what limited gaming freetime I have. So, PA is not worth $90 to me even though I could easily spend $90 without thinking twice about it. I spend at least that much on a golf wedge alone.

Where in the US do movies cost $16 per ticket? I'll be sure to avoid that place at all costs....

@OP as in the thread author, not you, and no offense intended either way.

Oh, and I saw that chart on Cracked a few days ago lol

Plus that 500 hour estimate is subject to change and over a LONG period of time. I may play it for five minutes and get hit by a bus that somehow managed to get to the second floor corner of my house; who knows?

I too have tons of other games to play but I've always been a very devoted RTS player, above all else. And really, those are the people the alpha stage is for. If $90 is too much for you to justify on this game, wait for release, or pre-order in the Uber store. Nobody is forcing people to buy the game, and access at this point in time is a privilege.

Not to mention that some just don't have the money. But hey, that's perfectly fine, because, y'know, it'll be a much better game for less than half of the current price in less than half a year! Quite brilliant, yes?

Wow, you must be a really cool rich kid! I have so much respect for you! And it totally does not make your rants about pricing superfluous and unbelievable.

And my response...

Don't like the pricing? Wait / don't buy it.

It'll be cheaper than most games when it's finally released. $40 < $60

I think that high price for alpha is a bit wicked, and can kill PA on mainstream.
Bad publicity is always bad:
http://steamcommunity.com/games/233250/announcements/detail/1658730021561594175
Lost customers are way too difficult to recover, once people thinks X is bad/overpriced, it's really hard to change their minds. Like this:
archimedes 13 Jun 2013 @ 1:01pm
"this is bull there killing there game with this crap price i will not even come back to see if its cheap later thanks for runing this game into the ground uber"


I supported Uber on PA Kickstarter, but with a reasonable amount. And that's just because I want to get more indirect support for SMNC (I was a RTS fan but on the older ones Starcraft/Warcraft II and such). Silly me.
On kickstater high pledges are reasonable, you like a game idea and you want to support it. But once funded, using steam to still trying to get high pledges (without any other option) aren't OK. Steam is not Kickstarter, and if they said it's funded, it's funded. You shouldn't ask for those insane prices that in the end take a lot of potential customers away. The Kickstarter excuse for high prices is a nonsense, high prices doesn't mean high revenues at all. It happens on SMNC and happens on PA again.

The asking price is way too high for a game in alpha state, you can fill up with "collectors" stuff (some people like, some not), but in the end it's just a game in alpha. With 90USD you can buy 2 AAA+ games, and on prepurchase many of them gives you another game for free.
You are funding a future game, so they save taking credits from a bank, or even they got $$ from storing the cash in bank deposits. This is very important on business. Only by this fact the alpha should be sold cheaper than the final version.
You have no waranties if the game is going to like you, you can make suggestions on the development but in the end it isn't your game, it's Uber's game. You are effectively risking 90USD on something you may like, but you don't really know.
You are polishing the game for free. More $$ saved for Uber.

Asking for insane amounts of money on Steam it's not the best way to promote a game. They are wasting marketing "shots" on Steam. It's way better to "sell" the alpha to 4 gamers at 30 USD (a less obscene amount for an alpha) than sell only one alpha at the overpriced value of 90$.
On Beta the game will be equally high: 60 bucks ( !?!?!?). The game can be burned on Steam due to that initial overpricing. AAA+ games are usually sold at 50 USD, standard games at 30$, indies at 15$. Why in the world an average gamer will buy PA at 90USD!?!?!?

Don't take anything people on steam say too seriously.
Especially "I'll nevah buy this!"

There are 2 other options in Ubers own store. Plus it is clearly stated on the steam page that the price will go down considerably when beta/release is reached. If you don't want to wait it's pricey. Less waiting time = More expensive. Simple logic, simple to understand but there is a surprisingly large amount of people who seem to think that "alpha = a way to get a game cheap, because ...uhm... your sole participation in it helps the developer."
And these people now realize that their believe is wrong.

The target audience of PA does not consist of average gamers anyway.

Very good depiction of the situation. I am pretty sure in the end I will have spent only cents per hour for PA as well.

Yes, I do spent too much time on Cracked. It kills time quickly.

But... I agree with you...?

Not true. There is a mountain of evidence going back over 100 years that directly contradicts your statement. Please see super market tabloids, the paparazzi industry, and most of the E! TV channel for modern examples.

If they didn't buy the game they are not customers and are therefore not lost customers. They need to be won, not won back. This is a very important distinction. Most people like archimedes will be won over later regardless of what they might say now.

That does seem a bit silly yes. I don't recall the Kickstarter for PA being in any way related to SMNC or future SMNC development.

Says who? Everyone is free to decide if they want to back PA during the alpha. Do you have any idea how little $2.2 million is in the world of game development? Also, there are other options. Such as the $40 pre order.

Please tell me, from which accredited university did you get your degree in marketing?

I think companies like Mercedes-Benz, RalphLauren, and Apple would disagree.

I don't see what SMNC has to do with PA. They are totally different games with totally different revenue models.

This is the idea. It is supposed to be too high for most people. Please think about the purpose of an alpha and the meaning of the term exclusionary pricing.

You seem to have a basic grasp of the capitalist system. Perhaps there is hope for you yet.

That is only true if you are trying to make a profit during the alpha. What makes you think that Uber is trying to make a profit during the alpha with PA?

So? Steam is not so important that a game can't be successful without it. Please see every Blizzard game ever made and the more recent entries in the Battlefield series as examples.

They aren't supposed to. They are supposed to pre order PA for $40 or wait till PA is released. That's why PA is not available for general retail and is instead an early access title. Calm down.

I thought it was sarcasm. Apologies :lol:

But yeah, those people on Steam are crazy.

From the beginning, Uber decided to go with crowd funding because this game was a labor of love for them, not a game backed by a publisher with the sole intent of making money. Just wait til the good reviews come rolling in. Forget the naysayers, continue on doing what you guys do best.

Can I ask a politically incorrect question? What makes you an expert on game pricing? You seem to have strong opinions but haven't really posted any data to back it up.

Who buys books when you have libraries?

Book from library: 2 trips to library
Bought book: 1 trip to bookstore / internet

Heheh. I ask the politically incorrect questions so you don't have to neutrino.

As neutrino alluded to, since he has access to the Steam sales figures for PA I think he is in a much better position than anyone who does not work at Uber to decide if the current pricing model is working out well or not.