Okay, so I was doing the internet equivalent of channel surfing a bit earlier, bored out of my skull, when I loaded up Steam to see the latest offers and I saw this game
http://store.steampowered.com/app/233250/
I had not heard of it before, although its title does ring a bell, it sounds like Total Annihilation, a PC RTS back in the 90's that I had always wanted to play but never managed to get a copy.
So my jaw dropped when I saw the price, ?82! MY initial reaction was outrage, I mean being charged almost a hundred quid for an ALPHA? So I went through the Steam forums and saw some thoughts pro and con about it. After thinking about it, here are my thoughts on the matter.
The Steam version I see there is a different kind of business transaction to the Kickstarter, which finished last September. A kickstarter is where you're looking for funding to get your project off the ground. If you don't get funding, you don't make the game. I have no problem paying large sums of money for a kickstarter.
However, this is not a Kickstarter. This is Steam Early Access - the clue is in the title. What they are selling is primarily Early Access to the game. The only time I would be okay with charging for early access to a piece of content is if it was finished, such as seeing the latest blockbuster in the cinema for say, 10-20% extra above a regular ticket. However, this is NOT a finished game. This is an alpha. It is bug-ridden and incomplete. The official release date is months away. If they had a complete or close to complete build and were charging this much for access to it now, I wouldn't mind so much.
Some people mentioned the extras you get with the Steam game. Mainly, it boils down to a single PDF of an art book. I like art books, but I don't see where the price of a DIGITAL artbook (not a paper one, a digital file that is basically free to copy and transmit) could be so high that it merited raising the cost of the game.
Lastly, I don't hold with the concept of charging for early access to alphas at all. You're basically outsourcing your QA department. I can understand, its a tough time for game studios, and they have to keep track of their costs, but I don't see the justification in charging people to bug-hunt your game, and stress-test your servers, especially if the game is incomplete, you're missing levels, units, etc.
Basically, I'm confused at what's going through the minds of whoever thought up this price. You've got your game up on Steam, and you want as many people as possible to buy. Which is why you're charging an exorbitant price that quite frankly doesn't offer all that much (especially since I've read that on the official release date, the completed game will be much cheaper).
So people, your thoughts? I'm not looking to start a flame war, keep your opinions nice and clean.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/233250/
I had not heard of it before, although its title does ring a bell, it sounds like Total Annihilation, a PC RTS back in the 90's that I had always wanted to play but never managed to get a copy.
So my jaw dropped when I saw the price, ?82! MY initial reaction was outrage, I mean being charged almost a hundred quid for an ALPHA? So I went through the Steam forums and saw some thoughts pro and con about it. After thinking about it, here are my thoughts on the matter.
The Steam version I see there is a different kind of business transaction to the Kickstarter, which finished last September. A kickstarter is where you're looking for funding to get your project off the ground. If you don't get funding, you don't make the game. I have no problem paying large sums of money for a kickstarter.
However, this is not a Kickstarter. This is Steam Early Access - the clue is in the title. What they are selling is primarily Early Access to the game. The only time I would be okay with charging for early access to a piece of content is if it was finished, such as seeing the latest blockbuster in the cinema for say, 10-20% extra above a regular ticket. However, this is NOT a finished game. This is an alpha. It is bug-ridden and incomplete. The official release date is months away. If they had a complete or close to complete build and were charging this much for access to it now, I wouldn't mind so much.
Some people mentioned the extras you get with the Steam game. Mainly, it boils down to a single PDF of an art book. I like art books, but I don't see where the price of a DIGITAL artbook (not a paper one, a digital file that is basically free to copy and transmit) could be so high that it merited raising the cost of the game.
Lastly, I don't hold with the concept of charging for early access to alphas at all. You're basically outsourcing your QA department. I can understand, its a tough time for game studios, and they have to keep track of their costs, but I don't see the justification in charging people to bug-hunt your game, and stress-test your servers, especially if the game is incomplete, you're missing levels, units, etc.
Basically, I'm confused at what's going through the minds of whoever thought up this price. You've got your game up on Steam, and you want as many people as possible to buy. Which is why you're charging an exorbitant price that quite frankly doesn't offer all that much (especially since I've read that on the official release date, the completed game will be much cheaper).
So people, your thoughts? I'm not looking to start a flame war, keep your opinions nice and clean.
