this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2023
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Gaming

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[–] smart_boy@beehaw.org 57 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I really wish more indies could take on the no-sales policy. It'd give me tons more peace of mind to buy a game when I actually want to play it, rather than always waiting and doing weird backlog hoarding when Valve decide it's wallet-opening-time.

But as the video shows, the policy was a risk for Wube even back in the day -- it's an even bigger risk now that everyone and their dog expects to wait for the sale, and especially if you happen to have a game that's not quite as incredibly popular as Factorio.

[–] Renegade@infosec.pub 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Factorio is in the minority IMO. My experience has been that indie games will often, say that they probablely wont do sales as a way to engourage purchases during beta and then a bit after release when there are potential financial benefits on the line they do sales anyway. I am totally not speaking from first hand experience /s.

[–] smart_boy@beehaw.org 8 points 1 year ago

Unless they've got an instant breakaway hit (which not even Factorio was), they'll see a ho-hum launch week in terms of purchases and an almost complete flat-line beyond that. Consumers are trained to wait for the sale. And so if they want to eat and have a roof over their head, there's only one option left. It's a vicious cycle, and very few are in a position to try to break it.

[–] sparky@lemmy.federate.cc 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They should do an April fools’ sale where they reduce the price by 1 cent

[–] smart_boy@beehaw.org 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's not exactly the same thing, but itch.io allow developers to have a "reverse sale", where the price goes up for a given period. It was mostly a joke feature, perhaps intended to provoke a little thought about sales culture.

[–] EpeeGnome@lemmy.fmhy.ml 8 points 1 year ago

Not a computer game, but Cards Against Humanity did a Black Friday reverse sale and upped the price a good bit for a few days. They had to end it early when they sold out of their entire stock in about a day.

[–] crisisingot@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

I bought it right before the price increase so I told myself it was like getting it on sale

[–] Sibbo@sopuli.xyz 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How is this an unlisted video with some 250 views that seems like a high quality production on a channel with 1.2 million subscribers?

[–] DrJenkem@lemmy.blugatch.tube 28 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Maybe a leaked YouTube link from their Patreon?

[–] Deestan@beehaw.org 23 points 1 year ago

I did not think that through.

Oh well, exclusive Lemmy access promo I guess. I'll throw the Escapist an extra $10 on their next donation-enabled stream as an apology.

[–] moonleay@feddit.de 5 points 1 year ago

Not necessarily. Its also possible to view unlisted videos using a frontend like piped AFAIK

[–] Sibbo@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 year ago

Ah that makes sense!

[–] Sentinian@lemmy.one 22 points 1 year ago (10 children)

This game gets universal praise and I'd love to play it but as a PC gamer I refuse to as I wouldn't want to support a dev who not only never does sales but raises the price because of "inflation"

[–] Deestan@beehaw.org 40 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Me, I wish more games respected my time like that, instead of costing 40$ and going on 20% sale every few weeks, leaving me to hunt bargain bins to be able to get it at its "efficient" price.

[–] Sentinian@lemmy.one 12 points 1 year ago (4 children)

For me the major red flag is the price going up for inflation. The game went up in price when it left Early Access already and that was 3 years ago. But now the game is being sold as a full game sure it might get updates but one can expect a finished product to at least stay the same price, not go up.

As for sales, at least on PC games are pretty much always on sale either through steam directly or from sites like humble or greenmangaming. You can pretty much pickup any not recent game for 20% off at anytime if you search gg.deals or a similar service.

[–] Deestan@beehaw.org 28 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (-2 children)

Well, inflation is real. And they are using sales income to fund current development. That's as fair as it gets.

Would you be happy if they released it at 60$ and had periodic 60% sales?

[–] insomniac_lemon@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

If wages are stagnant like they have been for a while (at least in USA), money has less purchasing power and people have less savings/spending money. So I wouldn't call that fair, or at least not the in the sense that "we're just adjusting it". Raising the price in economic situations like this is squeezing the customers (whether it's intended or not), and I doubt most prices hikes with successful things are just to keep the lights on.

[–] Sentinian@lemmy.one 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I think this was my main problem with the reasoning being inflation. Everyone focusing on the value of the game itself. My problem is when someone blames something on inflation I think everything goes up in price except my wages lol.

[–] BuxtonWater@beehaw.org 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

My problem is when someone blames something on inflation I think everything goes up in price except my wages lol.

But that's not the factorio developers problem, that's your governments problem. So it's a bit unfair IMO to assign the 'blame' to them.

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[–] Sentinian@lemmy.one 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Well yes, if you do the math it would be cheaper then the $30 price point it's been for years. Actually it adds up to the same as a 20% sale of the $30 price.

I get the point you make. I can accept a game that never goes on sale. The main problem I have is it increasing price after 3 years out of early access.

[–] terribleplan@lemmy.nrd.li 13 points 1 year ago

The game has gotten continuous updates increasing the scope, mod-ability, stability (to an absurd degree, even cross play between Switch and PC), target new platforms (it runs on Apple silicon natively now and they did a whole bunch of work to make it work well on steam deck), etc. of the game for those same 3 years. Yes, they did come out of early access, but their approach to the game hasn't changed significantly and it continued to get better with time.

They could have called this game done way earlier and released the work they've done since as DLC, but they didn't. Instead they have massively increased the value in the game over nearly 7 years since initial early access release at $20 and have since raised the price a total of 75% to reflect this. They even gave advance notice of the both price increases.

Wube is still working on the next release of the base game, and are also working on an expansion they say will be as big as the base game. Perhaps your argument against price increases holds sway as the expansion isn't being added to the base game, instead it will be $30 (or maybe $35 given the base game increase).

I have played this game far longer than any other, and keep coming back to it when it updates or for new modpacks which completely change the experience. I would gladly pay $35 for what is in the game right now. I can understand if the game isn't for you or the price increase turns you off, you don't have buy it. In fact, unless you can afford to not sleep for the next 3 days you shouldn't, as the factory must grow and you are running low on iron.

[–] Deestan@beehaw.org 8 points 1 year ago

While we disagree severely, I am grateful to hear the "other side" in a civil discussion. I suspect the no-downvote policy of Beehaw enables this discussion and hope to find more of it.

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[–] loops@beehaw.org 13 points 1 year ago

Afaik it's not done being developed. Wube is working on another update for it still, while at the same time ironing out remaining bugs. Of course it's not as fast is it was before 1.0, but they're still chugging away at it.

[–] RandoCalrandian@kbin.social 12 points 1 year ago

Your red flag is a green flag for me. It tells me the dev set a realistic and fair price in the first place, and i don't mind the increase in price specifically because it's so cheap per gameplay/hour compared to any AAA title.

If the price was $100 it would still be the best value game i've every purchased... and i think i've spent at least that much buying copies as gifts

Not to mention the mods essentially infinitely expand the base game.

Everything about how the dev has done this has been a green flag in my book, as a consumer.

[–] iamhazel@beehaw.org 9 points 1 year ago

I'll support any company who makes an incredible game and charges a fair price without implement IAP and such.

[–] gk99@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I dunno, I don't really see it as "respecting my time." Historically, games like this have been hit or miss for me, so I never wanted to blow over $20 on it, and I certainly don't feel like $35. I would much rather just play something else I already own or can get for cheaper until I can buy the game on a whim instead of having to commit and play "check every nook and cranny for deal-breakers during the refund window."

I would also far prefer something like what BattleBit Remastered is doing. Game came out for $15, it's one of the best shooters I've played in years, so I bought the $20 supporter pack for some in-game cosmetics. Low entry price and rewards for further support. I fundamentally disagree with raising prices on existing products and hate this idea of price FOMO that has extended past early access.

[–] packadal@beehaw.org 16 points 1 year ago

Factorio is one of the very few games that has a demo though.

The free demo allows you to figure out if you enjoy the mechanics of the game, and if you don't, you do not end up with more bloat in your library.

[–] zark@beehaw.org 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

I don’t really understand your take. They sold the game cheap after 7 years of development and it’s still a really good value after the increases in price. I couldn’t praise the developers and how they run this game / business enough.

Factorio returns an ever increasing value for the money due to the continuous effort the developers have put in especially on modding, and on the ever expanding quality and amount of mods that gives you a whole new game many times over.

I cannot think of a game that has better value for money than Factorio.

The only downside is that you will spend an indeterminate amount of time playing the game and when you think your finally done, there is another game changing mod that will give you another full and even longer gameplay, for free.

There’sa free demo you can download to try it out and see if it’s something you’d value.

[–] diannetea@beehaw.org 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I cannot think of a game that has better value for money than Factorio.

Rimworld. It's the only other one I can think of that people play for insane hours, it's still my most played game and I've barely touched it in a long while, I think I have 1400ish, my boyfriend has over 3.5k hours

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[–] wafer@kbin.social 13 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Why did you put inflation in quotes like it isn't real?

https://www.rateinflation.com/inflation-rate/usa-inflation-rate/

At $35 right now the game is reasonably priced for the amount of value you will get out of it. I believe there is an expansion on the way as well...

[–] ATwig@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

$35 being reasonable is an understatement. Most people take 50h to get through their first "full playthrough" and the replayability is limitless. Then there's free workshop content that'll take abase game and add another 200h onto it (Space Exploration, Krastorio, Sea Block, Bob's, Angels, etc)

Plus: They still have a free demo with no time limit too. You get exposed to the core loop within five minutes of playing and you'll know if it clicks or not for you before you even have to buy.

I bought the game at $25 but I'd buy it again at $35 and not regret anything...

[–] iamhazel@beehaw.org 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I have like 400 hours and have never launched a rocket, used logistic bots, or made a train, lmao fml but I adore this game

[–] ATwig@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Lol. I basically only do rail worlds now or heavy mods (I'm like 75h into a space exploration run and just started going to other planets).

But no logistics bots? You mad man

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[–] HrBingR@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Logistic bots are a game changer. For real.

[–] Jako301@feddit.de 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nah, logistic bots are just a matter of convenience. While it helps with compact builds, most of the time they simply are a substitute for belts.

Construction bots are where its at.

[–] HrBingR@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

Right you are, apologies, construction bots are a game changer. Logistic bots can be convenient though.

[–] Sentinian@lemmy.one 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The quotations was due to the fact that no other digital only game increases it price after release because of inflation. I get the devs are updating the game still, but the price of the base game shouldn't go up with time. But that's just my opinion.

[–] ampersandrew@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Off the top of my head, Rain World did it too.

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[–] raydenuni@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Is it that different than adding expansions? The only difference is they aren't charging current owners for all the new content.

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[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Did... you watch the video?

[–] Sentinian@lemmy.one 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Ok, I've watched the video. I will admit I had not known about the g2a thing. While I get the sale thing a little more. I still don't see the inflation point. I get it's to continue development and such but it's only affecting new users and in a way making it harder to buy the game at the best time. Imagine if I hadn't heard of this game until it went up to 35 bucks. Sure they say the best time is now, but now this fomo is also into play as a result of the price increases this game will possibly get.

[–] smart_boy@beehaw.org 15 points 1 year ago

It went 30 USD in March 2018. It went 35 USD in January 2023. FOMO really hardly seems like an issue, especially if you compare it to the usual time-limited event sales.

[–] ampersandrew@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago (5 children)

You can price your game for what it's truly worth when you've got such a quality product. The value of the dollar went down, but the value of Factorio hasn't changed.

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