Planetary Annihilation at 90$ on Steam

[thespyisdead]

Yesterday was a regular day: got up, ate, derped on the internet did some work, and then looked at Steams main page. there was, however one thing that stood out like a sore thumblanetary Annihilation's price point.

after reading what people have said, this was the same price for the game in it's current state on kickstarter. That's all fine and good, but i kinda feel that this is not a very good price point for a game to come out on Steam. By doing this, they scare a whole lot of customers that want the game.

i kind of understand their reasoning behind this (more money for development), but for a Steam game, that is not even finished, i think this is a bit over the top.

what are your thoughts on this?

 

[Sir Pootis]

I agree, especially for an unfinished game. They don't even have the excuse of it being the publisher's decision, being a self published game. I'd never pay $90 for any game, regardless of quality. It's just unreasonable.

 

[Foolery]

Wow. It's a bit much. For an early access game. I don't really understand the reasoning behind that price. The funding on kickstarter was met. $900,000 goal, and $2,229,344 was received. I could buy a decent number of other games for 90 bucks.

 

[OneCatch]

Wow. It's a bit much. For an early access game. I don't really understand the reasoning behind that price. The funding on kickstarter was met. $900,000 goal, and $2,229,344 was received. I could buy a decent number of other games for 90 bucks.

Seconding this. Really, as a way of showing they appreciated the extra funds they could have reduced the cost. Unless they're now going to release more DLC as a thank you or something?

Either way, £70 for a game is bloody ridiculous. I mean it looks good, but for that price I'd want to sink hundreds of hours into it. For comparison, you can get the Total War master collection for that price, which includes every vanilla TW game since 2004. 7 games, 2 standalone expansions. Literally thousands of hours of playtime.

And indie devs pulling that kind of pricing crap is just going to allow and encourage big publishers to get away with it also.

 

[KungFuJazzHands]

Some folks over at the Steam forums are defending this by claiming that the $90 price will make for better QA testing. Since when did price dictate the quality and competence of any tester? If that's the best justification they can come up with, they're not going to convince anyone that has a modicum of common sense.

It seems to me that the devs are settling at that price point because a) they're getting greedy, and b) they didn't want to offend any of their original Kickstarter contributors by offering the alpha at a lower rate to latecomers. That's pretty bizarre reasoning, IMO -- the last time I checked, Steam was not a funding portal. It's there to showcase and sell games.

 

[NinjaRock]

Some people seem to be misunderstanding the purpose of Steam Early Access. Uber put PA on there so that people other than the Backers could (if they wished to) get access the the PA Alpha. It was $90 dollars for everyone else, Why should it be different for Steam users?

Uber didn't release it on Early Access to get more money, it was to let more people play. Lots of people who backed the project on Kickstarter wanted to be able to use Steam to update and run PA. Uber has obliged, and kept pricing consistent.

If you didn't get a chance to fund the game during the kickstarter, you still can. At the SAME PRICE. (dependent on steam regional pricing policies)

I backed it at the $90 level specifically to get Alpha access. I (and lots of others) would be very upset if others got access for less. I thought it was worth it at the time. And I still do now.

I like the direction the game is heading and I like being able to test things out and use that to get a feel for where things are heading. The developers at Uber are also very involved with the community and are taking input from them.

You are paying more the ability to A) Access it 6 months early. B) Affect the direction of the game.

 

[KungFuJazzHands]

Some people seem to be misunderstanding the purpose of Steam Early Access.

Who here exactly is misunderstanding the purpose of Early Access? This thread is about the disproportionate price for the Planetary Annihilation alpha build itself, not the Early Access program.

It was $90 dollars for everyone else, Why should it be different for Steam users?

Because Steam isn't a development fundraiser, maybe? Anyone who felt the urge to contribute to the Kickstarter fund already did so -- if Uber still feel the need to continue that with the Early Access program, they should be stating as much.

I backed it at the $90 level specifically to get Alpha access. I (and lots of others) would be very upset if others got access for less.

You'll have to pardon me for being a bit insensitive here, but losing that kind of exclusiveness is a risk you eventually take when you put money into any Kickstarter project. As I stated above, if Uber still consider their game to be in need of funding, they should be making that obvious on the game's Early Access page.

Honestly, if you're so concerned about something like Kickstarter exclusivity, are you also going to complain about the people who will eventually end up paying half of what you did when they choose to buy the game on release day?

You are paying more the ability to A) Access it 6 months early. B) Affect the direction of the game.

I don't see how any of that justifies charging $90 for what amounts to nothing but glorified QA testing. Besides, plenty of other Early Access participants seem to be satisfied with charging reasonable prices for their products.

Sorry, but I'm going to have to chalk this one up to basic greed.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Sorry, but I'm going to have to chalk this one up to basic greed.

Wouldn't be fair for the people who paid $90 on Kickstarter for the early access to the beta to give people on Steam early access for a cheaper price. That isn't greed, and people in the gaming community seriously need to learn what greed actually is. What they are doing is keeping their commitment to the people who already paid for early access because if they didn't, the same people would be going on about how they lied to everyone and took advantage of the people from Kickstarter. The game probably got through Steams approval process, and they had the option to put it up for early access, so... why not? And, like always, if you don't like it, don't buy it.

 

[KungFuJazzHands]

Sorry, but I'm going to have to chalk this one up to basic greed.

Wouldn't be fair for the people who paid $90 on Kickstarter for the early access to the beta to give people on Steam early access for a cheaper price. That isn't greed, and people in the gaming community seriously need to learn what greed actually is. What they are doing is keeping their commitment to the people who already paid for early access because if they didn't, the same people would be going on about how they lied to everyone and took advantage of the people from Kickstarter. The game probably got through Steams approval process, and they had the option to put it up for early access, so... why not? And, like always, if you don't like it, don't buy it.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I was under the impression that Kickstarter backers for the game already had access to the alpha build before it showed up on Steam. If that's not the case, and the version that's on Steam is the first version that anyone is getting access to, then the $90 price makes a lot more sense.

Regardless, Uber could have avoided this whole controversy and just ignored Steam until they felt the game was ready for final release.

 

[Undomesticated Equine]

If it is too expensive to buy for you then do not buy it problem solved. The game is not finished you want to try it out early pay up if not wait for regular release. They wanted to offer people who did not back the game to get in without screwing over the early supporters who helped them with Kickstarter. And now bunch of spoiled whiners are trying to give them a bad name. Thankfully kickstarter already funded the development so they do not depend on your contributions.

 

[thiosk]

If its too expensive for you don't buy into the alpha.

That will work more than indignant posts.

But what could be better than indignant posts and not paying for it!

I love it when people squeal about how greedy others are when they don't get what they want for nothing.

The backer point that gave alpha access was 90, as i understand, what a dick move top open up the alpha on steam for 50. The 90 level early backers would then say it was a greed based dick move.

 

[Xanex]

$90?! Does it come with free pizza and soda delivered by a hot model? If not then, OH HELLZ NO!

 

[DrOswald]

Wow. It's a bit much. For an early access game. I don't really understand the reasoning behind that price. The funding on kickstarter was met. $900,000 goal, and $2,229,344 was received. I could buy a decent number of other games for 90 bucks.

The reason for the price is because people who paid $90 during the kickstarter get to access to the game at this point. Had they made it less then they would essentially be screwing over the people who were their early supporters. They are basically extending their kickstarter campaign with this price point. From what I understand, it will get down to about $40 when it actually releases.

 

[William Dickbringer]

-snip-

While I think they should have brought the payment options over to be honest cause when game is released it'll be $40 and saying it's $90 is bad idea however complaining about having to pay $90 when everyone else had to pay $90 for the alpha access back when it was on kick starter is so they don't have people complaining about people paying less you don't like but still want to get in early? wait a few months and they'll have the beta edition up or you can wait till the game comes out and pay $40 do I agree with it? no but I bought it from their website before it came to steam

 

[OneSpiran]

I'm starting to see this all over the internet which is frustrating. These prices were determined and advertised at least 6 months ago.

Alpha is $90

Beta is $60

Release is $40

These all obviously include the final product. Pay more to play early.

http://steamcommunity.com/games/233250/announcements/detail/1658730021561594175

 

[Crozekiel]

People seem to miss the point entirely. Kickstarter is meant as a way to fund something. People are making donations to fund development of a game, and get rewarded for it. Steam Early Access is just a way to distribute and promote a game. For one, the people that paid the kickstarter price also got more extras than the people paying for steam early access, so they aren't "selling the same product at the same price". On top of that, kickstarter isn't a place to sell a product, its a place to ask for money to make a product, so again, that excuse doesn't fly. You add that to the fact that they completely destroyed their funding goals on kickstarter and this really seems like a "well, we got tons of other people to pay this ridiculous price, lets keep charging it..." mindset, which in this industry is dangerous, because EA or Activision or someone might start to think "they paid $90 for some indie game with a cost to make of less than a million dollars, why the hell aren't we charging that, or more, for the games we put multiple millions of dollars into to develop?". Then, the gaming industry moves further into the realm of only the super rich can partake. IMO, if they wanted to keep chargin $90 for it and giving away the same perks as they did on kickstarter, fine, get a website and do it that way. Putting things like that on steam however is a dangerous and slippery slope.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Sorry, but I'm going to have to chalk this one up to basic greed.

Wouldn't be fair for the people who paid $90 on Kickstarter for the early access to the beta to give people on Steam early access for a cheaper price. That isn't greed, and people in the gaming community seriously need to learn what greed actually is. What they are doing is keeping their commitment to the people who already paid for early access because if they didn't, the same people would be going on about how they lied to everyone and took advantage of the people from Kickstarter. The game probably got through Steams approval process, and they had the option to put it up for early access, so... why not? And, like always, if you don't like it, don't buy it.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I was under the impression that Kickstarter backers for the game already had access to the alpha build before it showed up on Steam. If that's not the case, and the version that's on Steam is the first version that anyone is getting access to, then the $90 price makes a lot more sense.

Regardless, Uber could have avoided this whole controversy and just ignored Steam until they felt the game was ready for final release.

It is on Steam Early Access, which is pretty much like the game still being in development but letting you play the beta for it. Sounds like it is the same version for both, so now people can buy it on Steam for $90 or give $90 to the Kickstarter and get the same thing. This is what they have on the Steam page:

Our pricing for this stage of early access was determined by our Kickstarter. The stages of our early access for ALL users, which was determined during our Kickstarter, is:

June through August: $90 for early alpha access, during the time where we're still locking down features and making tweaks to the flow of the game. This access is permanent access - you will be able to play through alpha, beta and on through retail. (Galactic Edition Equivalent with all addons)

So, think they are both Alpha.

I do agree, though, that they shouldn't have put it on Steam until this "$90 for alpha" thing is over. It will probably get them later because people will decide not to buy it from the price, then once it is finished, people won't care much and won't but it.

 

[Jamous]

It's showing solidarity to the people who've already backed at $90. Think about it; how would you feel if you payed $90 for alpha access (and a bunch else I'm sure) but the, the instant the alpha comes out, they start selling it for $10? Pretty shitty, I should imagine. If you're that upset, but want the game you can do the sensible thing and wait for the game to be finished and buy it at a more normal price then.

 

[Tohron]

$90 is the price they set for alpha access on Kickstarter. If that's too much for you, then you can just wait - nobody's forcing you to pay that much. And, as others have said, it would be unfair to those who backed it at $90+ on Kickstarter to let those who joined in at a later point get the same reward for less money.