Undervaluing your work

[SilasG]

Hey guys. I've had Factorio for some time now and love the game and all the new additions. Building unique factories and trying to eke out the most efficient build is tremendously addicting. It has great replayability for just that reason.

Now, before this game was on Steam and had such high visibility it was fine to price it at ~$20 or so because it wasn't even feature complete at that time but now that it is on Steam the price should be higher - at least $30, c'mon. As far as I know, its a beta now which means feature-complete with just bugs to squash and perhaps graphic upgrades or UI enhancements. This game is fantastic right now and I think the dev is losing a lot of money keeping the price so low. Granted, more people will likely try it at this price point but, considering the almost universal praise Factorio has, it will surely continuously be generating new sales via word of mouth and reviews.

This game has been and still is a labor of love for the development team and I wish for them to make plenty of bank off it so we can eventually have Factorio 2: The Bugs Strike Back!

[brunzenstein]

I sign that statement

[Zeblote]

Raising the price right after launch would be a very bad move.

[Klonan]

As far as I know, its a beta now which means feature-complete with just bugs to squash and perhaps graphic upgrades or UI enhancements.

Nope... still alpha

[MeduSalem]

Nope... still alpha

One hell of an alpha... The state of the game you guys call "alpha" is what other big game studios would call a finished game and they'd have stopped working on the project ever since the release to Steam and called it a day.

[Pappus]

This simply isn't the type of game the masses would consider giving more than 20 I believe. It screams 'indie' and the expected price range of those is simply 20. Darkest Dungeon is also a great game with super good soundtrack atmosphere etc and aswell 20.

[DailyFrankPeter]

I think this is the sweetspot, and let me explain.

I dropped $20 on Dirty Bomb once, which I enjoyed very little and would prefer to take it back and give it to Factorio twice, but I was intrigued by the news - and I felt that for an act of curiosity it was priced just right. On the other hand, I own many $60 "safe bet" titles, which I bought for 10 on sale, because I can afford to wait quite long for just another strategy or just another shooter.

The point is, If I didn't buy Factorio right when it's hot, it would've made it onto my "timeless classics" wishlist. Items on this list often get forgotten, superseded or simply bought years later (like Julian Gollop's X-Com), when their cult status is confirmed, but proceeds no longer do any immediate good to the developer.

In my opinion, maintaining the price but avoiding Steam promotions - which as I understand is the intention - is a better way to go. I am currently trying to convince all my friends to buy Factorio (edit: and they aren't all exactly jumping on it because they have their own games they're busy with), if they buy it at another 20, that's a net gain I think.

[kovarex]

In my opinion, maintaining the price but avoiding Steam promotions - which as I understand is the intention - is a better way to go. I am currently trying to convince all my similarly-thinking friends to buy Factorio, and if they buy it at another 20, that's a net gain I think.

Yes, there are no sales planned.

[SpiritofTheWolfx]

Like it was stated earlier. Raising the price would be a bad move. Plus you forget people will get pissy if a 'Indie' game is above a certain price. Take No Mans Sky. A game made by an Indie Dev Comapny. Therefore a 'Indie game. And a huge amount of people are having a hissy fit over a 'indie' game being $60. Not to mention games have different prices depending on the country. I am Canadian. Any '$60' game for me is $80. That is almost 1/5th of my biweekly paycheck. So even Factorio was more expensive since I am Canadian. It was $25 which made me almost not purchase it this week and just keep playing it pirated (I didn't want to wait for my paycheck to play the game since I was broke.) Also working in retail (Liquor store) has since given me a good idea on how people react to anythings price getting jacked. How many times I have heard "Why is my favourite drink so expensive. They just jacked the price." I ask how much it was raised. "One dollar." And they were actually angry.

[brunzenstein]

Also working in retail (Liquor store) has since given me a good idea on how people react to anythings price getting jacked. How many times I have heard "Why is my favourite drink so expensive. They just jacked the price." I ask how much it was raised. "One dollar." And they were actually angry.

You could solve your cash / price problem e.g. problems similar to the alcohol loving customers you serve easily, by reducing playing computer games but using instead your time for getting a better job by education. And more cash in hand. How about learning some languages?
And only then return to play Factorio in your leisure time. OtherwIse everything will remain to expenive throughout the rest of your whole life.
No pun intended - just a sober recommendation and my two cents.

[ssilk]

Sober, but unneeded and unwanted... you cannot know why people are doing, what they do.

[brunzenstein]

Sober, but unneeded and unwanted... you cannot know why people are doing, what they do.

Just wanted to give a helping hand...
It's often not the question what or why you do something, but what you fail to do - and therefor miss the real thing.

[Mackowatosc]

Nope... still alpha

One hell of an alpha... The state of the game you guys call "alpha" is what other big game studios would call a finished game and they'd have stopped working on the project ever since the release to Steam and called it a day.

Big game studios would call it RC, cut the content to 30%, then relase paid DLC

[mastamage]

my personal solution if a game is worth more than i paid for is buying another copy and giving it to someone i care about, preferably one that gives the game more visibility, like a streamer -> my next goal, once i sort out a more stable cash flow aka getting a job that sucks less than my current one