[Meglobob]

Just a couple of points:-

A small company usually has to charge MORE for there product than a big company, due to economies of scale. A small company usually is more customer focused and focuses on better quality. Those points apply to Dom3/shrapnel/illwinter.

I think shrapnel/illwinter could be shortchanging themselves as to the potential sales they could get for there dominions franchaise. Stardock a small company like illwinter (only 2 developers more and a few other staff), achieved huge sales with Galactic Civilizations 2 (100,000+, heading towards 200,000+), GC2 is a TBS, comparable in quality to dominions 3. The market for TBS is a resonably sized market. If they did ever release via retail there price would after be lower $49.99, probably and there profit % would be smaller. If they achieved sales like GC2 however, they would make lots more $$$.

I used to work in retail computer games and the biggest profit goes to the retail outlet on software (or did 10 yrs ago), a $49.99 game, retailer takes $20'ish. This is why retail can discount games so heavily.