Is the price of Dominions II a deterrent?

Watchdog · #1 November 3rd, 2003, 06:53 PM

I would definitely "deny" myself this game for 10 or 15 bucks. Basically I don't have a lot of money to spend on video games. When a company is charging more than almost any other game out there for it's product I want to know why.

All I can see for why is

1. People will pay for it. They have a core group of rabid fans who will pay any price for their products.

2. They have some distrobution issues they are unable to resolve.

Neither of these reasons warrants such a high price in my opinion. The cost/benefits comes off a bit in the negative by about 5 to 10 bucks.

Somebody asked if the price was a deterrant and so don't flame me for answering that question because for me, YES the price is a deterrant.

Gandalf Parker · #2 November 3rd, 2003, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Watchdog:
I would definitely "deny" myself this game for 10 or 15 bucks. Basically I don't have a lot of money to spend on video games. When a company is charging more than almost any other game out there for it's product I want to know why.

Im not disagreeing with your other points but I wanted to point out....
The price of this game was much lower for Dom 1 which was only sold off of the programmers web page. The price for Dom 2 is not really "higher" but is very much like the prices of the other games being offered on Shrapnel game site. Shrapnel is the production company marketing this new Version of the game and is offering experienced advice in this area.

[ November 03, 2003, 17:02: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

DominionsFan · #3 November 3rd, 2003, 07:21 PM

Bahahhaa, I am very young, so my father will buy the game.

30 or 50 I don't care!

Alneyan · #4 November 3rd, 2003, 07:49 PM

There may be other factors explaining why Dominions II seems expensive for you: Sharpnel is basically selling less games than, say, EA. Less sales result in a higher sell price, even if the costs to make a game are less expensive.

Along the sames lines, either Doug Church or Warren Spector (If you don't know who they are, perhaps you know some of the games they have been involved in: Ultima Underworld, System Shock, the Thief series, Deus Ex, Ultima 7 if memory serves right, to name but a few) said that, while the cost to make Thief were *ten* times higher than for Ultima Underworld, the sales for the game were about the same. You can see there will be a problem somewhere at this rate.

And Tim said that the costs needed just to make the CD and the manual are raising as well with each pasing year. And I would believe other expenses were increased as well. If you haven't read their Posts, I would advise you to do so if you want to know why their games tend to be more expensive. (At least for the inhabitants of the USA.

)

If that can help you make feel better, Dominions II is a very cheap game by the standards here in France. The average game costs in fact more than Dominions, even if you don't take into account the current exchange rates. (If you say a dollar is equal to an euro, your average costs about 50 to 55 dollars here in France. At the moment it would be somewhere between 60 and 65 dollars.) So as far as I am concerned, Dominions is a cheap game, less expensive than most.

[ November 03, 2003, 17:54: Message edited by: Alneyan ]

Kristoffer O · #5 November 3rd, 2003, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DominionsFAN:
Bahahhaa, I am very young, so my father will buy the game. 30 or 50 I don't care!

PhilD · #6 November 3rd, 2003, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
Other options that I would have been happy to see would be built-in allowance for home lan as some games have allowing you legally to play an MP game at home with one disc, or bulk discounts, or a cheaper Online method for buying just a CD key which is possible because it involves no production and shipping.

Both of these requests seem reasonable.

We've been told that the manual itself costs a lot to print, so it would make sense to offer a "pure CD key" option for a significantly lower price.

And then, all I'd have to do would be convince my girlfriend to play. I'll start with the easy lobbying option, and convince Shrapnel to offer us a BIG discount

Watchdog · #7 November 3rd, 2003, 10:56 PM

They use CDkeys too?! Oh my god... I don't patronize bioware or blizzard because of their attack on home lan environments. Guess I'm adding shrapnel to my list of unfriendly money grubbing company's.

Look. I'm not a company making huge profits. I'm not a university paying for everything with grants or a government organization paying with taxes. I'm a guy who works for a living. You people just don't have the right to expect home Users to pay for multiple licenses of software. You just don't, period. Sooner or later that tactic is going to run you guys out of business and I'll be happy to see it happen.

Great game or not, your business practices stink.