Are we paying more for less?

[TheBigBlueBox]

I think the previous posters in this thread explained it pretty well, but I'll sum up why it's okay for dominions 3 to be $55.

First of all, it's the niche market that dominions caters to. D3 will only sell a few thousand copies to a select few hardcore TBS and fantasy/myth fans... there's no way illwinter/shrapnel can make any kind of profit (and therefore continue to make games) if they sell it at less then $55.

Secondly, the 300 page spiral bound printed manual costs ALOT to produce. The manual alone adds at least $10 to the price and is well worth it.

Thirdly, let's look at what the game features shall we:

Over 1500 different units...all with unique abilities and strategies for using them, 600+ spells.. and not just a bunch of spells that are just the same spell with varying power, but unique spells with unique effects and unique descriptions.... FIFTY unique nations to play as with wildly differing strategies... add to that all the choices you have in a single turn, multiplayer support, modability, improved AI (which is a feat for this level of detail), and oh yeah, a 300 page manual...

Now tell me this game isn't worth $55 to a fan of this type of game...

[BigJMoney]

A couple things:

1) I agreee with Morkilus the wise, sitcky this!

2) The OPer is not trolling. Let's not start a witch-hunt here. The person has every right to not only speak his mind politely, but also pose a difficult question.

3) "More for less" has been adequately explained. He means more as in the price compared to Dom 2, and less meaning lower production values than larger development schemes.

@Talley
Everything you have brought up has already been addressed eloquently by people with very piquant points. You are priced out, and that's all there is to it. You will overcome your perceived dillema with the game's price or you won't.

**Tries to use hypnosis -- "You will get over your dillema..."**

Shrapnel's current goal is to run a business. Maybe the business owner(s) possess the utlimate goal of helping good games reach people, or maybe not. Trying to find their proper place in the market is probably a good way to achieve a goal like that though, even if many are priced out. Don't be convinced by convention that they are making a bad decision here, when it could very well be the best one to reach their goals. Then again, maybe not. Maybe they are shooting themselves in the foot. We'll probably know for sure in five years.

=$=

[KissBlade]

Digitalize everything =). Save the production cost, save the manual cost. Lower the price, easier accessibility, HURRAH FOR ALL!! Except for the people who have to do the extra work of the digilitalizing =).

[Taqwus]

One problem with digital-everything: it becomes trivial to put an essentially identical distribution onto, say, P2P systems. For a game that offers a decent single-player mode and does not involve heavy copy protection with online activation or so forth, this is risky. While a physical manual can be scanned (although one can make this harder, through the use of extremely ugly color schemes -- SimCity copyright sheet, anyone? -- 300 pages of that would be insane), at the least it's something that differentiates the licensed from the non.

One of the more common arguments you'll hear about P2P music is that if the studios don't want people to simply download their music for nothing, they should offer extras -- the experience of a performance, goodies with the physical CD, et al. From a pragmatic point of view, this is not unreasonable in either music or software. A good bound manual would seem to qualify so long as the users are willing to absorb the cost.