Gal Civ 3 is ready for alpha - $99 on Steam

[feygan]

ORIGINAL: DrApostle

There are many times when I am playing a game and will often think there was a better way to do some aspect of it. The alpha edition of Galactic Civilizations III was designed to allow this feedback to go back to the developer. The only problem is that if you open that process up to everyone or even to the wrong people, then the final product is not what it could be. So offering a $99 Founder elite option is a great option because the price point serves as the gatekeeper to filter people.

Sadly though this a filter with no settings, anyone who can throw up that money has the chance to influence the game outcome. I am guessing but willing to stake that in the past beta testers were hand picked based on what they could offer in constructive criticism. Now all a developer is going to get is input from the internet, and has been demonstrated many times in the past there is no more stupid entity than the internet.

I agree that a developer should be careful who they open up testing and influence to as it could radically alter the direction of the product. But no amount of price limit is going to work to solve that problem, price to low and you get the entire world mailing you their latest amazing uber idea. Price too high and you get nothing but extremely wealthy folks who now demand flesh for their coin.

I personally know of only two good early access games and they are both free, the thing that makes them work is the very fact they are free because the players do not have any expectations or demands. The second you ask for money you make someone a customer and they are entitled to make demands. If you then start saying things such as "this feature doesn't work yet" and so on, you only serve to piss off your no longer prospective but now very actual customers, and in turn you are totally changing the seller/buyer dynamic. With very few exceptions the whole early access style developing that is taking place lately is folks seeking shortcuts into an industry that others will have done the grind for in the past. This just allows people with little to no experience in actually running a project to completion quick funds with no responsibility for them.

[Hertston]

Following the Elemental disaster, no way Jose am I pre-ordering or 'early-accessing' this puppy, especially at that ridiculous price. Come full release, good reviews, and boredom with the now-several space 4X games superior to Galciv 2 that I own, I might think about it. I want to see how far the series has moved on.

Why Steam 'early access' at all? To me it stinks of "we screwed up last time, the finances are dire, so let's fleece the hardcore fans and loyal customers some more". When a developer is in that mode, be very wary indeed of the quality of what you are buying into. Yes, Stardock let you buy in early before (with minimal 'influence' on anything, incidently), but not at silly-money prices. They were legit release prices for box copies.

[DevildogFF]

ORIGINAL: Hertston

Following the Elemental disaster, no way Jose am I pre-ordering or 'early-accessing' this puppy, especially at that ridiculous price. Come full release, good reviews, and boredom with the now-several space 4X games superior to Galciv 2 that I own, I might think about it. I want to see how far the series has moved on.

Considering they went well above and beyond what ANYONE ELSE would have done to make up for that, I'm happy to throw my money at them and I pre-purchased the Collector's Edition of Elemental, so yeah....

If you don't want to support a game developer that took it upon themselves to right a wrong when NO ONE ELSE does, then that's your prerogative, but I'm happy to give them my money to support this type of behavior. Plus, GalCiv 2 is a classic to many, so I'm sure it will prove its worth.

[feygan]

ORIGINAL: DevildogFF

ORIGINAL: Hertston

Following the Elemental disaster, no way Jose am I pre-ordering or 'early-accessing' this puppy, especially at that ridiculous price. Come full release, good reviews, and boredom with the now-several space 4X games superior to Galciv 2 that I own, I might think about it. I want to see how far the series has moved on.

Considering they went well above and beyond what ANYONE ELSE would have done to make up for that, I'm happy to throw my money at them and I pre-purchased the Collector's Edition of Elemental, so yeah....

If you don't want to support a game developer that took it upon themselves to right a wrong when NO ONE ELSE does, then that's your prerogative, but I'm happy to give them my money to support this type of behavior. Plus, GalCiv 2 is a classic to many, so I'm sure it will prove its worth.

It is true they did do more than many game houses in regards to fixing things, however they also did drop a bomb. They didn't really fix things they simply abandoned the original game and brought out a new version charging the same as the original. While the new version has better AI less bugs etc it also lacked some features of the original. In short they simply patched up what could be patched and removed what was going to be hard work for them, then slapped on a new badge and counted the coins coming in. Yes they did offer owners of the original Elemental WOM a free upgrade, however this only lasted up to a set date. While the latest version of Fallen:LH is a good game in itself the history of the elemental franchise tears down the highlights of the current game.

Also the fact that Stardock did more than many (not all) houses would have does not speak wonders for Stardock themselves. Simply being better than an extremely bad bunch does not make you a paragon of virtue by default.

[Hertston]

ORIGINAL: DevildogFF

Considering they went well above and beyond what ANYONE ELSE would have done to make up for that, I'm happy to throw my money at them and I pre-purchased the Collector's Edition of Elemental, so yeah....

Like what? Give away the game Elemental should have been in the first place to those who paid for it early? It was the optimum survival strategy for Stardock; a smaller developer would have just gone under, a larger one just written it and that particular bunch of 'loyal customers' off, and and moved onto something else.

If you don't want to support a game developer that took it upon themselves to right a wrong when NO ONE ELSE does, then that's your prerogative, but I'm happy to give them my money to support this type of behavior.

If you want to believe they had any real choice, let alone one worth paying them $99 to applaud, that's up to you. I don't 'support' game developers, period, there are far more deserving charities. I do buy games from developers/publishers, though, and if they are any good I happily repeat the process.

Plus, GalCiv 2 is a classic to many, so I'm sure it will prove its worth.

Sword of the Stars is a classic to many, including me. Didn't stop SotS 2 being a turd.. for much the same reasons I worry GalCiv 3 might be. Still, your money.

[Qwixt]

I've been buying and playing Stardock games since Brad was on usenet and galciv 1 days. I have no problem buying the founder package. I got it the first week(day?) available from stardock. I got burned on elemental's release, but they more than made up for it to me.

[Jim D Burns]

$99.00... Wait what? I thought all the Steam fans were railing on about cheaper games LOL. Pass for me as well, especially since your just renting the game from Steam.

Jim

[aaatoysandmore]

A smart gamer nowadays doesn't buy anything new, alpha, beta, kapa, fi. It just doesn't make sense to pay $99 at all for anything when you know full well there's a time in the distant short time future that these games are going to be in the $5-$10 range and patched out the ying yang. There's just not anything that has a draw for me to buy it upon release anymore. Not after Rome 2 and Rebirth were such flops on release. If it was a once in awhile thing, maybe, but this is a growing trend in the industry to release stuff that just isn't finished and has more issues and flaws than you can shake a stick at. I think Rome 2 is up to 10 or 11 patches at this time. That's just ridiculous. The sad thing I'm reading about it is they didn't improve a lot of the issues players wanted like siege ai and fantasy ship building. Just move into water and presto instant chango you have a ship to ride around in. As bad as RTW was too it's still the better game overall with the Barbaranium mod.

[gradenko2k]

It's fairly ironic that people are balking at a 99 USD price point on Matrix forums of all places.

[TanC]

$99 for a complete game? Yes, I'll pay for that. I paid more than that for the whole DW set up to Shadows. But $99 for one that's still up in the air? I'd rather bet safely and see where it goes. I've been burned by pre-orders. I will never do it again.

[Mad Igor]

99$ haha.
see you next year on sales.

ORIGINAL: gradenko_2000
balking at a 99 USD price point on Matrix forums of all places.

except that they will get FULL game and it will cost arund 99$ with all addons not as a single game with addons for another 999$.
PLUS i'm in EU and it will cost me 93€.
if they think,that every1 who live in EU are Bill Gates,then they can kiss my fifth point.
yea...93€ for ALPHA wtf ?it's not even 1 of april.

[gradenko2k]

ORIGINAL: Mad Igor
except that they will get FULL game and it will cost arund 99$ with all addons not as a single game with addons for another 999$.

Founder's Elite Edition - LIMITED TIME OFFER!

A lifetime subscription to all GalCiv III DLC and expansion packs

Which is to say nothing of scoffing at Alpha access to a game in the wake of BUZZ ALDRIN'S SPACE PROGRAM MANAGER

[Hertston]

ORIGINAL: gradenko_2000

A lifetime subscription to all GalCiv III DLC and expansion packs

Which, if the loyal punters have paid up-front, is just a license to add later what should have been included in the first place. Or, indeed, fix what was broken in the first place. Not to mention that, by the time we see any substantive expansions, the base game will have been on sale (Steam sale, mind) several times already.

It's probably wrong to single out Stardock here, they are by no means the only ones taking advantage of customer loyalty and the desire to 'get in early'. Steam early access and Kickstarter are as bad as each other. Both have gone way beyond what they were intended for; helping the 'little guy' get their product to market. The bigger operations are now seeing it not in those terms, but as a way of maximising revenue while minimising quality... now every other Steam release seems to be 'early access'. And fewer and fewer customers care about the quality of the finished game, or indeed if it ever gets finished at all, as they moved onto something else long ago, barely noticing the hole in their wallets.

Ask yourselves, why is it necessary to go near 'early access' when already funded well over the top by Kickstarter? A couple of outfits have even hit on the scheme of charging premium prices for alphas on the grounds doing so is only fair to their Kickstarter backers! And as people are still daft enough to pay up, that's THREE slices of the cherry (Kickstarter, early access, 'official' release) rather than one, two of which are done and dusted even if the bloody thing vanishes into a development black hole, or is just dead on arrival.

As has been said, only in the gaming industry. [&:] 'Support' such practices at your own risk.

[feygan]

ORIGINAL: Hertston

As has been said, only in the gaming industry. [&:] 'Support' such practices at your own risk.

That is the entire problem with the industry at present, too many folks do support this kind of business practice. Every new version of COD for example you see endless remarks on all review sites of how it is bland, the same, or full of bugs. This continues with streams of abuse towards which ever publisher/developer released the game, almost all game franchises have this happen over the past few years, and it has spread to many AAA titles. Then the indie market is occasionally giving out something new and refreshing but mostly just lots of rubbish that is either some form of minecraft clone or just general platform/flight game with crappy graphics on the premise that indie means "looks like ****"

However the very next year/month/quarter a new sequel comes out and makes record sales numbers all over again. I am starting to wonder if developers are putting subliminals into games or some form of visual/auditory addition code. Or if it is as simple as a vast group of gamers today are reckless whingers who perpetuate terrible business practices and then cry when these methods are used on them.

This is of course before you even get into the minefield that is DRM and piracy issues. When you look at the whole industry it begins to make sense as to the popularity of tripe such as Farmville and it's ilk. They may be a quick cash cow, but from the users perspective they do what games used to do. Load up your game, get an hour or so popcorn enjoyment then go do something else, I wonder where it all went so wrong.

[Ranger33]

So much negativity. Bad waves in here.

I bought in because I know I'll pick it up on release anyway, and all of the expansions, so in the long run it's a pretty good deal. The previous games are among my all time favorites, and I like Stardock as a developer. I like the "early access" model because you get to play a game as it develops and goes through changes, and occasionally get to directly make a difference in the final product.

At the end of the day, it's entirely optional for everyone involved, so I don't get all the wailing and gnashing of teeth from people who don't want to buy in. Just reeks of "Stop liking things I don't like!!! WAHH!!"

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: gradenko_2000

It's fairly ironic that people are balking at a 99 USD price point on Matrix forums of all places.

You’re trying to compare Apples to Oranges. When you pay top dollar at Matrix, you own the title and can play it years from now if you wish. With Steam it’s a rental and if Steam ever goes defunct like many past game publisher’s have (Talonsoft, Paragon, Microprose, SSI, etc.) your entire game collection goes poof and turns into cyber dust.

The above listed publishers and dozens/hundreds more were strong successful companies in their day, but nothing lasts forever. Who knows when it comes to tech, tomorrow could see some new innovation completely change the way you buy products and cause Steam to go belly up the way downloaded games put stores like Babbage’s out of business. Personally I prefer to own my games and like a hard copy I can hold in my hands and put in a box to pull out whenever I like down the road.

Jim

[aaatoysandmore]

With so many sales you can almost see they are starting to slow down and lose revenue. That's what hardware stores do just before they go belly up. It gets to the point they can't give stuff away. After so many years Steam was bound to saturate the market with all those sale prices and thus retail sales begin to suffer. But, it's like a spiral staircase to hell. Sure having sales will boost profits for a little while but eventually this kind of market gets saturated and there's nothing left to sell a lot of. Everybody has everything and for $5 not $59. Back in the day you paid full price or you didn't get it. Now, it's if you can't get $59 then sell it for $5 and of course smart gamers will catch onto this trend and start waiting for the $5 games over the $59. It's one reason (though I'm guilty as hell of it now too) that I didn't want to see Matrixgames go the rout of reduced pricing and these weekly sale things. As a smart gamer I'm not going to pay full price when I can have it for 1/2 or $10-$20 off by just waiting them out. As a consumer I have all the time in the world. As a company trying to make a living off the industry they don't.

On the other hand their overhead is not as expensive as it once was. A digital sale is nothing more than transferring number/digits from one place to another. Only overhead they have there is the storage space in the clouds. They certainly don't have all the boxes and printed manuals and maps and cd's because you folk don't demand it anymore. But, we used to get all that with the games we bought in brick n mortar stores. Sure they have a few, but, hardly the production costs of that that they had years ago. It's like the price remained the same on most games but we get less to eat. Sorta like restaurants and groceries nowadays. Loaf of bread is the same loaf of bread it was 50 years ago but it costs damn near $3 from what used to be a .25 and in my parents day a .05 or .01

[Rising-Sun]

I doubt if i get it, its pretty high and not even complete. Infact only support Win7 or higher with 64bit and doesnt support Vista64. They mention they may or may not get it to work on Vista64. I missed CG2 with StarTrek Mod, unfort that game wouldnt run well on my Vista64. So i rather play Distant Worlds instead til they worked out CG3 for Vista64.

[Mad Igor]

A lifetime subscription to all GalCiv III DLC and expansion packs

that does not justify 93€ at all.

[histgamer]

I wonder if devs will respond to the downward pressure on prices that sales are driving by increasing prices above what they want to sell at so the sales sell the product at their target price providing the illusion of a sale. Retail stores especially clothing and furniture are notorious for that practice.

ORIGINAL: Cauldyth

Uh, $99?