RE: CD fee?!?! (Full Version)

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Error in 0 -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/9/2004 12:18:58 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: 2ndACR

quote:

ORIGINAL: JallaTryne

quote:

ORIGINAL: PeckingFury

Well just name a game that will last you the next 5 to ten years??


Just one [;)]? Civilization. System shock 2. Any decent chess game. Im sure a couple others as well...

Will WitP last 5 to 10 year? I dont know, because I really dont know for sure what kind oof game it is. Maybe it will last 5 hours. You see, the PRICE is not the reason a game lasts..[:D]


5 hours? If you bought the game, it would take you 5 hours just to browse the map and see where everything is. Not to mention just looking at the numbers of ground forces, ship, air units the allies get as reinforcments.

Shoot, this game is worth 3X as much as they are charging. I also have dialup. I paid and waited the 11 days for the backup disc. Of course the Patch was a bear. I do not forsee purchasing another wargame for at least 10 years. Unless Matrix/2by3 release WIR2. (hint)

Most people pay 49.99 at the store for a first person shooter that they beat on the hardest level in a month. And then they can always beat it. I could load up Ghost Recon right now and go thru the first 4 missions without losing a man. Not to mention the add ons at 19.99 a pop. Twice. Beat them and removed them.

Since I have dial up at 56k I am not keen on digital download of games. Patches I can handle if they are less than 10mb. But with high speed internet fairly common now adays it makes sense. I will pay the 10 dollars for the disc. Manuals (I do not use them) are a waste of space for me. I am a jump right in and figure it out sort. Box (lasts until I open the game, then its trash).



I sure hope the game dont lasts 5 h, but saying it is worth 3x the price is just.... well, I feel that critisizing Matrix is to some of u guys like messing with your heros [:D]. What games you spend money on and like playing is each and everyones choise, and someone migth find added depth to Ghost Recon the second time around.

Yeah, you dont use manuals. No wonder you spend 10 years playing it [;)]




Hertston -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/9/2004 1:33:15 PM)

Ghost Recon was always at it's best as a multiplayer game anyway... a superb ladder game. Just a shame more people didn't play it that way.




Golf33 -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/9/2004 3:24:07 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hertston

If you think about it, raising prices to compensate is not a solution - higher prices means more piracy. Indeed, across the board I've seen no evidence of that happening - in the UK the price of PC games hasn't changed in three years, and with at least one major retail outlet cutting £5 of everybody else's prices and some really cheap net-shopping options (like play.com, which is almost half-price on big releases) games are cheaper than ever before. A couple of attempts were made to push the price up by a fiver (I seem to recall Neverwinter Nights, and a couple of M$ releases), but a great many voted against that with their wallets.


Wonder why there aren't as many good, innovative, and stable games coming out these days? Do you think maybe the increasing complexity of games, combined with increased expectations on the part of gamers, and multiplied by the drop in price you describe above for computer games, might have something to do with it?

It's up to you what price you consider reasonable for a game. That's an individual decision that everyone has to make, balancing the enjoyment you get from gaming against other expenses and the necessities of life. On the other side of the fence, I think the prices you are seeing from Matrix aren't aimed at 'increasing the profit' - they are more aimed at 'enabling the developers to just survive'. Simply put, if enough people aren't prepared to pay enough for our games to cover the cost of their development, we'll have to go and do other jobs where we can make more money with less work.

The games that sell in enough volume to cover the cost of development are the mass-market console and FPS games, The Sims, and a few (very few) of the more mainstream wargames. These games can afford to go for cheap, making very little per copy for the developers, because the volume that gets sold will cover the cost of development. A product like an innovative wargame, that will sell to a niche of a niche market, has to cover its development in far fewer sales which means the margin per copy has to be higher. There aren't a lot of costs to be cut, either; shortening the development cycle leads to all sorts of problems, like the 'umptillion patches' mentioned above.

Just food for thought.

Regards
33




Hexed Gamer -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/9/2004 3:57:40 PM)

Yep, if tomorrow I put on sale a game of global grand strategy for the Pacific, and gave it a serious type name like Warfare in the Pacific Theatre (just to illustrate), and I priced it at 30 bucks (and made the store agree to leave it that price for a minimum 6 months), and I had it in stock (ie minimum stock of 5 articles on the shelf required)in every Walmart and Toys R Us while also simultaenously releasing it as a digital download (for 25 bucks not 30) as well as making the full game available for purchase through the mail (exact same item as on shelf). And if I had that same item pre stocked ina European location as well as key cities in say Canada and Australia.

It might well make a major big time splash.
And when you consider, that 5 items in several hundred Walmarts and Toys R Us outlets means quite a large sum of established actual sales (and no, I would not be indulging in any return concept, buy it and keep it).
Add to that, some reasonable online sales, and some reasonable digital download sales, and you might even move out the door a nice volume.

And if the game was total garbage, you likely could then close up shop and accept no one would ever be dumb enough to buy your next game.

Marketing does a lot to sell a product.
I would not release a demo 6 months before game day, I would release a demo (if even possible) on opening day maybe. I would make it on sale everywhere the SAME day.

A fancy colour manual plus a fancy coolourful illustrated box means printers of course and packaging expenses.
Just because a person can design software, doesn't mean they can automatically afford the cost to print a manual or the expense of a fancy box.

Companies like Hasbro, they make dozens of titles and they make thousands and thousands of each title and they have them in stock in hundreds of hundreds of stores.
The cost of a manual is nothing to them.

Matrix Games is not Hasbro I have noticed.
Nor are any of the other wargame makes like Hasbro.

When you walk into Walmart or Toys R Us, if you are like me, you DON'T expect to see wargames stocked like parlour games though.
Why is that?
I can only assume it's a matter of choice somewhere.

I never see Monopoly advertised on tv. I never see it advertised in magazines. Yet you see it stacked on shelves dozens of copies deep.
Why is that?

I never see Monopoly advertised online either. Nor any other Monopoly type game.

It is not the price tag that is the key, it is market awareness.
Market awareness is not free though.

There is risk involved in some things. I guess it is a case of how much risk is to much risk.

I make furniture (or did), and I am sure, if I had made 10,000 tables all at a decent price, and then sold them all off to places like Sears, I could make a nice profit.
But, 10,000 tables worth of wood is a lot of wood.
Say I make the tables, and then just let them sit in the warehouse and hope word of mouth gets them sold.
Odds are when the bill arrives I become quite bankrupt.
Say I make a bad idea of a table, and then try to sell it to Sears, who then says sorry not interersted.
Bankrupt again.
The key, is to make sure you are making what the market wants, then make enough to make it worth it, then sell enough to pay off the cost to make it.
Otherwise, you go bankrupt.

I see businesses fold up and die all the time.
Commonsense was not part of the course when I was learning business eh.
It seems that life expects you to already know that part.

It really does not matter in the end what "I" want where my hobby is concerned, as it is not my money at risk.
Sure I can buy a game, and it might suck, so I am out a few bucks.
The next day, life goes on, and I am not bankrupt because I bought a poorly done game.

If company A goes a does a lame job of making a wargame, it won't prevent company B from trying the same game later.
And no matter how crummy wargame company A's game was, it won't kill off the hobby or rin the interest in the subject.
It will just ensure, that people talk about company A, and how lousy their game was.

Who loses when a company makes a lousy game? Just the company.

I fully expect to buy the occasional lousy wargame in my life. It is just inevitable.
I also expect to have no trouble telling people that company A made game X, and it proved that company A didn't have clue one how to be a successful business.

Nor is there any one secret to success.
But failing is not complicated.

I buy almost all my games on impulse. I am in demographic terms an impulse buyer. I am the reason store aisles are designed the way they are. I am the reason thosusands of dollars is spent each year on careful surveys.
It is just my nature.

I know people that have no trouble buying stuff online. I just don't inherently take to it.
I am not saying buying online is bad wrong or the poor choice. It is just not an efective way to sell to me.
If 9 out of 10 of your customers are guys like me though, no argument in favour of online sales is likely to mean much. Especially if we refuse to change.

If 9 out of 10 of your market wants something a specific way, then doing it that way is the cost of being in the market.
Thus, the cost being a burden falls under the heading of "to bad".

I had planned to sell my tables at a massive reduction in proce (simply because I could). But, I learned while going through the business course, that the buyer instinctively expects an item to cost a certain dollar sum.
Priced to low, the customer suspects something is wrong.
The moment the customer thinks something is wrong, they lose faith in the item having the same worth as an equal item priced at the assumed "proper" price.
So, it doesn't always matter what company A wants where price is concerned. Because your customer might need reason to feel otherwise.

Thus, selling a wargame at 20 bucks is potentially no better than 80 bucks. At 20 the buyer might think it is just junk being unloaded. At 80 the customer might think it is not worth that much.

Sometimes the opinion of the business is not relevant. Might seem oddly unfair, but who said business was supposed to be fair?

They don't call it competition for nothing. In business you have winners and losers.

I would not feel bad if tomorrow I sold 50 thousand units of my game at 30 bucks (my notional Pacific game), and totally crushed sales of War in the Pacific.
Business is business.
If my game was hohum, it would just mean, people might fail to line up for the next one.
Maybe I take the money from the 50,000 units sold at 30 bucks and quit after that though.
There is nothing saying I have to ever again sell another wargame.

It is the selling the next game that is tricky.

I could make dozens of suggestions to Matrix Games, about how to build a better game, sold more effectively, in larger amounts, in more methods with greater sums of locations.
Some might even be good ideas.

At the end of the day though, it's not my neck at risk.

Advice is free, making wargames isn't.

That's why this entire post is only a free opinion, and 5 seconds after I post it, I will not have sustained any risk.

My hat is off to Matrix Games for being there and taking the risk. It is indeed a risk just being online and doing what they do.

5 years from now, Matrix Games might be an industry leader, or just another name discussed as having once made some cool games, and is now gone.

It's David's head ache though :)




Hexed Gamer -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/9/2004 4:04:07 PM)

For the record.

I bought HTTR.

It was so well made, it has established the company's name as one I know longer worry over.

Thus they mastered the fine art of the repeat sale.

Paradox (regardless of what YOU might think of their games), has for me established a lack of trust (through many means), and thus, they have ensured, that I don't really care WHAT they make, I won't knowingly buy their games.

Thus, they have mastered the fine art of negative publicity.

I fully intend to buy Strategic Command 2 when it is released, based partly on the satisfaction of the first, but on how well Hubert Cater has ensured it will be all the wargaming community has asked it to be.

He has so completely aced his customer satisfaction level.




2ndACR -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/9/2004 4:47:00 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: JallaTryne

quote:

ORIGINAL: 2ndACR

quote:

ORIGINAL: JallaTryne

quote:

ORIGINAL: PeckingFury

Well just name a game that will last you the next 5 to ten years??


Just one [;)]? Civilization. System shock 2. Any decent chess game. Im sure a couple others as well...

Will WitP last 5 to 10 year? I dont know, because I really dont know for sure what kind oof game it is. Maybe it will last 5 hours. You see, the PRICE is not the reason a game lasts..[:D]


5 hours? If you bought the game, it would take you 5 hours just to browse the map and see where everything is. Not to mention just looking at the numbers of ground forces, ship, air units the allies get as reinforcments.

Shoot, this game is worth 3X as much as they are charging. I also have dialup. I paid and waited the 11 days for the backup disc. Of course the Patch was a bear. I do not forsee purchasing another wargame for at least 10 years. Unless Matrix/2by3 release WIR2. (hint)

Most people pay 49.99 at the store for a first person shooter that they beat on the hardest level in a month. And then they can always beat it. I could load up Ghost Recon right now and go thru the first 4 missions without losing a man. Not to mention the add ons at 19.99 a pop. Twice. Beat them and removed them.

Since I have dial up at 56k I am not keen on digital download of games. Patches I can handle if they are less than 10mb. But with high speed internet fairly common now adays it makes sense. I will pay the 10 dollars for the disc. Manuals (I do not use them) are a waste of space for me. I am a jump right in and figure it out sort. Box (lasts until I open the game, then its trash).



I sure hope the game dont lasts 5 h, but saying it is worth 3x the price is just.... well, I feel that critisizing Matrix is to some of u guys like messing with your heros [:D]. What games you spend money on and like playing is each and everyones choise, and someone migth find added depth to Ghost Recon the second time around.

Yeah, you dont use manuals. No wonder you spend 10 years playing it [;)]


Since I payed 70.00 for Pacwar years ago and 49.99 for most games now a days the 80.00 for WITP is trivial. For the scale and depth it gives yes it is worth 200.00.

Go to the movies lately? $9.00 just to get in the door, 3.00 for a coke, 3.00 for a popcorn.
You just spent 15.00 for 2 hours of entertainment. I have already logged about 250 hours playing with WITP. But since I am the boss of my company, I can play during the day if we are slow. And that 250 hours has yet to make it past March 1942.

Yes, with WITP, I have yet to look over the manual. But I have a good understanding of the way GG sets up his games. I have owned them all. BTR is still on my hard drive to this day. Played UV to death. WITP is basically the same. Been following the forum since it started. Most of my questions have already been asked and answered by others. You just have to do some searching. I figure a PBEM of the entire campaign will take about 2 years to complete. Or at one turn a day the length of the real war. But since I play almost strictly "heavy" wargames BTR, PacWar, UV, WITP, WIR etc I enjoy the harder, more complicated games. I enjoy learning from my mistakes that i make during the game.

But you can choose to buy it or not. That is your right.




dinsdale -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/9/2004 4:56:01 PM)

Dear God, I agree with Ravinhood [X(]

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hertston
Of course prices will take account of that, and yes it is unfair on those of us who stump up hard earned cash. Like many things that are unfair though, there isn't much that can be done about it.

Actually there's one very potent weapon in a consumer's arsenal: not paying the premium price for a game. There's no doubt that piracy is a factor in the industry, but is it a factor to the extent which organizations such as BSA would like us to believe? Well, they try and count every pirated piece of software as a lost sale. When a lobbiest makes such a wildly presumptious and inaccurate accounting such as that, it renders any estimates they create worthless.

If the software industry's answer is to charge an honest consumer such as myself more money, then it's money they won't see any more. It no longer takes very long for either ebay or bargain bin prices to dramatically lower the cost. In fact, given that most software "needs" patching, it's often the case of getting a game for $5-$10 before it's ready to play anyway.

I probably fall into a minority of jaded game buyers, but after averaging about a game a month last year, I've bought a grand total of two this year. There are probably only two more that I'm interested in buying before the year is out, but I will not be buying until patched, and lower in price.

quote:


If you think about it, raising prices to compensate is not a solution - higher prices means more piracy. Indeed, across the board I've seen no evidence of that happening - in the UK the price of PC games hasn't changed in three years, and with at least one major retail outlet cutting £5 of everybody else's prices and some really cheap net-shopping options (like play.com, which is almost half-price on big releases) games are cheaper than ever before. A couple of attempts were made to push the price up by a fiver (I seem to recall Neverwinter Nights, and a couple of M$ releases), but a great many voted against that with their wallets.

Games are cheaper from stores for one reason only: competition. Buying from cheaper online outlets has forced brick&mortar stores to lower their prices. There's even a new $20 price point for some games. None of this is due to the benign greatness of publishers or retailers, it's what they have to do to sell units.

quote:


I don't disagree with your sentiments at all, but I do think that what both music and games publishers can do to combat piracy, they have done.

If banks were losing billions of dollars to banditry and passing the cost on to you and I, would you be so generous?




Hertston -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/9/2004 5:27:36 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Golf33

Wonder why there aren't as many good, innovative, and stable games coming out these days? Do you think maybe the increasing complexity of games, combined with increased expectations on the part of gamers, and multiplied by the drop in price you describe above for computer games, might have something to do with it?


There has been no "drop in price". play.com go for the ultimate in high volume/low profit sales, while Virgin frequently discount DVDs, CDs and everything else they sell to poach business from others. The market in PC games is no different from the market in anything else.

As to increasing complexity, I agree. As the costs of developing what gamers expect increases, it must have an impact as the big publishers go for what they know will sell. Hopefully, though, there will always be an enthusiasts market for certain products squeezed out of the mainstream, and those enthusiasts will be prepared to pay more. It's just like cars... compare the number of major manufacturers now with the number fifty years ago. You can still buy the unusual or exotic, but you have to pay an awful lot for it. With games, as with cars, I have no problem with that but my money will only go so far.


quote:

On the other side of the fence, I think the prices you are seeing from Matrix aren't aimed at 'increasing the profit' - they are more aimed at 'enabling the developers to just survive'. Simply put, if enough people aren't prepared to pay enough for our games to cover the cost of their development, we'll have to go and do other jobs where we can make more money with less work.


I didn't say "increasing the profit", I said "the biggest profit". It amounts to the same thing. "Profit" is not a dirty word and maximising the return on each unit, balanced against number of units sold, is what business is about. The first priority is to survive, the second to deliver as large a return to stakeholders as you can. The only difference is where you start, and where it's possible to end up. I know you took a huge risk in joining Panther, and that it certainly wasn't for the money - but surely you would rather be a rich developer than a poor one ? [;)]

I fully accept that games like WitP may have to be priced higher than those found in a store. Of the last five Matrix releases, WitP is the only one I havn't bought. In this particular instance though, it just crossed the line for me - I have only so much money and so much time. To go back to my previous analogy, I can't afford that Ferrari either [:D]



quote:

ORIGINAL: dinsdale

If banks were losing billions of dollars to banditry and passing the cost on to you and I, would you be so generous?


Hehe.. probably not. I still can't see any evidence that piracy is being absorbed by increasing price, though. And what exactly can the industry do that it hasn't done already ?




Hexed Gamer -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/9/2004 6:02:55 PM)

The only way to avoid people "acquiring" the game elsewhere, is to just get the game into their hands efficiently.

Case in point, MMP is struggling to get ASL into the hands of fanatic fans.

MMP is a small operation though, and has a small operations cash power as a result.

This creates as a secondary result, people resorting to getting ASL on eBay and often for amounts that make you think my fellow ASLers are friggin loonie.

But the WANT the game that much.

Several decades later, and ASL is NOT a bargain bin game. It costs SERIOUS money to buy it, and it is a frequent item on sale on eBay even though it "should" be on sale through MMP.

If the game sucks, it will drop in price. If the game doesn't suck, you won't have a problem.
If you market the game poorly, you will have lame sales.
It has nothing to do with the game's actual worth.

Today, Steel Panthers is still to me at least worth the same price it was when it was first sold. Much modified, much tweaked, but it is being given away. That is not my fault though nor decision. Someone decided to walk away from selling it somehow.

Panzer General has in my view retained it's worth.

The fact you can download it for free was not my doing.

10 years from now, I will still say Strategic Command is worth full price, and I would gladly pay full price for my TOAW CoW game and my HTTR game.
Advances in computer tech opening up new oppportunities don't alter the fact, the game has not lost it's value.

Games end up in the bargain I think more because they stop getting properly supported.

Maybe the softwae industry needs to give it's head a shake.

I am not responsible for the state of software sales.
1 game a year or 20, it doesn't matter.
I might only buy one this year.
I am choosy though.
Got nothing to do with how much dinner out cost me or the price of a movie.
You can't sell me wargames I don't want eh.
And you can't sell them if you don't sell them effectively either.




Golf33 -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/9/2004 6:57:11 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hertston

I know you took a huge risk in joining Panther, and that it certainly wasn't for the money - but surely you would rather be a rich developer than a poor one ? [;)]

Hey, I'm happy to be a poor developer, I just don't want to become an unemployed developer!

quote:

I fully accept that games like WitP may have to be priced higher than those found in a store. Of the last five Matrix releases, WitP is the only one I havn't bought. In this particular instance though, it just crossed the line for me - I have only so much money and so much time. To go back to my previous analogy, I can't afford that Ferrari either [:D]

LOL me either [;)]. As you know, whenever you set the price on an item, you accept that not everyone will be happy (or able) to pay that much. This is as true for bargain-bin items as it is for a top-notch product like WITP or COTA.

quote:

Hehe.. probably not. I still can't see any evidence that piracy is being absorbed by increasing price, though. And what exactly can the industry do that it hasn't done already ?

This seems true from my POV (note that I am not in the business line of things, so this isn't gospel by any means and is totally unofficial). The main factors that seem to determine pricing are what comparable products are selling for, what income is required to cover development cost, and how many units are likely to be sold[1]. As far as I can see, piracy is something of a given and I doubt anyone factors it in specifically when setting price - if it's considered, I think it would be as a factor influencing the number of copies likely to be sold, rather than as a cost item with a negative dollar value attached.

Regards
33

[1] I'm not dead sure of this one, it's possible that the price is set by the other two factors and the need to then sell a number of copies is just a factor in the developers' hair going white. It is also probably different between different publishers and different developers.




Golf33 -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/9/2004 6:59:24 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hexed Gamer

snip



That's a very good point about marketing. It would be interesting to get an idea of what marketing people find most effective in persuading them to buy wargames!

Regards
33




Cmdrcain -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/10/2004 6:20:28 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: JallaTryne

quote:

ORIGINAL: PeckingFury

Well just name a game that will last you the next 5 to ten years??


Just one [;)]? Civilization. System shock 2. Any decent chess game. Im sure a couple others as well...

Will WitP last 5 to 10 year? I dont know, because I really dont know for sure what kind oof game it is. Maybe it will last 5 hours. You see, the PRICE is not the reason a game lasts..[:D]



Civilization III plus the cost of the latest expansion , Conquests would Add up pretty much what WITP costs...

Yeah you get a Cd and Manuel... but point is it is a MASS MARKETED game which likely has a narrow profit line...

Btw, Civilization is fun in its way but in a sense it isn't much of a war game, its just fun, but not really that "mind expanding"




Cmdrcain -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/10/2004 6:24:49 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hexed Gamer

I could be wrong.

This comment...

"How many of these people who want the game, but dont want to spend 79$ on it end up downloading it from the net for 0$? It took me 1 minute to find 2 Matrix titles on the net. It is even more tempting because you dont get less than you get from a Matrix DD (no manual or CD)."

Simply sounded like an off handed way of remarking how commercially sold games can be "located" online being offered "free" when in fact they were not free.

It is remarks like that, which tend to get a person in dangerous waters was all I was claiming.



What Matrix titles through?

Theres two that are FREE to d/l : WIR and Pacwar the matrix version.

Have to wonder if those are the 2 hes talking of..




Cmdrcain -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/10/2004 6:45:47 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: ravinhood


Oh and that's another thing about computer games these days, patches, without an internet connection how does one obtain a "free" fix to a broken game, that they can't return for a refund to software outlets? Even when I buy a book (media), I can return it for another book or a "full refund" if pages are missing (faulty/buggy software)

When you think about it, some of us have to spend $120 (dialup) and for those with cable $360 a year, for what? Patches? Email? Piddling in forums? Downloading games we have to pay a "premium" price for as well as the internet connection?? Think about the whole picture here, it's costing us a lot of money to maintain our hobby, that was not always there back in the 80's. You could call up a software developer or publisher and they would send you "free" patch disks in the mail. You also could "return" faulty software for a "full refund". Things sure have changed and the costs are coming more out of our pockets. You could even call them up on the phone 1-800 numbers and they would give you technical help with getting the game to work on your system.

If I could get free patches in the mail, and be able to buy all games through a retailer with the ability for a refund, I'd have no need for the internet. It's just another nicety, it shouldn't be a necessity for getting patches and fixes for games.

Software developers/Publishers philosophy: Oh nevermind the pirates, we'll just charge the honest people more. Cost them more money to hire private dectectives and lawyers and of course bad publicity in the long run to go after pirates. Sure is unfair to those of us who support their work I think.



On Patchs, I think for the large Patch Matrix would work with someone who has a Dialup only connection, I would point out that with Windows many programs are "bloted" I get virius updates that are 1-2 Megs in size and theres other games with Multi MEG sized PATCHS out there so matrix is not alone in that.

The upcoming service 2 from Mickysoft will be around I believe 80 MB

So get over it, theres alot of programs and games with sizable patchs to download.

There is no such thing as "FREE" even those "FREE" patchs in past were things people paid for, if not in the price of the retail box (you think the prices of software didn't have a built in "free patch" cost?)
Then in the price of the next version/upgrade/expansion

I really think thinking one should get "free" patchs is bad, if you cannot download the size patch it is not unreasonable for a mailed patch to have a handling cost.

As to Pirates and cost more for game i got Big fat News for you, and I'm thinking your likely some youngster not a full grown adult cause adults know this fact:

EVERYTHING nowadays has a BUILT IN Theft Pct into the prices, be it a Book, a Game, a bag of jelly Beans or whatever..

The Average shoplifting losses plus costs of cameras, security etc are averaged out and put into all goods prices stores sell as an expense before the profit markup so your in fact no matter what you pay for, paying for "theft" costs.

So the rant about software prices including losess to pirates etc is unreasonable since it is no different then other goods, in fact
BOXED, Retail software in stores is likely selling with a $5 to $10 tacked on price for the average losses to shoplifting, so That $40 game may include a $5-10 markup in its price to cover such losses and also to cover the anti-shoplifting costs!!

[:-]




ravinhood -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/10/2004 6:59:56 AM)

quote:

BOXED, Retail software in stores is likely selling with a $5 to $10 tacked on price for the average losses to shoplifting, so That $40 game may include a $5-10 markup in its price to cover such losses and also to cover the anti-shoplifting costs!!


You just proved my point, thank you. Software is marked up to pay the costs of piracy, you said it yourself. :)

And lemme tell yah I worked retail for 20 years, so don't give me any speeches on markups and why, yes, I know very well about the 2% shoplifting projections in businesses. That's not my point, the point is, software( and other items) are marked UP to the honest consumer BECAUSE of THEFT and PIRACY! My whole point exactly, honest consumers pay for piracy.




Hexed Gamer -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/10/2004 7:28:34 AM)

"What Matrix titles through?

Theres two that are FREE to d/l : WIR and Pacwar the matrix version.

Have to wonder if those are the 2 hes talking of.."

Well they might have been referred to by name, most usually do mention them if they mean them.

I won't say he wasn't, but I am only able to wonder if he meant the same old way most games are circulated on the internet. To many ways to actually mention them all.

He at least wasn't silly enough to give actual examples :)




Error in 0 -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/10/2004 10:31:35 AM)

Anyone who believe I promote downloading cracked games can consider themself morons. Anyone who believe that not talking about it will somhow prevent it is equally morons. If anyone read my posts, I have mentioned which games I saw, and they are not the free ones from Matrix. And I repeat myself, saying this this will not make hordes of peoples who read this forums rush the internet downloading the games. If you are of another opinion, then show this effect to me. In the context of this thread, piracy is a point, and I mentioned this because of that. If you somehow feel this promotes piracy, then do not bring the subject up, thus keeping it alive.




Error in 0 -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/10/2004 10:56:14 AM)

....
Alot cut [:)]

Basically some of us disagree, and thank god for that! The fact is that Matrix loose som potential customers by having the price and policy they have on some of their game. One should not underestimate the power of having the game boxed on the shelf. I also believe that the extra cost of providing a CD and Manual instead of just DD as the only choice will not add much to the price (it usually is alot cheaper massproducing), but will add much to the buyers. Finally, I believe in the power of demos as a sale argument, especially if it is a niche game like WitP.

But I cant help wonder: if I, who like both DOOM type of games as well as HoI and Korsun is interested in WitP, I am sure many others are as well. And many of them wont buy the game because they either do not hear about it, or think it too much $ for the trouble. We really don't care much if the game last 100 years, as there are always something as lucrative out there, easier to get and/or cheaper.

JT




Marc von Martial -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/10/2004 1:26:48 PM)

quote:

The upcoming service 2 from Mickysoft will be around I believe 80 MB


The full thing is 266mb .




Hexed Gamer -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/10/2004 5:51:37 PM)

To demo or not ot demo.

Ok here is a good comparison.

ASL Advanced Squad Leader is currently likely the most expensive wargame in existence. Doesn't slow people down paying even MORE for it on eBay when they just don't feel like waiting for regular channels to get it into their hands either.

At 70 plus bucks for a manual, and 70 plus bucks for just one module, that's quite a price tag.
So, they are releasing ASL Starter KIts (finally) as an enticement at a much more user friendly introductory price tag.

It isn't free. But it is at least complete, and it is at least not requiring any other components from here or there.
You can't play real ASL with it, you can only experience ASL with it. The Starter kits are really just what they are, demos, teaching aids, informative tools. A sample of the game nothing more.

Would anyone here willingly spemd 10 bucks on a custom download of a purpose made demo of War in the Pacific? A game that is complete runs complete is not a busted copy of the real deal, just a game using the same basic style as the real thing?

I am NOT talking about the real game, I AM talking about something that was intentionally and deliberately made in tandem with the full game.
Something that actually runs on code that was made just for this purpose ie forget going online to find some jerk's crack to unlock the demo and provide a free functioning copy.

And no, don't tell me it can't be done. Every single program out there "couldn't be done" 5-10 years ago. It hadn't be done before till someone decided they didn't like that fact.

Demos can be handy, but often a game is just to complex to really allow it.

War in the Pacific could easy use something like a specific historical battle though, to demo the basic nature of the design. Releasing something like the Battle of Midway, where the demo has nothing but the Battle of Midway, but done in the same manner the full program uses to illustrate the full program, without being the full program.

And yes, I know, software hackers are an ingenius lot. No one said life was fair, or ever was going to be fair.
That's why the makers of software for sale, need to be constantly thinking.
You snooze you lose.




dinsdale -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/10/2004 7:09:34 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hexed Gamer
Would anyone here willingly spemd 10 bucks on a custom download of a purpose made demo of War in the Pacific? A game that is complete runs complete is not a busted copy of the real deal, just a game using the same basic style as the real thing?

I am NOT talking about the real game, I AM talking about something that was intentionally and deliberately made in tandem with the full game.
Something that actually runs on code that was made just for this purpose ie forget going online to find some jerk's crack to unlock the demo and provide a free functioning copy.

And no, don't tell me it can't be done. Every single program out there "couldn't be done" 5-10 years ago. It hadn't be done before till someone decided they didn't like that fact.


Generally, demanding money for a PC demo would have you dragged off to a padded room for monitoring.

Secondly, I admire your stubborn refusal to look facts in the face, and I won't tell you it can't be done, but if it can be done it will cost almost as much as the game does to develop.

Aside from that....brilliant idea [8|]

There are ways to demo games. Matrix apparently choses not to indulge in them, why that means that some new 'almost game' needs to be developed is quite beyond me.

Demos can be handy, but often a game is just to complex to really allow it.

quote:

War in the Pacific could easy use something like a specific historical battle though, to demo the basic nature of the design. Releasing something like the Battle of Midway, where the demo has nothing but the Battle of Midway, but done in the same manner the full program uses to illustrate the full program, without being the full program.

This is quite typically done. You can demo Combat Mission, Danger Forward, Spartan and a host of other strategy/war games. This tech is neither unavailable or unused.




Hexed Gamer -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/10/2004 7:41:07 PM)

Your points are well taken dinsdale :)

Marketing is not always bright or spot on hehe.

If I had a dollar for every "dumb" idea I have seen where marketing is concerned, man I would be some rich hehe.




ravinhood -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/10/2004 8:10:48 PM)

I don't know about you guys, but, where I live when DOOM the origional first came out, they were selling the DEMO for $9.99. lol Software etc. and Babbages both. Now, I don't know how many copies they sold, but, I guess sometimes it is viable to charge a fee for a demo. $10 is a lil extreme though and the price did come down after a reasonable time to like $1.99

I guess it all boils down to "it's just business" survival of the company outweighs or tries to balance customer satisfaction with product and price. That's pretty much the business way.

To me it's the reason Matrix, HPS, Shrapnel have gone to direct sales, at a loss of customer satisfaction, they are making "more" money. Instead of making $2-$3 a copy on the retail shelves, they are most likely making $20 a copy by direct sales if not more, so they can give up around (6) unhappy customers and still make about the same as going retail. So in essence we don't really matter, as long as a handful continue to buy their games this way.

I remember a time when selling 10,000 copies of a wargame was a success, Dave Landrey told me this. Today, well, I have no idea how many they need to sell for it to be a success. I'm sure things have gone up all around.

Just reading about how much it takes now to launch a MMORPG, 30 MILLION dollars!!!!! 30 flippin MILLON dollars, do you know what I would do if I had 30 million dollars? LOL I wouldn't be launching any MMORPG! I recently read that in a Computer Strategy Gaming magazine. And was reading that Warhammer online and Ultima XO are now defunct, because of the cost to launch a mmorpg.

I still think though if Matrix is going to this Direct Sales on a permanent basis then they still should offer a "boxed w/manual + CD" version of the game and put up a store for this type of purchase. Actually I don't really care about the BOX, I can settle for a sandwich baggie with a MANUAL and a CD in it. I don't mind paying the price (if the price is reasonable and not just gouging me), if I am getting what "I want" to pay for.

With the advent of Ebay and the likes of Amazon.com, it's becoming easier and easier to hold out on extreme high prices on just about anything anymore. They are both like giant garage sales online. Does this hurt the industry? Does this drive prices up? Most likely it will eventually, if everyone gets of alike mind that waiting means savings.

I also still think a computer wargame every 3 or 4 months with a magazine like S&T would be a neat feature into the computer wargaming market. Create or use a well refined engine and churn out a good wargame every 3 or 4 months. I'm surprised HPS has never done this, but, then again I don't know how long it takes them to churn out a game. I know, I'd finally get to play some of those wargames I've never played from the S&T magazines if they were on computer. I just don't like to "punch" my games from these magazines.

Anyways, while we have been chatting, has the price for WitP gone down yet? lol Didn't think so. ;)




Hexed Gamer -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/10/2004 10:45:40 PM)

I might not mind a "subscription to S&T if as you said, they also inserted a cd with some useful wargames or wargame based options.

But then again, I have to remember, I have a personal distaste for getting a cd that was shipped with a magazine (bad experience).




Fred98 -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/11/2004 3:23:09 AM)

- Firstly you pay for the game and download it.
- Secondly if you want it on CD you must pay for the burning and the mailing
- Thirdly, if you want a professionally printed and bound copy of the manual you pay extra for that too.


This is what the internet is good at! You, the consumer has choice! It’s a dream come true! Any complaints must be directed to the 19th century brains trust!



quote:

ORIGINAL: PeckingFury

Well just name a game that will last you the next 5 to ten years



In the 21st century this is no longer the case. Windows is not DOS. Upgrade to the next version of Windows, and WITP probably will not run.

Upgrade your graphics card and WITP probably will not run.
-





quote:

ORIGINAL: Hexed Gamer

It is not the price tag that is the key, it is market awareness.



That’s correct. And as for wargames, market awareness comes from visiting wargaming websites and reading gaming magazines and wargaming magazines. Not from visiting a shop that sells Monoply



quote:

ORIGINAL: Hexed Gamer

I am in demographic terms an impulse buyer. I am the reason store aisles are designed the way they are



So, its your fault.

But that’s no bad because you keep the economy moving. Some of us walk in through a poor store lay out with our eyes closed because I know exactly where the correct shelf is.


quote:

ORIGINAL: Hexed Gamer

I am not saying buying online is bad wrong or the poor choice. It is just not an effective way to sell to me.



If you are a wargamer, you are already sold before the game is released.

And you cannot judge a game by it’s box art.



quote:

ORIGINAL: Hexed Gamer

It is the selling the next game that is tricky.



Yes very good point. I really enjoy UV. But I will not get WITP simply because it takes sooo long to play a turn. I am currently up to my neck in great wargames and if I take on another, then I will not have the time to play them properly – and not enjoy myself.




quote:

ORIGINAL: dinsdale

I probably fall into a minority of jaded game buyers, but after averaging about a game a month last year, I've bought a grand total of two this year.



Most games are silly. That’s why you are jaded. Stick to thinking games – stick to wargames – and you will not become jaded.


And to finish: You cannot persuade the public to buy wargames. They are not interested. Rather, there will be people, who would love to play wargames, but they do not know they exist. As a result they do not go searching online for wargaming sites.

These people will be playing PC versions of “toy soldiers in the sand box”. They need to be found




ravinhood -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/11/2004 4:58:24 AM)

quote:

These people will be playing PC versions of “toy soldiers in the sand box”. They need to be found


Wonder why someone hasn't made a game like that, where you throw firecrackers at them and shoot them with a rubber band wooden pistol gun? ;) Then bury them in your sandbox and never see them again until years later when grass has grown up in your old sandbox and you are mowing and out flies something sorta lime green looking. heh




Cmdrcain -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/11/2004 6:13:41 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: ravinhood

quote:

BOXED, Retail software in stores is likely selling with a $5 to $10 tacked on price for the average losses to shoplifting, so That $40 game may include a $5-10 markup in its price to cover such losses and also to cover the anti-shoplifting costs!!


You just proved my point, thank you. Software is marked up to pay the costs of piracy, you said it yourself. :)

And lemme tell yah I worked retail for 20 years, so don't give me any speeches on markups and why, yes, I know very well about the 2% shoplifting projections in businesses. That's not my point, the point is, software( and other items) are marked UP to the honest consumer BECAUSE of THEFT and PIRACY! My whole point exactly, honest consumers pay for piracy.



So why complain?

It is something that is done, complaining of it will not do anything,
so why in first place moan about such?




Cmdrcain -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/11/2004 6:20:46 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: JallaTryne

But I cant help wonder: if I, who like both DOOM type of games as well as HoI and Korsun is interested in WitP, I am sure many others are as well. And many of them wont buy the game because they either do not hear about it, or think it too much $ for the trouble. We really don't care much if the game last 100 years, as there are always something as lucrative out there, easier to get and/or cheaper.

JT



Well, I'd not think of Doom as being in same genre as WITP,
if you like a massive game, one also which allows you to create mods of own, one with plenty of replay value, one that will keep you busy playing it, witp will be what want.

But if someones looking for a Wargame where they can sit and play the war out in a few hrs or couple days, witp isn't likely suitable for such, witp is like BTR, a game played for days on end...

You do however with witp have the ability via editor of creating scenarios that play out in a short time, it maybe possiable setup a scenario for a certain short period of play.




Cmdrcain -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/11/2004 6:27:24 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Marc Schwanebeck

quote:

The upcoming service 2 from Mickysoft will be around I believe 80 MB


The full thing is 266mb .


266mb only if installing for things like network, where company upgrades a bunch of PC at once.

The single home users will vary dependent on whats needed to be upgraded, 80MB is the figure for average single PC users, which can vary dependent on likely how many other past upgrades/patchs for SP1 were already applied.

I do wonder how many new bugs and problems it will create for
users... how many applications will need to have patchs put out, how many applications may no longer run...

Oh boy is it going to be fun.... NOT!




Cmdrcain -> RE: CD fee?!?! (8/11/2004 6:49:06 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Joe 98

- Firstly you pay for the game and download it.
- Secondly if you want it on CD you must pay for the burning and the mailing
- Thirdly, if you want a professionally printed and bound copy of the manual you pay extra for that too.


This is what the internet is good at! You, the consumer has choice! It’s a dream come true! Any complaints must be directed to the 19th century brains trust!

In the 21st century this is no longer the case. Windows is not DOS. Upgrade to the next version of Windows, and WITP probably will not run.

Upgrade your graphics card and WITP probably will not run.




Things are evolving, due to technology.

Unless of course the nuts in congress mess up, after all theres some
bills being pushed that would make some normal legal things illegal... I'll not get into that but back to evolving technology:

Theres more Ebooks getting "published" and in part its due to Ipod and other such devices, so theres going to be more "digital" products and more then likely online buying and online sales instead of old shelved, boxed products.

A certain Sci Fic series was finished via ebook, as Paperbacks continue to go up in prices its likely more ebook versions will appear and at a lesser cost then the paper

So comparing that to software...it is quite likely more software will be digital bought with any "hard copy" sold at a higher price (I could get the book I bought as an ebook as a printed version...at a $17 cost vs the digital ebook price of $7 for example)

So Digital downloading especially as more connect via fast access
is likely to become the major way to buy with any boxed/hard copys at extra cost..

Btw why say WITP will not run if upgrade to next windows version? Or upgrade Video card?

It is a Windows program, unless the videocard doesn't support the
graphics used or a new windows o/s in future doesn't support XP run applications I don't see that...

As to DOS.. I run under Xp alot of DOS programs still,
Pacwar, WIR, and a number of others, however for some older DOS they don't run due to often cause newer videocards don't support the older EGA graphics and in cases the older VGA

WITP will likely be running for somne time in future, even in newer O/S if the newer O/S supports win32 bit programs.




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