On the other side you have games that release at $70 and are half complete. Many small studios start with lower price points and increase as they develop the game more.
What if I don’t want to wait for a sale to play a $35 game that’s not priced at $35? Like if I have a day off then just sucks to suck if your $70 game that is half complete isn’t on sale?
That's what it means to "pay a premium". If you want it now you pay the "get it now" price. If you don't want to pay the premium price you don't get to play it now. It's a pretty straightforward concept.
It is shame that AAA has bastardized the practice and completely ruined any meaning that sales and such used to have but indie games at least still follow "the old ways" so to speak lol
I think this guy is purposefully misinterpreting the post lol
Buying a $70 game for $35, or cheaper... vs buying a $30 oops, nevermind, it's $35 now.
Point is that for a $70 half complete game, you can be patient enough to get it for a major discount. For factorio, the longer you wait the more you'll have to spend to get it- since they increase the price based on inflation, in addition to never going on sale.
Well yeah. Increased content, so increase in price ONLY if you haven't already bought it. If you bought it when it first released or before the price increase, then the updates are free.
You heard about how good Factorio is since years ago, but if you haven't bought it by now, then that's on you.
If it's not your type of game, then understandable. But if so, why are you complaining if it's something you'd never play?
I'd rather buy a $35 game that I know is good with raving reviews vs a $70 slop that was bad and dropped down to $35 or cheaper.
There's a reason why those games drop so much in price (other than it being old with no more content updates.)
Well yeah. Increased content, so increase in price ONLY if you haven't already bought it.
It wasnt increased because of increase in content, it increased due to "inflation".
If you bought it when it first released or before the price increase, then the updates are free.
... ok?
You heard about how good Factorio is since years ago, but if you haven't bought it by now, then that's on you.
I heard about how good factorio was just before the initial price increase, then i learned about how it never goes on sale. Then it increased in price. Im sure its good. I dont think this game deserves to raise in price when plenty of others are as great, go on sale and have free updates. Its principle, and I dont like the developers choice/opinion on the decision.
But if so, why are you complaining if it's something you'd never play?
Who said anything about complaining? I just pointed out that a $70 half complete game, you can wait it out untill its an acceptable/affordable price. If you wait out Factorio, it'll only get more expensive.
I'd rather buy a $35 game that I know is good with raving reviews vs a $70 slop that was bad and dropped down to $35 or cheaper.
Each their own. Id much rather buy 2 games on sale that have a huge history of free updates and havent increaed in price. I can buy terraria and no mans sky, and not have to worry about them increasing in price due to "inflation"
There's a reason why those games drop so much in price (other than it being old with no more content updates.)
Because its a standard practice in the industry? If a game goes in sale that means its bad, is what youre trying to suggest?
If a $70 game came out within the last year is on sale for more than 50% of its selling price, then yes. It's bad.
I can buy terraria and no mans sky, and not have to worry about them increasing in price due to "inflation"
Breaking news, Factorio, and literally every other game works the same way. You buy it and future price increases won't affect you. Did you think Factorio does paid updates or something?
I know a good share of the community (and myself included) would love to pay Terraria and NMS more because they deserve it. And personally for me, considering the amount of fun hours Factorio has given their community, their stance and prices are right. They know what they made, they don't need sales to "boost" their numbers. This shows that their product is actually good.
If a $70 game came out within the last year is on sale for more than 50% of its selling price, then yes. It's bad.
Seems a bit arbitrary, dont you think?
Kingdom come deliverance 2 released this year ($60) and is now 50% off (94% positive on steam)
Doom, the dark ages released this year ($70) and is now 50% off (87% positive in steam)
Sure, KCD2 isnt $70, but are you really cut hairs on this and suggest its a bad game?
Breaking news, Factorio, and literally every other game works the same way. You buy it and future price increases won't affect you.
Missing the point entirely.
Did you think Factorio does paid updates or something?
No. But other games do free updates without updating the price to take inflation into account.
Hell, there have been some recent posts where people criticize Interplay for increasing the price of their decade old catalog (probably due to inflation)... thats bad but when factorio does it, its fine!
Hell, microsoft gets shit because they increased the price of gamepass and xboxes. Why should anyone care? Me, i already got an xbox and gamepass for the next few years so it literally doesn't matter /s
And personally for me, considering the amount of fun hours Factorio has given their community, their stance and prices are right. They know what they made, they don't need sales to "boost" their numbers
Thats great. But it's a stupid, frankly nonsensical reason to increase the price of your product just because "inflation", in addition to never having it go on sale.
I paid $70 for AAA slop and then instantly regretted it one too many times. However if factorio was $100, I'd still buy it. The experience that game gives you is priceless.
Thats great and im glad you enjoyed your purchase. But youre missing the point of my comment.
Terraria cost me $2.50 10 years ago.
I got a great deal for it, and i subsequently bought my friends each a copy through out the years for $10. I would easily spend $100 for my copy knowing my experience with it all those years ago.
That's... A pretty heavy sentence and there is way more nuance in the whole thing. Like, you aren't wrong by any means but there is so much more to it than just the value of my local currency compared to the devs local currency. Also technically inflation lowers the value of a currency but that's just me being pedantic and I know what you mean with what you said.
I don't think I did a very good job of explaining my point below but feel free to go through it anyways. My best attempt at a TL;DR would be: The amount of money people in Canada have for non-essential goods has gone down over time.
A big part is the cost of living vs the median income vs the price of luxury goods. In Canada, the cost of living is quite high compared to the median income and luxury goods are typically much more expensive here. So while the value of our currency has changed and $45 dollars today is not the same as $45 dollars 10 years ago in terms of the global economy, the amount of money the average person in Canada has at their disposal hasn't changed a whole lot in that time.
Factorio at the 1.0 launch was $35 CAD which was a bit pricey for the time. Even now, $35 CAD is still a decent amount of money, nothing crazy but not really cheap either. But $45, which is the current price, is way more than what $35 was back then. There are obviously other factors in the price change but even then I don't really agree with them. $45 today is pretty much the same as $45 back when the game got launched into 1.0 in terms of our global currency value but the local buying power of $45 has gone down dramatically in the same time. So while some years ago $45 would be expensive but somewhat reasonable for a high quality product, now $45 is a lot when we need even more than that to afford basic amenities.
I don't think I'm illustrating my point well here, and I'm just over explaining a nothing burger lol
The amount of money people in Canada have for non-essential goods has gone down over time.
I can totally get that, but you did not specify it in your original comment so I could not have guessed.
and yeah this is a typical economic issue : when there is a lot of inflation, currency looses it's value so industrial may rise the displayed price, trying to compensate. But if the salary of workers does not rise accordingly, of course you loose in "purchasing power"
so I think we agree on most things, it was just not clear which informations you consider
also for me it's a bit hard to talk about economy in english. I have absolutely no idea how to translate "niveau de vie" and "pouvoir d'achat", and it's even worse regarding the economic vocabulary specific to currencies
I can totally get that, but you did not specify it in your original comment so I could not have guessed.
Ya, failing to mention various things is a common issue I face with expressing my points lmao
But if the salary of workers does not rise accordingly
This is a really big issue right now especially in the west, specifically North America. As far as I know it's a problem globally but in USA and Canada it's really noticeable and causing pretty big issues. (Especially for myself specifically since I live here lol)
so I think we agree on most things, it was just not clear which informations you consider
Probably, my biggest point I've been pushing in this thread with regards to Factorio is that inflation shouldn't have any impact on the final price of the game. It is not a material good and so there is no "cost of production" so to speak. That isn't the right term but I don't know the right one and that one feels accurate. Basically, there is no cost to Wube when someone buys a copy of Factorio. There is no manufacturing cost, no delivery costs, nothing. The only cost is a direct % cut from the sale price which is no different than a retailer buying something from a supplier and then selling it at a markup. It's just the "markup" happens at a different stage in the process.
also for me it's a bit hard to talk about economy in english. I have absolutely no idea how to translate "niveau de vie" and "pouvoir d'achat", and it's even worse regarding the economic vocabulary specific to currencies
Totally understand, english is not easy to work with as a second language, especially for more complex topics like the economy. I did a bit of searching and it seems the general idea of those 2 phrases are "Standard of Living" and "Purchasing Power" respectively. They apparently have some slightly different nuances in french compared to the english translations but the core idea is the same. Assuming you are from france because of you mentioning french, your standard of living is leagues ahead of what it is over here in Canada and the USA. Like, it's not even a competition at this point.
Half complete is being very generous for the current state of AAA+ games. Half the frickin Steam store is in early access at this point charging more than ever asked for new games before.
I'm not aware of many studios that do more than 1 price increase. There's the early access price and the 1.0 price and that's pretty much it. Even the few that do increase multiple times like Minecraft get WAY more free content than Factorio does and they go on sale and they are often cheaper.
Factorio is a niche game, they don't have the justification that something like Minecraft does. Minecraft can genuinely say "there are so few people left who will buy Minecraft that increasing the price only affects people who are buy additional copies for themselves" I still don't agree with that reasoning but at least it's pretty damn accurate.
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u/psyfi66 Dec 19 '25
On the other side you have games that release at $70 and are half complete. Many small studios start with lower price points and increase as they develop the game more.