Survey: How much should they charge for SC2?

[jon_j_rambo]

Hello Fellow Wargaming Guys,

I wanted to take a quick survey on my own accord out of curiousity: How much would you pay for SC2? How much should Battlefront charge? What would be fair?

How much would I pay? I would pay ALOT of money for a really cool game. (couple hundred dollars, believe it or not). I've played SC so damn much it's incredible return on $25. A round of golf is $50 nowadays, & that's for 5-hours of entertainment. I've played a sick amount of SC (don't even want to count the hours or I'd freak out). I see "classic", replayable games as a lifetime asset. I'd pay $200 for an awesome wargame that I get months/years of enjoyment from. Games that I can actually remember having a HUGE value to me where I got $200 of entertainment out of: Panzer General I & II (the rest sucked), Sid Meier's Gettysburg (Antietem sucked though), & Age of Empires come to mind. Notice how some sequels do suck? Panzer General got weak after the 2nd one, can't really explain it. Sid's add on "Antietem" had terrible playablity, the Southerner's were wiped out everytime in a historical correct manner

How much should Battlefront charge? SC was $25, I think they should at least charge $35. Does that $10 really make a difference to you? "New" games retail cost $40+ (at release, & don't get discounted for awhile).

On the otherhand games that I don't play are worthless to me (that's most of them). It's like buying a music-CD or movie-DVD that I don't play/listen to, I usually just throw them in the trash.

I guess I'm extreme. Games are either worthless, or have a reward value of $200 to me. Not realistic to marketing/sales.

Battlefront, I'd charge at least $35. It's a classic economic problem: potential lost sales versus 33% more profit per unit shipped.

Rambo suggests $35

[ April 14, 2004, 04:31 AM: Message edited by: jon_j_rambo ]

[Sombra]

Hi Rambo, 35$ for me isn´t to much considering the amount of time I have spend on SC. At least if Hubert (or Battlefront) shows as much commitment to improve the game after it is kicked out of the door as they did for the first SC.

Nice would be a download option for the whole game a la galactic civilization. Because if I order it directly from the USA living in Germany. I have to pay shipment, Taxes etc and suddenly 35$ are more like 60$ when it gets here.

I would even preorder it now to show my fate in Huberts design.

[jon_j_rambo]

Sombra --- Yes, true gamers will pay good bucks for quality considering how much time we play them. A couple of patches to SC would be worth big cash to me. Get rid of those forced Air Intercepts! Didn't think about shipping charges for overseas players. In the States, we don't pay taxes yet for internet At least, I'm pretty sure, politicians are trying to break that up.

[kossuth]

i could easy pay 50 bucks, but as sombra says.

With shipping it will probably be too much.

So i will wait till its in store paying the 50 bucks there. I think SC costed 40 bucks here in sweden in the store.

[JerseyJohn]

An important consideration is the very greatly expanded scenario editor.

It sounds like what we've got now is practically a War Game Construction Kit -- which I recall somebody actually asking for, once upon a time.

[UgediBugedi]

I would pay $50.

[jon_j_rambo]

Can you believe the customer is bidding the price up! The point is, we want quality, patches, kick ass games, & are willing to pay for it!

[zappsweden]

I would also pay $50-$70 on one condition, GAME BALANCE. I have seen too many games with superb features and superb game ideas being destroyed by either bad balance or a unfriendly interface (clicking fest).

[Exel]

I would pay the full price (which is between 50 and 60 euros here), but 35€ would sound like a more reasonable price. The fans will pay anything, but you want to sell the game to a bigger audience too.

[Les the Sarge 9-1]

I am for downloadable, as it appears it is the direction niche wargaming should take.

I would rather not spend more than 50 bucks Canadian for anything.

Beyond 50 bucks Canadian, you are risking making me miserable just watching the other guys playing.

If the game is made a downloadable, I will likely be one of the guys tying up bandwidth right from the start.

If it requires shipping from the US, odds are I will be waiting a LOT longer than I wish.

And with everyone playing SC2, I doubt I will get in many games of SC1 online either (which will suck).

As SC is now on sale here in Canada in retail, I am naturally hoping if it can't go downloadable, you at least make a significant push to get it on Canadian shelves the same month it appears in the US.

Come on Hubert, you is a Canuck, you gotta cut us some slack

[CraigRS]

I think $35 to $40 should be the max. Also I think say $39.99 for the cd shippped to you and $34.99 if you download it. I prefer the download method but I also think there should be a price break if for nothing else the fact that they don't need to make a cd, ect.

[Yohan]

$40 USD and downloadable and I buy day one!

[SeaMonkey]

With HC's proven track record, $50. For those that are squeamish at that price, have you forgotten the added SC features of patches 1.01 through 1.06. Remember a full game editor's worth? Do you want this to be SC-last? The world could be next, but what's the incentive?

[J P Wagner]

As Rambo suggested $35 is a good price, but I will not shy away from $50 either...when I think of the money I have blown on games like HOI, I still know that my money will be well spent on SC2....

[Exel]

Originally posted by SeaMonkey:

Do you want this to be SC-last?

Exactly the reason why the price tag should not be too high. $50€ will scare away most of the non-SC-fan potential buyers. The relative success of SC was explainable by it's low price tag that made the threshold of buying the game low. If the game costs $50€ instead of $35€, people will think twice before buying it, and there will be less random buyers.

($ and € are essentially the same)

[Kelly's Heroes]

I would suggest $39.95 Canadian.

This game looks to have wide appeal. Capture not only the wargamers, but also strategy fans everywhere, especially the HoI, Axis & Allies, Civ II fanes, etc.

To maximize profits the game should be released in retail in Canada at the same time as the USA just before Christmas.

Personally, I have dial-up, so I would rather purchase the game on CD with a manual.

Cheers!

[KDG]

I'd go with $35. This will get tons of repeat business, but isn't priced so high as to scare new business away.

[Jussi Köhler]

Between $35-$45, preferably a downloadable version to cut down on delivery time and costs.

[Moon]

Hehe, interesting thread. Thanks for participating in this fan-initiated market research

We're looking currently at a $35 release, though it's not written in stone at this point. If you get 10,000 people to post here that they'd buy it for $50, then the price might go up

Downloadable... probably not, but heck, who knows.

Retail release - *maybe* around christmas season in Europe, but definitely a no-no in North America until end of 2005! I have tried to explain the reasons for this often enough - in retail sales, only the retailer makes a profit; we need the direct sales to you guys to remain in business, simple as that.

Martin

[kurt88]

35 USD plus shipping seems VERY reasonable to me.

[Night]

35 is the highest I would go.

Top of the line Computer games cost $50-60 nowadays, I got battlefield1942 for $45 and it obviously cost a lot more to make then SC or SC2.

While I know I will have hours and hours of enjoyment, I would not pay anywhere near $40 or $50 for a game like this.

I can gaurentee that if you put the game for $50 you will see sales that aren't that great, only the hardcore players that have posted here will pay that kinda money for a game like this. I've been waiting for SC2 just as long as the rest of you, but you can forget $50 unless there is some serious additions to the game.

[Kelly's Heroes]

Originally posted by Moon:

Retail release - *maybe* around christmas season in Europe, but definitely a no-no in North America until end of 2005! I have tried to explain the reasons for this often enough - in retail sales, only the retailer makes a profit; we need the direct sales to you guys to remain in business, simple as that.

Martin

IMHO this is a BIG mistake. It's not going to be released in NA for another 20 months!

Surely, you jest. . .

Well lucky Europe. . .

This game could have very wide appeal for even non-wargamers. By limiting it only to on-line sales, you will cut your profits considerably.

This game needs exposure.

Since pre-Christmas retail sales are the largest than at any other time of the year, you will lose out on the impulse buyer as well. You have to think volume.

Have you ever been in the computer games section of Walmart one month before Christmas? It is literally lined with customers tripping over themselves eager to part with their money.

You really need to re-think your marketing strategy. . .

I would have bought this game the second it came to retail.

Knowing this, you won't get my money for another 20 months (and by that time it will be reduced in price).

While you might pocket more money via on-line sales, as a Canadian, I am out of pocket a lot of money just because of shipping and duty costs.

This is yet another example of why wargames remain relatively unknown among the general population, and why they will remain a niche product. . .

I'm still shaking my head over this decision. . .

[ April 14, 2004, 12:54 PM: Message edited by: Kelly's Heroes ]

[Exel]

Christmas sales really aren't the Holy Grail of gaming industry as most (even game devs and publishers) seem to think. True, there's a lot of money going around that time of the year, but there's helluva lot of competition as well. For big releases Christmas is a gold mine, but smaller releases - which SC2 certainly is - tend to go down with the mass. Random Christmas shopper will buy the high-profile multi-million marketed EA product that has meters and meters of shelf space. Small releases have better chances for making profit in the other times of the year. That's the fact.

[Moon]

Kelly's Heroes, I disagree with everything that you wrote, and the fact that we're here, that SC2 will become reality this year, and that Hubert didn't sign up with EA Games to publish SC2 prove that you're wrong.

No, "not 20 months for North American release", the game will be available by mail-order, simple as that.

No, we're not cutting our profits considerably, quite the contrary, but this isn't a place to show you profit calculations.

No, you're not out of pocket a lot of money because even with shipping and duty (IF you get charged duty and taxes at all; that's a bit of luck depending on the customer officers inspecting your package) the game will be only as much as a regular full price retail release. And heck, maybe we will offer a download, who knows.

And no, the game won't be "reduced in price" in 20 months but will cost precisely as much as we will want it to cost to reach a retail mass audience.

Anyway, we've talked about this before I remember, so I won't repeat myself. Just read what Exel and some others (heck, even Rambo) wrote here.

Martin

[JerseyJohn]

At SC over the months I suggested several times that two packages, one a great WWII Strategy game with only a limited editor and the second a War Game Construction Kit -- would both sell and be good products.

Hubert has taken it one better and is giving us both in one, so I have no qualms about mugging an extra patsy one night to gather the extra scratch.

Personally I'm more excited about the editor than the campaign and yes, I'd like to see those continents on your planet Zorg (mentioned elsewhere) -- with it's one and only moon.

[ April 14, 2004, 02:46 PM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]