Sigh.... Basically this says it all: https://isthereanydeal.com/search/?q=ark+survival#/page:game/info?plain=arksurvivalevolved
Pricedifference between lowest and current is now 61.04 euro's. For an 'early access' game.
How much profit do they want to squeeze out before letting it die, cause they sure as hell don't care about reputation or anything.
And 'retail parity'. ...again using a term they don't understand to justify bad business decisions.
Good job.
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i think they do understand the term and use it on purpose and do make a good business decision cause that's what is making them rich
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Apart from the term being wrongly used according to its most common definition, I do agree it's making them rich....in the short term. But medium to long term it's really bad business. (Focussing on shortterm profit with longterm losses generally is either bad business or means you're planning not to stick around for the longterm).
Then again...with what consumers are accepting nowadays I might be wrong. Still get surprised often enough by what an average consumer will put up with.
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i didn't say that the term was being rightly used according to "its most common definition". i said that they knew it and did it on purpose. then yes it makes them rich on the short term. that's what they want. prices aren't fixed and people will not care about this a month from now. new customers buying the game won't even care at all for the most part. they would simply still have the option to change the prices at any point. if anything, this drama is only giving them advertising and instead of just being free advertising they're getting money for it plus the money later from the people that will purchase the game later on when the price decreases or go on sale. also, even if the game keeps its huge price tag from now, they're just already just so rich and will keep getting money from the game anyways, so it's a win-win.
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I think they are increasing price just to make HUGE DISCOUNT little bit later to match old price.
Stupid ? Kinda. But this is common practic in any grocery chain I know already. They just borrowed this "clever" idea.
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No need to worry, the price will drop like a rock soon enough.
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The reason is BS anyway: "To ensure retail parity" with boxed editions? That's inane. Even Overwatch, one of the most successful games of last year, launched at $40 which is much more reasonable. That's console game racketeering, not PC game pricing. If they bumped it to $40, fine, you said the price might go up, but man, this is a cash grab plain and simple trying to exploit a multiplayer game when it releases under the vestiges of a commercial release. Besides, why can't a boxed edition cost more than a digital edition? The fundamental assumption is flawed.
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That's console game racketeering, not PC game pricing.
Well, that's the kicker here.
The game is being released on consoles, and they want to sell on consoles, for "regular" console prices.
Having the game cheaper on a different platform doesn't help with that, so they jack up the PC price well past the console price.
Where if they launched the console version at half-price, chances are they'd sell double he number of copies or more, because that'd put it in the impulse-buy range for many people, so they would still break even just as quick, and without the shitstorm they've just caused in their precious Steam review ratings. (Where yes, there are many more new Negative reviews today. Impact should become visible soon)
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If anyone is interested, Humble Bundle sells ARK: Survival Evolved currently at 25,19 Euro.
Don't know the prices in other currencies.
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it's how early access work.
get out of EA >increase price
why are people crying so much?
don't tell me some of you planned to get the game right now. 😑
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Some people might have been waiting to see how it turned out. I think it's just the amount by which they've increased it. 70 eur is expensive for a multiplayer only game compared to other games on the market e.g. Overwatch. It doesn't help that the game is still a piece of poorly optimised crap. Of course people can choose if they want to buy it or not.
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30$ for an EARLY ACCESS game is kinda too much, don't you think? Also not sure if this was/is an indie but in cse it is, 70 euros for it it's too much.
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30$ for an EARLY ACCESS game is kinda too much, don't you think?
Plenty of people paid $30 for it on release. It was a top seller for months without a sale.
Edit. also -- Player Unknown's Battlegrounds has also been a top seller or the top seller since its release, and it's $30
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Point was -- people are OK paying $30 for Early Access, depending on the game.
They did it with ARK and they're doing it with PUBG.
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That's people's problem, they just see a popular "youtube like" game and they buy it like sheeps. Seriously, people should think before buying an incomplete game for 30$. I would understand 30$ price tag for a released and complete game but 60$ for a "indie" game it's toooo much.
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That's people's problem, they just see a popular "youtube like" game and they buy it like sheeps.
A lot of people bought the game, and a lot of people liked the game. There's a difference between the two. I myself put in over 130 hours at launch (and plan on a lot more later on), and I know people with thousands of hours in the game. I still have friends that play it regularly.
I'd hardly call people "sheep" for enjoying a game they've purchased. Perhaps it was popular for a reason. I bought it at launch after watching several Twitch streamers playing it for days. So yeah, I did think before buying. ;)
$60 may be too much, sure, but in all honesty, I'd pay $60 for ARK before I'd pay $60 for a lot of AAA titles (not that I'd pay $60 for any game anyway).
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Sorry but paying 60$ (70 euros in europe) is waaaaaay too much for any game. Sure if you enjoy a game you can justify it, but still I would never pay that much unless I really want a game and I'm totally sure it's good and I can play it. I guess if they keep adding free content to the game it's fine but in ARK's case, this is not it, they decided to release dlcs even in early access period.
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(not that I'd pay $60 for any game anyway).
Maybe you missed that part, so I'm re-posting it for you.
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Sorry, missed it. But yeah, the only reason I see to justify a 60$ price tag is that the developers will support the game with enough free content for some years.
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They update it often enough to annoy me - it's almost always in my download queue.
I'll have to play it again soon to see what all's been added. I wouldn't pay $60 for it, but I'd still pay $30 for it. If they ever get it optimized, it might actually be worth more than that.
That's my biggest beef - it still runs like shit, and I have a pretty hefty rig.
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Not defending Ark.
But many Early Access games are 30+ dollars.
A lot of games are early access as well but don't use the early access tag. (See Friday the 13th, and No Mans Sky)
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Sorry for the late answer but that is kinda stupid. If you release an unfinished game doesn't mean it's in early access despite they don't tagging it as so. That's a completely other topic. 30$ for a game in development with bugs and shit shouldn't have a full game price tag.
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Well, game is still in Early Access. For another month.
Plus, what other game got 2 100+% price increase just by going out or EAcc?
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Stupid keyboard.
And, looking at SteamDB, Kona went from $10 to $18, then to $20, so while end result is same, it is not "we celebrate end of EAcc by increasing price by over 100%".
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That's what happens when you gamble and wait. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
Honestly, I think people were just spoiled by the Early Access price. Had the game released Aug 08 at $60 without ever going into EA, people would be going ape-shit over a dinosaur game (Ermagerd! Dernersers!!!!). But since it's been $30 (or less) for the past two years, they expect it to stay at that price until they make up their minds. Unfortunately, that gamble didn't pay off.
It was even in a bundle. shrug
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The 100% increase is one thing, but the pure greediness just radiates through the Euro price. Converted, it is 80 dollars, which, coincidentally, negates all VAT buyers would pay for it, turning its net price to the same 60 dollars (minus Valve's generous fee) Americans would pay. No other company, not even indies ever so blatantly increased European prices just to avoid a little money loss.
Combined with the paid Early Access DLC, I am sorry to say that no, this is pure greed, nothing more. The official physical copy launch is a good excuse, but it does not cover the previous and the USD/EUR shenanigans.
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If this new pricing is pure greed, they've previously been generous putting the game on sale for $9 and in a bundle.
That knife cuts both ways.
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With 5 million copies sold, I am more inclined that the generosity was just a sign that nobody was buying it any more, as it found its intended audience. Now they can start to do the same with consoles and the price makes sure that the assload of money they will have to spend on patching fees will be covered. Console players will not be as tolerant with slowdowns and performance issues as PC gamers are, so if the game runs as bad there as infamously it runs on PC, they will have the launch period to make all the money.
I wouldn't be surprised to see this back in the 30-dollar range within a year. Maybe even in another bundle.
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Yes, we're both doing nothing but speculating.
I'd also like to speculate there are a lot of people who are just angry or annoyed the price didn't wait for them to decide. You take that chance with any Early Access game, though. That's why I typically read the entire EA box and check their update schedule and road-map before purchasing.
With ARK, it paid off for me. It doesn't always, though.
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Yep, that's the mind-boggling part. Even with taxes 60$ would be something like 62 - 65 €. To put an extra 5 € on top of that is just ridiculous. They must be really deluded to think that people are willing to pay that much more for a game just because it is 'out of Early Access'.
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I have never interested in Ark - and then at this doubled price I'd rather just buy Destiny 2 altogether.
....or whatever new Blizzard title/DLC in the near future is.
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I was looking at PSN the other day and there was a version of ARK for $129.99 in Canada. I apparently already own it on PC some how but I wouldn't have even paid the old price, the new price is beyond stupid.
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For some reason I thought this game was $15 before the change and nearly had a heart attack. I'm not against EA games upping their price after they leave it but I'm more accustomed to +10-15$. +100% is a bit much imo.
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During its last sale before the price hike I grabbed it plus the DLC for a bit over 14, could be where you saw it :)
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At some point this game started out at $15. The Developers are seriously overreaching at this point. I added it to my wishlist 2 years ago (June 15, 2015) when it was $15. As of 5 minutes ago I removed it from my wishlist, marked it as not interested, and will be hiding the game as soon as someone gives away another copy.
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It started at $29.99 but was sold at $24.89 introductory discount.
I purchased it June 2, 2015 for $24.89.
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I paid less than $7 for mine (3 TF2 keys). I didn't mind the game, but it ran like crap. All these years later, it still runs like crap.
They probably just don't care about PC anymore, they have already milked that cow. Consoles will be their new priority and cash flow.
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If there's anything I agree with in this entire thread, it's that they should have optimized the game before raising the price.
It has the content, it has the appeal, and it's a game you can play for 100's of hours. It just runs like shit.
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I agree with you, for me the game already offered me even more than I paid for... I played it "a bit" and planning to play even more ( I even built a PC to be able to run the game + server )
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I was contemplating over this yesterday evening. Apparently this is a joke. It's just way too ridiculous to be taken serious at all.
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A price boost when you leave Early Access seems like a reasonable move on its own. People who buy during early access aren't just trying to shortcut to something fun, but supporting a developer prior to the full experience being ready. In ARK's case, that includes really bad optimisation due to not compressing things until 1.0 (if the steam forums are to be believed). Paying less for taking the risk is a good thing, especially when so many early access titles completely change direction or just die.
The part where it gets weird is when you consider that they were selling a DLC for an early access title long before the 1.0 state. That feels wrong on the same level as putting an Early Access kickstarter game on a sale discount better than what you offered your original backers. I don't know how to feel about this really. Early access breeds all kinds of trust problems when not handled carefully. Though for people who are buying in post 1.0, the price hike is just normal fare for a multiplayer game with good reviews.
The price point vs the product will naturally resolve itself, once they realise how it effects their sales. I think this is gonna be a self-correcting problem, with a little patience.
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i've had it on my wishlist for quite some time but i was never in the mood to actually pick it up.
and for 60 eurobucks i will never be in the mood to pick that up. that's a pretty ridiculous price tag. i don't see anything to justify that price. but obviously that's just my opinion.
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I'm curios what price Player Unknown's Battlegrounds will get. I bet 60 € minimum on pc when it really comes to xbox...
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LOL, they finally released game, but with lots of bugs and with 60$ price :/
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now with season pass, which bring ups "full version" price to 100€
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I'm surprised no one has mentioned We Happy Few doing the same thing. Early access survival $30 to $60, then a season pass etc.
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ARK sold 5.3 million copies, We Happy Few sold like 100k. The sheer volume of money the ARK devs siphoned off from the users for a product that is still considered barely working compared to a game that was deemed at least relatively finished is astronomical.
Granted, it is now crowd bias, considering IAMSOSECUREIWRITEINCAPS's Battlegrounds is doing the absolute exact same thing as ARK did, but it is the second coming of Jesus and Buddha combined in a video game format and if you dare to speak about the maybe-sorta shadowy underbelly of the game, then you are Satan incarnate for daring to say anything bad about the most perfect masterpiece ever.
(Of course, two years later, it will be in the exact same position, but we need to wait until then.)
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It's $60 now. Or
70€edit: after backlash, Euro - and some other probably too - price went down to more standard 60€. Yup, Check your price on Steamdb or straight on SteamOfficial tweet about retail parity
Oh, and you still have to separately buy the infamous Early-Access DLC/expansion.
So, if for some reason you couldn't get it during Summer Sale... I guess you should look at some reseller-sites like G2A until they don't catch the price-hike...
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