DrApostle

A change in development strategy means a change for this Stardock fan

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A change in development strategy means a change for this Stardock fan

from GalCiv3 Forums

I hope everyone is having a great week!

GalCiv II was one of my favorite games back in the day. Heck I played it last year before GalCiv III Beta was released.

I loved it so much I pre-ordered Elemental. Ouch! HA!

But then Stardock gave me two expansions for Free as part of their "I'm sorry" package. That's way better than chocolate or flowers!!! But then I'm a guy and my wife may disagree.

So when I was able to pre-order GalCiv III for $39.99, I hesitated for a moment because of Elemental. I kept seeing all the emails with the last chance for the $39.99 pre-order price on March 2, 2014. I saw the posts from Island Dog on the forums, "Last chance!" Finally, I thought, "I can trust Stardock."

Now GalCiv III is on sale for $24.99 again on Steam. Of course, games go on crazy sales on Steam all the time. But it seems weird to me to have crazy Steam sales on an early access game after you have made so many pre-order "Last chance" statements to Stardock customers.

But this seems to be the new environment necessary for game development and one that Stardock has chosen to embrace.

I'm just sad because I remember the time when Stardock was different than the other game companies. As a customer, I felt that Stardock cared about me, not just my money.

Those days are gone.

Steam sales are business decisions, and very profitable ones at that. I get that. Prior to GalCiv III, I knew that my pre-order price of a game was going to benefit me and Stardock and that I could count on it being the best deal until the game was released. That's not true anymore. No matter what Stardock's promotional emails say (like the one I received on 2/21/13 which said, "Last Chance for Discounted Galactic Civilizations III Pre-order").

I don't hate Stardock. I realize the changing development circumstances. I tried emailing customer service and PM'ing Frogboy just to see if they ever thought of it from the perspective of someone who has backed Stardock projects since 2004. No response.

I know there are many people who will say, "That's Steam, games go on sale all the time." 

But that is not the Stardock I knew, or thought I knew. Not a perfect Stardock, but one who valued their loyal customers.

I miss that Stardock.

143,313 views 53 replies
Reply #51 from Stardock Forums Top

"If you disagree with me, you're a Commie"

C'mon guys, that argument is a straw man, and it's getting old.

Reply #52 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting mrblondini, reply 25

anyone have evidence to the contrary?

Nope.  But it would not really surprise me to see a future stream sale that included DLC (probably not Future Expansions.. that would surprise me). 

Offworld Trading Company
Reply #53 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting mrblondini, reply 25

The "Future Expansions and DLC Included in $100 Price" is what got me hooked, like Larsenex. I would be pretty pissed off if the post-Founders offers/Steam sales also included those pre-paid but I'm basically 100% sure that the pre-purchase of improvements offer is off the table. Does anyone have evidence to the contrary?
 

This is the way I see it. A hundred bucks for the alp[ha, beta, the gold release and all future expansions, etc. is not a bad deal. I assume the 24.95 buyers get the gold and that's it.

Stardock pre-authorized the Steam offer but did not initiate offer, and it seemed to catch them by surprise. FB has said there will be some compensation offers for buyers that I doubt will include the 1/2 price buyers

Anyway, I have learned to accept that when you buy things, others sometimes get it cheaper. I spend my time being pissed off that I paid way too much for the last car I bought. Probably several thousands too much. I have nobody to blame but myself.