༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ The price point. ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ Not game content related.

  • Cows n Muffins
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    This thread IS NOT a discussion regarding if the game content is worth $60, please beat that dead horse in another thread.

    This thread, is a thread regarding player population.

    Now that that is out of the way, here are my thoughts. As a cooperative game SOT needs players that are willing to cooperate, and the best players that cooperate are those players that know each other in real life. Looking at the history of gaming, a few titles and sequels stand out in the 4 man co-op genre: Left 4 Dead, Vermintide, Payday, Borderlands. If you are aware of other successful 4 man co-op titles that should be mentioned, please post them below.

    Now, correct me if I am wrong, as I was not able to find solid information regarding Payday and Borderlands, but those games did not release at a full $60 price.
    I did however play Left 4 Dead and Vermintide extensively, and I know for a fact those games did not release at a $60 price. In fact, Vermintide 2 released for $30, and has seen massive sale numbers relative to the niche nature of how it is played.

    4 man co-op games live and die by the number of people that play them more so than any other game, except for maybe MMOS. There is no doubt in my mind that this game is advertised well, more people know this game is coming out than Vermintide. However, the $60 might make some think twice about trying it out. So here is the ultimate question:

    Would you personally want SOT to sell at $30 to increase the number of players at launch, or do you think even with the $60 dollar price the number of players will be high enough?

    Update:
    As @naamar1 pointed out

    Although I paid in euros, and back then Steam's regional pricing was more unbalanced than it is today. Still, the point is, a lot of AAA titles are $60.

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  • Alymon
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    I think that's where Games Pass comes in. $10 a month gets you access, you play a month, cancel, resubscribe and play another month if you want.

    There is definitely a trend towards lower prices with games that are strictly multiplayer and rely on larger communities to be successful. I don't think we need that with SoT necessarily. I think the community size will be significant even at the current price (especially with the recent announcement of the X-Box One X coming with a copy from some retailers).

    I think naturally some will wait til after launch, read reviews and see what the feedback from the community looks like before they decide. Others will wait for a sale on the price.

    I don't think losing those players at launch is going to hurt the game any. Heck, it might make launch a little more stable from a server load perspective then. :P

    Plus, in the end, I enjoy generally not running into players when I'm sailing with my crew. =D

  • Doomed Panda

    I think on a personal level all gamers would rather pay $30 than $60 for a game no matter the content or type of game. I have to imagine the people at Microsoft and Rare did a fair amount of actual analysis on how to make their money while still keeping a high player count. I believe Game Pass is going to help alleviate player count issues.

  • BLOODFRENZY187
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    I think the $65 price tag is fine at launch. I have a feeling the player base will be quite large.

  • DamnStraightEye
    Master
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    I think we will for sure see less players after the game leaves game pass in a month but I think a lot of people will buy it then too. Eh, the price makes it more.....adult, unlike the millions of squeaker kids on Fortnight(free game). Bottom line, I believe this game will strive at the current set price :)
    (nice out of the box question)

  • Nightmare247365
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    So there are a few things to mention from you. Borderlands 1/2 both released at the highest pricepoint for games. So I think 1 was $50 and 2 was $60. This has changed from days of Xbox-Xbox One as the games seem to release about $10 higher than previous console releases. Left 4 Dead, Vermintide, and Payday all started out on PC first and were ported to Console, if my memory is correct.

    Many games start out at lower price point on PC because players are not limited in their purchasing options. You have Steam, GMG, The Devs directly, Humble, etc that work in distribution and direct competition with one another allowing prices to drop steadily.

    Retail however has locked MAP (Manufacture Authorized Pricing) which requires the cost up until a certain day/agreed upon time to remain the same.

    Anyway that is too in depth, but I think what is the key thing isn't is this too costly or is this enough content for the cost, but it is a AAA game with a big name studio behind it and it is a Microsoft exclusive.

    The marketing behind it is to bring users to Windows 10 and to offer something no one else does, meaning buy a console if you don't own one for this game.

    I think if the game was $30 people would think it is a bargin bin game and it is not worth picking up. I think that with it being $60 it is priced for value and for future growth/development to be pumped into the game.

    I don't think MS will come down for 3 or so months.....why this is on gamepass. Also, I doubt there will be a noticeable drop off because of price. People pay $15 a month for WoW with new content drops 1-2 times a year (probably more, just for what I know), but they may have been going for 14 years now. 60 is a steal for this game and what they are providing if updates and DLC are what they are suggesting in the next year alone. FREE DLC BTW.

  • Leyvin
    Castaway
    Insider

    Sea of Thieves isn't strictly a Cooperative Game though.
    Look I'm going to be honest, I actually didn't like ANY of the games you mentioned in Cooperative.

    Good Cooperative Games I did enjoy though were Halo 3 / 4 / ODST / Reach / 5, Gears of War (all of them), Halo Wars, etc. but here's the thing... with those games you also had a PVP Aspect, which the ones you listed don't have.

    What's more is you can play with Friend, or Solo.
    Somewhat depends on your mood, whose about, etc.

    Sea of Thieves definitely falls more inline with those, because sure there is a Cooperative Element... but also a Competitive Element. It also scales giving a slightly different (not in a bad way) experience with the number of people playing together or against each other.

    This is actually the games biggest strength as well.
    As games that are Purely Cooperative, that somewhat force you to be in a Group / Team means at some point you will HAVE to PUG just to play; as friends aren't around or worse they just get bored and stop playing.

    This typically is what creates lulls in MMORPGs.
    That you can embark Solo, as well as the Competitive Element... that means you can keep playing regardless if anyone you know is or isn't playing. Of course games are always more fun with Mates because well you can have a laugh and just mess about, but not having that a prerequisite is what will drive more players, a lot like popular games right now such-as Overwatch, Fortnite, PUBG, etc.
    Think about their key theme.

    Same is true if we look at Eve Online or Elite Dangerous. Better with Friends, but can be just as good in new and unique ways on your own.

  • NAAMAR1
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    @cows-n-muffins said in ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ The price point. ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ Not game content related.:

    I did however play Left 4 Dead and Vermintide extensively, and I know for a fact those games did not release at a $60 price.

    I'm pretty sure L4D was $60 since this is the reduced price for a 4-pack L4D

    Although I paid in euros, and back then Steam's regional pricing was more unbalanced than it is today. Still, the point is, a lot of AAA titles are $60.

  • Cows n Muffins
    Master
    Founder

    @naamar1 I thought L4D released at $50, I guess maybe I did not remember it correctly. Ok, thanks for the update on that. I'll correct the post.

  • LoboFH
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    Borderlands and Left4Dead released at the standard triple A price in their time, 50 euros on PC. Borderlands had also lot of DLC's, season passes and cosmetic c**p. Left4Dead DLC's were free on PC, but not in XBox.

    Vermintide 2 is 28 euros, but like its predecessor will release tons of DLC's. Only the host needs to own the DLC though.

    Pay Day was always greedy DLC-land.

  • Tre Oni
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    Full price is fine.

    Tbh as well, I've had much more success with the groupfinder and progress in game with people who could hold their own than some of the friends I know personally that were playing from time to time. (Literally only in regards to SoT though)

    I feel like lower just starts to dilute everything, and you end up with more of those widespread "I got sunk I jate this game/community" or "this is it?" type threads post launch.

  • EpicStreamMan
    Marauder

    Also some people who play this game may want a more PvE experience and would like it if they only run into other ships on "rare" occasion. So I can see both sides of it. However for my money I'm glad this game is on Game Pass for Xbox so that I can just try it for $10/mo and see how it goes. Either way I'll have access to a ton of other games. I don't see paying $60 unless I wanted to play on PC as well (which might happen but at least I have a choice). Game Pass will save this game for a while and keep it going regardless. Thank you Microsoft (can't believe I just said that) ;c)

  • Rentnarr
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    As Doomed Panda already said, almost every gamer would rather pay $30 than $60 for a game and so do I. Lower prices will almost always tempt more people to buy it. But with SoT being in the Xbox Game Pass, there should be enough ppl around to crowd the seas ;)

    Offtopic-whine: But here in germany you can't buy it for $60, nope, its around $85 and I think some ppl would think twice, if they had to pay $85 instead of $60 for a game. And since i'm PC-gamer i'm not used to the big pricetags on xboxgames. It's nice that I can play some "anywhere"-titles now, but the prices are way too high in my opinion ($123 for Forza Ult. Edition).

  • Leyvin
    Castaway
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    @epicstreamman said in ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ The price point. ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ Not game content related.:

    Also some people who play this game may want a more PvE experience and would like it if they only run into other ships on "rare" occasion. So I can see both sides of it. However for my money I'm glad this game is on Game Pass for Xbox so that I can just try it for $10/mo and see how it goes. Either way I'll have access to a ton of other games. I don't see paying $60 unless I wanted to play on PC as well (which might happen but at least I have a choice). Game Pass will save this game for a while and keep it going regardless. Thank you Microsoft (can't believe I just said that) ;c)

    Game Pass works identical on Windows as it does on Xbox.
    There's just a smaller library of games (and very few as part of the pass), so it isn't really great value if you only have Windows 10 rather than an Xbox One as well.

    Hopefully Microsoft can tempt more developers to the service though.

  • boond0ck 83
    Legend
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    I'm fine with $60. I love what I have seen of the game, and I'm sure I'm gonna put a ton of hours in. If there was a special/limited edition I would have bought that too.

  • Alymon
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    @rentnarr said in ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ The price point. ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ Not game content related.:

    As Doomed Panda already said, almost every gamer would rather pay $30 than $60 for a game and so do I. Lower prices will almost always tempt more people to buy it. But with SoT being in the Xbox Game Pass, there should be enough ppl around to crowd the seas ;)

    Offtopic-whine: But here in germany you can't buy it for $60, nope, its around $85 and I think some ppl would think twice, if they had to pay $85 instead of $60 for a game. And since i'm PC-gamer i'm not used to the big pricetags on xboxgames. It's nice that I can play some "anywhere"-titles now, but the prices are way too high in my opinion ($123 for Forza Ult. Edition).

    The play anywhere really helps me justify the price. I'm typically a PC gamer, but I have an X1. It's nice to be able to bounce between the two for Forza and this when it releases.

  • EpicStreamMan
    Marauder

    @leyvin good info...yeah I'm sure we'd all be down for that thx ;c)

  • Shank Ur Face

    My shopto pre order from 3 years ago is still valid so I'll be paying £38.95. yay !

    I bought an xbox one X as a treat to myself a few days ago and can't wait to play it in 4K, but playing the final beta on my OG xbone the game still looked great so it's a win however you choose to play.

    Now on topic , I have confidence that the game community will be vibrant , it may do a little dip when people start getting to 'endgame' as most do, but if rare can do as they say and release content fast enough to combat the lul then they should be onto a chicken dinner.

  • p0pNh3MR0iD
    Master
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    @cows-n-muffins well for 1 it's 91$ here in canada .... I believe i would pay around 149.99 for this game if it was priced that way

  • Cows n Muffins
    Master
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    @leyvin said in ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ The price point. ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ Not game content related.:

    Good Cooperative Games I did enjoy though were Halo 3 / 4 / ODST / Reach / 5, Gears of War (all of them), Halo Wars, etc. but here's the thing... with those games you also had a PVP Aspect, which the ones you listed don't have.

    @leyvin I picked those co-op games specifically because in those games teams of 4 are one of the key game concepts that the game is built on. They even provide you with bots to fill in for missing players if you want to play solo. Sea of Thieves is a bit of a different beast design wise, so I would disagree with you that it aligns more with the kinds of games you listed. I think it is closer to the 4 man co-op games, but I do see the angle you are coming at this from, Sea of Thieves definitely has some of those traits as well.

  • Zokraitz
    Seafarer

    @alymon Video games as a whole have been one of the least inflation products. AAA Video games released 10 years ago released at 49 bucks, so 60 at today's dollar value is not horrible at all. Second of all the complaining is silly, because the publisher gets at least half the money, Rare itself probably only makes less 30 bucks on each copy sold, do we want Rare to continue to add content? Well, then they need to make money to be able to do so.

  • Alymon
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    @zokraitz said in ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ The price point. ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ Not game content related.:

    @alymon Video games as a whole have been one of the least inflation products. AAA Video games released 10 years ago released at 49 bucks, so 60 at today's dollar value is not horrible at all. Second of all the complaining is silly, because the publisher gets at least half the money, Rare itself probably only makes less 30 bucks on each copy sold, do we want Rare to continue to add content? Well, then they need to make money to be able to do so.

    I know and agree? I'm a little confused why I was tagged. I am perfectly ok with the $60 price point and will likely spend plenty on whatever microtransactions they do. =D

  • Zokraitz
    Seafarer

    @alymon Ah apologies, that be my own fault. Should have just replied.

  • Dantheman929
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    It will be fine the servers will be populated even if they raised the price to 70$ and all updates were paid dlc.

  • Cows n Muffins
    Master
    Founder

    Honestly, I am a bit surprised how many people support the $60 dollar price point. I get that the Games Pass exists, but how many people know about it? Is it well advertised? I only found out about it today.

  • RogueAxel
    Ship Mate
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    I bought borderlands for $60... 1 and 2 and Presequel

  • p0pNh3MR0iD
    Master
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    @cows-n-muffins my xbox home screen has been pushing game pass on me for months now .. around xmas it was 1$ for a month even

  • Cows n Muffins
    Master
    Founder

    @p0pc0rnh3mer01d I see, that makes sense. I am on PC. Which is probably why I didn't know the game pass existed.

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