the game looks cool but.....

[merk]

First saw this game at E3 and it looked pretty cool. But I have to say the pricing structure on the game is a real turn off.

It seems kind of rude, or greedy, or something, to make people pay extra to beta test a game. And pre-ordering the game apparently gives you absolutely nothing extra.

I'm not trying to come in here and rain on everyone's parade. But from a long time gamer, this just seems like a poor way to treat potential customers.

Beta testing is supposed to be a two way street. The tester helps out the devs by reporting bugs (some of them do anyhow, i'm one of them), along with load testing etc. And the tester in return gets a sneak peak at the game. I don't think it's equitable to ask the tester to pay extra just to be a beta tester.

Most games, if you pre-order the game, you get something in return. If it's an online game, typically you get some sort of vanity items, or a small xp boost, and usually beta access or at least early head-start access. This seems fair considering when I pre-order something, I'm giving you my money before I'm actually getting what I pay for. But with this game, if I pre-order, I'm giving you my money and getting absolutely nothing in return. What's the point in even pre-ordering? I might as well just wait until the game is released.

I'm sure most everyone on these forums are a big fan of the game, and I'm not trying to bash the game - the game itself looks pretty amazing. But I just think this is a poor way to treat potential customers. I would pre-order the game right now if it gave me access to the beta. Or a few days head start. But there's no incentive for me to hand over my money now. Even still, I might have considered pre-ordering since I did want the game. But the fact that they are charging extra for beta access - no thanks. That's a really huge turn off for me.

 

[Crimson1973]

I guess people are just excited about the project and really want to be a part of getting it built. Can't fault them for that. I doubt it's about making money or they would have gone the micro transactions route and charged peeps a fortune for content. Seems more about controlling the numbers through time and from what I see it's working pretty well.

 

[Asp Explorer]

I would pre-order the game right now if it gave me access to the beta. Or a few days head start.

There is no "head start" - except in what you learn by experience. This may change come Gamma.

Beta isn't "early access" - it's a real chance to test and give direct feedback and fix bugs and perhaps slightly change development direction depending on what you unearth.

Anything is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it - and at the moment Beta is not worth it for some people. It is for others.

 

[Peter Powers]

back in the day i got paid for beta testing games and other software,
but then i did write weekly (in some tests even daily) reports about what i had done to what results etc.

now game or software development doesn't work like in the 80s anymore, and beta in the last two centuries has become more and more an instrument of marketing, and now an paid for early access.

The thing is - some people are happy to pay for it, so.. ask yourself, if you where making software, would you rather have someone that you have to pay for, or someone who is paying to do so, to test your games?

As long as there are people who pay for an alpha / beta account, there will be alpha / beta tests that cost the tester money. I'm interested enough in this particular game to pay here (even though my alpha account did not give me all the goodies that the kickstarter alpha backer got..

 

[Bingo Brewster]

You are forgetting that this game is only being made because people were prepared to back it.

Now that its funded it would be unfair to the original backers, if the backer rewards were given out for less than the original requested Kickstarter pledge levels

 

[jhondidfool]

Get it at release, then Nobody forces you to pre-order it. I did because Elite is very dear to me. It may not be to you.

In case you were asking yourself why the pricing, it's to keep the tester numbers small and manageable. And you do get something for pre-ordering: a reduced price.

 

[Anthony Jones]

I thought purchasing Beta included the lifetime expansion pass which is worth it in my book.plus you can get a mobius designs signature which is worth a couple of hundred squid.

 

[Patrick_68000]

First saw this game at E3 ...

Pre-order the game now, will cost you, perhaps cheaper than buying it when the retail version will be released

 

[Grav]

Beta testing is supposed to be a two way street. The tester helps out the devs by reporting bugs (some of them do anyhow, i'm one of them), along with load testing etc. And the tester in return gets a sneak peak at the game. I don't think it's equitable to ask the tester to pay extra just to be a beta tester.

I don't think it's equitable to ask the tester to pay extra just to be a beta tester.

i'm one of them

That was your choice.

 

[Aleksej]

The reason for such pricing is that you back (support) game developers. The same price was during the KS campaign. If the price is decreased now there will be a lot of angry people who backed the game earlier.

By pre-ordering the game you get access to the game early - from the Gamma phase of testing and as it is currently planned there will be no save resets after Gamma is launched (if no really major bugs are found). This is exactly the pre-order bonus you are referring to.

Pre-order the game now, will cost you, perhaps cheaper than buying it when the retail version will be released

As I have said simply pre-ordering the game gives you access from the Gamma, which will be released earlier than the final release.

 

[JeffRyan]

<Moderation Edit: Residual Cleanup>

That's not fair, I /do/ understand the OP, I think most people wandering into the forums these days aren't aware of the kickstarter or the idea that in order to create layers of 'perks' for the donators of the KS it was done in this way.

And reducing the price now would be a kick in the teeth to those who originally backed.

Most people don't know that, or care. And it doesn't look nice without knowing or understanding that history.

 

[System Lord]

You are forgetting that this game is only being made because people were prepared to back it.

Now that its funded it would be unfair to the original backers, if the backer rewards were given out for less than the original requested Kickstarter pledge levels

This.

I don't usually pay to be a beta tester (or test otherwise), but I wanted to see a new Elite so bad, that I was forced to throw all my money (£165) at DBOBE.

Since I now have access to Pre-beta, I'm happy to try it out and report weird things that see.

I don't mind, if PB becomes free for all, since I already got what I wanted (Elite in development and nearing the release date). Those who have just paid £100 for the same privilege, might have a problem with it, though.

 

[Uridium]

We (or I) paid a higher price for Premium-Beta to support Frontier and to get this game made. (I've been waiting for this since the 80s)


Anyway, if you don't like the prices then don't buy it. I am sure the Frontier team understand, and would love to know that there are people out there who are going to buy the game on general release!

 

[Aleksej]

That's not fair, I /do/ understand the OP, I think most people wandering into the forums these days aren't aware of the kickstarter or the idea that in order to create layers of 'perks' for the donators of the KS it was done in this way.

And reducing the price now would be a kick in the teeth to those who originally backed.

Most people don't know that, or care. And it doesn't look nice without knowing or understanding that history.

But it only means that people should research at least some information about the game. The store page would look very stupid if there was posted that PB costs £100 because this was the price of PB during KS.

 

[Patrick_68000]

The backers who put their money in the alpha, beta premium, standard beta, pre-order the final game and expansion pack, give primarily with their heart for ED. The money goes to the second degree for them

 

[Robert Maynard]

Beta testing is supposed to be a two way street. The tester helps out the devs by reporting bugs (some of them do anyhow, i'm one of them), along with load testing etc. And the tester in return gets a sneak peak at the game. I don't think it's equitable to ask the tester to pay extra just to be a beta tester.

Most games, if you pre-order the game, you get something in return. If it's an online game, typically you get some sort of vanity items, or a small xp boost, and usually beta access or at least early head-start access. This seems fair considering when I pre-order something, I'm giving you my money before I'm actually getting what I pay for. But with this game, if I pre-order, I'm giving you my money and getting absolutely nothing in return. What's the point in even pre-ordering? I might as well just wait until the game is released.

I'm sure most everyone on these forums are a big fan of the game, and I'm not trying to bash the game - the game itself looks pretty amazing. But I just think this is a poor way to treat potential customers. I would pre-order the game right now if it gave me access to the beta. Or a few days head start. But there's no incentive for me to hand over my money now. Even still, I might have considered pre-ordering since I did want the game. But the fact that they are charging extra for beta access - no thanks. That's a really huge turn off for me.

Alpha access and first and second round Beta access were pledge tier rewards in the Kickstarter (£200, £100 and £50 respectively). Pledge tiers also offered the ability to reserve your commander name, name planets, stations and systems, boxed games, different starter ships, credit balance and locations, access to the Private Backers' Forum and the Design Discussion Forum among other rewards. As such, Frontier set the bar for the cost of access to these testing phases after the Kickstarter had completed in early January 2013. At that point, pledgers had given Frontier their money on the expectation that a game would be developed. The Backers' App offered the same tiers and rewards until mid December 2013 (just before Alpha 1.0 was released). At that point, nobody outside Frontier knew what promise the game held.

This all changed after Alpha 1.0 was released - there was a whole load of upgrading to Alpha access, although without any of the pledge tier rewards.

Any pre-order perks that might be expected with a more conventional game production were available during the Kickstarter phase and stopped just before the release of Alpha 1.0.

 

[Jeheil]

Dear OP, you are sort of right...the difference here though this game is funded via a kickstarter-model. Thus to generate the $$ to build it they gave Alpha/Beta options to their backers.

So is the game worth $xxx if you want a final product NOW then NO it isn't. *1

If you really want a game that is Elite then it is for you to judge if your contribution (right now for Beta its sort of twice the RRP of a finished product + expansions...risk if it doesn't survive) is worth it to you.

If you don't want to participate in an unfinished game that is buggy and in test mode, it ISN'T for you yet....come back in 9 months and buy the Retail Copy.

*1, I paid a 100 quid or whatever for Prem. Beta. I have got I think about 120 hours out of it. For 100 quid, I could see 4 movies with parking and popcorn or have a couple of nights out on the town with a meal and beers....or have a great night out on the town and a terrible hangover...given how sexy this game is....on a $ or pound per unit of fun is concerned I would actually say the PB is good value.....thats without the intangible benefits of being part of a games birth cycle and the wonderful community that is the Elite Brigade

 

[Ende]

I'm not trying to come in here and rain on everyone's parade. But from a long time gamer, this just seems like a poor way to treat potential customers.

Welcome to the modern world of game development.

Loads of games makers are now bypassing the large distributor (Activision, EA etc) by funding the games themselves, with things like Kickstarter or crowdfunding.

With this system they have to give their backers something exclusive to encourage them to invest in the game... and selling Alpha/Beta places is one of those.

I prefer to have a software house making a game fully under their own management and lose the chance to Beta than have a game under the control of a distributor and open Beta any day

 

[AtomicHorror]

The current price structure mirrors the Kickstarter rewards. If FD break that and give a better deal to new players, why would we ever back a project of theirs again? Plus the backers would get annoyed and generate a lot of negative vibe about the game.

 

[nickq]

I have a simple reason, I'm taking a gamble on the lifetime expansion pass.
I believe in the game, I'm gambling that buying PB will cost less in the long run than buying at release and then all the expansions. I could be wrong, it's a gamble.

Also get to play about in the mean time which is a lot of fun.