Horizons [Critique] FDev business model is consumer friendly - not quite PDS level but very progressive.

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People grumble about the price of Horizons but I don't see the problem and appreciate FDev's business model. I think it is progressive and very consumer friendly compared to other studios.

Paradox Development Studios, the developers of Crusader Kings 2 and Europa Universalis 4 are, according to numerous pundits and game journalists, one of the highest regarded game developers according to PC gamers. You should check out their forums, those guys have a very loyal bunch of consumers. I am one of them.

Why? Because PDS blatenly respect their customers. People who love the game enough buy the expansions, which adds an extra chunk of focused content but isn't really necessary. BUT everyone benefits, with tweaks, minor gameplay improvements and support. Vanilla CK2 / EU4 is a very different game now compared to launch.

FDev is similar, though not quite as good.

To compare
Pricing:
  • PDS: release a couple of major expansions per year at £15 per expansion (£30 per year) plus little flavour packs (music, models, facepacks) which add another £10 per pack, with a bunch of patches, each of which add content throughout.
  • FDev: (I think the plan is to) release one expansion per year @£40 and also release content patches throughout the year.
Verdict: PDS = £30 basic to £50 with all the trimmings per year; FDev = £40. They seem to be about the same price-wise and everyone benefits from the expansion model.

Developer - Customer interaction (I think this should be included in business model):
  • PDS:If you look at any of the threads over at Paradox's forums, many of them have comments from the developers. I know the names of the people writing content for the games I play and have interacted with them a number of times. 10/10!
  • FDev: Good! Compared to many other houses DB frequents the forums and there are very supportive of community BUT I am unsure of the presence the devs have in these here forums. I am fairly new but all the same, it takes mere seconds to see the dev presence at PDS's site.
Verdict: (Where there can be only one very best (10) or worst (1), with 5 being the average.)
PDS is just exemplary 9/10; FDev is pretty decent all the same at 7/10.

How do others feel?
 
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I agree with this.

I can understand that people feel that Horizons is a bit expensive. I can also understand some people being annoyed if they paid £30 for Elite 3 weeks ago, only to find out they have to pay £30 again for Horizons now, if they want it.

What I really don't get are those people that say "It's not fair, that Mr New Player is paying less than me!!". It's a bizarre somewhat immature attitude. The former example (people being annoyed at the cost), is simply people complaining about a high price. The second example is people complaining about what another person has, which seems very silly. Would these people be okay with the price if Horizons didn't include the base game, meaning that others didn't get it "cheaper than them"?

Aside from Frontier perhaps selling these expansions at a cheaper price (£20?) I really can't see an alternative. If they want to release an expansion every year, and don't include the the previous seasons - the situation would arise where new players would have to purchase the base game, plus Horizons, plus season 3. This would be ridiculous.
 
In many ways I don't see the model as any different (in principal) to, say, a game like Fallout 3 or New Vegas, where you have the game released at full price, then once all the DLC has been released the base game is reduced in price but there's also a new special release including all the DLC at full price... and in time even that goes down in price. The only difference here is that the process continues each year - the old material is bundled and sold at a discount, the complete set including all the new material as well is sold at full price.

Seems fair to me.
 
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There are dozens of threads about the business model OP.

Some people will accept it for what it is, and others will incessantly complain that 'this expansion is too expensive' while quoting incorrect pricing values.

Either way, I'm glad you're happy with the way Frontier do business. I know I'm happy. According to some new info added to our stats tab, I've played over 1100 hours of this game so far, with many more to come.
 
I am ok with the pricing and Business model. Of course one might ask if Horizons is worth its money gameplay wise. Personally for me Elite is not only about playing and Entertainment. It is a "dream" I want to become true. I simply want to see how far Frontier can take this game.
40-50 Euro are not that much money compared to what other things in life cost (cigarets, fuel,....) . So for a "dream" I have I believe my Money is spent very well. I had reallly impressive moments in this game. Not becaue the game is great as game, but because of its beauty and the Inspiration it brings to me. Can you watch the sky at night with the same thoughts as you did before you played? I cannot.

(sorry for my spelling, german autocorrection is Messing it up :p)
 
The place where I think Frontier gets burned is the tendency to release early with 'polish' planned for the future. To various extents that's actually extremely common for gaming nowadays, but Frontier kinda takes the initial release version to a bare-bones level, so the crucial immediately post-release perception of value is low.

I don't agree with the criticisms that the pricing model is weird or unrewarding for existing customers, or the weird one that new players get to have a bundle pack of the base game + expansion for a reasonable price. I think that aspect of things is perfectly reasonable.
 
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