Amusing "reveal" of Utopia's Price
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Strange, but exactly what I've expected. I just wish I could pay in $ instead of euro 
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Same here. I would have been pleasantly surprised if it was 15 euro but 20 euro is what paradox have been going for in their other games, so it was or is expected.
The EUIV team follows these rules, not sure about Stellaris though:
EU4 - Dev Diary - December 3rd 2015
For the lazy:
EU4 - Dev Diary - December 3rd 2015
For the lazy:
What's in a price tag?
A number of comments have emerged along the lines of 'Why is Cossacks, which has the same amount of features as Common Sense, $/€5 more expensive?" The answer to that question, quite simply, is that they do not have the same amount and size of features.
When designing an expansion, we make a plan for the number and size of features that will be in said expansion. We break up features according to the following classifications:
Mega - A mega feature that represents a very large time investment and a major change in how the game can be played, such as introducing new game modes. The Nation Designer and Random New World are the only mega features to date.
Major - A major feature that takes a large time investment and has a large impact on the game. Examples of these include Estates from Cossacks, Subject Interactions from Common Sense and the Army Planner from Art of War.
Medium - A medium-sized feature that takes about an average time investment and usually has a fairly large impact on the game. Examples include Development from Common Sense, Nahuatl mechanics from El Dorado and Horde Unity from Cossacks.
Minor - A small feature that can be implemented quickly and generally has limited impact on the game. Examples include Threaten War from Cossacks, Return Province from Common Sense and Selling Ships from Art of War.
We make sure that each expansion has a good mix of major, medium and minor features (with a mega feature instead of several major ones in CoP and ED) and then sum up the total number of features where mega features are worth 10 points, major features are worth 6 points, medium features are worth 3 points and minor features 1.5 points. This is then divided by price to create the actual value, which we ensure stays very close to the value for money in previous expansions (our highest 'value for money' expansion is Wealth of Nations owing to the low price tag, but it's only 5% more value for money than The Cossacks, for example). We never factor free content into the price - while Art of War came with a mega map rework, this had nothing to do with its $20 price tag, and neither did the Random New World rework influence the Cossacks price tag. We set our price purely according to the actual features you are getting for paying for them.
In total, Common Sense had 2 major features (Subject Interactions, Parliaments), 4 medium (Protestantism, Development, Buddhism, Devotion) and 6 minor (Free Cities, Remove Electorate, Pause Westernization, Dismiss Advisor, Government Ranks, Return Province) features. This gives a total of 33 points, or 2.2 points per $.
In total, The Cossacks had 2 major (Diplomatic Feedback, Estates), 7 medium (Advanced Change Culture, Build Directly to Army, Improved Espionage, Horde Unity, New Subject Interactions, Native Policies, Tengri) and 9 minor (Name Your Heir, Victory Cards, Concede Colonial Area, Distribute Spoils, Construct in Subjects, Threaten War, Forced Migration, Declare Colonial War, Raze) features. This gives a total of 46.5 points, or 2.32 points per $.
A number of comments have emerged along the lines of 'Why is Cossacks, which has the same amount of features as Common Sense, $/€5 more expensive?" The answer to that question, quite simply, is that they do not have the same amount and size of features.
When designing an expansion, we make a plan for the number and size of features that will be in said expansion. We break up features according to the following classifications:
Mega - A mega feature that represents a very large time investment and a major change in how the game can be played, such as introducing new game modes. The Nation Designer and Random New World are the only mega features to date.
Major - A major feature that takes a large time investment and has a large impact on the game. Examples of these include Estates from Cossacks, Subject Interactions from Common Sense and the Army Planner from Art of War.
Medium - A medium-sized feature that takes about an average time investment and usually has a fairly large impact on the game. Examples include Development from Common Sense, Nahuatl mechanics from El Dorado and Horde Unity from Cossacks.
Minor - A small feature that can be implemented quickly and generally has limited impact on the game. Examples include Threaten War from Cossacks, Return Province from Common Sense and Selling Ships from Art of War.
We make sure that each expansion has a good mix of major, medium and minor features (with a mega feature instead of several major ones in CoP and ED) and then sum up the total number of features where mega features are worth 10 points, major features are worth 6 points, medium features are worth 3 points and minor features 1.5 points. This is then divided by price to create the actual value, which we ensure stays very close to the value for money in previous expansions (our highest 'value for money' expansion is Wealth of Nations owing to the low price tag, but it's only 5% more value for money than The Cossacks, for example). We never factor free content into the price - while Art of War came with a mega map rework, this had nothing to do with its $20 price tag, and neither did the Random New World rework influence the Cossacks price tag. We set our price purely according to the actual features you are getting for paying for them.
In total, Common Sense had 2 major features (Subject Interactions, Parliaments), 4 medium (Protestantism, Development, Buddhism, Devotion) and 6 minor (Free Cities, Remove Electorate, Pause Westernization, Dismiss Advisor, Government Ranks, Return Province) features. This gives a total of 33 points, or 2.2 points per $.
In total, The Cossacks had 2 major (Diplomatic Feedback, Estates), 7 medium (Advanced Change Culture, Build Directly to Army, Improved Espionage, Horde Unity, New Subject Interactions, Native Policies, Tengri) and 9 minor (Name Your Heir, Victory Cards, Concede Colonial Area, Distribute Spoils, Construct in Subjects, Threaten War, Forced Migration, Declare Colonial War, Raze) features. This gives a total of 46.5 points, or 2.32 points per $.
I was ready for more personally, but I expected new portraits in it as well. Guess chances are not that high now.
Aside from the price, visiting that link gives a list of features included in the expansion. Along with what we already know, the list includes this gem
"Advanced Governments: Adopt unique civics and authorities for your government. Play as a Fanatic Purifier and shun all diplomacy, become a Hive Mind to avoid political strife or create a multi-species empire born of Syncretic Evolution."
Interesting, interesting. Looking forward to the dev diary about that one later.
"Advanced Governments: Adopt unique civics and authorities for your government. Play as a Fanatic Purifier and shun all diplomacy, become a Hive Mind to avoid political strife or create a multi-species empire born of Syncretic Evolution."
Interesting, interesting. Looking forward to the dev diary about that one later.
You need to consider the exchange rate and VAT when comparing prices between the US and Euro Zone.
Currently €1 = $ 1.06
But Paradox is Swedish so it needs the amounts in Kronor
€1 = 9.5 Kronor and $1 = 9 Kronor
VAT rates in Europe range from 19% to 25% and on international digital transactions such as these are paid at the rate of the country where the purchaser is (and it is that government which gets the VAT)
So a $19.99 US sale is worth 180 Kronor to Paradox but a €19.99 sale is worth between 151 and 160 Kronor
Therefore the yanks are actually paying more - it's just that our governments are getting a slice rather than you personally via lower prices.
This enables said governments to fund much larger social safety nets like universal healthcare or things like free childcare (in Sweden) - these are things our American brethren have to pay for out of the savings they make from not having higher taxes on the goods they buy
Currently €1 = $ 1.06
But Paradox is Swedish so it needs the amounts in Kronor
€1 = 9.5 Kronor and $1 = 9 Kronor
VAT rates in Europe range from 19% to 25% and on international digital transactions such as these are paid at the rate of the country where the purchaser is (and it is that government which gets the VAT)
So a $19.99 US sale is worth 180 Kronor to Paradox but a €19.99 sale is worth between 151 and 160 Kronor
Therefore the yanks are actually paying more - it's just that our governments are getting a slice rather than you personally via lower prices.
This enables said governments to fund much larger social safety nets like universal healthcare or things like free childcare (in Sweden) - these are things our American brethren have to pay for out of the savings they make from not having higher taxes on the goods they buy
20€ for every changes they show us in dev diary ? Take my money NOW
A lot of those features are free, actually -- part of the 1.5 patch, releasing at the same time as Utopia.
Attachments
It hardly need be said that this is not official and to take with a Blorg killing pinch of salt.
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I too wish they would hurry up and take my money! lol
But mostly because I was planning on starting a new game and saw mention of Utopia in the news box, so have decided to wait until it comes out.