Another viewpoint is that if this is the price recommended by steam then they must have enough people buying them at that price. If they didn't they would lower the price, it's good business sense.
Why this game is so expencive in Ukraine?
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Well, so far i did not saw changes in prices in steam, except if game is old and it gets cheaper everywhere. But still everyone i know not bying games directly from steam (except huge discounts), instead they wait until russian re-sellers will start selling keys at proper price.
That's the thing though... until they've spent time on it, they have absolutely no reason to think that the recommended prices are going to cost them any profits whatsoever. So why spend time and money on research when in most cases the end result is just going to be "Yeah, the price was pretty close to correct already"?
And these tons of marketing specialists that you're hypothesizing are not an unlimited resource even if they really exist and won't be experts on every country in the world.
Perhaps this thread will bring it to their attention and perhaps someone will agree that the price is too high. But another factor in all this is how much money they end up getting for each sale. If the price is too low when converted to the dollars the developers get paid in, the additional sales might not even matter to them and they may be better off with a few sales to those that can afford the higher price. (Which obviously wouldn't be good for you, but that might be the reality of the situation. I just don't know.)
If you are correct, then why publisher needs more than one person in their ranks? If they leave all selling questions to steam, all they need is single person who will give developers money. Like a bank credit. Maybe another person to arrange promotions, but they can as well leave them to thrid-party company.
Well, now i am really curious of how publishers work. So they give money to the developers. Wait few years before game is complete (what they do in meantime? they can't pay employees for waiting, right?), then they arrange promotions and maybe work on game price (or just let steam do that, if you are correct), and... just wait for another game? That's it? Or there is more to it? Because the more i think about it, the more i would like to work for the publisher if everything i said above is correct >_<
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On Paradox's YouTube channel (well they have three, so it's specifically their ParadoxExtra channel), they post a podcast hosted by two people who work on the business side of PDX. The podcast is about the business of video games, and they've go over a lot of what you seem to want to know. Publishers indeed do a lot, but it varies depending on the game and company.
Specifically, this one might be of interest (it's been awhile since I've listened to it, but I believe it talks about what is involved in publishing). Here's another one on Steam and other distribution platforms.
I don't know for sure but I'm almost certain that PDX would not individually set the price for Ukraine. It's far too small a market and they almost certainly just go by Steam's suggestions. I would expect PDX to directly set the price for their home market (Sweden, maybe Denmark and Norway as well), as well as the US, the UK, and the Eurozone, as well as maybe Canada, Australia, and Russia, but probably not anyone else. Steam has all the data to correctly adjust a price for a smaller market, while PDX might now. As well, HBS obviously plays a roll in setting the base price. When Paradox developers have talked about pricing, it's usually a conversation between the leads on the game and the marketing team, so I assume the same structure would go for their published properties.
Eh, seems like PDX have no wish to reply after all...
I am kinda curious, why HBS even needed a publisher since they kickstart the game? Didn't absense of one gives more creative freedom, and more total income since you don't need to share?
I am kinda curious, why HBS even needed a publisher since they kickstart the game? Didn't absense of one gives more creative freedom, and more total income since you don't need to share?
From what they outlined before:
- QA
- Customer support
- Providing localization for more languages
Oh, if they only knew how BAD are all the "official" russian localisations that are done with help of "professional" translators...
However, there is several fan-translation groups who make the perfect translation (because they actually like what they doing) and not taking single cent for their work, only problem is that their translation are delayed because they can start working only when game is released and usually have no help from developers.
I know few examples when studios hired them for work and they did pretty good translation, was even in one of the translator grops once. They still worked for free, but dev's awarded them with few game keys after release. But most of the time they are getting ignored in favor of "professionals" who take money for their work and do horrible job because not a single dev knows russian anyway and they can't check on quality of translation.
Sometimes i try to warn developers about quality of the translation they recieve: https://www.reddit.com/r/Torment/comments/5x41s8/a_warning_for_inxile_quality_of_russian/ https://www.reddit.com/r/telltale/comments/7bdrfb/do_telltale_make_quality_checks_on_translations/
And each time i hope things would be different next time... but it does not happen.
However, there is several fan-translation groups who make the perfect translation (because they actually like what they doing) and not taking single cent for their work, only problem is that their translation are delayed because they can start working only when game is released and usually have no help from developers.
I know few examples when studios hired them for work and they did pretty good translation, was even in one of the translator grops once. They still worked for free, but dev's awarded them with few game keys after release. But most of the time they are getting ignored in favor of "professionals" who take money for their work and do horrible job because not a single dev knows russian anyway and they can't check on quality of translation.
Sometimes i try to warn developers about quality of the translation they recieve: https://www.reddit.com/r/Torment/comments/5x41s8/a_warning_for_inxile_quality_of_russian/ https://www.reddit.com/r/telltale/comments/7bdrfb/do_telltale_make_quality_checks_on_translations/
And each time i hope things would be different next time... but it does not happen.
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This is the pricelist apparently :
https://steamdb.info/sub/175167/
and Russia has the cheapest one. Ukraine's price is still quite the bargain compared to the majority.
https://steamdb.info/sub/175167/
and Russia has the cheapest one. Ukraine's price is still quite the bargain compared to the majority.
Which are all expensive; particularly if you can't leverage economies of scale. (Unless you are in the software business you may not realize how expensive QA is. I've seen product releases that cost quite a bit more to QA than they did to develop)
Just curious, do you know the cost of living and average income of all these regions? Because if you don't know all the economic factors there is really no way to make a judgement if it is a bargain. The exchange rate of a unit of currency does not necessarily equate to the average income of citizens. This is true even to different regions in the same country.
Lets look at the US for example. In the mid-west the cost of living is hugely less expensive than say many areas of the North East or west coast. The Value of $40 is much different and everyone in the US is using the same currency. Now look at that from the possibilities of different counties.
I'm living in Poland, and as far as I can see on Steam, they want 142,99 PLN (around 1 095,20 UAH). Price on GOG.com is the same, but they'll give 7 PLN for your future purchases + (at the time this post was written) free ShadowRun copy.
This is why I said "compared to the majority".
I obviously do not know the average income of ALL the countries, but I have an idea that in places like Ukraine where there is much conflict and the economy is under severe pressure, a lower price seems VERY reasonable. However, a discount for places like Hong Kong and Singapore (huge ports and trade centers) or Kuwait and Norway (oil economies) .?. Not so much.
I mean if they really only balanced that based on economies and "average income", then why did I pay 40 euro for the game (49 dollars), even though I live in the "amazing" economy of Greece, which has been in the world news about being in trouble, multiple times recently?
As someone else pointed out, under the "Euro" tag they make economies that have lower salaries than the EU average, pay for items balanced for the Western European economies. At least the US which you used for your example is still the same country in every state.
We have been told by HBS that they are working with battletech fans for localisation in their own countries, so hopefully you should get a pretty decent translation.
Weather or not it is reasonable is not what I said. What I said was how can you say it is a bargain with any degree of accuracy without knowing those factors?
Again I asked how you could say it was a bargain without knowing the financial information for that area. Not weather it should be balanced based on average income and other factors.
Again not what I asked. Nothing you said in your response as anything to do with answering the question I asked or statements I made. So I will put it plainly. How can you know if it is a bargain without knowing the value of that amount of money in that economy?
I answered. I said that "Ukraine's price is still quite the bargain compared to the majority"
What you are asking has nothing to do with my post, ergo I cannot not give it any further consideration.
Price on GoG was 320dkk (Danish Crowns) for me, but 79dkk of those goes to their store wallet, I can use on other games at GoG, plus I got a "free" ShadowRun.
320dkk = ~52USD or 1377UAH
Then comes the rebate for later purchase, so the actual price is more like 241dkk = ~39USD or ~1032UAH. Which means I pay about a little over the double of you.
The clinch comes from different economies, and where I can afford it, others may not, such as your situation. One thing is for certain though, and that is they won't undercut their product. They do need to earn money on it somehow, at least to keep a great project going with further titles (expansions, addons or sequel, whatever it is going to be) if this is going to be a success.
But tell you what ElvenNeko, as a onetime offer, I'll give you the game. PM me with your SteamTag or GoGTag (In case of GoG, that would also include email I think), and I'll gift you a pre-order!
Cheers
320dkk = ~52USD or 1377UAH
Then comes the rebate for later purchase, so the actual price is more like 241dkk = ~39USD or ~1032UAH. Which means I pay about a little over the double of you.
The clinch comes from different economies, and where I can afford it, others may not, such as your situation. One thing is for certain though, and that is they won't undercut their product. They do need to earn money on it somehow, at least to keep a great project going with further titles (expansions, addons or sequel, whatever it is going to be) if this is going to be a success.
But tell you what ElvenNeko, as a onetime offer, I'll give you the game. PM me with your SteamTag or GoGTag (In case of GoG, that would also include email I think), and I'll gift you a pre-order!
Cheers
Average monthly salary in Ukraine was 7828UAH in February this year, the game costs 479UAH - 6.11%
Average UK salary in January was £2233 with the game costing £34.99 (highest apparently according to the list above) which equates to 1.56%
Average US salary (based on 4th quarter 2017) was $3713.66, with the game costing $39.99 - 1.07%
So not really a bargain when you put it into context.
I couldn't find reliable figures for Greece
Average UK salary in January was £2233 with the game costing £34.99 (highest apparently according to the list above) which equates to 1.56%
Average US salary (based on 4th quarter 2017) was $3713.66, with the game costing $39.99 - 1.07%
So not really a bargain when you put it into context.
I couldn't find reliable figures for Greece
You sir are a true gentleman, and I can't express in mere type how much respect I have for you right now!
I only wish there were more people like you in the world (and that I had the money to do likewise)