The Groginati Sales Thread

[Martok]

Anymore, these kinds of sales are so frequent and cheap (and not just on Amazon) that it isn't about the cost, it's about the fact there just isn't enough time to ever get to fully play them.  Now if only they could sell us a 30 hour day!

Ain't that the truth.  The sales come so thick & fast nowadays that my mind starts to become numb after a while. 


And yes, I really did just complain about games being cheap all the time.  Argh. 

[JasonPratt]

And yes, I really did just complain about games being cheap all the time.  Argh.

...thus the deepness of Matrix's marketing strategy becomes apparent!  :o

[LongBlade]

And yes, I really did just complain about games being cheap all the time.  Argh.

...thus the deepness of Matrix's marketing strategy becomes apparent!  :o

You might be right.

If there's one significant difference between David Heath's management style and JD McNeil's it is that Slitherine isn't afraid to mark down a game from time to time.

I couldn't say whether significant numbers of people put off buying games to wait for sales (and therefore cannibalize the sales revenue), but Slitherine wouldn't do it if they didn't think it worked.

[Huw the Poo]

I couldn't say whether significant numbers of people put off buying games to wait for sales (and therefore cannibalize the sales revenue), but Slitherine wouldn't do it if they didn't think it worked.

I think Matrix are bloody stupid to rarely discount their games.  Yes, I get the reason for the high prices, but to set a single price based on a specific set of market assumptions and leave that price as it is almost permanently is naive in my opinion.  There is value in discount sales, as anyone who has ever run a business knows.  Valve have proved time and time again - not to mention the numerous indie bundles - how effective sales can be.

Christ knows I'd have plenty more Matrix games by now if the prices weren't permanently high.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Me too.  I ain't going to pay $50+ for a game that hasn't been graphically updated since 1994.

[Tuna]

Steel Panthers World at War 55.99 (they'll probably claim that price is 'discounted').. Now this is a game with a release level price.. yet no support, if you want it to work in Win 7, you have to research and find the fix (that is NOT release product type support)..

I mean that one is a real joke!

lol. that's how I found the Matrix site years ago.. SPWAW.. and I still haven't bought it yet, because it's priced to damn high..

I bought all the originals.. and I've played the 'free', and enjoy it.. but to me over 50 dollars for mega campaigns.. not worth it..

maybe I'd start to think at 30... I would most likely buy at 20...  But they are way out of touch on some of the old games..

Yet some of their new releases have reasonable prices like 39...

[Huw the Poo]

Matrix really irritate me.  Thanks to their ridiculous pricing I've bought a grand total of three games there, and I've been burned every time:

Starshatter: Had a game-breaking bug which I asked for support with multiple times and was completely ignored.

The Operational Art of War 3: Supposedly had a single-player element but probably 1% of the scenarios support AI.

Distant Worlds: I'm sure it's a good game if you buy the expansions that fix things that should have been patched in the base game.  I will not support shoddy development by giving the developer/publisher even more money.

I doubt I'll buy from Matrix ever again to be honest.

[Bison]

Distant Worlds: I'm sure it's a good game if you buy the expansions that fix things that should have been patched in the base game.  I will not support shoddy development by giving the developer/publisher even more money.

I'd disagree with this assessment that the expansions were content that should have been in the base game.   The DW developer is a single individual so the expansion model he is using is practical and adds value to the game.  The bugs of the original were squashed for the most part through patches.  He still patches individual expansions so you don't have to buy every expansion.  And finally I agree he could have broke through to the Paradox strategic gaming crowd if he'd been able to offer a bundle at a reasonable price.  I don't mind at all that I paid full prices for the game and expansions as they came out.  It's worth that value to me, but to get more gamers to support future products the Dev needs to work with Slitherine to produce a bundle pack.

[Rayfer]

Distant Worlds: I'm sure it's a good game if you buy the expansions that fix things that should have been patched in the base game.  I will not support shoddy development by giving the developer/publisher even more money.

I'd disagree with this assessment that the expansions were content that should have been in the base game.   The DW developer is a single individual so the expansion model he is using is practical and adds value to the game.  The bugs of the original were squashed for the most part through patches.  He still patches individual expansions so you don't have to buy every expansion.  And finally I agree he could have broke through to the Paradox strategic gaming crowd if he'd been able to offer a bundle at a reasonable price.  I don't mind at all that I paid full prices for the game and expansions as they came out.  It's worth that value to me, but to get more gamers to support future products the Dev needs to work with Slitherine to produce a bundle pack.

I agree with your disagreement!  +1

[Martok]

Distant Worlds: I'm sure it's a good game if you buy the expansions that fix things that should have been patched in the base game.  I will not support shoddy development by giving the developer/publisher even more money.

Wow, I'm surprised to hear you say that.  What is it about vanilla DW that makes you feel that way? 


Aside from seconding Bison's & Rayfer's sentiments -- the dev really has done an amazing job supporting this game from the beginning, and essentially all by his lonesome -- I personally enjoyed the original game, even without expansions.  My main beef with it was the UI (which was admittedly fairly clunky), but I had a lot of fun with it even so. 

I certainly won't deny that Return of the Shakturi and Legends both add a tremendous amount of gameplay, such that now I can scarcely imagine playing the game without them.  However, I did truly have a good time playing the original Distant Worlds as well.  Different strokes for different folks, I guess. 

[Huw the Poo]

Memory fails me now, but I think it was stuff like fleet management, a bug which meant worlds would move on while bases remained fixed in one spot, refuelling problems which meant that by the time a fleet was formed, half of the ships would need to be refuelled, etc.  Stuff like that - game-breaking to me.

I remember posting about it on some other forum, probably Gaming Trend, and I'm pretty sure it was Monty who told me that these things were fixed in the expansions.  Hence my wrath.

[Kushan]

Memory fails me now, but I think it was stuff like fleet management, a bug which meant worlds would move on while bases remained fixed in one spot, refuelling problems which meant that by the time a fleet was formed, half of the ships would need to be refuelled, etc.  Stuff like that - game-breaking to me.

I remember posting about it on some other forum, probably Gaming Trend, and I'm pretty sure it was Monty who told me that these things were fixed in the expansions.  Hence my wrath.

IIRC most of that was fixed in the orignal games patches.

[Martok]

Gamestop is currently selling Heroes of Might & Magic III: Complete Edition for $4.99. 

(Gah!  Must resist temptation...) 


Link

[Greybriar]

The only thing that surprises me is that you don't already own HoMM3, Martok.

Amazon is featuring Command and Conquer The Ultimate Collection for $16.99 but the offer ends soon.

[Longdan]

Unity of Command on Steam for about 7 bux for about an hour.