Is KSP too expensive?

[mrclucks]

Xbox and PS games are 60$ new. Computer games go for around that price. Even old computer games(StarCraft for example) still go for about 20$. There is only so long you can play these games before they repeat the same thing over and over. KSP on the other hand has so many permutations, between the number of parts and where and how you place them, the number of different ways you can go from A to B, that its virtually endless. That is also not counting the number of mods that affect gameplay or add parts or information, or even the fact that you will get any and all updates to the game for free. Sure some games might release a patch or two, or even add a dlc for some parts and/or gameplay (usually at cost), but they don't even come close to what you get after your initial 'buy in' of ksp.

I'm not saying that KSP is the greatest game ever, or that we get the highest quality game, but KSP is pretty high up there and there are devs working on this game that probably will not see another dime from people who have already bought this game. I am also super picky about what games I play and for how long(I'll try a game but they usually will not stay with me for a few day, a month at most) and this has been THE ONLY game I have played since December. That in of itself should be justification for at least 50 hours of game play at minimum( at 30 bucks for the game it is 60 cents an hour)

[Lord Aurelius]

In terms of pure number of hours of playtime this game offers, this game is a great deal, especially when compared to most FPS "AAA" titles that cost $60 and are relatively short with minimal replay value.

In terms of value vs certain other games (especially other indie titles and older great AAA games), it does start to look a little overpriced. KSP is a great sandbox that allows the player's imagination to run wild, but there isn't much actual authored content (mods notwithstanding), and the game is pretty unpolished/unfinished and really should still be labeled as an early access title at this point.

For example, a game like Skyrim is $20 retail now (and can frequently be had for $5 on sale) and has a tremendous amount of authored content in addition to more mods than you know what to do with. I realize that it's a little apples vs oranges comparing KSP to Skyrim, but in terms of content and polish Skyrim handily beats KSP (and most of the bugs in Skyrim have been worked out now). Even compared to other indie sandbox/building games, KSP is kind of expensive since most of those are in the $20 range and can offer just as many hours of enjoyment.

Part of the reason it's likely priced like it is has to do with lack of competition, other than the simplistic mobile rocket building games there aren't really any other games that have the unique combination of building sandbox and spaceflight. I think another good rocket building sim would do KSP a world of good (and given their success thus far it's likely only a matter of time).

[Red Iron Crown]

Skyrim has been released for almost four years now, it was more than $20 when it first came out.

[cantab]

At the current price, maybe. I've played it loads and would easily have gotten my money's worth at any price - and would happily have dropped more after getting hooked by the .18.3 demo. But £30, while a typical price for "big name" games, is on the expensive side for "indie" stuff. Looking in the top sellers in what Steam call "indie", few other games are as expensive or more so than KSP there.

But maybe it doesn't matter much. I expect most people who want to get KSP right away will pay £30. Meanwhile those who plan on "waiting for a sale" would probably still wait for a sale if the regular price was £20 or £25. For that matter, I wonder how meaningful "standard" price is for games on Steam at all.

[OddFunction]

KSP as is? Not worth $40.

KSP at its full potential? I'd gladly pay $40 or even $60.

And that's all I really got to say about that.

[falloutaddict]

Skyrim has been released for almost four years now, it was more than $20 when it first came out.

Yah, it also was worked on by a development team of almost 100 people and cost about $85 million to make and market. I wouldn't exactly compare the two.

[Lord Aurelius]

Skyrim has been released for almost four years now, it was more than $20 when it first came out.

Yah, it also was worked on by a development team of almost 100 people and cost about $85 million to make and market. I wouldn't exactly compare the two.

I'm very much aware of those facts (which is why I said what I did about apples to oranges) but from the perspective of a consumer buying a game right now, KSP as an unfinished game is $40 and a bugfixed, polished Skyrim is $20. Both support mods that provide nearly unlimited content. Also, Skyrim brand-new at $60 was more polished and had far, far more official content than KSP (although it was still quite buggy unfortunately).

It's always the case with games that you're going to get a lot more for your money if you buy an older game (plus it's much easier to know which ones are the good ones and any major issues will likely have been fixed) and this same argument could be made against buying pretty much any game at the initial launch price.

[falloutaddict]

I'm very much aware of those facts (which is why I said what I did about apples to oranges) but from the perspective of a consumer buying a game right now, KSP as an unfinished game is $40 and a bugfixed, polished Skyrim is $20. Both support mods that provide nearly unlimited content. Also, Skyrim brand-new at $60 was more polished and had far, far more official content than KSP (although it was still quite buggy unfortunately).

It's always the case with games that you're going to get a lot more for your money if you buy an older game (plus it's much easier to know which ones are the good ones and any major issues will likely have been fixed) and this same argument could be made against buying pretty much any game at the initial launch price.

Yes, I agree with the point you are making. I didn't actually see your original comment until just now and I agree with that one too. I was more addressing RIC (no offense intended) that it's silly to say look skyrim was $60 at release, that justifies KSP being at whatever cost it may be at. Also keep in mind, I really enjoy both of those games and have gotten more play hours out of KSP then probably any other game except maybe Civ V.

[Lord Aurelius]

@falloutaddict

Gotcha, that makes sense. Bringing up Civ 5, that only strengthens my point since it's $30 now and is frequently on sale.

[Red Iron Crown]

I was more addressing RIC (no offense intended) that it's silly to say look skyrim was $60 at release, that justifies KSP being at whatever cost it may be at.

I don't believe I said anything about justifying KSP's price. Just implied that it is odd to compare the price of a long released game with a relatively newly released one.

For that matter, Skyrim is probably one of the best gaming values of this decade in terms of depth and replayability. Almost any game is a poor value compared to it, even fantastic ones. (Edit: Goes for Civ, too )

There are also lots of lemons out there at full price (anybody preorder Simcity or buy it on release day?).

[Endersmens]

I got Skyrim Legendary Edition for $11....I think that may have been the best $11 I've ever spent.

However, on the subject of the thread, I don't feel that $30 is too much to pay for this game. As long as it stays at $30, I think it's a good value. Expensive enough to let potential buyers know that people are willing to spend that much, so it must be a good game, yet cheap enough that it's affordable. (unlike GTA V and new releases like Mad Max that cost $60 baseline)

[falloutaddict]

Ahh, my apologies then!

[Lord Aurelius]

Those lemon games are why I no longer buy games at full price. For me, the last straw was Mass Effect 3. I got ME 1 & 2 for $5 each on a steam sale and enjoyed them so much I preordered the collector's edition of ME3... Yeah, I don't buy games at full price anymore (plus I have a large enough backlog from Humble Bundles to keep me occupied far longer than I should really be playing games...).

[Plume & Akakak]

Nope.

[Halo_003]

Shoot I would have paid upwards of $100 for this game, I only paid $20 during a steam sale though.

[MaverickSawyer]

I'm not a good source of info on this... I preordered back in, oh, late 2011/early 2012? Set me back $10 U.S. and I've never regretted it.

[soyouz]

I think it's not expansive. I always wait for steam sales to buy games... but after watching Youtubers and trying the demo, I bought KSP at maximum price (40€).

I played 150h and I just started planetary exploration.

[Frozen_Heart]

To me KSP is easily worth a full game. No other game comes close in hours spent.

When I bought it it was only about £5.

[UniQueKakarot]

You get a solar system and all the parts you "need" for 40 bucks.(And on top of that you get to dig around in so many mods, that when you are tired of the stock game you can more or less compose a completely new game.)

And all that is stopping you is your creativity. That is more than enough for me to justify spending 40 dollars on it.

I've spendt more money on other random useless .... through the times anyway

[Agost]

IMHO since it's still more like a beta 40€ are a bit too much. I bought it at 17€ less than a year ago...

[Greenfire32]

Hmm...that's a tricky one. I guess it's a bit of both for me.

I think it should still be in the $18 - $25 range as it still looks...very beta-ish, but I've also put more than enough time into it to make it worth my while so in the end I still got more than the game is worth out of it.

Short version: I think it should be cheaper, but it's worth the asking price as is.

[TimePeriod]

180 games on steam.

Ever since I got KSP, it has never left my fav list, clocking in at 968 hours.

I have several 60$ games on steam and none of them come even close to the same duration of play.

[Hotaru]

KSP is one of only about a half-dozen games that I really feel like I've gotten my money's worth out of. (Skyrim, X-Plane, Mass Effect, X-COM, and--though it pains me to admit it--GTA IV being a few of the others.) I actually ended up paying for it twice, once on Steam and once not, which I'd never have dreamed of doing for a game from a major developer, but even at $80 that's still a great value in terms of the amount of hours I've put into the game.

I'm still annoyed about the 1.0 business (be fair, KSP 1.0 was a lot closer to "finished" than Skyrim 1.0! Or even Skyrim now, really.) and I'm not crazy the fact that the game requires mods to make it enjoyable--there are two or three without which I get bored/frustrated almost immediately--but all things considered KSP is one of the best entertainment purchases I've ever made. Between that and the fact that it comes from a small developer--I'll cut Squad a lot more slack than I'd cut Rockstar, BioWare, or Bethesda--it wouldn't occur to me to complain I paid too much for it.

[panzer1b]

I think its reasonable, at least considering that its a amazing game (for those that have the patience to actually learn how to get ships to work), and the fact that we've had ALOT of amazing updates (0.90 was the best since 1.0 lowered frmamerates across the board (already a drag with 4 300 part warships loaded and shooting each other in 0.90).

Only tip id give is for all new player to try the demo before buying it. While amazing in my opinion, this is no easy game to play (some of my friends who got it still cant even get to the mun), and it is defenetely not a game for everyone (although career kinda solves this, there are very few hard requirements in this game, if you like sandbox style then its fun, but if you want a hard set of objectives layed down in front of you its not so great).

Hopefully 1.1 will fix my biggest issue with the game as a whole, the TERRIBLE performance and lag when you exceed 500 parts (personally its playable up to ~1000 parts, crashes ~2000). I want my bloody space station thats made of over 9000 parts NOW! If lag and performance is indeed fixed, i will finally be able to approve of this game as relatively complete (and more then worth even 50 bucks), until then its staying a alpha/beta in my book since it has too many bugs and lag.

[Esme]

Definitely worth the asking price. There are many games with far less replay value that cost more out there - and as earlier posters have said, the range of mods for KSP are so diverse that you can easily change it into a dramatically different game. I've paid for KSP twice - once on Steam, and then, because I got fed up of having to delve through the Steam directories when applying mods, I bought a second copy direct from SQUAD. Easily the best value for money game I've ever purchased bar none.