Why does KSP need to be extremely expensive

[Hans Kerman]

Why Does Kerbal Space Program Need to be THAT Expensive, $39.99 Wont get you anywhere playerwise, Somewhere around $24.99 Would be more Reasonable

[Geonovast]

Considering it's $20 less than most mainstream cookie-cutter video games, I'm not seeing the problem.  I've gotten way more enjoyment out of this $40 game than pretty much all of my $60 ones.  I was super happy to only pay $40.

It's also being consistently updated with new features and parts without asking for another penny.  You don't get Call Of Duty 17: Whatever We Grabbed Out Of The Scrabble Bag This Time when you buy Call Of Duty 16: Pwned By A 13 Year Old.

Edited December 10, 2017 by Geonovast

[fourfa]

KSP goes on sale for USD$24 very often

[regex]

It used to cost $18, even less, in early access. $40 is a good price for a decent sandbox game with huge potential playtime.

[invision]

i paid 39.99 and have played over 1000hrs

theres also about 3-5 thousand players in steam at any given time playing KSP.....a game with no multiplayer

most sandbox games are thrown away a month after launch and kerbal keeps on kicking years later

so it doesnt need to be cheaper. squad is giving you a lot of game for 40.00 

[obi_juan]

I paid 24$ in 2013 and still playing. 

Also I paid 40$ several times buying the game as a present. 

The factor Price/(hours of play) is the lowest of all my games. And I play more than 600 hours to all my games*. 

* OK, I just buy Endless Space 2 and only play it for 80 hours, but in one year I am sure that I will play it for more than 400h

[Kerbart]

Most games cost you $60 or more and require that for every major update. If Squad had applied EA's pricing strategy you'd have spent something like $300 since the game came out.

You'd also get considerable less playtime out of most mainstream titles.

KSP is a lot things, but "expensive" or "not worth the money" it is not.

[purpleivan]

I paid 25 euros for it and have played it for well over 2000 hours. It's not just the best value games purchase I've ever made, it think it's the best value I've had from any type of purchase I've made.

That might sound like an exaggeration, but given the price and amount of time that I've actively used it, I honestly can't think of another purchase I've made that beats it. Perhaps I've got some particularly durable pairs of socks in a draw that might, but that's about all.

 

[klgraham1013]

Our definitions of expensive are completely different.

[eddiew]

I've had over 2000 hours play time. Let's see any "triple A" title beat that for value for money...

[ARS]

KSP: 40$ and still played after 3 years

AAA games: 60$ purchase, more for each DLC, and I'm already bored after 3 months because being pwned by someone in multiplayer

Expensive price doesn't always mean a good game. A good game is the one with high replay value that makes you keep coming back to play it. A 60$ FPS with 50GB disk space and absolutely high end graphic requirement might look far cooler than KSP, but it gets boring really fast because of repetitive gameplay, and after you get everything, what's more to do? Nothing. KSP takes less than 5GB, it's graphic may not be the best, but it's replay value is far higher, limited only with your imagination (and your computer power). Not even counting mods for additional gameplay experience

40$ is reasonable for me. There's a frequent steam sale that reduce that price to 24$. I think it's acceptable for a game that I played for 3 years. No other AAA game in my computer has longer gameplay time than KSP

Edited December 10, 2017 by ARS

[Ultimate Steve]

Ditto to most of what has been said already.

If I could go back in time and tell my past self what I knew now, I would have gladly paid $300 for all of the enjoyment I have gotten out of this wonderful piece of software.

EDIT: I'm not saying the game should cost $300, though. It should stay the same because who in their right mind would pay $300 for a game? I'm just saying that I've gotten several hundred dollars worth out of the game.

Edited December 10, 2017 by Ultimate Steve

[Geonovast]

4 minutes ago, Ultimate Steve said:

 It should stay the same because who in their right mind would pay $300 for a game?

People that fall for Collectors Edition scams.

[GoSlash27]

Are you kiddin' me?? This game teaches you rocket science!! The replay-ability and entertainment value are freebies. All this for a measly $40? I'll take that deal any day of the week.

Best,
-Slashy

[katateochi]

Thankfully I don't have steam tracking how many hours I've put into KSP, (as i'd probably be very concerned) but a conservative guess might be 3000+ hours. I got it fairly early on, so it was less, but I've bought several copies of it, but if I had payed $40 for it, that's ~ $0.01 per hour. And that's just looking at the value of playing the game, but it's also a ticket into being part of this community of awesome rocket heads and you can't put a price on that. I also can't put a price on the staggering amount of stuff that I've learnt because of KSP.  

I can see that without really knowing what KSP is, it might appear to be just another indie game without some of the polish of a AAA title,  but it is so much more that it appears and totally worth every cent.

[Cpt Kerbalkrunch]

To say that something is "expensive" is about as arbitrary as a description could possibly be. Until you reach a certain threshold, "expensive" is defined by each individual for themselves. For a kid in school with no job, 40 bucks is a lot of money. For most parents, 40 bucks is what you spend when you order pizza.

Overpriced, however, is another matter entirely. With video games, it's all about enjoyment and bang for your buck. If you play this game, and you like it, and you don't think it's worth 40 bucks, I think your judgement is in question.

[Rocket In My Pocket]

Look, if you didn't feel KSP was worth 40$ you just wouldn't buy it and move on.

You know it's worth that, which is why you want it; which is why you are here arguing that it should be cheaper; so you could get it.

I feel for you, and I wish I was a richer man who could afford to buy a copy of KSP for every Tom, Dick, and Harry who expressed interest; but all I can recommend to you is that you wait a bit, X-mas is coming up and it's bound to go on sale. I got the game on Steam for like 15$ on a sale I think? It's an absolute steal at that price.

Edited December 11, 2017 by Rocket In My Pocket

[Spricigo]

4 hours ago, Ultimate Steve said:

... because who in their right mind would pay $300 for a game? 

A lot of people. Just take a game with monthly subscription fees and keep playing long enough and you'll expend more than this in a game.

As an example EVE online* took more $1,000.00 from my pockets over the years. And I have no doubt it was well spent money.

Now lets not confuse apples and pineapples. KSP is, in many ways, different from those games. But $300 looks a lot less unreasonable** when we consider what else people would use that money for.

 

Getting to the OP question. I don't know how exactly the price of KSP is determined. What I know is that when I discovered KSP I just thought "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!!" 

 

*I know, EVE online players are not the typical example of people "in their right mind"

**or should I say more resoabable?

[tater]

11 hours ago, Hans Kerman said:

Why Does Kerbal Space Program Need to be THAT Expensive, $39.99 Wont get you anywhere playerwise, Somewhere around $24.99 Would be more Reasonable

This is a joke, right?

What device are you using to send us these words of wisdom? Your $800 phone? A desktop computer?

 

[Superfluous J]

6 hours ago, klgraham1013 said:

Our definitions of expensive are completely different.

Not to mention "extremely"

[Starman4308]

I'm not sure what answer you expected posting this question to a forum full of KSP fans. Personally, it's been worth every penny, but I have a personality and interests well in line with this game. I can see why some wouldn't like it that much, and why it might seem on the tin to be a low budget indie game (which it kinda is), and there are some for whom $40 would be a lot, but for me personally, I'm with the bandwagon.

Edited December 11, 2017 by Starman4308
Durn mobile

[Corona688]

Hell, it was a low-budget indie game when I got the preorder for $12 or so.  It's come a long way since then, with things like, oh, planets.

[Lord Aurelius]

I actually have to agree that KSP is a bit too expensive given the current state of the game. Not because it isn't a fun game, and not because I haven't gotten hundreds of hours of enjoyment from it. The problem is that the game STILL feels like an early access title in a lot of ways. Game balance and polish are both still sorely lacking for a game that has been "released". Not to mention gameplay outside of sandbox mode.

$40 is quite expensive for an indie/small developer game, most of those are $30 or less and many of them are made with much higher production values than KSP. The higher price implies a higher level of quality and polish which KSP simply doesn't have right now given that we're STILL using poor quality placeholder graphics and part balance values. What KSP does have is a niche with no real competition.

If the devs can ever properly finish the game, it will easily be worth whatever price they want to charge. As it stands now though, KSP is still in early access as far as I'm concerned. The only thing that really changed when it went 1.0 was the price, so in my mind the game needs to actually be finished before it will be worth the full asking price.

Yes, I'm a bit salty about this whole issue. Mostly because I can see the potential of KSP to be so much better than it is now and how it's being held back by years of technical debt and questionable business decisions (the whole console debacle).

Edited December 11, 2017 by Lord Aurelius

[Corona688]

14 minutes ago, Lord Aurelius said:

The higher price implies a higher level of quality and polish which KSP simply doesn't have right now given that we're STILL using poor quality placeholder graphics

Given the ludicrous system requirements people mod in for "non-placeholder" graphics I'm quite happy with graphics that actually work on sane system specs.

14 minutes ago, Lord Aurelius said:

and part balance values.

Given the caterwauling which occurs whenever they change...  anything, I'm not shocked at this either.

[FrostedShoe]

I think the problem with KSP is that it serves a very niche market. Not everyone will 'get' the game. People that do will pay whatever is asked, people that don't will always think it is overpriced. Lack of decent career mode means that replayability relies on players setting their own goals or role-playing. Some people just don't want to do that.