Is KSP too expensive?

[linuxgurugamer]

I dont think i would pay $40 for this game considering its very niche. Its a game you can pour hundreds of hours into. But it still doesent feel right to cost $40 bucks for some reason. I am surprised to see that it is among the top sellers on steam. Congrats to squad i guess. I will now go take a look at the reviews. Maybe people get disappointed considering how much they paid. Who knows.

Ummm, hundreds of hours?

Let's assume 400 hours. So you don't think that it's worth 10 cents an hour?

When I buy a game, I expect to get at least as many hours of enjoyment out of it as the price, so a $40 game should give me 40 hours of enjoyment.

I think this is well worth the price

[Francois424]

Too expensive? Not at all. I got at least a year of solid gameplay out of it... Nowadays no games ever manage to do that anymore (or almost no games).

I Suspect that after unity5 64-bits, and all the mods have been updated, I have another really long session or 2 left.

[LittleBlueGaming]

Ummm, hundreds of hours?

Let's assume 400 hours. So you don't think that it's worth 10 cents an hour?

When I buy a game, I expect to get at least as many hours of enjoyment out of it as the price, so a $40 game should give me 40 hours of enjoyment.

I think this is well worth the price

I think this is just something people don't consider too much when they think of pricing on a game, they kind of want to just think of it all the same.

When I buy I game that's something I consider. I'm more than willing to pay $100+ for a game if I know I'm going to enjoy it for a long time, but I'm not going to buy a game for $60 if I know the campaign only lasts 5 hours and I won't enjoy multiplayer.

[m4v]

it's funny to see people agreeing the with current price but that didn't actually pay that much. And obviously you love the game and have hundreds of hours in it, you're in this forum after all, those that didn't put more than 40hs aren't going to be here to say that they didn't get their money back.

[Robotengineer]

Squad should cut the price, then add IAP's of different amounts if you think you didn't pay enough.

[LittleBlueGaming]

Squad should cut the price, then add IAP's of different amounts if you think you didn't pay enough.

Oh yes, please! Microtransactions for every new part, every tech node, everything besides Kerbin and the Mun, Science mode, and most importantly, Sandbox mode!

In all seriousness, I have nothing against IAPs... that's the only way certain types of games can milk thousands of dollars from their biggest spenders. I'll take $40 for KSP though

[Robotengineer]

Oh yes, please! Microtransactions for every new part, every tech node, everything besides Kerbin and the Mun, Science mode, and most importantly, Sandbox mode!

In all seriousness, I have nothing against IAPs... that's the only way certain types of games can milk thousands of dollars from their biggest spenders. I'll take $40 for KSP though

Not micro transactions for anything in-game, just a payment screen where you can go and pay more money if you want. The payment screen would only show up if you click a button on the main menu. I think it would be better than scaring away potential customers with the $40 price tag.

[LittleBlueGaming]

Not micro transactions for anything in-game, just a payment screen where you can go and pay more money if you want. The payment screen would only show up if you click a button on the main menu. I think it would be better than scaring away potential customers with the $40 price tag.

That would actually be pretty cool, I imagine I'll be buying quite a few copies of KSP as time goes on, it's always nice to be able to support a company however you can.

I'm sure they have other things planned for pricing in the future, no reason not to ride the $40 sales while they can.

[asmi]

Oh yes, please! Microtransactions for every new part, every tech node, everything besides Kerbin and the Mun, Science mode, and most importantly, Sandbox mode!

In all seriousness, I have nothing against IAPs... that's the only way certain types of games can milk thousands of dollars from their biggest spenders. I'll take $40 for KSP though

Only if Squad will pay players money each time they encounter a bug, or crash... I bet all bugs will be fixed in no time flat!

[Robotengineer]

Only if Squad will pay players money each time they encounter a bug, or crash... I bet all bugs will be fixed in no time flat!

They'd be bankrupt a day after doing that.

[Pappus]

It feels quite strange that so many people say they would pay more if they could and comparable yada. Wanna pay more? Take a letter, put in dollares and send it on the way to the KSP producers or simply purchase several copies and give them away or let them rot.

[Lord Aurelius]

In terms of pure dollars per hour, KSP is a great deal, but it is actually very expensive compared to pretty much any other indie game, including big-hit sandbox titles like Minecraft or Terraria which can easily offer as much playtime if you really get into them.

When comparing KSP to more linear, non-sandbox games, yes there are some that are terrible with short, pathetic campaigns, but the good ones offer amazing story and/or gameplay that is necessarily limited in length because it's authored content and it's clear the developers put a lot of effort into crafting the experience.

With KSP, we have a great framework that allows us to unleash our creativity, but for the most part the actual content portion of KSP isn't really that great. Poor game balance, placeholder graphics for most things, missing audio, poor UI, barren planets, not to mention that we still have significant memory leaks.

Basically, we're being asked to pay full release price (and then some given the going price for indie games) for what is still really an unfinished early access game. That fact right there makes it overpriced right now IMHO. This sentiment may change after future updates, but at this moment I really can't recommend this game to others unless it was on at least a 50% sale.

[Temeter]

Apparently lots of people are buying the game, so the price isn't too expensive. That's really all that is to a games price stability.

[longbyte1]

Apparently lots of people are buying the game, so the price isn't too expensive. That's really all that is to a games price stability.

A lot of people buy CoD even though they shell out $60 for it.

If you say that KSP is too expensive, is Minecraft too expensive? (I think yes, $30 is a bit too much for something that doesn't even have a modding API nor is even maintained by the original creator.)

But hey, let's just wait until Squad ramps the price up to $50

[Ravenchant]

it's funny to see people agreeing the with current price but that didn't actually pay that much. And obviously you love the game and have hundreds of hours in it, you're in this forum after all, those that didn't put more than 40hs aren't going to be here to say that they didn't get their money back.

It's like going to a pub and polling people on whether they think alcohol consumption is acceptable.

[Zild]

Not micro transactions for anything in-game, just a payment screen where you can go and pay more money if you want. The payment screen would only show up if you click a button on the main menu. I think it would be better than scaring away potential customers with the $40 price tag.

Suggesting people pay more without receiving anything extra in return is going to have very limited success.

I do think a "buy a copy for a friend" button in-game could be interesting, though, as it gives a way for die-hard fans to give a little more AND provides an additional route for some of the unconvinced masses to get involved.

But I think their best bet would be merchandising; the choice of merchandise at the moment is so limited (although I did like these and got one for my brother!) If they had more variety and better quality (the cafepress stuff all looks a little less fun than it could be), I am confident it could earn Squad a nice little bit on the side.

(If they are looking for ideas, I would most like to see plush toys and something like a system of cylindrical sofa cushions that look like key ship parts and can be stuck together or pulled apart...)

[asmi]

I do think a "buy a copy for a friend" button in-game could be interesting, though, as it gives a way for die-hard fans to give a little more AND provides an additional route for some of the unconvinced masses to get involved.

Such functionality exists in Steam for a long time - you can buy anything in store for somebody else.

[Frank_G]

Worth as much as any AAA title on the market, or more, considering the fun it offers.

[GusTurbo]

To put it another way, $40US is still less than four pints of the crappiest beer at the local.

KSP wont give you bad breath or a hangover, though you may well be very very tired

Whoa, what? Where do you live where beer is that expensive? I could get 8 or 10 pints for that price.

[Orbital Vagabond]

Is this bad time/place to point out that the "Gamer's edition" is $80 US/55£?

[asmi]

Is this bad time/place to point out that the "Gamer's edition" is $80 US/55£?

It would be interesting to see how many of those who posted here would put their money where their mouth is.

[kimiko]

KSP is defiantly priced accordingly! And it doesn't really require a degree en marketing to see that...

...but why not pull out the basics: The generic marketing strategy map!: KSP is definatly in the lower right corner for the following reasons...

It's a niche product: It only appeals to a certain audience, which is not that many of, and have over-average interest in the product. It has very little exposure, and can (practically) only be obtained on-line, through steam. In fact the only way you probably heard about it is over steam or any of the "speciality" youtubers (which only us overly interested people watch anyway).

Customers have low price sensitivity: We will pay for it either way, because we are especially interested. People with lesser interest would most likely not pay for it no matter what the price is. We most likely already bought it in Early Access which leaves even less people to buy it now. And as many of the previous posters indicated, we are still willing to pay more...

Virtually no competitors in the same genera: What other games let's you build spaceships, use close-to-simulation game mechanics, land on other planets and all the other ridiculous stuff that is being done? And probably not much substitutes as the customers have special interests.

So, with a low demand, low price sensitivity, limited availability, only appeal to certain customers, no competition, limited substitutes and limited exposure, you punch up the price.

Everyone here already bought it, and would probably do anyway at some point.

(this also is probably the reason for such a great community : D)

Edit: Not to mention, the average age of possible customers is probably higher, making it the price sensitivity even lower.

Edited June 4, 2015 by kimiko

[keeper]

Think i paid about £12 around $20 when it was 0.23.

Totally worth it, and they did say throughout developement, get it before release and dont pay full price. I got an offer at that price.

I think its worth it, but i'd never spend full price kind of money on games, I got other .... to pay for. :/

[longbyte1]

The price of KSP is in conflict with what Squad wants KSP to be. They've said over and over again that KSP is supposed to be a game about launching rockets and making them explode into flying bits with amazing but terrible ragdoll physics. It's not supposed to be a faithful space simulator (according to the old FAR discussion). So then why is it $40?

Right now KSP is half of what we thought KSP to be three years ago: we wanted it to be the be all, end all of space games, that this was going to be the space game of the decade and we would never need a sequel. Not so now. The game still looks far from complete, even though it's marketed like it actually is complete.

By ballooning the price and limiting the game's scope in order to justify fast-tracking development, Squad has set themselves up for further direct competition, meaning that another space game might already be in the works.

[Tankman101]

we wanted it to be the be all, end all of space games, that this was going to be the space game of the decade and we would never need a sequel.

That's dumb, because nothing ever will be.

Unrealistic expectations like this need to stop being a thing.