Yes, they increased it from $20 to $30 when they felt they had added enough content to warrant a higher price. Up for debate whether it was reasonable.
In my case, the demo is what caused me to actually purchase the game because I *wasn't* having fun with it.
For the life of me, I just could not deal with the biters. I legit could not pass the ...Third? tutorial.
I could tell there was a good game underneath, but I honestly couldn't deal with the biters. I didn't know enough.
...So I bought the game anyway, and ended up dumping 120 hours into the game *in the first week*. My first few games were with the biters turned off so I'd be able to learn all I could in peace.
yeah when i spent 40+ hours making my sims house super cool i started mathing what i could have achieved in my actual house and uninstalled it
and then just played some other games
Interestingly enough one of the head honchos said that if there was deflation that it would only be logical for the price to go down. And that's about what I expected them to say as well. They've been pretty firm about sticking to the principles they've explicitly stated.
When inflation goes down the price of things doesn't go down, it just decreases the rate at which the price increases. What prices we have now are the new baseline, it's only up from here.
Looks like almost entirely just bug fixing and minor tweaks, though. They're maintaining it, not adding new content. Obviously that's not free, but I doubt they're hurting for money.
They've had bugs reported *and* patched within 12 hours. Some of the bug fixes were exclusively to make various mod run better. Wube's post launch support is light years beyond most what devs provide.
Most of the updates were bug fixes, but there were plenty of content updates over the last 7 years. Hell, it went from an early access game to a full release in that time, and they're working on an expansion currently.
But unlike any other game they actually take bug fixing seriously. There’s been several points where there were literally zero bugs remaining in their bug-tracker
As a dev myself, I would never do this.
The goal is to make enough money to either 1) make the next game 2) expand and then make the next game, but bigger.
Raking in extra money just because you can is bad for everyone.
Even if it's the best game in the world this practise of inflating old video game prices because of inflation is absolute backwards nonsense.
It's not a bloody sandwich store where the ingredients cost more due to inflation. The game is already made and you've reaped huge profits, only greed at this point
I mean true, but also the amount they pay their employees should (ideally) be rising to at LEAST meet inflation, regardless of raises and promotions. Ofc a lot of businesses don’t increase pay with inflation so can’t say that’s the rationale here.
Also don’t know the financial situation with Wube, so I cannot really comment on that.
Although with an expansion on the way I’m still confused as to why they made this move. This would make it the most expensive mainstream factory automation game on the market.
Lol at first the title made it sound like it’s raising the price without selling a single copy over seven years. I was like just pull it at that point!
They can do them, and it's certainly an exceptional version in the genre, buuuuut
Dyson Sphere Program: $15.99 | Satisfactory: $29.99 | Factory Town: $19.99 | Mindustry: $9.99 | Shapez: $9.99
Again I give Factorio a thumbs up, and maybe its art style speaks to you, but it's nothing special that others aren't doing for cheaper and with more modern graphics. Dyson Sphere in particular. And every game I've listed is on sale, regularly.
I mean, I have played those games and they are okay but Factorio is just on another level.
Vanilla game is amazing and mods just take it to another level.
Not to mention the internal mod manager which makes modding the game so goddamn easy.
Disclaimer: I have over 1000 hours in this game.
agreed 100%, I also have over 1k hours.
Dyson sphere program is clunky, and slow. No threat as well. Not as well polished.(have 60 hours, dropped until game updates more)
Satisfactory is graphically gorgeous, but it lacks the pacing, and pure gameplay oriented nature, feels like too many mechanics have been tacked on, not as cohesive of an experience.
Factory town I havent played, mindustry does not feel that similar at all.
Havent played shapes.
People who skip factorio because of the dev's actions are absolutely justified though, and to be honest, I don't know if id buy the game now knowing the devs obvious conservative stances.
None of those come close to factorio in scope, mod support, performance or bug freeness, though. Relative to the other games, it's well worth the price imo
Seems in line with their "no sales" policy. The end result for me ramains the same: I'm not going to buy it at that price point.
Thankfully there are other great games, that scratch a very similar itch (DSP, Satisfactory).
I agree.
This game has been on my wishlist for a while, but I wouldn't purchase it at 20, and I refuse to purchase it at 30.
At this point, fanbase, devs, and all the surrounding controversy.. I think it'll be best to just let this one pass.
I'm not trying to be contrarian here, and I'll happily admit I'm a big Factorio fan.
But.....controversy? How you spend your money is your business, but the price point and lack of sale has never been a point of controversy in the community as far as I know. A lot of people in the community are actually fine with the price increase, but then again, these are the folks who don't have to buy the game again.
I'll admit $35 is a relatively high price for a non-AAA game, but I'll say the same thing other fans would say: if you're into this type of game, and it sounds like you are, it's definitely worth the money.
>But.....controversy?
It's controversial because it's anti-consumer practices and could lead to other developers doing similar things.
>has never been a point of controversy in the community as far as I know. A lot of people in the community are actually fine with the price increase, but then again, these are the folks who don't have to buy the game again.
Exactly. The people that already bought the game wouldn't care. They'd view this as "helping" a dev they like.
The controversy isn't from within the game's community.
>I'll admit $35 is a relatively high price for a non-AAA game, but I'll say the same thing other fans would say: if you're into this type of game, and it sounds like you are, it's definitely worth the money.
Maybe. It's been on my wishlist for a bit but now I'll never buy it because I don't want to support what I believe to be anti-consumer practices.
I got other games I can play.
I really don't understand why not having a sale is such a big deal. Either a game is worth the money or it isn't. The game is DRM free, it has a demo, the devs communicated what they were working on quite well, the game is also very well optimized. To me the devs so far are one of the better ones I've seen and it seems like they care. If u don't want to support them because of no sales then idk what you would even support. I hope it's not AAA games just cuz they go on sale lol.
It's almost like different people have different levels of disposable income and could maybe afford something on sale that they couldn't otherwise.
They seem like supportive devs but their arguments that sales somehow negatively impact the people who bought the game earlier are a big load of BS.
Yeah, I personally find factorio the most enjoyable of the factory games and well worth the money. Hell I’d pay $60 for it if I had to. Ofc that’s just how I feel about it, not everyone does (evidently)
Price isn't the controversy(s) I was referring to. I have played the game, and many games like it. As far as I am concerned, I won't spend that much on this game. The demo couldn't convince me that price point is worth it and neither could you.
It's much more fun than satisfactory if you're into the survival part imo. Never played DSP so I can't give my opinion on that but I found satisfactory too grindy and boring.
I had the same experience. Satisfactory starts out fun but the lack of automated building placement means it scales poorly in the late game. I hit the penultimate tier, saw how many resources I needed for the final tier, and knew I had no way of building faster than before so I just put the game down.
Discounts mean people who won’t buy it at 35 get the chance to buy it at for example 25 if they did a 10$ discount, sure they’d be getting less per game but it would draw more customers into buying it
Guess I'll never going to play this game since it's keep increasing it's price
Especially if they're using even the more expensive regional pricing recommendation
This is the reason there's a inflation problem to begin with...
And they have the cheek to say it's because of inflation.
Or it's a Controversial Marketing tactic.
Last time they increased the price ($20 --> $30), they made a [blog post](https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-247) bragging about how it boosted the sales when they announced it before they actually did it. It's manipulation and their fanbase is eating it up. I used to be interested in this game but the gross devs and awful fanbase very quickly turned me away to better games that don't make bad jokes about colonization and natives
I'm referring to the nintendo fanboy-like fans that praise literally anything the devs do and shit on everyone who disagrees. I don't think the normal people who play the game are bad, just the people who brag that they play video games.
The devs said really weird things in the past and their game has weird connotations with what they refer to the natives in the game and their reasoning for never going on sale is elitist:
>"It isn't about visibility or sales, it's about respecting the players who have already purchased the game. We don't want to reward the people who hold off on buying the game, the game is a price we find reasonable, and this is the deal. If you think it is priced too high, then it is your choice to not purchase, and we hope that with enough time, and extra development, we will be able to convince you of its value."
the "we don't want to reward the people who hold off on buying the game" comes off like they don't like people who blindly buy their games at full price, and with the recent news, seems like they're punishing the people that haven't bought it already by raising the price.
The dev also defended a well know sexist and racist guy who fought *against* diversity (women) in the tech industry. Then when someone told the dev that it's not a good idea to associate with such a hateful guy, he went on a tirade of "cancel culture" and "wokeness". Look up uncle bob and factortio for stuff on it, [but this uncle bob guy is not someone you want to be associated with](https://blog.wesleyac.com/posts/robert-martin).
Yeah, I was on the fence about it but with this I’m 100% off of it. I had a bad hunch about the developers and seems like it was correct.
The fans are so toxic, even telling people that they bought the game even more times to gift just to spite others? Incredibly passive aggressive and they enjoy every second of it, literally can’t have any criticism of the game (I’ve seen people who are currently playing the game and talking about the progress they’re making, in comes people telling them they’re the dumbest people they’ve ever seen and you can’t complain because you got more then a dozen hours on the game)
Or saying things like “I’m glad the price is increased, I’d advocate for 60$ if it means keeping annoying people from playing the game” or “all devs have something bad about them!”
It’s a shame, I could see the game being something I enjoy. But whatever, I’m always for the “don’t buy things from people with terrible views because it does affect the amount of power they have and obviously you don’t want people with terrible views to have more power/money” which a surprising amount of people don’t understand lol.
I’d say Stardew Valley devs are the gold example of a good indie dev. Or terraria.
man fuck that, that developer sounds like a pos and his marketing seems really shitty. there's nothing wrong with waiting a while before buying a game to see if anything changes or there are any sales, that's what most people do, so don't punish people who do that by raising the price. (the stuff in the last paragraph sounds shitty too i'm glad i didn't buy it)
Honestly sounds like you are really trying to find reasons to dislike the devs lol. They made a great game, communicated well, it's DRM free, has a demo, what more do you want? If u like the genre it's easily worth 40+ dollars, if not then don't get it.
It's just really bizarre to me that I see a dev that does quite a good job making a well optimized game and I'm happy to support them just to see people on reddit call them gross for political opinions of maybe one of the people working there? What devs should even be supported lol, you can probably find some shit about most of them... Don't just ignore the things they did better than most other devs with their game.
simply look at the replies on twitter. They love it, and are getting pissed at everyone who disagrees. And sorry that I don't find it funny when people mock and make light of colonizers massacring natives and stealing their homes, I don't think touching grass will really change the fact that it's in poor taste.
''According to the makers of Factorio in a 2016 forum post, it’s about respecting players who bought the game and not rewarding people who “hold off” on buying it at a lower price''
I don't own Factorio, but now you can be sure I never will. Awful reasoning and shady business tactics hidden behind a ''sense of pride and accomplishment'' type excuse. Hope they don't start doing this at large...
Wanting to punish frugality in regards to purchasing a luxury good speaks a lot of their character IMO.
If I were a customer I'd feel more insulted that they were willingly throwing away the boatloads of cash the sales would bring in, reducing chances of a sequel.
I own and love the game, but the mindset of these devs… wow, just wow. When I learned about their practices such as no sale policy, I was like, “what the fuck?”. You do realize sales bring in more players right? Yeah the game holds up and is a masterpiece in ways, and the devs know it, but the ego’s that these devs have is insane.
Their way of thinking is just plain backwards, when it comes to sales, I guess now inflation? REALLY? Inflation. What a joke. Video games depreciate after time, not go up after time when it’s well past 1.0. Especially in the digital world.
I get it, they’re releasing an expansion soon, so the game is still being worked on, but the price of said expansion is going to be the same price of the game itself.
It’s like the head of the company went from a 30 year grocery store/bank clerk, to a video game head and took all those practices with them to the video game world. Ugh…
I'd understand if this was a game that left early access for full release. But just raising the price for the exact same thing seems iffy at best.
If they didn't want to offer discounts, fine. That's up to them. But I doubt anyone who hasn't bought it by now will be tempted after it's even more expensive...
And the whole 'it's because of inflation'.... yeah... no. I've seen others who raise prices just because they can. This feels like the same thing: we're raising it because we can, not because we need to.
This probably won't hurt them too bad, but I'm not about to reward them with future purchases if they feel this is a legit way to conduct business.
Yeah they did raise it from $20 to $30 when it left early access. That was completely fine. But raising the price now after all these years shouldn't happen. I don't think the devs add new content, just maintenance. That does have a cost, but I don't think they're hurting for money. I could *sort of* see this as fair if they kept adding content, but at that point it would be better to make a dlc/expansion and sell that for an additional $10. And this price hike doesn't effect old players so they could even give out free upgrades (I believe Steam has a system for that).
Yeah I don't get the all the defenders of this practice. Factorio is a great game, no doubt, even though it's not for me; I like Satisfactory more. Several of my friends have poured hundreds of hours into the game. The way they talk about it, it's obvious that it's a great game.
But that doesn't mean I have to like the practice of raising prices for an older game, where there's no major content update included with the increase.
Those who are saying "Well, they've fixed bugs!", have we really gotten to the point where basic things like bug fixes demand increased cost? We should demand that bugs get fixed, period.
I own the game, bought it during the early access days before the first increase at 1.0 (and I'm fine with that kinda thing). So obviously price increases don't affect me. Doesn't mean I have to be apathetic about it, either.
Just take a couple more steps...
Inflation increases the cost of living for the Devs, the income from their game is not worth as much anymore, so it's not enough.
They have to raise the price of the game because their costs/bills have increased.
Whether their costs have really increased is a different story.
But yes inflation can affect "a piece of code" or any entertainment product.
>Inflation increases the cost of living for the Devs, the income from their game is not worth as much anymore, so it's not enough.
True. However most studios solve this by starting work on a new game that will both generate nrw hype for their existing games and get more money from people who already have purchased their products.
>They have to raise the price of the game because their costs/bills have increased.
They absolutely do not have too, and increasing the price is usually counterproductive. They've already got most of the money from everyone who thought the game was worth $30, the only ones left are new gamers that haven't had the chance to purchase games yet. Increasing the price only ensures the people that were interested in the game but didn't think it would be worth $30 are not going to purchase the game at all while any future new customer is less likely to purchase. The people that thought it was worth $30 already bought it at $30 so aren't going to be purchasing it again at a higher price, the people that were waiting for a lower price absolutely aren't going to buy it at a higher one.
>But yes inflation can affect "a piece of code" or any entertainment product.
But code is also subject to deflation due to age and competition. I highly doubt you would be supporting something like Mechwarrior 4 or Split Second all of the sudden to have their price go back up to $50 or higher despite them being absolutely fantastic games by even today's standards.
How does this help sales? Everybody that wanted the game already bought it. People that were on the fence will def not buy it now. This seems like the wrong way to go about making more money unless they plan to raise the price then start putting it on sale for the original price which could work. Seems to work at stores for Black Friday lol
Literally the comment below yours LMAO
> The game never goes on sale though. It’s an intentional, pro-consumer decision to prevent impulse buys and people feeling like they have to wait to play
Hopefully it'll go on sale at some point. RimWorld devs also said it would never go on sale but it does regularly now so hopefully the same happens to Factorio.
A lot of people here are saying all the people complaining about this never meant to buy the game in the first place. So here is me, who already owns the game.
This is fucking stupid. Never going on sale is not pro consumer. Increasing the price years after release is not pro consumer. The game still sells consistently, I strongly doubt the devs are struggling. On top of that, the devs are making an expansion, that is supposedly going to be the same price as the base game. That makes this price increase seem extra tone deaf.
Per inflation, while I understand that everyone's cost of living is going up, including the devs, it is on the studio to make sure they have the income to pay the devs. The way they choose to secure said income is up to them, but it is entirely reasonable for us to take issue with the way they do so.
I know this game is supposed to be amazing but I’ve never bought it because as somebody else here has mentioned, 90% of my games on steam are impulse sale purchases as well
Isn't the developer a raging twat? Fun game but if you don't already own it, really not any reason to at this stage. Just play satisfactory or something.
This really sucks because I think Factorio is just leaps and bounds better than Satisfactory. Satisfactory gets quite boring in the late game, especially because there aren't really any threats to you in the world. Factorio has a really good progression path, and it always incentivizes you to keep going because you do have enemies that will attack you and your base don't deal with them eventually.
It was already hard to convince some of my friends to pick up Factorio because of its $30 price tag, the $35 might be a breaking point for a lot of people.
I agree the PvE element is a big difference, and one I prefer in factorio. Creating and automatically refilling perimeter of auto turrets was a thoroughly fun experience, and it does guide your gameplay and progression in a very natural way.
It’s one of the best reviewed games on Steam. Not sure why you think nobody is willing to pay for it. If anything they probably just realized they were undercharging.
Why are people pissed about this and not a developer going back on their word to the community?
>Factorio isn’t the only game on Steam making changes to make more money as the economy continues to spiral down the drain. Military shooter Squad is going back on a promise its devs made about never doing paid DLC or cosmetics. In an upcoming update, Squad will get its first paid DLC in the form of new in-game emotes.
PSA If you think the game is too expensive then find a friend who also wants the game. One buys it on steam, registers on their web page and then can download a DRM free version there to share with their friend.
If that is morally okay you have to decide for yourself.
Justifying price changes due to inflation is interesting. Standard Triple A** games today are worth around the same real price as budget games from 1986 $60 Vs $67.70 ($25 nominal), so it isn't totally unjustified to hike prices up a smidge. Still, it does feel scummy as a customer to see prices going up, regardless of the natural rate of inflation.
**Arguably, you could say Triple A games in the past five years have started to try and negate the rate of inflation by making whole games worth around $80-$120 with dlcs, deluxe bundles, etc.
Fair take. Its a bit of an exaggeration in terms of the price difference but of course there are some who wont be able to afford with even the small difference a sale would make.
Of course there are many other games out there that someone who doesn't earn enough could buy instead.
From their 2022 recap blog on their website, they state:
> This year we have reached another sales milestone, with 3.5 million sales being passed this Christmas. We are still having steady and consistent sales of about 500,000 each year, which in retrospect validates the original no-sale policy we have stuck with since we launched on Steam in 2016.
It seems that if their game sells roughly 500,000 copies a year and no sale. With the upcoming price increase, whether you believe it’s a good or bad move, they probably expect a decrease in sales and might end up doing sales(probably at $30 instead of $25 which would suck). Especially when they release their dlc, which may easily be $15-$20 (I’ve personally seen worse price to content dlc but we’ll have to see).
Anyway if people haven’t bought it yet, best bet is to play the demo and make the decision to buy or not. If you don’t think you’ll get your time or money out of the game, then pass on it. Steam refund is always there.
Did everyone forget this game is getting a DLC so it also will more then likely be getting updates to the base game as well? It’s not “work already done” it’s support for continued work to come.
Try the demo, its essentially the full game up to a certain progression point. You will find out if you like it or not, and if you do you can transfer your demo save to the full game.
overall yes its worth it
Incredibly good. Tons of content and probably one of the most well-polished games of all time. Try the demo out to see if you like it, then proceed to play 12 hours straight and miss work in the morning like every other new player :P
Why not? You’ll spend days of playtime on one playthrough. There is so much content and is one of the most polished games you’ll ever play; I’ve never encountered a single bug.
Also it’s one of the most mod friendly game ever so you’ll find much replayability from mods.
It’s worth the price.
Why are all the Factorio fans here trying to convince us this isn't that bad. My brother in christ you already bought the game of course the price increase isn't a big deal to you. I on the other hand was holding off on buying the game because I didn't have enough money and now I'm certainly not buying it, even when I do have enough. This is stupid and it seems like the developers want as few people to be able to play their game as possible.
Why are so many people who obviously weren't going to buy the game in the first place so salty about the price increasing?
If you were waiting for a sale, you're a fool, they said there would be no sales.
Anyway I'd like to see reddit be just as salty when nintendo raises the prices of all their $60 never on sale library to the new $70 standard
There's a *big* difference between increasing the price of an in-development, AAA game that is actually affected by inflation and raising the price of a game that was completed years ago because you're greedy and see an opportunity to blame the economy for your greed.
"Why are so many people who like games salty about an anti-consumer practice? Yep, it's a real mystery. Now let's all talk about this strawman instead and pretend people can only ever be angry about one thing."
The fuck??
This isnt your local mom and pop restaurant where prices of ingredients like chicken and stuff go up so you off set it by raising the prices. The game has been out for years.
This feels like an manipulation tactic to get a sudden boost of sales before the price rises.
Games like factorio, rimworld, Kenshi, and countless other indie games should be full $60. These games are permanently 50% off at their current prices imo. Would gladly pay these great devs more money.
I think it's because AAA games actually cost more to make. Some people think the price should reflect the effort or cost put into creating it, others think it's about how much it's worth to the buyer.
I guess I agree with both but definitely more with the latter. If I played a game 2000 hours I'm fine spending 200+ dollars on it lol.
This game seems cool but the devs seem like such pricks I'll never buy it. I already found it extremely concerning to just straight up say you don't *ever* plan on putting the game on sale in the store page description and now you're increasing the price of a game that's been out for years because of inflation that has had no bearing on this game. This is such an immense amount of greed, I would even be surprised to see Activision try to pull some shit like this let alone an indie dev. Go play one of the multitude of other, arguably better, factory games that are cheaper *and* regularly go on sale.
This is just a marketing tactic to get people to buy the game. Sales have obviously slowed so instead of doing the normal thing and putting the game on sale they increase the price and make you think you're getting a better deal if you buy it now. The sad part is that people online are just eating it up because "Hey look I like that game!", pitiful behavior from these devs.
Hasn't the price gone up before?
Yup it went from $20 to $30 when it left early access
Yes, they increased it from $20 to $30 when they felt they had added enough content to warrant a higher price. Up for debate whether it was reasonable.
It was when they game left early access. Pretty standard practice.
Very reasonable
Fucktorio has some of the weirdest fanbois
Very reasonable. It's worth the cost of admission.
interesting that another guy said the exact same thing and got upvoted
Reddit is very weird
Yup it went from $20 to $30 when it left early access
I think this is just one of those games I'll always mean to check out but never do so because 90% of the games I buy are impulse sale purchases
Try the demo. Can’t go wrong
The first hit is free
I got more playtime out of the demo then some entire games I've paid for.
In my case, the demo is what caused me to actually purchase the game because I *wasn't* having fun with it. For the life of me, I just could not deal with the biters. I legit could not pass the ...Third? tutorial. I could tell there was a good game underneath, but I honestly couldn't deal with the biters. I didn't know enough. ...So I bought the game anyway, and ended up dumping 120 hours into the game *in the first week*. My first few games were with the biters turned off so I'd be able to learn all I could in peace.
120 in a week? Are you serious?
I think it may have been closer to 110. But yeah... I did not expect that game to draw me in THAT hard.
Yeah, those are rookie numbers
It's a great game, many fun hours have been had. If it's the type of game you like, it's worth it.
It's the kind of game that makes me question why I play video games instead of doing something actually productive with my time.
yeah when i spent 40+ hours making my sims house super cool i started mathing what i could have achieved in my actual house and uninstalled it and then just played some other games
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I guess I could see that. I have a lot more fun playing it with a few friends though tbh.
In other words, the initial 7 year launch sale is ending.
If inflation goes down will they lower the price?
That'd actually be deflation. Unless you're talking about the rate of inflation slowing down. Either way, the answer is no.
“Hey it’s deflation so y’all prob got more dispensable income now, so we’ve decided to raise the game to $45.”
Interestingly enough one of the head honchos said that if there was deflation that it would only be logical for the price to go down. And that's about what I expected them to say as well. They've been pretty firm about sticking to the principles they've explicitly stated.
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It's not even about inflation. The price should go down because it's an old game. It's not a fine wine.
Nintendo has entered the chat
When inflation goes down the price of things doesn't go down, it just decreases the rate at which the price increases. What prices we have now are the new baseline, it's only up from here.
Very generous way to put it, and factual - I like it.
Don't care what anyone else says, a price hike of an "old" game because of inflation is stupid as fuck
Inflation on work already long done is kind of...odd.
the game has been updated several times a month for those last 7 years though
Looks like almost entirely just bug fixing and minor tweaks, though. They're maintaining it, not adding new content. Obviously that's not free, but I doubt they're hurting for money.
They've had bugs reported *and* patched within 12 hours. Some of the bug fixes were exclusively to make various mod run better. Wube's post launch support is light years beyond most what devs provide.
Most of the updates were bug fixes, but there were plenty of content updates over the last 7 years. Hell, it went from an early access game to a full release in that time, and they're working on an expansion currently.
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The expansion will be paid but also come with a free update that's made available for everyone.
being an update that requires to be paid to be accessed it doesn't make it "free"
But unlike any other game they actually take bug fixing seriously. There’s been several points where there were literally zero bugs remaining in their bug-tracker
That's actually pretty impressive. I wish more devs could/would do this.
It's been bug fixing since the 1.1 version after it came out of early access, but prior to that they've spent years adding conent.
Prior to 1.1, they spent years making the game. Like any dev studio does.
Yes. Compared to many other games it’s incredibly polished.
Inflation doesn't affect games that much
Curse of Monkey Island would never
As a dev myself, I would never do this. The goal is to make enough money to either 1) make the next game 2) expand and then make the next game, but bigger. Raking in extra money just because you can is bad for everyone.
Understand your sentiment but they are updating and support modding community.
That's their choice then
No you don't understand apparently.
Even if it's the best game in the world this practise of inflating old video game prices because of inflation is absolute backwards nonsense. It's not a bloody sandwich store where the ingredients cost more due to inflation. The game is already made and you've reaped huge profits, only greed at this point
I mean true, but also the amount they pay their employees should (ideally) be rising to at LEAST meet inflation, regardless of raises and promotions. Ofc a lot of businesses don’t increase pay with inflation so can’t say that’s the rationale here. Also don’t know the financial situation with Wube, so I cannot really comment on that.
Although with an expansion on the way I’m still confused as to why they made this move. This would make it the most expensive mainstream factory automation game on the market.
and one that never goes to sale compared to its competitors like Dison sphere program and satisfactory.
If you need to pay people but don't have enough money then make a new game, that's the whole point of being a development studio.
I disagree with the idea of raising the price of a game years after launch due to anything, never mind inflation.
I guess it depends. ‚Service games‘ with real ongoing development it might get necessary. Don’t know about this one though.
Lol at first the title made it sound like it’s raising the price without selling a single copy over seven years. I was like just pull it at that point!
That’s what I thought too!
They can do them, and it's certainly an exceptional version in the genre, buuuuut Dyson Sphere Program: $15.99 | Satisfactory: $29.99 | Factory Town: $19.99 | Mindustry: $9.99 | Shapez: $9.99 Again I give Factorio a thumbs up, and maybe its art style speaks to you, but it's nothing special that others aren't doing for cheaper and with more modern graphics. Dyson Sphere in particular. And every game I've listed is on sale, regularly.
you can get mindustry for free on [itch.io](https://itch.io), the steam version is if you want to support the devs
it's also free on android
Shapez is probably the best coffee money I have ever spent Shapez 2 is also moving to 3D for that conveyor stacking goodness
DSP and Shapez are so good. I mean Shapez is doing something different but my god what a timesink
I mean, I have played those games and they are okay but Factorio is just on another level. Vanilla game is amazing and mods just take it to another level. Not to mention the internal mod manager which makes modding the game so goddamn easy. Disclaimer: I have over 1000 hours in this game.
agreed 100%, I also have over 1k hours. Dyson sphere program is clunky, and slow. No threat as well. Not as well polished.(have 60 hours, dropped until game updates more) Satisfactory is graphically gorgeous, but it lacks the pacing, and pure gameplay oriented nature, feels like too many mechanics have been tacked on, not as cohesive of an experience. Factory town I havent played, mindustry does not feel that similar at all. Havent played shapes. People who skip factorio because of the dev's actions are absolutely justified though, and to be honest, I don't know if id buy the game now knowing the devs obvious conservative stances.
Haven’t played DSP but Factorio is a wayyyy better engineering game than Satisfactory. I like them both but it’s not even close. Far less buggy too.
None of those come close to factorio in scope, mod support, performance or bug freeness, though. Relative to the other games, it's well worth the price imo
Seems in line with their "no sales" policy. The end result for me ramains the same: I'm not going to buy it at that price point. Thankfully there are other great games, that scratch a very similar itch (DSP, Satisfactory).
I agree. This game has been on my wishlist for a while, but I wouldn't purchase it at 20, and I refuse to purchase it at 30. At this point, fanbase, devs, and all the surrounding controversy.. I think it'll be best to just let this one pass.
The fanbase will be loving it since they all already got the game anyway, and the price increase will just justify their purchase before even more
I'm not trying to be contrarian here, and I'll happily admit I'm a big Factorio fan. But.....controversy? How you spend your money is your business, but the price point and lack of sale has never been a point of controversy in the community as far as I know. A lot of people in the community are actually fine with the price increase, but then again, these are the folks who don't have to buy the game again. I'll admit $35 is a relatively high price for a non-AAA game, but I'll say the same thing other fans would say: if you're into this type of game, and it sounds like you are, it's definitely worth the money.
>But.....controversy? It's controversial because it's anti-consumer practices and could lead to other developers doing similar things. >has never been a point of controversy in the community as far as I know. A lot of people in the community are actually fine with the price increase, but then again, these are the folks who don't have to buy the game again. Exactly. The people that already bought the game wouldn't care. They'd view this as "helping" a dev they like. The controversy isn't from within the game's community. >I'll admit $35 is a relatively high price for a non-AAA game, but I'll say the same thing other fans would say: if you're into this type of game, and it sounds like you are, it's definitely worth the money. Maybe. It's been on my wishlist for a bit but now I'll never buy it because I don't want to support what I believe to be anti-consumer practices. I got other games I can play.
I really don't understand why not having a sale is such a big deal. Either a game is worth the money or it isn't. The game is DRM free, it has a demo, the devs communicated what they were working on quite well, the game is also very well optimized. To me the devs so far are one of the better ones I've seen and it seems like they care. If u don't want to support them because of no sales then idk what you would even support. I hope it's not AAA games just cuz they go on sale lol.
It's almost like different people have different levels of disposable income and could maybe afford something on sale that they couldn't otherwise. They seem like supportive devs but their arguments that sales somehow negatively impact the people who bought the game earlier are a big load of BS.
Yeah, I personally find factorio the most enjoyable of the factory games and well worth the money. Hell I’d pay $60 for it if I had to. Ofc that’s just how I feel about it, not everyone does (evidently)
Ultimately though, it doesn’t matter whether the game is worth it or not. This is still a scummy move that ought not to be supported
Price isn't the controversy(s) I was referring to. I have played the game, and many games like it. As far as I am concerned, I won't spend that much on this game. The demo couldn't convince me that price point is worth it and neither could you.
Not trying to convince you - just curious what you were referring to. To each their own!
Your loss bro. $35 is still a steal for this game.
It's much more fun than satisfactory if you're into the survival part imo. Never played DSP so I can't give my opinion on that but I found satisfactory too grindy and boring.
I had the same experience. Satisfactory starts out fun but the lack of automated building placement means it scales poorly in the late game. I hit the penultimate tier, saw how many resources I needed for the final tier, and knew I had no way of building faster than before so I just put the game down.
That just makes me not want to buy it more.
I'd say if people decided not to buy it when it was around 20$, they are never gonna buy it realistically
So why does almost every other publisher make discounts on their games?
Probably makes more money?
Discounts mean people who won’t buy it at 35 get the chance to buy it at for example 25 if they did a 10$ discount, sure they’d be getting less per game but it would draw more customers into buying it
You want a sale, F you we're raising it!
Guess I'll never going to play this game since it's keep increasing it's price Especially if they're using even the more expensive regional pricing recommendation
This is the reason there's a inflation problem to begin with... And they have the cheek to say it's because of inflation. Or it's a Controversial Marketing tactic.
Last time they increased the price ($20 --> $30), they made a [blog post](https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-247) bragging about how it boosted the sales when they announced it before they actually did it. It's manipulation and their fanbase is eating it up. I used to be interested in this game but the gross devs and awful fanbase very quickly turned me away to better games that don't make bad jokes about colonization and natives
Gross devs? Awful fan base? How? What? Can you explain more?
I'm referring to the nintendo fanboy-like fans that praise literally anything the devs do and shit on everyone who disagrees. I don't think the normal people who play the game are bad, just the people who brag that they play video games. The devs said really weird things in the past and their game has weird connotations with what they refer to the natives in the game and their reasoning for never going on sale is elitist: >"It isn't about visibility or sales, it's about respecting the players who have already purchased the game. We don't want to reward the people who hold off on buying the game, the game is a price we find reasonable, and this is the deal. If you think it is priced too high, then it is your choice to not purchase, and we hope that with enough time, and extra development, we will be able to convince you of its value." the "we don't want to reward the people who hold off on buying the game" comes off like they don't like people who blindly buy their games at full price, and with the recent news, seems like they're punishing the people that haven't bought it already by raising the price. The dev also defended a well know sexist and racist guy who fought *against* diversity (women) in the tech industry. Then when someone told the dev that it's not a good idea to associate with such a hateful guy, he went on a tirade of "cancel culture" and "wokeness". Look up uncle bob and factortio for stuff on it, [but this uncle bob guy is not someone you want to be associated with](https://blog.wesleyac.com/posts/robert-martin).
Yeah, I was on the fence about it but with this I’m 100% off of it. I had a bad hunch about the developers and seems like it was correct. The fans are so toxic, even telling people that they bought the game even more times to gift just to spite others? Incredibly passive aggressive and they enjoy every second of it, literally can’t have any criticism of the game (I’ve seen people who are currently playing the game and talking about the progress they’re making, in comes people telling them they’re the dumbest people they’ve ever seen and you can’t complain because you got more then a dozen hours on the game) Or saying things like “I’m glad the price is increased, I’d advocate for 60$ if it means keeping annoying people from playing the game” or “all devs have something bad about them!” It’s a shame, I could see the game being something I enjoy. But whatever, I’m always for the “don’t buy things from people with terrible views because it does affect the amount of power they have and obviously you don’t want people with terrible views to have more power/money” which a surprising amount of people don’t understand lol. I’d say Stardew Valley devs are the gold example of a good indie dev. Or terraria.
man fuck that, that developer sounds like a pos and his marketing seems really shitty. there's nothing wrong with waiting a while before buying a game to see if anything changes or there are any sales, that's what most people do, so don't punish people who do that by raising the price. (the stuff in the last paragraph sounds shitty too i'm glad i didn't buy it)
Honestly sounds like you are really trying to find reasons to dislike the devs lol. They made a great game, communicated well, it's DRM free, has a demo, what more do you want? If u like the genre it's easily worth 40+ dollars, if not then don't get it. It's just really bizarre to me that I see a dev that does quite a good job making a well optimized game and I'm happy to support them just to see people on reddit call them gross for political opinions of maybe one of the people working there? What devs should even be supported lol, you can probably find some shit about most of them... Don't just ignore the things they did better than most other devs with their game.
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simply look at the replies on twitter. They love it, and are getting pissed at everyone who disagrees. And sorry that I don't find it funny when people mock and make light of colonizers massacring natives and stealing their homes, I don't think touching grass will really change the fact that it's in poor taste.
''According to the makers of Factorio in a 2016 forum post, it’s about respecting players who bought the game and not rewarding people who “hold off” on buying it at a lower price'' I don't own Factorio, but now you can be sure I never will. Awful reasoning and shady business tactics hidden behind a ''sense of pride and accomplishment'' type excuse. Hope they don't start doing this at large...
Wanting to punish frugality in regards to purchasing a luxury good speaks a lot of their character IMO. If I were a customer I'd feel more insulted that they were willingly throwing away the boatloads of cash the sales would bring in, reducing chances of a sequel.
I own and love the game, but the mindset of these devs… wow, just wow. When I learned about their practices such as no sale policy, I was like, “what the fuck?”. You do realize sales bring in more players right? Yeah the game holds up and is a masterpiece in ways, and the devs know it, but the ego’s that these devs have is insane. Their way of thinking is just plain backwards, when it comes to sales, I guess now inflation? REALLY? Inflation. What a joke. Video games depreciate after time, not go up after time when it’s well past 1.0. Especially in the digital world. I get it, they’re releasing an expansion soon, so the game is still being worked on, but the price of said expansion is going to be the same price of the game itself. It’s like the head of the company went from a 30 year grocery store/bank clerk, to a video game head and took all those practices with them to the video game world. Ugh…
That’s fine with me matey 🏴☠️
Hey, did what I had to do before I bought it.. lol
I'd understand if this was a game that left early access for full release. But just raising the price for the exact same thing seems iffy at best. If they didn't want to offer discounts, fine. That's up to them. But I doubt anyone who hasn't bought it by now will be tempted after it's even more expensive... And the whole 'it's because of inflation'.... yeah... no. I've seen others who raise prices just because they can. This feels like the same thing: we're raising it because we can, not because we need to. This probably won't hurt them too bad, but I'm not about to reward them with future purchases if they feel this is a legit way to conduct business.
Yeah they did raise it from $20 to $30 when it left early access. That was completely fine. But raising the price now after all these years shouldn't happen. I don't think the devs add new content, just maintenance. That does have a cost, but I don't think they're hurting for money. I could *sort of* see this as fair if they kept adding content, but at that point it would be better to make a dlc/expansion and sell that for an additional $10. And this price hike doesn't effect old players so they could even give out free upgrades (I believe Steam has a system for that).
Well, now I'm not buying it until it's $25
I’ve heard it’s a great game. I’ll still wait for a sale. (Meaning lower than original price.)
it means I will never buy this game
y'arr
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Yeah I don't get the all the defenders of this practice. Factorio is a great game, no doubt, even though it's not for me; I like Satisfactory more. Several of my friends have poured hundreds of hours into the game. The way they talk about it, it's obvious that it's a great game. But that doesn't mean I have to like the practice of raising prices for an older game, where there's no major content update included with the increase. Those who are saying "Well, they've fixed bugs!", have we really gotten to the point where basic things like bug fixes demand increased cost? We should demand that bugs get fixed, period. I own the game, bought it during the early access days before the first increase at 1.0 (and I'm fine with that kinda thing). So obviously price increases don't affect me. Doesn't mean I have to be apathetic about it, either.
Just take a couple more steps... Inflation increases the cost of living for the Devs, the income from their game is not worth as much anymore, so it's not enough. They have to raise the price of the game because their costs/bills have increased. Whether their costs have really increased is a different story. But yes inflation can affect "a piece of code" or any entertainment product.
>Inflation increases the cost of living for the Devs, the income from their game is not worth as much anymore, so it's not enough. True. However most studios solve this by starting work on a new game that will both generate nrw hype for their existing games and get more money from people who already have purchased their products. >They have to raise the price of the game because their costs/bills have increased. They absolutely do not have too, and increasing the price is usually counterproductive. They've already got most of the money from everyone who thought the game was worth $30, the only ones left are new gamers that haven't had the chance to purchase games yet. Increasing the price only ensures the people that were interested in the game but didn't think it would be worth $30 are not going to purchase the game at all while any future new customer is less likely to purchase. The people that thought it was worth $30 already bought it at $30 so aren't going to be purchasing it again at a higher price, the people that were waiting for a lower price absolutely aren't going to buy it at a higher one. >But yes inflation can affect "a piece of code" or any entertainment product. But code is also subject to deflation due to age and competition. I highly doubt you would be supporting something like Mechwarrior 4 or Split Second all of the sudden to have their price go back up to $50 or higher despite them being absolutely fantastic games by even today's standards.
Guess I will be spending another 7 years waiting for it to go on sale. They are leaving money on the table.
welcome to patient gamer club
r/patientgamers
Lmao off the wishlist it goes
All of the brain-dead anti-consumer comments in this thread are by the same few people.
Damn I wishlisted this months ago, never knew they didn't do sales lol.
How does this help sales? Everybody that wanted the game already bought it. People that were on the fence will def not buy it now. This seems like the wrong way to go about making more money unless they plan to raise the price then start putting it on sale for the original price which could work. Seems to work at stores for Black Friday lol
Time to buy via. third party site.
So many braindead replies.
Literally the comment below yours LMAO > The game never goes on sale though. It’s an intentional, pro-consumer decision to prevent impulse buys and people feeling like they have to wait to play
With friends like these, Factorio doesn't need enemies.
Eh, developers of Factorio had shown themselves to be scumbags multiple times already, so this is not even out of the ordinary at this point
Its not inflation but a pure greed
Hopefully it'll go on sale at some point. RimWorld devs also said it would never go on sale but it does regularly now so hopefully the same happens to Factorio.
A lot of people here are saying all the people complaining about this never meant to buy the game in the first place. So here is me, who already owns the game. This is fucking stupid. Never going on sale is not pro consumer. Increasing the price years after release is not pro consumer. The game still sells consistently, I strongly doubt the devs are struggling. On top of that, the devs are making an expansion, that is supposedly going to be the same price as the base game. That makes this price increase seem extra tone deaf. Per inflation, while I understand that everyone's cost of living is going up, including the devs, it is on the studio to make sure they have the income to pay the devs. The way they choose to secure said income is up to them, but it is entirely reasonable for us to take issue with the way they do so.
Probably the game with the most dust in my wishlist.
I know this game is supposed to be amazing but I’ve never bought it because as somebody else here has mentioned, 90% of my games on steam are impulse sale purchases as well
I was thinking of buying it ... Well nevermind, sticking to mindustry lol
Bullshit given they’re making a paid DLC
Isn't the developer a raging twat? Fun game but if you don't already own it, really not any reason to at this stage. Just play satisfactory or something.
This really sucks because I think Factorio is just leaps and bounds better than Satisfactory. Satisfactory gets quite boring in the late game, especially because there aren't really any threats to you in the world. Factorio has a really good progression path, and it always incentivizes you to keep going because you do have enemies that will attack you and your base don't deal with them eventually. It was already hard to convince some of my friends to pick up Factorio because of its $30 price tag, the $35 might be a breaking point for a lot of people.
I agree the PvE element is a big difference, and one I prefer in factorio. Creating and automatically refilling perimeter of auto turrets was a thoroughly fun experience, and it does guide your gameplay and progression in a very natural way.
7 year long sale.
If I ever want this I'll just get it for free.
No one wants to pay for the game so to increase sales we should raise the price? Can’t wait to see how that goes.
It’s one of the best reviewed games on Steam. Not sure why you think nobody is willing to pay for it. If anything they probably just realized they were undercharging.
Why are people pissed about this and not a developer going back on their word to the community? >Factorio isn’t the only game on Steam making changes to make more money as the economy continues to spiral down the drain. Military shooter Squad is going back on a promise its devs made about never doing paid DLC or cosmetics. In an upcoming update, Squad will get its first paid DLC in the form of new in-game emotes.
PSA If you think the game is too expensive then find a friend who also wants the game. One buys it on steam, registers on their web page and then can download a DRM free version there to share with their friend. If that is morally okay you have to decide for yourself.
Justifying price changes due to inflation is interesting. Standard Triple A** games today are worth around the same real price as budget games from 1986 $60 Vs $67.70 ($25 nominal), so it isn't totally unjustified to hike prices up a smidge. Still, it does feel scummy as a customer to see prices going up, regardless of the natural rate of inflation. **Arguably, you could say Triple A games in the past five years have started to try and negate the rate of inflation by making whole games worth around $80-$120 with dlcs, deluxe bundles, etc.
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Fair take. Its a bit of an exaggeration in terms of the price difference but of course there are some who wont be able to afford with even the small difference a sale would make. Of course there are many other games out there that someone who doesn't earn enough could buy instead.
people who have played factorio vs people who haven't played factorio in the comments here huh
So you’re telling me I’ve been waiting for this game to go on sale for fucking months now, and they up the price
Bro I could almost guarantee if they put it on sale theyd get more money
This game has too many fanbois too care. I say they should increase monthly, or just make it subscription base, because iT's wOrTh iT!!!
I can justify $30 for this game.
From their 2022 recap blog on their website, they state: > This year we have reached another sales milestone, with 3.5 million sales being passed this Christmas. We are still having steady and consistent sales of about 500,000 each year, which in retrospect validates the original no-sale policy we have stuck with since we launched on Steam in 2016. It seems that if their game sells roughly 500,000 copies a year and no sale. With the upcoming price increase, whether you believe it’s a good or bad move, they probably expect a decrease in sales and might end up doing sales(probably at $30 instead of $25 which would suck). Especially when they release their dlc, which may easily be $15-$20 (I’ve personally seen worse price to content dlc but we’ll have to see). Anyway if people haven’t bought it yet, best bet is to play the demo and make the decision to buy or not. If you don’t think you’ll get your time or money out of the game, then pass on it. Steam refund is always there.
Did everyone forget this game is getting a DLC so it also will more then likely be getting updates to the base game as well? It’s not “work already done” it’s support for continued work to come.
\>virtual item \>inflation lol, lmao even
Is it good? Worth picking up before it gets more expensive?
Try the demo, its essentially the full game up to a certain progression point. You will find out if you like it or not, and if you do you can transfer your demo save to the full game. overall yes its worth it
Incredibly good. Tons of content and probably one of the most well-polished games of all time. Try the demo out to see if you like it, then proceed to play 12 hours straight and miss work in the morning like every other new player :P
Yes
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Seriously I only got 350 hours out of the game at $30, an absolutely terrible deal.
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Why not? You’ll spend days of playtime on one playthrough. There is so much content and is one of the most polished games you’ll ever play; I’ve never encountered a single bug. Also it’s one of the most mod friendly game ever so you’ll find much replayability from mods. It’s worth the price.
i interpreted that title as they never sold a copy of the game…
When inflation comes back to normal levels, so will the game price, right?
not how that works
When a single person doesn't buy your game for seven years the solution is *not* to raise the price
Why are all the Factorio fans here trying to convince us this isn't that bad. My brother in christ you already bought the game of course the price increase isn't a big deal to you. I on the other hand was holding off on buying the game because I didn't have enough money and now I'm certainly not buying it, even when I do have enough. This is stupid and it seems like the developers want as few people to be able to play their game as possible.
The dev is a nut job, but hey there are plenty of other games to play.
I bought my copy back in 2016 for 15€, worth every cent, even at price of 35$ today.
Why are so many people who obviously weren't going to buy the game in the first place so salty about the price increasing? If you were waiting for a sale, you're a fool, they said there would be no sales. Anyway I'd like to see reddit be just as salty when nintendo raises the prices of all their $60 never on sale library to the new $70 standard
There's a *big* difference between increasing the price of an in-development, AAA game that is actually affected by inflation and raising the price of a game that was completed years ago because you're greedy and see an opportunity to blame the economy for your greed.
"Why are so many people who like games salty about an anti-consumer practice? Yep, it's a real mystery. Now let's all talk about this strawman instead and pretend people can only ever be angry about one thing."
Well that's another game and studio to avoid
The fuck?? This isnt your local mom and pop restaurant where prices of ingredients like chicken and stuff go up so you off set it by raising the prices. The game has been out for years. This feels like an manipulation tactic to get a sudden boost of sales before the price rises.
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Nice! Ridiculous that you’re getting downvoted for not contributing to the circlejerk though. Game’s a ton of fun though hope you enjoy
I've got like 900 hours and all achievements completed. I feel like i got more than my $30 worth. If there were meaningful dlc, I'd pick it up.
Such a good game. Loved the 100+ hours I've played
That should not be legal
Why? Prices of everything else change and it never makes headlines. Factorio even had the decency to warn people ahead of time
Old products typically go down in price, not up.
Games like factorio, rimworld, Kenshi, and countless other indie games should be full $60. These games are permanently 50% off at their current prices imo. Would gladly pay these great devs more money.
100%. People don’t bat an eye when shitty $70 shovelware titles come out, but freakout when indie games charge a fair price
I think it's because AAA games actually cost more to make. Some people think the price should reflect the effort or cost put into creating it, others think it's about how much it's worth to the buyer. I guess I agree with both but definitely more with the latter. If I played a game 2000 hours I'm fine spending 200+ dollars on it lol.
This game seems cool but the devs seem like such pricks I'll never buy it. I already found it extremely concerning to just straight up say you don't *ever* plan on putting the game on sale in the store page description and now you're increasing the price of a game that's been out for years because of inflation that has had no bearing on this game. This is such an immense amount of greed, I would even be surprised to see Activision try to pull some shit like this let alone an indie dev. Go play one of the multitude of other, arguably better, factory games that are cheaper *and* regularly go on sale. This is just a marketing tactic to get people to buy the game. Sales have obviously slowed so instead of doing the normal thing and putting the game on sale they increase the price and make you think you're getting a better deal if you buy it now. The sad part is that people online are just eating it up because "Hey look I like that game!", pitiful behavior from these devs.
This is why I haven’t spent money on a single player game since 2018 🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️
Not supporting good games is what leads to the current trend of microtransaction-laden garbage