I made a comment in another thread which questioned whether a single price DLC policy was working for DTG. It is clear that the community want more from each DLC, but this is contrary to DTG’s current approach. DTG has not included cab cars, has cut routes short or has reused incorrect rolling stock due to development time limitations. These time limitations must exist due to development costs. So, I ask this question. Would you welcome a flexible DLC pricing strategy? Example 1 BML on TSW 2 (Rush Hour) is limited to Brighton-Victoria, but we know the BML has a branch to London Bridge. Therefore, BML in TSW 2 (Rush Hour) is not represented fully. Had DTG charged £40-£50 for BML as a single route but with London Bridge included too, would you have bought it? Example 2 The DB BR 101 on HRR was missing its cab car. Would you have paid £19.99 to have gotten the cab car?
Great talking point matjamca but the examples… …I struggle with as we never get to drop pins on a map what we would like, we can only request and suggest ideas. It’s “mostly” fixed as we get what they give us. same with coaches, if they didn’t bother to make them… we don’t get them. Loco should always be the same coaches or not (Lazy they weren’t included but I did like the gong at closing) I imagine some strongly follow you get what you pay for and if they want more they would probably pay it. But a choice or baked or half baked won’t ever be presented to us. I don’t think. Curious what others think of this. Am aware the chopped route as probably made you think… why the same price for less content that quoted. (edit, wow the votes are leaning to Yes already)
Initially, I would say yes straight away, as I would like to have a more complete route. I suppose my only reservation would be when I'm buying a route unfamiliar to me or looking for something different to try - a different country for example. In those cases, it wouldn't bother me so much and I wouldn't be wanting to spend too much. I'd only be prepared to pay more for something of great interest to me, which hasn't happened recently.
I think it’s a worthwhile debate to have. I know not everyone will agree with me and the price points I’ve given as an example are only an example to make a point. Of course there can still be sales etc if DTG wishes to do so. Maybe when considering a new route, DTG could ask what we’d like to see included in that route. Then, once all the suggestions have come in, DTG could give us three options to vote on with the option getting the most votes winning… Using BLM as an example, these could be: 1) What we are getting as part of Rush Hour for £24.99. 2) What we are getting as part of Rush Hour plus the London Bridge branch for £34.99. 3) What we are getting as part of Rush Hour, plus London Bridge and additional rolling stock for £49.99. These I stress are just example ideas, but it is a possible way for DTG to know what the community would like to see and perhaps prepared to pay. Obviously this would have to be a balanced business decision by DTG so that it doesn’t overprice a route and exclude too many players.
I think this is one of the more interesting debates on TSW. Unfortunately I think the answer from most people would be a 'depends what it is' answer. I've bought routes in the past that I had little interest in- Oakville Subdivision being my example here. I bought it to support the development of the game but mostly just to try it out and see if I enjoyed it. Nothing of this sort existed on console at the time. It wasn't really a route for me, but I've got no regrets over the purchase. However, if you said we're making this route twice as long, throwing another new train on it, but it's going to cost between £35-£40, then I wouldn't have bothered. Unfortunately that's something I feel would happen throughout the game. As the price goes up, the sales figures go down. DTG would be in a position where despite making more content and charging more, they'd either be making the same profit or less profit as there would be less people buying them. Throw in the fact that they now wouldn't be able to release so much content as they'd be spending more time and money developing a single route, they'd probably be in a worse position financially.
Terrible idea, i dont want to pay more it just means i couldnt buy the routes i want and there would be less routes
Route and loco prices for TS Classic (DTG and 3rd party) cover a huge gamut- and there are a fair number of customers who are willing to pay Armstrong Powerhouse's Rolls-Royce prices for their Rolls-Royce content. I would have no problem with DTG offering a "TSW Pro" or "TSW Elite" line for higher prices, if the content were concomitant.
Well they say its got to do with man hours spent which somehow justifies the price hike for rush hour. However I refuse to believe that Cathcart Circle took the same work load to make as Northern Trans-Pennine or Tees Valley so its natural to be sceptical about that statement.
I think the issue is, and always will be, time. DTG clearly have a stringent release schedule that is planned ahead of the content being made, which is a dangerous game to play with a simulator, I don’t think an increase in price would be the answer, and I certainly don’t think DTG will go lower on prices either. Hopefully after the first year of content comes to a close with rush hour, DTG will see that they cannot achieve their goals with their current schedule, we’ve seen what’s happening with Rush Hour, we’ve had the issue with SEHS being delayed, the 101 omitting it’s cab car, the 313 being stuck in development hell, and the initial release of TSW2 being delayed. DTG will simply have to accept the fact that they need to allow more time to create content, or the community will have to accept lapses in content and quality.
I don't think that's necessarily the case. The time issue is measured not in days but in man-days: if you want a job done faster, hire more workers. I think that DTG could well produce bigger, better routes on the same bimonthly release schedule, if they had more devs working. Now, people cost money. Those additional salaries will have to be covered by a price increase. But then, if TSW is really going to be "the evolution of train simulation" it's billed as, then it's going to have to, well, evolve. DTG cannot continue to release 2017-standard DLC at 2017 prices indefinitely. The product has to improve (and I mean by more than a gradient map), or sooner or later a competitor is going to appear and sweep the train-sim table.
