Hi everyone , I would like to discuss the price of dlc , and what could be made different about it . Most , if not all of you reading this will be aware that a standard route costs £24.99 and a loco costs £11.99 . Whilst I understand that making these routes and locos is hard work , I do not think that the player should have to pay this amount of money . There are a few reason for this : A : Many players can’t afford that . People who work hard for a low salary can’t afford to buy a route / loco dlc that they really want . B : Some players don’t feel that the dlc is worth that much . If players feel the dlc is not worth the price , they won’t buy it , but if the dlc price is slightly lower , some players might feel the dlc is worth the price that they are paying . C : Some players might feel like they are paying a lot of money for something which they think is similar to a dlc they’ve bought & played before , so they might not want to pay that much . However , if the dlc price was lower , the player might then buy it , because they don’t mind paying x amount for what might be a similar experience to another dlc . My final proposal is this : Route dlc : £17.99 Loco dlc : £9.99 Thanks for reading , please comment your thoughts below !
I certainly would suggest there needs to be more selective pricing. In the case of routes, maybe £24.99 should be the cost of a premium route like BML due to length or complexity, but something like ECW or Cathcart should have been pitched much lower. Likewise with traction/stock. If DTG released (say) a Warship with an expanded selection of Mark One stock (BSK/CK/SK/FK/FO, catering cars and sleeping coaches), I would easily pay £20 for that. But the loco on it's own, maybe £10. Again it also depends on what layers or substitutions the pack comes with.
I think it’s fine how it is. There is one certainty with DTG and that is that it won’t be long before there is a sale. Not being able to afford it, isn’t an argument. There are lots of things I can’t afford. I just have to go without or save for them. I don’t go asking them to sell it cheaper. My entire PlayStation collection was bought in sales at a fraction of the original price. I just had to be patient. I do think variable pricing is an option. I particularly think 3rd parties should be able to set their own prices. The G6 for example. TSG have stated on other threads that it doesn’t necessarily make economic sense for the time they spent on it. I would have happily paid more for it as it’s great quality and I’d like them to make more. With DTG themselves we only have such a great time table in London Commuter because it was a labour of love and a lot of extra hours went into it. There is also the fact that we have the preservation team revisiting old routes and adding new features. We don’t pay any extra for that. I tend to look at the bigger picture with pricing. How many hours of enjoyment do I get for my money. For an average route I play it for about 10 hours when I get it, then just play occasionally so I reckon. I average 15-20 hours per route. That’s the same cost as 1 trip to the cinema. 2 Blu Rays or a meal out. None of those last anywhere near the time I get from a DLC. At the end of the day I want DTG and 3rd parties to be profitable and stay around. I’d much rather have the same price but better quality and faster releases of fixes and preservation updates than a slightly lower price.
I only buy the DLC at full price or with their pre-order Steam discount of 10% if I think the route is worth it. That decision comes primarily on the location and how it is presented on the live streams. For me, this has been... East Coastway (my most played route.) St Pancras Isle of Wight London Commuter For other DLC content, I just wait for the sales and they are quite frequent. A lower price, in general, would be most welcome.
Hey if dtg and there 3rd parties want to keep pedaling half tested dlc maybe it should be half price since we always seem to be treated like dlc testers of there work or lack of it.
I dont agree at all, neither routes nor loco dlcs should be cheaper. If you buy a dlc i asume you expect a nice peace of quality, dont you? If you cant afford it, make your compromiss with something else you want to buy in life and make a decision. Why would cessna lower its prices because i cant afford a real 172?
When a dlc is not coming up with its standard i recommend to not buy it until it gets fixed. I wont call this a solution towards improvment to buy a half baked product for less amount of money. Tsw has an interesting time in future, quality of the content is a fundamental part in which direction it will go.
And as third point: tsw dlcs take more effort to develop and are sold for the same price as ts dlcs. So you got a discount already basicly
Another opinion. DLCs go on sale at these prices (-20 and -30%) even a few months after their initial release so can't you just wait and buy it when it's affordable?
Exactly. Like ECW on the ps store is £3.74 on sale at the moment. Like thats an awsome deal and a once in a lifetime one. I actually think I might grab it cause of that
I have never paid full price for a TS/TSW DLC The only ones I would consider buying full price are stuff from Searchlight Simulations
If Xbox got even half the sales the other platforms always get,then dtg regular prices wouldn't be to big a problem.It balance out a bit better.I said this before and i'll say it again dtg and MS need to hammer out some kind of a semi once in awhile plan so xbox users get more then a once in a blue moon sale per year.Steam get so many sales so offen it like dtg is desperate and will do anything to get pc players to buy there products but because we on xbox don't really have any other real options dtg feels less need to offer us more then a once in a blue moon token sale.
It‘s not that. If that were the case, why do PS players get a lot of sales? Rather, a corporation as big as Microsoft will literally not care what a small fish like DTG think of their sales policy. DTG can talk and complain, sure, but it won‘t change a thing. Microsoft offers them the sales slot they‘re willing to offer and DTG can take them - that‘s it.
Well as long as MS doesn't give a rats furry behind about xbox players and dtg barely even tries to do anything to change it,all we can do is complain.They both give us nothing else to work with.
Just thought I would show you this (see below). There is 20% on VAT for every dlc, plus a market cut. So in actual fact DTG don’t earn as much as you think they would from dlc’s.
I can imagine if this post has been seen by DTG they’ve had a “is this a joke thread” moment. Irrespective of our personal situations £24.99 is a bargain for the following reasons. They don’t care about your personal situation They have a business operating model and profit targets You’re contributing £25 to paying probably in excess of 100 people to design the route you want for a year , can you get a plumber, mechanic, anyone else to work for that? They don’t care about your personal situation You can’t get longer, more complex routes with more trains, more man hours etc for less money Moaning about being a beta tester, this doesn’t hold weight at all. These dlcs vary depending on your personal situation (which they don’t care about) and are not broken for everyone The price is good, Paying less for a dlc will not encourage the variety in other countries or locos as there will be no profit buffer to mitigate financial risk of developing elsewhere Old tech will phase out, irregardless of chip shortages, covid, blah blah, the game is moving forward. You can’t expect the world to have more immersive experiences being delivered time and time again on 8yr old tech. Get over it, change jobs, save, move games, buy less, accept less. By the middle of this year I can guarantee you straight away that Steam will not look as good and will challenge 8year old tech with the physics and steam particles alone. There’s no point complaining it looks worse or don’t run as well as new or pc. DTG need to future proof themselves, much as there is significant gen 8 users that will change in time, they haven’t upgraded to the new unreal or pushed the hardware for a 2014 console They don’t care about your personal situation It’s a business, not a charity. Forgive my brashness but it’s the same incessant “I expect to pay less for more” and “I feel hard done by because there’s some niggles so want it for free” Buy a house, you get snagging fixed, buy a car you get a warranty of some description , buy a DTG product and you get a FREE preserved crew your £25 is also paying for. You’re not hard done by. Other solutions include Don’t buy it Change jobs if you’re able to Do more overtime if you’re able to Save for newer tech Don’t buy dlc you’re on the fence with if you’re not sure of it Don’t buy it if it’s similar Realise they owe you nothing. Realise as much as people moan others are buying, their business model is working and you’re getting more for your £25. Wait for a sale, I just picked up three routes for less than £25 Just enjoy the game. Now if that doesn’t sit well I’ll apologise in advance but there’s something to consider here, we’ve evolved from caves, steam trains are not in common service, a gen 8 console delivers a better experience than a sega mega drive. Time moves on
1. I never said they did 3. But there are many other people who pay £25 as well that it adds up to quite a lot . 4. You said that already 5. I didn’t ask for more content for less money 6. I didn’t moan about being a beta tester . That’s 3 things you’ve said now that aren’t true 7. Money doesn’t have much to do with which loco they do . 8. The tech I’m on isn’t 8 years old . And I didn’t compare anything to a pc , or moan about a console being worse than a pc 10. You’ve repeated yourself again 11. Good businesses are sometimes charitable The ‘other solutions’ 1. But what if I want to buy it ? 2. I’m only a teen , money isn’t easy to come by 3. Which I can’t 4. My tech is new 5. I buy the dlc that I want , and I don’t buy the dlc that I don’t want 6. That’s my choice not yours 7. When did I say they did owe me something ? 8. I’m not getting ‘more’ for my £25 , I’m getting a route dlc and a loco or two . That’s what I paid for 9. Have you heard of Xbox ? 10. I do enjoy the game , there’s just some aspects of it which I do not completely agree with Gen 8 isn’t even bad
There’s a lot of missed satire here. Here’s some of that “get more for free stuff”, you could argue it’s charitable post purchase support, almost.
This is your problem. Until you have access to more money, everything that is actually reasonably priced is going to seem expensive and unobtainable to you. You need to balance your expectations with reality. Things cost the amount they cost. Some teenagers have more money because their parents give them it and some don’t because their parents don’t have it to give. Some have other ways of earning money themselves but those aren’t available to everyone. None of that means that DTG’s DLC price should be lowered. It means you have to wait until you have the money to buy the DLC. It’s all part of growing up and is a valuable lesson. You don’t get stuff just because you want it. I wanted a particular guitar when I was 17. I finally got one when I was 38 because that was the first time I could afford it. At no point would the fine folks at Rickenbacker reduce the price because I didn’t have the money. In the future, you may be in a position to buy things when you want them at the price they cost although you may have to choose between games and more important things like food and rent. It all sounds so depressing doesn’t it
My two pence (I'm not saying cents) on this is: Leave it be. Dovetail have had this pricing convention in TS1 as well. This is the most they want to have to charge us, and the minimum they can afford to charge us (for projects of the average size). It's relatively simple business. They have it charge as much as they need to cover expenses and make some profit. They're a business. They have to make money. If Microsoft want to starve Xbox of sales, so be it. Dovetail don't have to change their ways for some people complaining... There are plenty of people who are happy enough to pay the price. In the average route DLC you get: • 1-2 locos (on average) - Highly Detailed, (usually) authentic and (usually) realistic. • The route, however long, detailed and realistic it might be. • 24hr Timetable • Journey Mode • 5-6 Scenarios To me - that's a fair price to pay. I bought HRR on Sunday, for £22.49. PC players could pick that up for £2.99 or something. Do I still feel like I got value for money? Yes, yes I do. So, for Routes, the price is fair for what you get (unless it's something like IOW, where £20 is the maximum). ---------- For locos, yeah, probably should be cheaper. Thanks.
The trouble with Xbox is not Microsoft. Last time we kicked up enough fuss about not getting sales we magically got one. DTG just need to be more pushy.
That... Means it's Microsoft. If it takes Dovetail to be 'pushy' with them to get a sale, MS are the problem...
But then why when we kicked up a fuss did we get one. Does Microsoft read these forums and gauge the communities mood and then decide?
I just awnsered this question before you asked it. If Dovetail were asking for sales, MS clearly said no, or we'd have got them. The more we (The Xbox Community) pushed Dovetail, the more they Pushed MS. Eventually, MS gave in. My point was: The fact Dovetail really have to push at MS to get a sale says it's them. Q: What reason do dovetail have to shaft Xbox? A: None.
I disagree. I think the price is not high enough. If paying a higher price means the quality of routes goes up then I'm all for it. £24.99 is quite cheap considering the amount of money that goes into a route. I downloaded the JustTrains Metropolitan Line for TS classic a couple of days ago which at full price is £51.98 for the route and the tube train that runs on it (on sale it was £20.05) and it's literally the most immersive sim experience I've ever had. If DTG produced routes of that quality, TSW would be in a much better place. And if it's too much for you then wait for a sale. I do admit the Xbox situation with sales is difficult though and DTG do need to look at that. PC players can get the three Rush Hour routes for example at half price around 3 months after they released while Xbox and Playstation players get no discount on those.
I'm expecting a rise - because the costs of software are rising at the moment. The triple A devs raised the starting price of their games to £60 with the new consoles and that's before you decode the "What content is in which of the 10 editions?" matrix, so I'm expecting a rise to filter down through the industry. Sims are relatively niche so content is always going to have a premium price as it has fewer sales to cover it's costs. And a lot of players wait for sales, even if MS don't offer them very often... Options are to save and wait for a sale, or just realise you are probably not going to be able to purchase as much content as you would like. This is something that applies to hobbies in general.
Also with PC - there is currently a Sale War between Steam and Epic - both are competing with their discounts to attract/keep players on their store and are subsidising dev's for discounting products during their promotions Consoles have no choice, they are locked to MS or Sony - why should they discount when they have a captive audience.
This is another problem , pc players are far more likely to be able to afford most dlc’s , whereas many console players cannot afford as much . It is mostly pc players that think the price should be higher , and console players that think the price should be lower
What's the logic here, why is that a problem? What are you basing it on that most console players cannot afford as much? I would imagine there's a console player here on a 6 figure salary and I would imagine there are pc players on minimum wage or students too It's totally illogical. If however you do have so much insight on the player demographics, and you're struggling with the price of the dlc, take a look here. There's some home based and junior roles too. https://dovetailgames.com/vacancies I believe your insight of the console player wishes is driven purely by a few posts read here, a feeling of being hard done by and being a console player.I don't go grumbling on PS5 forums that I can't play a PS5 game and they have to make it available to me. I accept I need to buy a PS5 or recognise that it's part of the infrastructure I chose . Pc prices are far cheaper and there's videos on Linux tech tips where reasonable pcs have been built for the price of a console.
I've only ever seen two posts myself saying it should be higher, and they're in this thread. I've seen loads of them asking for it to be lowered, which have been scattered across the different forums, PC, Xbox, PS and Suggestions. Then, even in this thread, there are a few - myself included - who think it's just right. As much as I'd absolutely love to see prices drop down, I fully understand that dovetail are a business and have to make money. As I said in my previous response: DTG have said before they don't want to charge us more - if memory serves someone may have said they'd rather it were lower. However, considering the average route demands six months of development time, you could imagine the cost of that. I'm a console player. And again, as I said earlier on: I bought HRR at 10% off (only because I have Game Pass), whilst PC players had about 90% off. Did I feel annoyed? Slightly. Do I still feel like I'm getting value for my money? Yes. Am I asking that prices be lower? No.
Something else that is a factor - MS and Sony lose money through every console they sell. They subsidise the cost because they make it back through game sales which may be why they are less inclined to do discounts, and why they are heavily pushing digital only sales to stop people buying a console and then only buying games second hand.
No reason for DTG to drop the price. If YOU can't afford it then look at your finances rather then telling others what to do with their money or business (which will hardly ever end well) I have no issue paying £25 for what is in essence a full featured game every time, and that's because I earn enough to cover that every few months. On top of that I only ever buy UK content, so the remainder of the releases are thoroughly irrelevant to me. If your choices differ then that's on you, whether it be buying or getting an xbox in the first place knowing that you're in a bind to Microsoft by doing so, buying TSW in the first place knowing that DTG hold every card that Microsoft don't with regards to pricing and releases etc as well as what you spend your money on
I’m not telling people what to do with their money or business When I first got my Xbox and tsw I didn’t know about the issues with sales
It's not an issue with their sales. They don't charge you full price all the time. It's only an issue because of your pricing expectations or desires coupled with their sales strategy differing making you feel hard done by.
Just get your content on sales, end of discussion. I bought all 3 rushhour routes separate because i want support devs going the extra mile and delivery quality. I paid 90 euros for dresden nahverkehr, boston sprinter, and londoncommuter. Its my own perspective of how much content is worth. People dont need to judge this but i dont care anyway if so. With the rh pack and the season pass you already got a 60% discount. With tsw content more complex to develop and sold to the same price than tsxx content you got another discount. So im done with that discusion.
Erm, yes you are. In this statement alone you're telling DTG what to do with their business, and saying what the player should do with their money (even if that's to spend less of it) Again, that's YOUR choice for not looking into it, and is nobody else's concern (or issue) other than yours
Suggesting is telling with manners. Change every instance of "tell" in my previous response to "suggest" and it still boils down to the same thing In other words if you cannot afford DLC at the current rate I would suggest you look at changing things in your own world rather than suggesting others change their systems to accommodate you
