Why are the oldest route DLCs still priced the same today as they were when released several years ago? Surely as a DLC ages the price should be reduced to represent the strides that have been made since that DLC was produced. I think that would lead to many more sales of older routes. I can’t imagine that many players are buying 4-5 year old routes at full price, but if they were reduced it could lead to additional revenue. And no one who wants a new route would wait that long for it to be reduced, so this would only apply to those on the fence and unlikely to buy the route anyway, hence increasing revenue with little seemingly little downside. But of course, I’m sure DTG has marketing people to figure those numbers out.
That's what I've been saying but people say "they need to make money" aren't they making money releasing a new TSW every year.
Personally I think the pricing is fair tbh, I don’t like the idea that buying earlier comes down to simply just a version of early access. If the sales on consoles were more frequent the fairness would also be even higher. though if other games are doing the same thing maybes it’s more fair DTG should be following the “trend” I did just check fallout 4 dlc as that’s been out a few years now, as a comparison and yes that has gone down by about 45%-50%.
Some of the older shorter routes like Cathcart, Bakerloo and East Coastway should be reduced to £19.99, as they are really more on-par with some of the other shorter routes we have like Glossop, Isle of Wight and West Somerset Railway. Especially when they sell for the same price as some of the larger DLCs like Great Western Express, Northern Trans-Pennine and Brighton Main Line.
Well, if you're on PC, Steam at least has about half a dozen sales each year and the older routes often have deep discounts. Most of us wait for these sales to come around to pick up routes we didn't buy at launch price. The next major sale will likely be around Halloween ( late October ) or Thanksgiving ( late November ). And, to be fair to DTG, they often bundle older routes and sell them at discounted prices. For example, the Special Pack for TSW4 has 4 older routes at give- away prices. Of course you have to buy TSW4 to get them. Swings and roundabouts, I guess.
If DTG were able to push these products at anything close to their full price why would they get such steep discounts thought? I'd argue the discounts just emphasis the point that the current prices aren't reasonable if anything. TSW2020 & TSW2 routes both completely warrant permanent price drops at this point as far as I'm concerned.
Must admit it seems to be pushing the credibility when routes like Rapid Transit, with all its known probably never to be fixed flaws, is still on sale at £24.99 sans any sale or bundle discount. Not for me to dictate to DTG their commercial policy but given these older routes/DLC's have probably met and exceeded their predicted sales target, I can't see an issue in permanently dropping the price at (say) 18 months old by £4 or £5 and at 3 years old maybe another £5 off.
They've done this with their routes on TSC, where the older routes are branded as DTG TS Classic or DTG TS Explorer routes, where the Classics are at base $19.99 USD and the Explorer routes are $24.99 USD (As least what I've seen with their US routes) while their in house routes from 2020 and later are still at the default $39.99 USD.
To be devil's advocate here for a sec - TSW isn't actually that old (there's only four years of content). I haven't checked but how much TSC content made since 2020 has been included as TS Classic or TS Explorer? I might expect at some point beyond the five-year mark that older routes from the back catalogue might start to be permanently discounted but given that TSW is still relatively young (and inflation has been high) it doesn't strike me as particularly odd that even the oldest TSW routes haven't yet seen a cut. If anything, the fact that routes are discernably 'older' even when they're only from 2020-21 just highlights the pace of improvement that TSW has seen.
Hopefully you will all indulge me as I quote myself from another recent thread... I really do feel that a revised pricing structure could make a positive impact. For instance, suppose that you are a new player picking up ECML, and you then become interested in playing LBN. You would also need GWE, ECW, the 313, and SEHS for the full effect, besides the fact that you just paid for ECML. Of course, in many ways paying for additional DLC is the whole point of TSW, but when LBN originally came out it was part of a reduced price bundle, not to mention that many existing players at that time could reasonably be expected to already have at least some of the layering DLCs. Also consider LIRR. This line is at best dated and not indicative of a modern TSW experience. However, a new player who just buys Antelope Valley would not necessarily know to expect the drop in quality if LIRR is the next DLC they purchase. Although there already is a difference in pricing, something more significant could serve as an indication to not expect the same level of quality. My personal idea would be a permanent 50% discount on all DLC before TSW2 and also for all loco DLC prior to TSW3, to reflect the higher standards of today's DLC and to help new players build their collections. Although I don't see this happening, I do hope to see more frequent Xbox sales now that TSW is off Game Pass, or even occasional events where everything is deeply discounted like the recent humble bundle, would be appreciated
Nintendo is the worsed when it comes to Prices/Sales in my opinion. I've never seen a good Sale when it comes to Nintendo's own brands.
Taking UK inflation into account a £25 route from 2018 to 2021 would cost the equivalent of £31 to £29 today so in real terms old routes being sold for £25 now are at a reduced price compared to when they were released. Still too expensive??? then wait for a sale. That’s what I do for most DLC.
In short, sales work, permanent cuts don't. As an example, we have a major department store chain in the U.S. called J.C. Penney. Some years ago, in an attempt to reverse sales declines, they brought in a new CEO, who announced that henceforth products would be priced as low as they could offer and there would be no more sales. Revenue promptly plummeted like Wile E. Coyote off a cliff, and he was fired and replaced by his predecessor a little over a year later.
Fair enough, I can see why sales would promote revenue even better than a permanent price reduction in certain circumstances. So with that being said, how often do those older routes go on sale, specifically for PS5? And do you think that same logic applies to an industry where technology improves at the rate it does? Finally, do you think the LIRR route is worth the same price as BML, or should pricing be updated to more accurately reflect the content offered, with one consideration being age?
The issue with this comes back to Xbox (again) where I've had two specific DLCs on my wishlist since around the TSW2 launch and they've never been put on sale. Especially with other stuff on there and TSW4 coming up (Especially the JT route) a lot will end up sat there.
Steam has frequent sales, people here say Xbox hardly ever has them, and it seems like Playstation is somewhere in the middle maybe? Someone who knows better can comment there. "Worth the same price" is totally subjective. DTG hopes so. DTG has a standard price they sell routes at and another they sell locos at, and my assumption is that they would have a standard development budget for both categories as well. And it's not like the DLCs are limited to the TSW version they were originally released for; they're recooked for each new TSW, and two routes so far have been rebuilt/enhanced for a new TSW version and still made freely available for owners of the previous one, and at the same standard price as all the others for new buyers.
Quite often. As Calidore266 said, it’s not as often as Steam, but still often. A good chunk of my collection was bought in sales. If memory serves, we actually just had a major sale a few weeks ago.
Most of the older routes are frequently on sale at 50% discount or more, which is great - but for newer players who may be looking to expand their collection and are not familiar with the routine of sales for this game, they may purchase something like East Coastway for £24.99 only to find out it commonly goes on sale for £2.49 (like it has done in the past) and thus feel a bit short-changed. £19.99 would be a fairer price for what you really get content-wise on most of the smaller routes. It also provides a larger range of less expensive routes, which may entice more newer players to expand their collection sooner and perhaps stick around and play the game for longer (which is only a good thing).
Unfortunately at some point xbox players have to make the decision of if they really want the DLC they may just have to buy it at full price. Of course DTG could decide to reduce the price of older DLC as in this suggestion but I can’t see them doing that because they like the sale model for discounts and it must just keep slipping their minds that the sales favour players in the following order.. PC(Steam)>PS>XB. I don’t know where PC(Epic) fits in the pecking order with the number of sales they have.
I feel the older routes for the most part are of much higher quality therefore deserve the higher price point. The newer one loco/broken scenery/stuttery mess stuff should be sold on the cheap.
Some of the older stuff doesn't have high quality either. Would make sense to reduce the price on those as well and normal price for higher quality content.
Regardless of our wishes, prices won't change based on quality. DTG thinks that all their stuff is high quality / same standard. Can't argue with people living in such a plane of existence
