PC Price Increase?

Maybe the slow release of TSW DLC over the last year is another factor in their decision? I suspect next year will be rather busier with the new developers and DTG not quite so hamstrung by a big new release. I hope we do see some loco and rolling stock DLC again as some routes really could do with it, even going back to some of the early routes, although I suspect we won't see anything for them.

Some period routes would be nice to see amongst them certainly.

 

...big film studios, which have already made profits in the hundreds of millions with their theatrical releases, can produce DVDs or Blurays cheaply and compensate for rising production costs more easily. It doesn't matter whether it's a video game or a movie, in the end it's all entertainment. But the games industry is organized a little differently than the film industry. The industry giants such as EA, Ubisoft or T2 naturally have much more market power and are more likely to compensate for cost increases, since they have already delivered several bestsellers in the millions. Smaller studios like DTG are therefore dependent on a loyal fan base and cannot easily compensate for costs. The main price driver are currently the energy costs. Developer studios are energy-intensive service providers, whether they like it or not. That's why the DLC area is very important for DTG, because it ensures regular earnings. The only question is how much price increase is reasonable in these times, since the fan base is also affected by exploding costs?

 

The new developers are still getting used to the tools. Just trains still has been silent since last year. Ats and union workshop just joined so they have to learn all the tools so it'll be at least a couple of years until they actually produce content and release it. So we'll mostly see stuff from dtg, rivet, skyhook, tsg

 

Not defending DTG here, but its not just the salaries. But with the global inflation, everything now costs more. End of the day, they have to cover costs and have to make money as well.

 

Look its quite simple,

Either DTG make a profit from their products which can be used to pay their staff and shareholders, or they stop producing TSW content or in the worst case go out of business. From our perspective its either more a fair price (and IMO £30.00 is more than a fair price) or stop seeing new content.

Now I know which one I'd prefer, will I buy every route at full price? No, but then I never did. Will the extra fiver (or the cost of a pint) stop me buying routes I would have done at the original price? Not a chance

 

If UK players want to accept a 20% increase, fine go ahead and defend it.

Obviously, you're not paying attention to all the posts from people in other countries where the price has increased, in some cases, by dizzying percentages.

The US price increase is 33%. Well beyond any inflationary factors, I would think.

A few more bucks doesn't matter to me, but I have the feeling that I and other Americans and Canadians are being taken advantage of, and that really rankles.

The last route I bought may well be the last one I buy at full price.

 

Not condoning DTG with what they are doing with these international currency hikes but now you Americans know how we Brits have felt for years with US companies taking advance of us. US companies have for a while charged the same for something in pounds as they do in dollars.

Macbook Air for example: $999; £999.

PS5: $499; £479.

 

I agree I am finding it hard to defend such increase in price. And also agree that is goes beyond any inflationary factors.

North Americans have been taken advantage of for long time, being Canadian I really see it in a lot of things that I buy on a regular basis.

Like you the last route I bought is also the last I buy at full price.

 

Not everyone lives in the U.K you know. Funnily enough, it was announced yesterday that inflation in the U.S has gone down causing positivity in the markets here.

The people who keep defending this seem to ignore that other countries have seen bizarre price increases way beyond inflation rates and that the Steam system that DTG use to set these prices in certain areas is completely optional. DTG won't be going broke if prices were set to inflation rates in these regions. But I guess some people want to act like a multi million dollar company would go broke if they didn't charge above the rate of inflation.

 

It's all very well increasing prices by 20 per cent and 30 per cent, but salaries are going up by 2 per cent here in the UK. Large price rises for leisure and consumer goods are not sustainable in that economic environment. I have to buy food, clothes and heating whatever the price. I don't have to buy a train sim route.

 

Yes, I've noticed that UK prices are higher than those in the US, especially for tech products.

I think this is explained by 2 or 3 factors:

1. It's my understanding that goods purchased in the UK already include sales tax of up to 20%.
In the US goods are priced before sales tax, because it varies from state to state. Some states have 0% sales tax, others as much as 10%. ( This is also true for Steam dlc, by the way. )

2. Doing business in the US is cheaper than in the UK. There are fewer regulatory costs, lower corporate and other taxes and lower distribution costs.

3. The US market is about 6 times larger than the UK market, which lowers average costs and prices.

 

Yes. For instance, The State of Alaska has no sales tax at all along with the State of Delaware, New Hampshire, Montana and Oregon. But cities in Alaska can have a sales tax if they so choose. The State of New York has a 4% sales tax. California has no sales tax for digital products.

 

That should be good for you when buying products produced in the US. However, DTG produces its products in the UK and that’s where the costs have gone up. You do realise you are buying a British product when you buy DLC for TSW. So UK inflation affects everyone who buys the products wherever they happen to be. Other factors also come in to play in international trade, such as can be seen with the way most international prices have gone up more than the UK price. Everybody’s starting point though is the higher cost of production in the UK as that is where DTG are.

 

But marketed and distributed entirely by American and Japanese companies, however. So not all the costs of getting their product in the hands of consumers are derived from UK sources.

A modest price increase, based on the rate of inflation in Britain is certainly justified. But " modest " is hardly what we're talking about, is it?

 

Just bought it now and im totally ok with paying a higher price for tsw routes. Always wondered how the calculation is about routes with more detailes and realism, much more effort and time in creation, but cheaper selling price compared to ts classic.

Now the routes become longer, but people expect to get the same good quality.

Really nothing to moan about price increase. Same for loco dlcs, just wish there will be more of them.

Just trains sold their dlcs usually on a higher price level than regular dovetail dlcs. Who knows, maybe this is kind of an agreement between them. Equal market on the same price level, but jt wont start to develop their own selfcontained tsw soup. Would make sense to me.

 

Let's hope that this financial increase brings us a decrease in bugs!!! But it stings to pay the same price for a DLC as for a recent full game and this DLC is hard to swallow, in short to follow for the rest
PS: asks for the respect of the things promised in the roadmaps (corrections of bugs, various improvements ... etc rather than new DLC) in any case it is my personal opinion, therefore only engages me !! !

Sincerely, tof

 

There won't be a decrease in bugs. Higher price doesn't mean higher quality. It just doesn't work that way. Given how buggy things have been, even with the base routes being $39.99, I doubt there would be a decrease in bugs unless dtg really takes things seriously.

 

Merci pour cette explication, je ne suis pas si bête mais rien ne m’empêche de dire ce que je pense et de rêver, merci d’avance !!!

 

The distribution doesn’t just magically eliminate the increased cost of production and will be roughly the same everywhere. Those costs also increase as they are subject to some higher costs at present with the global rise in energy costs etc. The costs have gone up and the price has gone up to reflect that and we are going to have to deal with it. It seems the price increase in the UK is lower than in other regions but I don’t know why that is, it could be tax related or anything, I have no clue. It’s going to be unpopular and would be unpopular no matter how modest or alarming the increase was. Players can choose to buy or not, make more use of sales, or whatever but it’s unlikely to change because we don’t like it. It’s never been a cheap hobby.

 

Meanwhile, for $11.00 you can buy both American Truck Simulator and Euro Truck Simulator 2.

 

without any Stuttering

 

So sad to read such news.

 

Thanks Conductor B !!!!

 

I'm usually happy to buy DLCs at full price at release (or pre-ordering with a discount) but £30 definitely shifts DLC releases from yes to I think I'll wait and see, if I'm still on the fence after release then I guess wait for a sale

 

After tonight's stream and liking what I saw (the extra functions in cab made me do a u turn) a 10% preorder discount would probably have seen a purchase from me even at £26.99. But the lack of a discount means preorder is pointless. I might as well wait for it to drop and see the initial views then I'll think, may as well wait for a patch to fix XYZ. By the time the patch lands Ill no doubt think I'll wait for a sale and pick it up with 20% off or more. So DTG end up having to wait to get my cash and most likely will see less of it then if they'd offered a 10% preorder.

 

Also meanwhile, ATS's latest state DLC has just been released and it's 50% more expensive than previous ones (whether that is a sign of things to come or purely because Texas is their biggest ATS release since the core game is yet to be determined)...

 

Previous states have been for 12€, but Texas is larger and the price is in line with DLCs for ETS2, which add multiple countries for the same price. I would wait and see what the price is for the next state (Oklahoma) to be sure.

 

You really see in the dlc of ETS and Ats the passion of the devs and the follow up of their products.
SCS gives me Always the impression of perfectionism

 

The only thing SCS dropped the ball on was switching to FMod for sound which resulted in many of the default trucks sounding awful. Fortunately third party trucks or engine mods seem to overcome it. I did raise an eyebrow at the price for Texas but compared to Wyoming and Montana it is much bigger and I suspect better value than DTG's £30 route DLC. Again, there's always the option of waiting to see the reviews or a few months for a sale, but I have a feeling this will be dropping into my basket in the next few days, along with that superb looking Turkish route for TSC.

 

Unfortunately the price increase mess has caused a rift between the DTG apologists and the DTG critics and they are largely talking past each other.

The apologists accuse the critics of ignoring inflation and economic reality. Prices for all consumer goods are rising alarmingly in most markets around the world, by about 7.75% in the US and 15% in the UK. DTG and digital products are not immune to such pressures.

The critics accuse the apologists of missing the point. They do not deny the need for a modest price increase but point to the large increases in some parts of the world, including the US and Canada ( about 33% ).

DTG have not helped themselves by:

Remaining largely silent on the price issue.

Not increasing prices gradually over the last few years.

Portraying Steam's price and exchange rate guidelines as unalterable.

Employing the comical notion of pre-order without an accompanying discount.

Communication with the customer base is clearly not DTG's strong suit.

 

Thank you for your neutral views.

 

Its boggling that people can either think that any price increase isn't fair at such a time or indeed that an 800% price increase might be fair enough.

 

The sad truth is that the way people are segregated by this price raise also has a relation with their nationalities.

All unaffected are from a 'certain country'.
All affected are from rest of the world.

Neither helped by 'selectively silent' DTG, who also belong to the country of unaffected.

They should understand the gravity of the situation and defuse this cold war.

( I'm fine with the price increment due to inflation )

 

I love the fact that half the time Im labelled a DTG fan boi and the remainder Im labelled as a DTG hater.. When the truth is I simply give my opinion

 

So many people not having a clue about how exchange rates and inflation works. As an FYI an inflation rate of 10% doesnt mean that everything should go up by 10% and not a penny/cent more or less. it means the average increase is 10%, some products and services will go up by less than 10% some will go up more (sometimes some will even decrease). Exchange rates can compound the issue even more especially when you have a UK company selling on a US site and then converting the price into a 3rd currency.

No one likes prices going up, not even multi billionaires, but its a fact of life and power thirsty industries such as the video game industry are going to be more susceptive to energy price instability like we are seeing now.

TSW is a luxury and if right now you feel the price for that luxury is too high for what you get then thats sad, but ultimately DTG arent to blame.

 

Worth every penny IMO, but obviously that's subjective.

Also, it's interesting to see the almost universal excitement around new releases on their official forum compared to the almost uniformly mixed reviews on new releases here. There are obviously criticisms, but the overall tone of discussion is much more positive IMO.

Are SCS that much better? Is it the fact that only 2 or 3 new maps at most come out per year? What's the difference?

I know it's hard to directly compare the games in terms of scope, etc, but when both have new releases in the same week it's hard not to think about it.

Anyway apologies for drifting off topic

 

If by the first line you meant the UK, well I am from there and certainly don't appreciate the need for such a large price rise or failing to offer the preorder discount we used to enjoy on new titles.

I shall be waiting for it to go on sale, at a level of discount which at least matches what the old preorder price would have been. And I also have every sympathy with those in other territories seeing even larger increases in price due to the Steam exchange rate debacle and DTG's seeming "FIFO" response to their concerns.

 

I am from the UK, personally I don't think people from overseas should be paying proportionately a great deal more.

However I think you might be over estimating the ability of DTG to do anything about it and maybe apportioning much of the blame in the wrong place.

 

From a link that JD posted himself. This steam price matrix is optional. DTG can set their own prices if they wish. They choose not to. It is what it is. It’s only a game and I can live without it.

I’m still hoping the XBox Gamepass discount will be available. The XBox price in my country is better than the steam price and the Gamepass discount would make it reasonable.

 

You're still missing the point. Either that or you don't give a jot about the players around the world who will have to pay price increases of 170% or more for BCC, to quote one example.

 

Its swings and roundabouts, some things in the UK have increased considerably compared to other countries especially goods imported from the states. Its called life and it sucks, we know this but to try and pretend and blame DTG for it is quite simply ludicrous. Ultimately whatever currency and market you are buying in, things are going up and up where thats 20% or even 170%.

 

SCS does have a reputation of releasing good quality content consistently. They take their time to release products and when the product does come out, it doesn't feel rushed and generally gets positive reviews. DTG on the other hand sadly has a reputation of inconsistency in terms of quality which does lead to some skepticism about the next product which you don't really see with scs.

 

In order to maintain an effective pricing matrix, DTG would effectively need to monitor the cost of goods in every country, as well as keeping up-to-date with inflation rates and potentially also currency fluctuations. It's not a feasible exercise for big publishers to do on an ongoing basis, let alone a mid-size developer/publisher - and if they start doing it for a few countries that are called out here, you can be sure that anybody who thinks their economic reality has been unfairly modelled will be on here to complain.

It's completely correct that on Steam DTG can set prices, although it's not possible on some console platforms - so even if they did invest in a very large piece of ongoing financial analysis, there would be complaints about disparity between PC and consoles.

Those who are raising the issues here are absolutely fair in highlighting the disparities, and as a UK resident I completely sympathise with those who are affected. It's crappy.

But the vast majority of developers and publishers use the Steam Regional Pricing matrix (for the majority, if not all currencies) - and suggesting that changing a few numbers in the Steam back-end is the fix that DTG could easily implement is way wide of the mark, because it opens a whole can of worms:

1) How many currencies does DTG monitor? All of them? Some of them? How should they choose - by relating to percentage increases, or relating to local prices for other entertainment products? How to explain (constantly) why prices on Steam are so wildly out of sync vs, eg, PlayStation (because I guarantee they will be hugely out of sync in some places)? (and yes I realise that this thread already highlights Steam vs Epic, which are also good observations, but also simply highlight the level of work required, because to manually monitor and change on Steam *and* Epic doubles the admin work involved).

(As a side note, bear in mind that DTG can only set prices in some places where they are classed as the vendor such as Steam and Epic, because to specify pricing in other retailers - such as Green Man Gaming or GoG.com - would be price fixing and is illegal...

2) How often should DTG commit to changing prices? Once per year, per month, per week? Less frequently would likely mean bigger swings in pricing (and result in complaints, especially with big economic changes we're currently seeing); more frequently would require at least one full time economist/analyst to cover a selection of currencies; or a whole team to track all of them.

All of this doesn't change the point that DTG could address this. But my point is that it's not a trivial step to take, which is why most people selling games on Steam use the SRP matrix - and trust that Valve does a good job of tracking all the above. (The argument as to whther or not Valve does do a good job of tracking this is of course for anybody to choose... but also a totally different discussion).

 

I'm grateful that you guys felt that way. Thank you very much.

Thanks a lot. It's great that you see my point. Unfortunately, some people can't understand you unless they haven't walked a thousand miles in your shoes.

Thank you, gentleman. I would like to say that it's more than crappy.
Maybe, I can't digest the fact that somehow steam is more responsible than DTG.

Honestly, I'm not a gamer. I'm just a train enthusiast.

 

Am I sad that someone Ive basically been subsidising to play the same game as me is being asked to pay more when they still contribute less than 50% towards the game as I do? No

 

Only just just saw this thread as I usually post in the Playstation forum not in the PC Master Race threads , but my thoughts on the mooted price increase -

Cost of living crisis or not, £29.99 for a DLC will I think put a few people off. There's a psychological effect that comes into play with consumers when a product breaches another tens decimal unit, 29.99 is closer to 30 than it is to 20 after all, and nowadays £30 is a good chunk of cash for many people.

Of course, this is why we still have products selling for xx.99, not that this 1 penny under 30 quid fools most people.

With a lot of big budget games coming out at 50 to 60 quid, and this dlc being sold for 50% of a premium title many will see this rightly or wrongly as a cash grab.

I suppose we will see in a few weeks when DTG have their sales data for this particular DLC as to whether their pricing strategy works or not.

 

See, I can't debate like a politician or an economist.
But different commodities have different perceived values in respective economies.

( Assuming you are from UK )
Train Tickets, Hospital Bills, Higher Education, and Domestic heating might be a problem for you guys. They are rather affordable to the common man in my country. ( Majority of us don't need a medical insurance or an education loan ).

Automobiles, Alcohol, consumer electronics ( manufactued outside and imported ), garments ( from foreign brands ) are expensive to us.

( Conversations like these really make me realize how great my country is, despite it's many flaws )
भारत माता की जय

 

Don't forget about not living in a country that had a head of government crash the currency of their country which forced the central bank to do a bailout effectively and was outlasted by a lettuce

 

Thank you for your kind comment. The conversation I had with you later made me realize that I'll rather ride a train in my country ( for much cheaper price ) than buy a British game about trains.

 

Fun Fact: There is a tourist train package here, that lasts more than 45 days XD