well kb:tl was an unknown quantity when it was released. it had to earn its name, armored princess is a big deal and many people are really excited for it. that's the reasoning I can see, people WILL pay to play it. a little too aggressive and cynical on 1c's part, of course.

a little activision style with what they did with modernwarfare2 in the us. raising the regular pc price over all other games, because they can.

Well kinda true many poeple will pay, at least those who are forced to it. In my country there is at least choice : native retail version for 20E or english digital for 40E. Guess what 90% of players will choose :P

Or you can download the pirated copy, which for sure will appear a few hours if not days after release for free, that will send home the message that if it's too expensive people will get it for free.
p.s. I will buy the boxed version, if no boxed version then I have no choice but to go pirate until the boxed version appears.

Well, sadly, that is the only thing that developers fail to consider. When their product suddenly receives a huge round of applause (thus good image of the trade mark), they usually up the prices, expecting a huuuge revenue. Well, in the modern economy situation, things usually don't go that way.

Looking at some of the opinions on the sales on the Russian forums, the Russian copy was very popular. It was around 15 euro (I think it could be found for less), and a lot of people could spare that much money, since you only need to deprive yourself of drinking and smoking (Note: I do not smoke) for a few days and voila - the game pays off. And then it pays off even further when you do a few playthroughs. You can well squeeze 90+ hours out of this game to try all 3 classes and check out all their options. It goes to over 150+ hours when you decide to try out the various difficulties.

Modern economics unequivocally shows that people will buy and support a product which is cheap and offers a good value for the money. KBAP had the potential to become one. So if the price was 15E, many people would have jumped at the game and stripped the shelves in the game shops from it. If the game was 20E, people would readily do that again. If the game was 25E, it is still a decent price, although some people will look at it with criticism. 30 euro starts to get a bit much. 40, that's a rip-off.

So, the developers should decide what do they want:
Example: we have 10 000 people who love the game and want to buy it.

9000 sales at 15 euro and 1000 people who will download a pirated copy
7000 sales at 20 euro and 3000 people who will download a pirated copy
5000 sales at 25 euro and 5000 people who will download a pirated copy (let's assume that 25E is a 50/50 situation, where quality and price clash)
3000 sales at 30 euro and 7000 people who will download a pirated copy
2000 sales at 40 euro and 8000 people who will download a pirated copy and have the same amount of fun (well, probably with less support, but who of them will care)

9000x15 is close to 7000x20. What is the difference? A person who had enjoyed the cheap game is more likely to share his thoughts with his friends and tell them where he bought it. A person who liked the game through a pirate copy, is more likely to share with his friends where he downloaded it.

So if I was a developer, I'd take the 9000x15 euro any day, provided it covers my expenses. Keeping in mind that the game was cheaper in Russia, I'm certain all the expenses have been covered and there was a certain revenue - otherwise the price would have been higher in Russia.

2300 euros over what period? If you mean 2300 a fortnight, no, it's not that much. If you mean 2300 a month, it's more than that. But of course the cost of living is much higher here. To give a personal example, I will be putting KB:AP on my credit card as I don't actually have any spare cash at the moment.

So you're an English teacher? So I am. :)

Regarding the general discussion about prices of games v wages, I reiterate my earlier point about the unfairness of the price of games in particular countries. For instance, here in Australia we are usually ripped off outrageously with retail prices. Games that retail for $40-50 in the US will be $90-100 here (or even slightly more than $100) even though the currencies are currently almost worth the same. They blocked Australians from using Steam to buy/download certain games for this very reason. So it makes economic sense for me to buy the Gamersgate version now and then a boxed copy in a year or so on ebay, for LESS than the price of a retail game here.

On a side note, am I the only one that has realized that the scheduled Nov. 20 release date falls e-x-a-c-t-l-y on the same date the game was officially announced: "King's Bounty: Armored Princess Official Announcement"


:rolleyes:

That is why I never shop at bricks and mortar stores here in Australia, too expensive!
I prefer to buy my games on eBay and usually I save a lot of money, sometimes I bid and win a hefty discount on the price of the game compared to retail prices in Aussie game shops.
For instance I just bought a brand new copy of Borderlands for PC for just $20 including postage, game shops can't beat that even when they are on 'sale'.:grin:

Borderlands for $20? Where? Can you get Dragon Age for that price? :-P

eBay.:grin:
The cheapest copy of Dragon Age is $30, From India 99% positive feedback, ... if I was mildly interested in this game I'd buy it but it just doesn't appeal to me, the game looks kinda boring, I'd wait for the positive reviews to come pouring in.
But it pays to shop around and compare prices and positive versus negative feedback, or wait a bit more until prices come down as they always do... also wait for the Aussie Dollar to continue rising against all major currencies! (as it will!)
After the debacle that was Risen, I am not too keen to try another RPG for a while.:grin:

I've just realised that you can buy books from cdwow. $10-13 for books that cost $22 or more here. :eek:

And I can't really be bothered with Dragon Age either. Wouldn't mind Fallout 3 GOTY for about $30 though...