Strange pricing structure: what is with the download prices?

from Stardock Forums
I played GalCiv incessantly for quite some time when it first came out until I could beat it fairly often on HUGE galaxy and MASOCHISTIC difficulty, then got caught up in other stuff and drifted away. Now that the expansion is coming out I decided to give it another go... imagine my (not good) surprise when I found my GalCiv CD case with serial number... empty. I've looked everywhere for the CD and can't find it, and have reluctantly come to the conclusion that I'll have to buy it again if I want to play the expansion.

So I looked at the prices and found that I can buy the Galactic Civilization Deluxe Edition for $29.95 which includes the original game and the expansion. However, the price to download the original game alone is $39.95 and $19.95 for the expansion, for a total of $59.90.

What the? Why would anyone buy the game direct from Stardock when I can get the Deluxe edition, including the original and the expansion for cheaper than I can get just the original game from Stardock? Shouldn't the pricing be updated? I'd love to download the game immediately, but I'm sure as heck not paying a $30 surcharge for it. ($60 for original + expansion from stardock -vs- $30 for deluxe retail)

Am I missing something?

I also assume that the CD key I have does me no good without the original CD? It doesn't count as a proof of purchase, for example?
690 views 29 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
It does count as proof of purchase. Download Stardock Central, and you should be able to enter your CD key somewhere and download the latest version of the game (expansion pack sold seperately, of course). In fact, I would recomend doing that even if you did have the CD.

And of course, if you already have the game installed on your machine then you don't need the CD or download at all.


And I had much the same reaction as you did when I saw the price on the website. I figured buying directly from the company would be a little cheaper than buying it in a store, and downloading would be cheaper still. I was wrong--the download was the same price as the store, and the CD cost extra. Going through a middle-man is somehow cheaper with Stardock.
[Message Edited]
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
I don't have the game installed anymore because I got a brand new system about 6 months ago. Stardock and GalCiv were on the old system, whose HD got re-formatted multiple times.

But thanks for the info... I'll give it a shot and see if my CD Key is good enough by itself. Will save me $10 if it does.

Downloading it from the company should, indeed, be cheaper than getting it from a middleman unless the developer (in this case Stardock) deliberately pumps the price high in order not to cannibalize sales from the retail publisher. That's probably the case here... they don't want to tick off the retail publisher by undercutting prices.

And it *would* tick them off... look at the huge catfight between Valve and Vivendi when Valve started undercutting Vivendi's retail boxes. Lawsuit city.

Still annoying to see, though.
Galactic Civilizations III
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
Prices might be higher now but when it came out it was MUCH cheap to get it from stardock. I remember buying it for an insane 89 CND$. I could've save quite a lot had I gone the direct download route but I found out only after I got involved in the online community. Ah well, live and learn.

Also, those might be bargain bin prices. GC isn't exactly the new kid on the block game wise.
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
Well Galciv has been arround but the price drop to me isnt all that bad..... although the d/load thing with updating prices would be interesting. But from where I read it was distrubted to be sold at "SUGGESTED" 29.99.

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
When someone buys it from GalCiv.com Stardock receives all the revenue. When someone buys "GalCiv Deluxe" we get paid when/if Strategy First can afford to pay us our part.
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
Well it costs more online because you *cannott* buy the retail version of deluxe galactic civ yet. They say they shipped the expansion pack over 2 weeks ago and it still haven't arrived. I saw one copy on a gamestop.com website, but that was 25+ miles away(from san diego, not some small town) and I doubt they actually had any copies. I've called before recently and they have no clue as to when/if Altarian Prophecy is coming to stores.

The Deluxe version of Galvciv is doing the thing where gamestop says it is coming in a few days, then delayed, delayed, delayed, delayed...

Sounds like Stardock is doing an evil microsoft thing by making it expensive to buy copies online but not shipping any retail to stores thus forcing people to buy directly from them.

"we get paid when/if Strategy First can afford to pay us our part."

Oh yeah, you think Strategy First is being bad to you, but screwing customers by making them pay $40+ for a game they can get for $10 or under is very, very bad. Shame on you for screwing people and shame on you for being a hypocrite.

I love Galciv, but am very, very disappointed in "Stardock" and affiliates
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
its easy fore them to say they'll sell it to you for less when they don't have any in stock... actually its a great way to get known... lowest prices in town... but sorry we are all out of stock...

At least with Stardock its one set price... and stardock can't be help responsable if they want to run price wars.. and run them out of business.. because of the free trading anyone can sell anything at any price... too bad they you paid more than that and you've made a loss selling it to customers for less than you've been billed for it.. and now can't afford to pay your suppliers... which means that they can't lower their prices because they have to cover their owqn loss because com pany xxxxx couldn't pay them.... Now if they had to pay upfront for what they wanted to sell then maybe stardock could reduce their prices... but no one wants to pay upfront.. incase the product doesn't sell.. so everyone looses out... the customer on the cheaper prices.. the company who goes bellyup .. and stardock on their proceeds from any sales...

So yeah... I can't see it.... do you want stardock to go brokje too.. by following redioculous and unsound business practices of their distributors.... Get realll.... I want to see stardock and its whole range of products around for years to come...

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
Sounds like Stardock is doing an evil microsoft thing by making it expensive to buy copies online but not shipping any retail to stores thus forcing people to buy directly from them.
End of quote

Well, Strategy First is responsible for the shipping to store, not Stardock. Stardock can't be blamed for shipping delays.

Oh yeah, you think Strategy First is being bad to you, but screwing customers by making them pay $40+ for a game they can get for $10 or under is very, very bad. Shame on you for screwing people and shame on you for being a hypocrite.
End of quote

What do you think about totalgaming.net? (there is a rebate for Galciv owners)
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
'Allo
What do you think about totalgaming.net? (there is a rebate for Galciv owners)
End of quote


What kind of Rebate?
How much is it?

Is it really worth it and can I download the games for use on another pc?
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
Is it really worth it and can I download the games for use on another pc?
End of quote


Yes and yes. You can even make back up copies on a CD if you want.
Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top
Ok,
So its $89.99.

Thats a lot of money for me.
How much is the rebate?

I didn't see it on the TG.Net Site...
Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top
The purchase page

http://www.galciv.com/purchase.asp

It costs $50 to upgrade from Galactic Civilizations.

For that price you get full access to Totalgaming.net products and will be able to beta test GalCiv II soon.
Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top
Getting a subscription to TGN is the smartest way to get access to updates and Galciv2. Not to mention the other games Stardock is adding all the time.

Frogboy, NeoTech will begin aggressively promoting Galciv and all your products with our new store opening soon. Being a proud affiliate with Stardock we want to push all your products the best we can. :HOT:
Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top

Sounds like Stardock is doing an evil microsoft thing by making it expensive to buy copies online but not shipping any retail to stores thus forcing people to buy directly from them.
End of quote

And when was the last time that you purchased and downloaded a Microsoft product online? You can't.  At any rate, we are not sneaky and we do not try to rip people off. 

Oh yeah, you think Strategy First is being bad to you, but screwing customers by making them pay $40+ for a game they can get for $10 or under is very, very bad. Shame on you for screwing people and shame on you for being a hypocrite.
End of quote

Oh, you think you're bitter? Strategy First owes us thousands of dollars, and you're bitter because we're still charging $40 for a game that we updated--not just released bug fixes--for well over a year when most companies would have written it off by now? Oh, and that $10, that's IF you can find it.  And the reason it's $10 is because retailers and websites with warehouses need the shelfspace so they're trying to get rid of it. That doesn't mean it's any less of a game.  But if you care that much, go out and get it from the store for $10.  No one is forcing you to pay the extra money. 

There are people here who went out and bought TotalGaming.net to support Stardock after they had already purchased Altarian Prophecy when they heard that Strategy First went bankrupt and couldn't pay us.  Just because they wanted to support us so that we could continue to make games.  I don't expect everyone to do that, however wonderful I think that those people are.  But you have to remember, that when you buy a product, you are supporting all the people who worked on it.  For software, music, and books, and similar products, the people who were mainly responsible for working on it get very little of the money. Most of the money goes to the publisher.  Yet we get all the flak that people like you hand out and the publisher can just ignore it all. 

I very rarely complain about people being unfair or not understanding because I don't want to sound whiny.  But I find your statement to be extremely unjust.

Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top
There are people here who went out and bought TotalGaming.net to support Stardock after they had already purchased Altarian Prophecy when they heard that Strategy First went bankrupt and couldn't pay us. Just because they wanted to support us so that we could continue to make games. I don't expect everyone to do that, however wonderful I think that those people are.
End of quote


I'm a developer too and I agree with you 100%.
If you have a product thats worth it and the support to go with it, then its worth the cost.

I've had Galciv for 2 weeks now and AP for 1, and I will definitely be getting my subscription to TG.Net ASAP.
Reply #17 from Stardock Forums Top
I've bought Galciv and proudly love and enjoy the game.... and as a gift I got Altarian Prophesy from my Dad.... sure we could have waited for our price cuts.... but honostly I still think it was well worth the money for it.

LONG LIVE GALCIV + AP + STARDOCK!!!!!! :CONGRAT:
Reply #18 from Stardock Forums Top
I am buying Galciv for some of my staff members for their pay for working at NeoTech. (Yes we pay our staff members :p)

I find the complaint unjustified and without merit. Stardock is one of the best game companies there is without a doubt. To try and indicate anything else is just ridiculous! :D
Reply #19 from Stardock Forums Top

Just a point of fact:

The only reason we're able to have this conversation at all is because of the people who bought Galactic Civilizations and Altarian prophecy direct from us (or totalgaming.net).

We've only received a fraction of the royalties we're owed on the original Galactic Civilizations that sold at retail (let alone Altarian Prophecy).  We charge what we charge because we have to pay for the cost of this site, the support, the development of the game, and so forth.  It's easy to charge some lower price if you're not having to pay for the cost of development..

Reply #20 from Stardock Forums Top
I am behind you Stardock! I originally bought GalCiv via retail but once I discovered the support you provide and the quality of all your efforts I decided to never buy your games from anywhere but Stardock. I have AP and have pre-ordered GC2 already.
Reply #21 from Stardock Forums Top
I purchased GC via Stardock about 2 months ago. The quality of the demo and the very good opinion of other gamers were important, but my decision to purchase came after I learned how much Stardock had suffered because of distributors and instead of quitting continued to support and improve products.
It is rare to find such a committed company in the computer gaming industry and I think they deserve all our support.
Now I am convinced to subscribe to TGN, too.
Reply #22 from Stardock Forums Top
Just so no one thinks I'm one of the ungrateful ones, I’d like to clarify that my post up at the top was about my reaction when I first came to this website as I was surfing around the internet deciding whether I should buy GalCiv or not. I didn’t know anything about Strategy First, and I just figured that by buying it online I could save whatever cut Best Buy takes when you get it there. Now every time someone mentions how much money Strategy First owes Stardock I feel kind of bad that I bought it through them and my money didn’t actually go to the people responsible for this great game and the amazing support that goes with it. I am planning on getting a TotalGaming.net subscription somewhere in the near future, so at least some of my money will go to the ones who deserve it.
Reply #23 from Stardock Forums Top
I do wonder, though, why is it still $40 here when it's $16 new on Amazon? I know it's still worth the full forty, but how do you expect to sell any? And how much money is Strategy First supposed to pay you if Amazon can get it from them, sell it for $16, and make a profit? I guess they can charge whatever price they want if they're not actually paying you for the copies they sell.
Reply #24 from Stardock Forums Top
arghhh.... did you read any of the above messages... its easy to place qa cheaper price on softweare when you don't have to support it... its not stardocks fault is stratagy first is distribusing it for less... stardock isn't distributing it to these places.. its stratagy first that has done the damage.. and not paying stardock much of the revenue that they are supposed to... thats the whole problem.. stratagy first isn't paying up.. so they are able to sell it for less.. they arn't honering their distribution agreement with stardock.. they may come good with theor payments but i can't see how when their distributers arn't selling the product for the recomended retail.. they can't be getting enough from the sales to pay stardock..

its not stardocks fault.. rthey entered the agreement in good faith and to date havn't recieved full payment for the sales and I don't think that they ever will :(

it is sad but true...


Reply #25 from Stardock Forums Top
I do wonder, though, why is it still $40 here when it's $16 new on Amazon? I know it's still worth the full forty, but how do you expect to sell any?
End of quote


I'll tell you how I feel. If I had to buy another copy as a gift or whatever, I would buy it from Stardock. With the quality of their work I'd rather ensure they get $40 rather than never get their promised piece of $16.