Friday Facts #247 - Pricing and its exploits

[Klonan]

https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-247

[Claudius1729]

If there is some takeaway for us, than it is, that we shouldn't wait with finishing the game too much.

Oh yes, I definitely agree with this . I must say, I am getting quite excited for 0.17.

You guys are doing a great job, I don't know how this other game will do, but Factorio will live on for a long time I feel.

[Supercheese]

in the long term we may be able to implement some 'GOG linking' similar to the current system for Steam users.

Would GOG Connect be a potential boon for this? Or is this going the wrong direction (Steam -> GOG vs. GOG -> Steam) ?

[psihius]

Satisfactiory overshadowing Factorio? Gimme a break

Early and mid-game Factorio - possible, but end-game and megabase level gameplay - not a chance

[5thHorseman]

there were only 21 refunds in the last 3 months

21 morons.

But really, 7 returns a month is pretty darn low. That's awesome.

[Yehn]

Satisfactiory overshadowing Factorio? Gimme a break

Early and mid-game Factorio - possible, but end-game and megabase level gameplay - not a chance

I agree. I'll doubtless play both, unless Satisfactory has crippling issues. Which with small dev titles, it is a very real possibility (I would play stuff like Oxygen Not Included, Starbound, etc far more if not for all their tech issues, Factorio is really underrated for its sheer stability and smoothness).

But even assuming Satisfactory is a stable and smooth running product, I also can't really imagine that it is going to scale up like Factorio... and they've already said it's a fixed, not generated, world. Still, more titles in the genre is a good thing.

[SuperSandro2000]

1st this FFF is late
2nd I know the goat simulator games and their performance is horrible. Don't think they do a better job.
3rd I think satisfactory will end like scrap mechanic and Terra tech.
4th where is the guy update?

[Xizma]

Satisfactory is another factory game however just looking at the video the games are too different from one another. I think factorio will still offer a very different experience. It will probably draw some attention away initially but I cant see any way this game could overshadow factorio. As for the price point I think it is very fair, and would pay 3 times as much if I had to now. But if this was the price when I first saw the game and hadn't played at all I may have turned away.

[Biker]

If there is some takeaway for us, than it is, that we shouldn't wait with finishing the game too much.

It's slowly getting to the point that we're just about ready for the next major release.

I still have hopes for Spidertron...... Though I think you can kind of already have it via AAI controlled vehicles + roboport modules + tons of inventory.

[UnrealDiego]

Good, mature response regarding Satisfactory, that's just how it should be. I think both games will follow different approaches. While Factorio will definitely be better regarding the building of huge bases and automation, Satisfactory can use the 3D graphics to make more interesting levels through verticality.

[Philip017]

congrats on the huge spike in sales, lets hope we dont get alot of the russian sales biting us. welcoming 2 million sales soon!

i hope that despite making the game 1.0 (at some point) you will continue to develop the game further. your commitment to releasing a stable game and fixing bugs quickly (imo) really helps this game.

i might have a look at the new satisfactory, but seriously doubt it will come close to the number of hours i have spent in factorio. (3.5k+)

i personally think that the no sales policy will help in the end, but if you sell (for less) or give away codes at events, sales may spike but third party sales will once again cause issues unfortunately.

[eradicator]

Satisfactiory overshadowing Factorio? Gimme a break :)
Early and mid-game Factorio - possible, but end-game and megabase level gameplay - not a chance :)

That's exactly what i think too. Except that i'm pretty sure that while megabase videos are a nice sales-point (not even awesome, just nice), the majority of players (80+%ish) never go that far, and thus the difference in scale is irrelevant to them. And shiny 3D graphics sells far more games than good gameplay does these days (i mean, look at astroneer. it barely has any gameplay, but gets an E3 presentation oO.). But don't forget that this is the studio that apparently made lots of cash out of "Goat Simulator", a game mostly (in)famous for being so bugged it's funny again. So, it'd say the "to doom or not to doom" of factorio is largely dependant on if they can deliver a polished, performant, bugfree 3D factory, or not. (And if they use the crappy Unity engine or something decent).

I still remember the days i played minecraft and was constantly told to stop my - what they called it - "excessive" factory building, when all i did was build a single gregtech fusion reactor and accompanying component production, for the unfamilar that's probably about as complex as blue science.

Btw, what's those zig-zag spikes on the normal sales line, weekends?

[ixnorp]

My initial reaction to Satisfactory was "This looks stupid why would I want to play a Factorio clone in first person view."

Then I watched the trailer and my opinion immediately changed to "I WANT IT NOW."

[Wubinator]

That was a rather late FFF, remember to also enjoy the weekend guys there is more to life than work But better late then never

I also noticed among my friend that they quickly bought the game when I spread the word about the upcoming price adjustment.
1.5 million copies almost, congratulations! That is quite the milestone.
Would you have even dreamed of those kind of sales when you started working on the project?

I think you don't have a lot to fear of Satisfactory. Sure it looks cool but the map is a lot smaller ( 30 squared km ) and they would never be able to handle the amount of factorization because of the 3D graphics. I have multiple friends that play the game on a non-gamer laptop. I don't think Satisfactory will be playable on it.
I also think the success of Factorio inspired this game and maybe many more will follow
I don't want to sound to negative, I am really looking forward to the game and I'm following their Facebook page for news updates , I just don't think they will be a direct threat for you guys. Just another type of game in a rather new (?) / small genre.

[19wolf]

All the Factorio models are made in 3D right? So Factorio2 should be isometric view at the very least, but definitely some kind of 3D. Maybe like the way it is on Cities:Skylines or The Sims.

[Drury]

Cheap russian keys being resold for profit is a tale old as time, I'm surprised it took this long to hit Factorio. That's really the mystery worth solving here

I thought about the no sales policy, I think it's a good fit for a game like Factorio - rather expensive for an indie game, but also of matching quality and with minimal hype/marketing. I don't think it would work nearly as well for the rest of the industry, though. Looking forward to your arguments.

[AyrA]

I had a look at the satisfactory website and if there is one thing I am excited about, it's probably this: https://i.imgur.com/tZ4qAgG.png

I doubt that the factorio devs will have to worry too much about this game. Simply because it's 3D I assume you will never be able to push the bounds as far as people do with factorio on a regular basis.

[Pigeon039]

Honestly with Factorio vs Satisfactory they are not really the same. 2d and 3d have different uses as I see it. In 2d you are not clogged with belts hiding behind machines and in 3d it will be harder to see the whole base, but people usually prefer the 3d ascetics. Factorio also rather static while that game will likely involve playing with voxel everything, mountains have to be rendered in total probably. In other words Satisfactory will likely be more taxing on machines in general. Otherwise the bigger dangers of competition would be from more varied machines, 3d graphics, more varied wildlife, established studio with multiple games under their belt(the guys that made goat sim and others look it up on Wikipedia). Pluses for Factorio would be we would likely have water(no game likes adding voxel water especially if you have to deal with water filling areas) and a story/campaign. Adding more different wildlife and machines to spice up Factorio wouldn't be impossible, the bigger issue is just fighting a 3d game; then again this game is reaching maturity so the devs can cut loses and when the feel the game is in a good state call it done or release a couple dlcs before moving on to different games.

So in the end, Satisfactory has a 50/50 chance of being a laggy mess that requires a Super computer to run to a game that will require mostly modern hardware to run, I imagine only 20%~ of gamers will have that so Factorio should be very safe for a while, but as time goes on in 3-5 years with people upgrading their computers and the game getting optimized they will face more competition from them.

[unobtanium]

If there is some takeaway for us, than it is, that we shouldn't wait with finishing the game too much.

I don't think so. I wouldnt even mind if we would get a 0.19 with purely and tons of Quality of Life improvements. And a 0.20 with additional polish you always wanted to do, but never had the time to do it

To that, I would say, that if they managed to do a game that is better then Factorio on every level, than they deserve it.

Your usage of "than" and "then" is wrong. It should be the other way around. "than" for comparisons, "then" for time stuff.

2nd I know the goat simulator games and their performance is horrible. Don't think they do a better job.

That may be because goat simulator is a physics simulation?! Those always require a lot of performance...

[porcupine]

As far as I'm concerned, posting the trailer to satisfactory is as good as an endorsement (aside from the words spoken, which clearly were).

IMHO, this is the mark of a true pro. Factorio being superseded by Satisfactory isn't realistic, they're still substantially different game-play styles. Having said that, watching the trailer made me want it, and that's what the Factorio devs should want either way really.

If the roles were reversed, I'm sure they'd be absolutely pumped to get name dropped before release, and what's the cost really? Current customers are probably the only people reading FFF for the most part, there's effectively zero risk in existing customers picking up a new title, right? You've already got their cash after all!

So to this, +1up to the Factorio staff, hopefully this genre keeps getting love like this, because it's beautiful, and we'd all like more games like this clearly.