Affiliated links as promotion?

[Nic]

It would be great if you could be able to advertise the game and give people the opportuinity to buy it via a link you can paste under your video/blog post where people get a discount (10% or more).

The benefit you get would be a counter on your factorio profile which shows you how many people bought it via "your" affiliated link.

[jacksonJFord]

I agree that this would be a nice feature for audiences for video creators and bloggers, but in the grand scheme of things, i don't think people would flinch at paying $15 for this game, and dropping the price by 10% isn't a whole lot from $15.

I still think the game would sell well without this, the game itself it great and doesn't need to offer deals to sell it. But i see where you are coming from and if the price ever goes up to $25 upwards then yes the affiliate idea would be a good idea for the Devs to bring in, but until then the game is already a bargain.

Thanks
Jackson

[kovarex]

I prefer to do the whole Factorio and related stuff the way I would like to have it as customer.

I personally don't like discounts. It might sound strange, but I don't like when I have to pay the "standard" (but practically higher) price for something just because I don't want to waste my time searching for special discount offers or waiting for sales.

[Nic]

I understand your concerns when it comes to a discount kovarex but the whole affiliated link idea could work in many ways.

[Nova]

But not with discounts.

[Nic]

But not with discounts.

Don't be so sure about that - I am working on this idea and will soon post my improvements.

[Nic]

Here is my idea: https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=6&t=7625

[Nova]

To be honest, kovarex was pretty clear about that. Maybe I misinterpreted his post, but it doesn't look like he will change his mind so soon.

[Nic]

To be honest, kovarex was pretty clear about that. Maybe I misinterpreted his post, but it doesn't look like he will change his mind so soon.

Just read trough my improved idea and you will get what I meant

[FishSandwich]

The new idea sounds overly complicated. You could just buy the game multiple times, and gives the keys away, then put into your signature how many have claimed the key.

[Nova]

It's still exactly that what kovarex doesn't like: Special offers you can only use if you search for them.
It looks like kovarex doesn't think about the lost money of sales, but about being fair. It don't like sales, too, but still "like them" because it's saved money.

[Nic]

The new idea sounds overly complicated. You could just buy the game multiple times, and gives the keys away, then put into your signature how many have claimed the key.

Of course it sounds complicated and maybe it is not made possible in one day - but as far as I know no one has done something like that before.

I am not up for buying copies for strangers (otherwise I would just gift a game to a random person every month) but I would be up to "donate" the devs money from which strangers benefit.

[-root]

I personally don't like discounts. It might sound strange, but I don't like when I have to pay the "standard" (but practically higher) price for something just because I don't want to waste my time searching for special discount offers or waiting for sales.

I think that this is a good stance to have personally.

Discounts are a way of overcoming a barrier to buying. Namely, a product sits outside a consumer's price range. By discounting, the seller gets the product into a new price range and accesses a new market.

My thoughts are: the market accessed by discounting a $30 isn't that much and discounting just cheapens the product. Besides, the game is good value at where it sits. I paid $100 for skyrim and played it for 20 hours. I paid $30 for Factorio and played it for two or three hundred AND enjoyed it more.

[Xterminator]

I personally don't like discounts. It might sound strange, but I don't like when I have to pay the "standard" (but practically higher) price for something just because I don't want to waste my time searching for special discount offers or waiting for sales.

I think that this is a good stance to have personally.

Discounts are a way of overcoming a barrier to buying. Namely, a product sits outside a consumer's price range. By discounting, the seller gets the product into a new price range and accesses a new market.

My thoughts are: the market accessed by discounting a $30 isn't that much and discounting just cheapens the product. Besides, the game is good value at where it sits. I paid $100 for skyrim and played it for 20 hours. I paid $30 for Factorio and played it for two or three hundred AND enjoyed it more.

I agree with this. While I really like the idea in general of an affiliate link option, I think with the price Factorio is at right now, it would probably be more effort than it's worth. As root mentioned, is is an extremely good value, and quite honestly doesn't need to be discounted whatsoever. I mean any AAA title now days is a solid $60 for the lowest package, and I can't think of one of those games I have bought that I ever got even close to the amount of play time from as Factorio. So for 1/4 the price of a AAA title, I can get Factorio and still get like 3 or 4x the amount of playtime as a big title, I see no reason to discount the game right now.

If they ever raise the price quite a bit in the future I think it would be a viable option.

[DaveMcW]

High prices support a high marketing budget.

Discounts are the opposite of that, they provide free marketing and pass the savings on to the customer.

But, Wube has no marketing budget yet so discounts don't make sense.