Factorio Forums

EustaceCS wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 20, 2024 9:02 pm

Help develop the game, not the generic bloatware with features which you'll never use.

So you have to jump through 20 hoops to get the same functionality you get through steam, are storage-limited at that, need a microsoft account, need a specific external software running for the sync, but that is somehow totally different to steam, got it, really constructive advice.

mmmPI wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 21, 2024 11:09 am

Notice how all the eurozone have the same price and valve claims it's not just a currency's exchange rate thing, and boast that they actually care about the disparate economic circumstances from one territory to another ?

You cannot price discriminate between countries in the EU, so if steam would offer a game for 10€ in Estonia they would have to offer the same price for people in Finland.

Due to Steam's completely outdated currency conversion rate, price in PLN is one of the highest in the world - many very rich countries have lower price than not so rich Poland. Please adjust it

https://steamdb.info/app/427520/

https://x.com/AureliaMikaPUB/status/1831008043078717629

Hi, I wish I can reach the devs here.

I've watched a youtube interview with Kovarex, where he said he hates discounts, cause he feels he pays too much all other times. That's a fair point. But I think it should work both ways.

What I mean is: If the game is 35$ on Steam, why do we, in Poland, pay 41$ for it?

SteamDB chart where you can see current Factorio prices for all countries: https://steamdb.info/app/427520/

I don't know if you've heard about #PolishOurPrices initiative. Steam didn't update price conversion rates for Poland, and due to this, many games are overpriced here.

A lot of developers adressed this issue. The prices of Wukong, upcoming Indiana Jones, Hades II and 50+ other where Polished (price in Poland was updated to reflect actual USD/PLN conversion rate, not the one from two years back, which Steam uses).

It's easy to think that it's not your fault - it's a Steam's issue. But what Steam does it only suggests you the prices. In the end it's the developer who sets the price and clicks "OK". Many devs/publishers, like Bethesda, Supergiant Games and Konami heard us out, and fixed their prices. They didn't hide behind Steam's incompetence. You say you want to be fair with your customers (at least Kovarex claims that). If you really do, please think about this topic before Space Age release. For you It's just couple of mouse clicks away to make your prices fair.

You may not need any "spreading the word" at this moment, but by Polishing your price you will get a proper shout out from #PolishOurPrices related media. A lot of gaming magazines in Poland are writing about this movement and will for sure recognize your good will.

Best Regards!

I'll reopen this now.

Loewchen wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 12, 2024 3:18 pm

I'll reopen this now.

Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

I know the initiators of #PolishOurPrices has contacted Wube in the past. In the response Scott has fairly pointed out that it is impossible for you to review purchasing power for each country and we should contact Valve. But this doesn't change the fact that Steam, as a monopolist, doesn't care. We've contacted them via email. We've contacted their representatives directly on various events. They just don't care. They state that they are updating exchange rates and review purchasing power frequently, for all countries. But they don't.

We also have an ongoing petition signed by almost 30k people. Maybe Steam will finally care?
https://kursnasteam.pl/?lang=en

In the mean time we're very happy that more and more devs see our problem and join the initiative. Studios like Raw Fury, New Blood Interactive, Running With Scissors lowered prices for their whole games catalogue! Our biggest achievement is reaching Bethesda who polished price of their new Indiana Jones before it's release. And we know more from them is coming. Some other notable successes are Silent Hill 2, Hades II, GhostRunner 2, Fort Solis, No Rest For The Wicked and many, many more. A lot of these wouldn't be possible without big polish gaming magazines, who started to write about our initiative. We are now trying to contact Paradox with their help:
https://www.gry-online.pl/newsroom/ceny ... il/z02a922
https://www.cdaction.pl/newsy/ceny-gier ... za-wysokie

We constantly get feedback from devs that see positive effects of polishing their prices. Here's an example from Hardwired Studios:
https://x.com/HardwiredStdios/status/18 ... 1262804383

We of course tried to reach other factory building gamedevs (like the devs of Satisfactory or Sweet Transit), but they are ignoring us and not responding. I don't know if it is some kind of conspiracy among factorio-like gamedevs or what To be fair I have to mention that Timberborn dev polished the price. But it's a Polish dev so that doesn't count

We appreciate the fact, that Wube at least answered our email. Thank you for that. If you need any more materials about our initiative, I'm glad to provide them to you.

We also have a Steam Curator: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45074143/

Thank your for reading my boring message and I hope to get an opinion from any of the Factorio devs

You're complaining about Steam's prices to Wube. That makes no sense.
A. Wube doesn't control Steam's prices.
B. There's no reason NOT to buy it from Wube directly. In fact, if you really wanted to support the developers, you WOULD buy it from Wube so that they would make more money, and not have to give a cut to Steam.

NineNine wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 13, 2024 10:53 pm

A. Wube doesn't control Steam's prices.

That is not accurate, the devs can set any price for any currency they want, it's just a hassle to do and keep track of.

Loewchen wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 13, 2024 11:13 pm

NineNine wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 13, 2024 10:53 pm

A. Wube doesn't control Steam's prices.

That is not accurate, the devs can set any price for any currency they want, it's just a hassle to do and keep track of.

OK, fair enough.
My second point still stands. If you want to support the Factorio developers, you should buy it from them directly. They will make more money because they won't have to give Steam a cut.

I run it directly because:
A. I love Factorio, and I want Wube to get paid as much as possible for their work.
B. I don't need a performance hit of another application running (Steam) while I'm playing Factorio.

NineNine wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 15, 2024 5:21 pm

Loewchen wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 13, 2024 11:13 pm

NineNine wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 13, 2024 10:53 pm

A. Wube doesn't control Steam's prices.

That is not accurate, the devs can set any price for any currency they want, it's just a hassle to do and keep track of.

OK, fair enough.
My second point still stands. If you want to support the Factorio developers, you should buy it from them directly. They will make more money because they won't have to give Steam a cut.

I run it directly because:
A. I love Factorio, and I want Wube to get paid as much as possible for their work.
B. I don't need a performance hit of another application running (Steam) while I'm playing Factorio.

You're right, the best thing anyone can do is buy this game from devs directly. It doesn't change the fact, that most of the people don't know the game is available outside Steam. Let's be honest, almost all of the Factorio income is from Steam.

So I don't buy the argument "if the price is unfair on Steam, buy it on factorio.com". If you create an app or a game, you are responsible for setting the prices everywhere you sell your product. It's your responsibility. I know it's impossible to track 150+ countries exchange rates. I'm not demanding that from Wube, no one is blaming the developers. But picture yourself in this situation: You, as a developer, get reports from clients that something is not right with the price in one of your shops - it's unfair in one of the countries. What do you do?

You can try to fool people into "it's not my fault, I don't have any control over prices, blame Steam, go to them!". But people are not stupid. And that's not the way modern company, that wants to be fair with their customers and build their trust, should respond.