HL2 Pricing. (This worries me.)

[pinkerton]

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:
Lots of smilies so nobody misses my post =D. Steam will be free guys, vavle has said that like 50 times. However, you can buy half-life 2 and other vavle games through steam. You order, they let you download, and then you get a registry key. Thats pretty simple guys.

 

[Parasite]

what statement led you to believe Valve is charging for multiplayer?...or steam for that matter?

You guys get so carried away with speculation and hear-say... :/

 

[Crptic]

3 prices? thats easy:

1) steam pirce
2) regular box price
3) Special silver box price

 

[Boogaleeboo]

Yeah, that interests me. What insane comment made you think that they would charge to use mods? Or, for that matter, that they even COULD charge to use mods?

 

[flupke]

- HL2 Single Player purchased over Steam (not the retail box)
- HL2 Multiplayer (could be a separate product/module)
- Additional HL2 Single Player content, additional episodes that can be downloaded via Steam - official Valve content
- Mods that people make and decide to charge for and distribute via Steam

I think this is the best answer i found, but i don't agree with the separation of MP & SP.. I mean, HL2.. Yes, SP will rock our nation ( =) ), but MP will be the ultimate long-awaited thingie! MOD's wil practicly be able to do WHATEVER they want in that game. The engine is perfect. I would be extremely stupid if Valve separates SP & MP.. My opinion though.

 

[Majestic XII]

Originally posted by jasonh1234
-----Original Message-----
From: Marcus Swede [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2003 4:30 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: HL2 question (surprised?)

<4>Will HL2 be more expencive than regular games? Becouse by buying HL2 you buy 100000 games in one(mods)


4) We're looking at a variety of pricing approaches - basically a three tiered retail strategy as well as a subscription option for people who'd rather go that way. We always have tried to give gamers more value for their dollar than other game companies.


3 tiers?

So...
Basic game = $XX.00
Basic game plus limited mod playing ability = $XX.00
Basic game plus unlimited mod playing ability = $XXX.00

If that's the case I will be truly depressed.

Or maybe it's...
Basic game = $XX.00
Basic game plus Counterstrike = $XX.00
Basic game plus Team Fortress 2 and Counterstrike = $XXX.00

could be...
Basic game = $XX.00
Basic game plus 6 months of multiplayer time = $XX.00
Basic game plus 12 months of multiplayer time = $XXX.00

I dunno. I'm worried though.

Wow...thats one of the dumbest things i ever saw (on this forum...i think)! Do you really think that? Dude....wow...

HL2 will be like every other game around. It whould be really dumb of Valve to make a such thing!

You need to get out in the sun so you can think clearly...

(Dont take this post too hard....i "think" i can understand you..)

 

[Face Stabber]

I don't know about this.



I mean they're already going to make a gagillion dollars(U.S.) and I don't think they're going to bleed their fanbase dry.

 

[yeggz]

Here's my BEST guess:

Half Life 2 = $50

Half Life 2: Collecter's Edition (CD) = $65

Half Life 2: Collecter's Edition (DVD) = $75

Personally, for the game alone, I'd easily pay up to 70 dollars, and easily up to 90 for the collecter's edition.

 

[rootbin]

valve will most likely not charge for multiplayer, when they said subscription, they meant that you can pay for twelve months of half-life 2 over steam, download it, and after twelve months steam deletes it/disallows it and you can't play it anymore. OR you can pay up front and have the game as long as you want.

 

[dscowboy]

Originally posted by Boogaleeboo
Yeah, that interests me. What insane comment made you think that they would charge to use mods? Or, for that matter, that they even COULD charge to use mods?

That's part of the whole point of Steam, they want to help improve the quality and quantity of mods by opening it up to professionals. Amateurs will still be able to make mods in their spare time and release them for free, but with Steam, Valve is hoping professional teams will start making 'mods' also and selling them over Steam. With revenue from Steam, these professional mod teams will be able to devote much more time and money to making bigger, more professional mods.

And 'mod' is a misleading term. Valve is positioning HL2 as a platform that people can make whole new games from. Steam is the foundation of a new business concept in the game industry. If Valve succeeds, expect the way you think about buying PC games to change completely.

 

[yeggz]

why would valve charge for multiplayer when they don't need to host servers?

 

[Kamakazie]

**** sake, this is really starting to annoy me....... almost every thread on here has someone guessing or "knowing" how valve plan to **** us gamers over and rip us all off.

THEY HAVE NOT RIPPED US OFF AT ALL IN THE PAST!!!
THEY HAVE NOT BEEN MONEY GRABBING BASTARDS LIKE EA etc.

basically........ the game will cost the normal price, TF2 being a standalone game will cost prolly a bit less than a normal game depending on what the single player is like. CS2 will be free to DL from some places, prolly cost a little on steam and cost a bit more in retail shops.
they will not charge for multiplayer.

my guessing for the 3 tier is:

HL2 retail in box
HL2 steam
HL2 multipack including retailed mods that have been made..... possibly, or maybe a HL2 special edition.

just stop acting and talking as though Valve have been ripping you off and dont work hard for their community and end user. never have i seena games company exec that replies to email and goes on to irc to have chats other than MMORPGS that rely on online communities. its really annoying me, some of you seem to NEVER be happy no matter what you get for free.

Kam

 

[FatboyTim]

My guess:

HL Tier#

1. Purchased at retail outlet.
2. Purchased via Steam, cheaper option.
3. Puchased via mail order, includes plush headcrab toy.

 

[Defcon]

Ok, if they charged seperately to make the user pay to play modifications no modification group would consider making a mod for HL2, as they'd have cut the mod community to about 5%, not forgetting the costs people have to pay for servers etc.

Then there's the fact, Valve has worked so hard on getting this perfect for modders. Far more so than HL1. I doubt they'll throw it away on a dumb idea :O

 

[urseus]

Originally posted by Wesisapie
urseus, you seem overconfident.

It seems almost logical they would try to pull a fast one on us.
i can see them making steam subscription, which would be ok IF it wasn't necessary to play normal HL2 online (people claim this is true)

the pricing "tiers" worry me too

It makes no sense for them to charge you to use steam, not for a long while anyway. Im lead to belive this because:

- This is a completly new way of content delivery, and they would want to get it out to as many people as they can. Everyone knows the only way things get popular (ICQ ect) is when they are free.

- There is no real need for a continual subsciption fee. MMORGS need one as they have constantly running servers, with people always online monitoring it and backing it up and repairing and upgrading. Thats why you pay money. With half life the single player is on your computer, and the multiplayer is on privatly run servers like jolt or some such, nothing to do with valve. Steam is like kazza, where valve has all the good music, and just leaves their computer on all the time and lets people take what they want.

There wont be any charge with steam, unless your making a purchase through it. Even then i think i read that its a little cheaper.

 

[xtekian]

please people, why would valve make hl2 so expensive when they're going to such lengths to make sure that hl2 is compatible with tnt2? valve is catering to poor folk as well as rich folk, thus the scalable engine. so hl2 won't cost much, no multiplayer fee.

 

[h00dlum]

yeah my mail! no Valve is nice guys they dont need to go that way with retail prices..the game will sell like hell anyway

 

[Infiniti]

Hasn't Valve made enough money no Blue Shift, Opposing Force, and Counter-strike? I'd seriously doubt they'd charge so much for a game, not to mention MP. Which they won't, chill out.

 

[Ad0]

Subscription system is perhaps like MSDN Universal. You get all games etc, unlimited for a yearly fee.

 

[MoxPearl]

THis is my first post in this forum

But this thread is stupid in my opinion

Valve are not dumb..

Think half life 1...

 

[jasonh1234]

Wow what a bunch of spazzes. I just blurted out the first thing that came to mind. Yes it seems obvious now that the tiers are for the different packaging and format of the disc. And if I had remembered about the different packaging at the time, I wouldn't have said a thing. But I didn't. Calm down people or you'll have an ulcer by the time you're 30.

 

[Dr. Freeman]

Originally posted by FatboyTim
My guess:

HL Tier#

1. Purchased at retail outlet.
2. Purchased via Steam, cheaper option.
3. Puchased via mail order, includes plush headcrab toy.

lol

i want my headcrab toy!!!! :afro:

 

[Yatta]

lol are you kidding me? the most it will be is $60 and I'm expecting it to sell for 49.99 USA Dollars in Best Buy. Mods are free unless you're talking about Counter-Strike and Team Fortress. And they don't have much to do with the new Half-Life (2) anyway

 

[sayam]

1) I refuse to pay monthly fees for CS
2) I want a plush Headcrab
3) September 30th release date

thats all i want!

 

[el Chi]

If Valve charge a subscription fee for multiplayer, I'm going to be very disappointed. That's always seemed to me to be close to blackmailing fans and I expect better of Valve (by which I mean I respect them almost unconditionally and this would severely taint my view of them)

 

[Chris D]

They need to make money from Steam eventually. But don't forget, they're going to need parts of it to stay free for releasing patch content etc. They wouldn't charge for that at all. I guess that the only thing we'll pay for on Steam is games that we want to buy.

 

[MoxPearl]

i really dont like the idea of "Paying" For mods.. :/

the reason mods are so sucsessfull is cause they ARE free.. and now they are saying that if your a mod maker u can make it so ppl have to PAY for it.. I just get the feeling maybe we will have lots of crappy mods ppl trying to make money off....

I just hope that mod makers decide to go the free way.. thats my 2 cents..

i like the idea at the moment.. U can get cs free.. and u can ALSO buy it..

 

[dscowboy]

See, I was right about professional mods:

hey ive been thinking will programmers be able to sell their mods over steam and not have them free for download? ,
then they would put more time n money into thier mods and make better quality mods ,
maybe this is part of one of your master plans lol
it would open up for the pros to make mods and not just amatures.

p.s thx alot for answering my last email
-Bo

Yes, MOD makers can use the billing interfaces in Steam to go commercial with their MODs. We're about to turn those on in Steam.

http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=51257#post51257

 

[Mountain Man]

I have a feeling that a lot of mod teams will go belly up when they realize that people don't want to pay good money for their amateur efforts.

 

[jasonh1234]

Originally posted by Mountain Man
I have a feeling that a lot of mod teams will go belly up when they realize that people don't want to pay good money for their amateur efforts.

Looks like mod teams are gonna need to create demos now too.

 

[Parasite]

Originally posted by dscowboy
Yes, MOD makers can use the billing interfaces in Steam to go commercial with their MODs. We're about to turn those on in Steam.[/url]

that really seems like a mistake to me...I predict we will see far less mods just because the amount of effort, time and difficulty it will take to produce them...IE fewer more talented and experienced teams making higher quality mods.(as opposed to HL that had several teams of varying talent releasing mods of varying degrees of quality)

Now I expect everyone will try to make a buck...or give up when they fail to see any profits. Expect to be charged for things like admin mod for HL2 and CS2. Nothing but the simplest, smallest tweek mods will be free...sad really.

Ironic...Ive spent a good deal of effort arguing that mods will be free too. Now, I doubt very much anything more than the most trivial mods will be free.

I can see much of this come crashing down on Valve when people are dissapointed with mods they purchase through steam...and a lack of tech support, timely updates and bug fixes etc. I seriously doubt that being able to charge for thier work is goint to turn mod teams into responsible proffesionals.

But anyway...thats just the pessimist in me...and these are all the possible negatives. I dont think its nescesary to point out all the positives that can emerge from a system like this, they should be obvious.

 

[coolUK007]

Halflife 2 will be pay as you go... it will feature special metering technology that will charge you 0.20p per minute. So you will pay for as much as you play. I know this because i make all the games at home. And i am a senior adviser to all game makers. Im not jumping to conclusions because... because all my teachers say im clever... and... and... if you say im lying im gonna tell my mom.
-only kidding -

 

[dscowboy]

Geez guys, nothing's going to change except that mod-makers will have the _option_ to charge money. The only reason CS and DOD are as good as they are today is because Sierra agreed to publish them, which funded further development. This just gives all mods the opportunity to go the same route if they want.

I think some of you people are a little spoiled. When I used to play CS, I got more hours of fun from it than most other games _combined_. Acting like everything should be free is kind of silly. When I find an independent website that I get a lot of info from, I donate to it because I know that if I was running a website like that, I'd be hoping every day that more people would donate so I could quit my day job and do the website professionally. I'm sure most mod-makers would like to be able to work on their mod without being a slave to their day job too. I don't see how paying 10 bucks or so for something you enjoy is such a big deal. Heck, if you compare the amount of time I've spent playing CS verses the amount of time I've spent playing other games I paid $50 for, CS would be worth hundreds of dollars to me.

Not that I'd pay hundreds of dollars, but I'm certainly willing to pay 10 - 20 bucks, as long as most of it goes straight to the developers.

 

[Parasite]

Well said cowboy...I dont think anyone should get everything for free, but at the same time...just because you make something does not make it worth money.

Like I said...there are positives to this system. Mod teams that are actually skilled will put more effort and time into thier work...producing higher quality mods...they can put the money towards better computers, or modelling software...texture packages...animation lessons, website maintenance, top Ramen, etc.

It will weed out lower quality mods when thier efforst arent rewarded, simultaneously shifting the talented people from low quality mods onto the more professional teams.

And we still have to assume that more people will play a free mod anyway.

But I dont know...I still think the optional donation system works best.

 

[dscowboy]

Top Ramen, lol

check this out:

"We also think there is another class of developers in between the amateur, for-fun developer and the professional developer working at EA or Activision for whom we can also package and appropriately price Source."
http://www.gamedaily.com/features_new/valve/

He's talking about licensing the Source engine, but this is consistent with the Steam strategy. These developers he's talking about (who are between the amateurs and the people already working at big game companies) would be able to not only license the engine technology, but publish directly to HL2 customers via Steam.

What I'd like to see is a contract where anyone can license the Source engine for a small administrative fee (100 bucks or something), provided they only publish on Steam, and they let Valve take a percentage of their earnings for use of the engine. So it works like this: Steam charges 20 bucks per license of your game. Valve takes 10% of that for use of their Steam network (which is also distributed to the Steam bandwidth providers like GameStop), and 15% goes toward the Source engine licensing fee. You're left with $15 per purchase, which is equal to or more than most professional development studios pocket when they sell retail boxes of their game at $50 each, everybody wins!

This is pretty exciting (provided my guesses are close).