Don't worry, I'm pretty sure it's a ruse. How to convince angry customers that they are AWESOME:
1. DLC civs will cost 2.50
2. Give them first DLC for "FREE!!!" (nothing is free
), and charge for the other 5.00.
3. People rabble on ridiculous price of DLC civs
4. Come back to #1, and start selling all future DLC civ's at 2.50
5. People are happy that "now the price's not that bad" and start buying.
6. Profit!
Simple, and I'm sure marketing folks are full of themselves now how smart they are - they haven't done anything really, and yet people are grateful for "free" DLC and "low price" of oncoming DLC's. Well done indeed
I guess that's why nowadays games are made mainly for kids - it's hell of a lot harder to fool adults...
By the way, 5USD for one lousy Civ IS a lot, so when they'll release 20 DLC civs EACH for a fiver you'll still be saying it's not a lot?
To buy a deck in Magic:the Gathering on Steam you pay 0.99 Euro - that price is acceptable, though I still wouldn't buy it.