[NFP] Frontier pass - Paying in advance and quality

[DJ_Tanner]

Generally I don't pre-order, as I agree that it creates an incentive to half-ass a product.

It does not, at least for any established firm. Yes, you can scrimp on quality after receiving funds for something, but you can only do that once. Unless you have a near huge customer churn rate by the next time you do it, there is no incentive to produce low quality after receiving funding, as it will lower the potential funding for the next round.

 

[bbbt]

I guess I don't get the big deal, i.e. this just seems like a standard 'subscription' model to me.

-I currently subscribe to a 'CSA' - I get a box of vegetables every week. I don't choose what's in it. I could also go to the farmer's market and buy them individually. I have a similar subscription that sends flowers to my mother every month.
-Back in the ancient times of my youth, you had these things called 'magazines'. You could buy them individually in the store, or get them sent to your house monthly.

Both the CSA and the magazine subscriptions were paid in advance for a certain period of time.

It doesn't seem that different to me. If you liked a magazine and were generally interested in it's content, you could subscribe. If you only were occasionally interested in it depending on what articles were covered that month, buy individual ones in the store or read them at the library. If you have too many magazines coming every month to ready, maybe subscribe to less. Don't fall for high-pressure sales techniques by Publisher's Clearinghouse.

 

[RealHuhn]

I'm not a big fan of spoon-fed content. I wish they would release a proper expansion pack instead. It's more exciting to dive into a full set of new game mechanics and civs.
Now, we have to wait several months for a new district and a couple of civs. I'm just not interested in other game modes unfortunately. Whether I enjoy this pass or not entirely depends on many unknown factors like how often they release balance patches, UI updates etc. and how much content of those new game modes affect the main game as well. That's why I'm defintely not paying in advance.

 

[ezzlar]

It seems that if your major interest is new civs this model is a low risk investment. I am mainly interested in new mechanics, I dont feel the confidence most people here share. As I preordered Civ 6 a few years ago the game was promised to be the most ´moddable´ or similiar. That didn´t happen.

 

[_hero_]

I'm paying for the food item because I know it's already there and I can see it and touch it.

Well, most people buy food because they think it's going to taste good, not because they like touching it or looking at it.

I pay to see a movie because I know it's a complete piece of entertainment (same as buying a video game traditionally btw). It's not like I'm buying to see a movie, but they're still shooting it, and I'll have to wait a year to see the final product.

Most people make their decision on whether to go to a movie or not based on a trailer. They see like 1-2% of the finished product and decide that it's worth paying for. Sometimes they are right, other times they leave the theater angry that they wasted money on it.That's not any different than seeing a trailer for a video game with a list of features and choosing to buy it without knowing 100% of what's going to be in it.

And I go to live sports for the atmosphere and social experience, not just so I can see my team win.

And most fans have experienced deep frustration after a particularly bad performance. It's pretty common to hear fans of bad teams say they're canceling their season tickets after such performances. They usually don't though.

My point isn't necessarily that it's good that they went with this business model. My point is that people like you don't apply the same logic to nearly every other product on the market. Only video games. Nothing you've said has convinced me otherwise.

 

[Bechhold]

Well as of right now nobody will be preordering as you can't purchase anything Frontiers related through Steam.