Rebate for PTW owners?

[ChrTh]

I'm not saying PTW owners should get it for free or 50% off or anything, but ...

Axis and Allies released an expansion (Iron Blood) that included the entire original game; owners of A&A could send in their CD and get $10 rebate.

Maybe something similar for PTW owners? We can send in our PTW CD (since it's entirely included on C3C) and get a $5 or $10 rebate (based on price).

This being said, I'm just proposing it as an idea, I'm still getting the game regardless ... I just thought it'd be a nice gesture on the part of Atari/Firaxis.

Please do not turn this thread into a whine-fest.

..and while we're at it, can we get a Colonization scenario based on the original game?

 

[EddyG17]

I totally agree with you. We should get a rebate for owning PTW because after the C3C comes out PTW WILL become WORTHLESS!

 

[WillJ]

I agree. And not just 5 or 10 dollars; it has to be a full refund. Okay, okay, I guess 10 dollars would be fair...

Come on, Firaxis/Atari, PLEASE don't cheat the PTW buyers!

 

[Padma]

Consider that you will have owned and played PTW for up to a full year before Conquests comes out. Is not ~$30 a reasonable price to have paid to have the enjoyment of the game for that long?

 

[ChrTh]

Originally posted by Padma
Consider that you will have owned and played PTW for up to a full year before Conquests comes out. Is not ~$30 a reasonable price to have paid to have the enjoyment of the game for that long?

Padma, I agree with you fully, and I have argued as much elsewhere. I'm not saying this is something we *should* get, I'm just suggesting it to Firaxis/Atari as a way of upping their initial sales upon release

 

[Ivan the Kulak]

A rebate? You've got to be kidding. Don't you realize game companies make their money off of people who eagerly rush out and buy the latest thing? If you want not to pay for civ3, you should have waited until 2006 when you'll be able to pick up a combo pack with civ3 Gold and Conquests in it for 10 bucks. Of course, you'd miss out on 3-4 years of fun - but hey, if the money's that important to you... Rather than complain, use my strategy. when a new game or expansion comes along, don't jump for it like a starving dog for a piece of poison bait. Wait awhile. Let the game mature a bit. Wait for the patches to come out. Watch the fan sites. When the time is right, head down to the software store. You'll get a finished product (when you dl the patches) and you will pay substantially less for it, too.

 

[ChrTh]

Ivan: Read the posts first before replying. You missed the point.

 

[WillJ]

Originally posted by Padma
Consider that you will have owned and played PTW for up to a full year before Conquests comes out. Is not ~$30 a reasonable price to have paid to have the enjoyment of the game for that long?

Yes, you have a point, BUT:

Why should the PTW buyers have to pay AGAIN for what they have already payed for? We already have some of the features in Conquests--the ones included from PTW--so it's silly to charge us for it again. It's like showing a movie, then showing a sequel, but the entire first movie is included in the sequel. Quite stupid, IMO. I know that I"m not 100% sure in how Firaxis/Atari is going to handle this (they might do it in the nicest way possible all along), and I don't want to sound like a whiner. But I just don't see why they had to include all the features of PTW in Conquests. Why couldn't they be seperate? I suspect there'll be less sales for Conquests than if it didn't have the features of PTW, due to disgruntled shoppers. But hey, I'm no marketing expert.

 

[Ivan the Kulak]

ChrTh - I did read the posts, and I did get the point. My point is - they will do exactly as they did with Civ2 - release several expansions, all based on the original game, all priced at full retail, with NO rebate. Why should they give you a rebate? It is NOT going to increase sales - you will buy Conquests anyway. And even the disgruntled few who won't are not going to offset the cost of offering such a rebate. Just because a new package contains the features of an older expansion does not mean you got ripped off.

This is how Civ games are marketed, and unless their sales for the next expansion or 2 are WAY below expections (fat chance)this is how they will continue to do business - if you want all the expansions for a particular iteration of the civ series expect to pay good money for it.

 

[WillJ]

Ivan the Kulak: OK, you're right, sales probably won't go down that much. I guess Atari is just like any other company in that they want to suck as much money out of us as possible. I usually don't get mad at companies like this, but I have to admit that I'm a little POed about Atari putting all the features of PTW into Conquests, probably so that the price can be higher than it otherwise would be, and all the PTW buyers have to pay for PTW again. But I guess I shouldn't complain; it's good marketing. If I were in their position, I'd do the same if it meant more money. Oh well.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

I paid 55 SGD for Civ3. And 50 SGD for PTW.

Now I'll have to fork out, like what, for something that incls PTW again, plus some new stuff...

Though I can afford it, so I'm not complaining too much.

 

[pdescobar]

Originally posted by WillJ
Yes, you have a point, BUT:

Why should the PTW buyers have to pay AGAIN for what they have already payed for? We already have some of the features in Conquests--the ones included from PTW--so it's silly to charge us for it again.

That's only one way to look at it; what makes you assume that PTW features are included in the price valuation? The other side of that coin is that you are paying $30 (or whatever the actual price will be) for only the new scenarios and features which Conquests gives and they then throw in the PTW art and features free of charge. It is then up to you to decide if the Conquests additions are worth that much to you.

It's like showing a movie, then showing a sequel, but the entire first movie is included in the sequel.

That's a poor analogy, but it I can still provide a different way of viewing it. Say I go see "Terminator" and then my local theater a year later announces that it is going to show "Terminator 2" and as a bonus is showing "Terminator" first for no additional charge. If I want to see the first one again, I can sit through them both, but if I just want to see the second, I can buy my ticket, go to dinner, and come back for "Terminator 2." Basicly, with the latter, I am making the decision that "Terminator 2" was worth my money and am simply ignoring the bonus because I can't or don't want to take advantage of it. You should be doing the same here. You should be basing your decision on whether you think the features of C3C are worth your $30,$40,$whatever instead of being bitter over the fact that somebody else gets a free PTW. They may get the features free that you've already paid for, but you've got to play with those features for the past year

As for the original post by ChrTh, Padma summed up my feelings on it quite nicely but I have myself suggested to Atari that they consider a partial rebate for anyone who buys Conquests within 6 months (for example) of the time they bought PTW. The idea being that if you had at least 6 months of PTW play, you got your money's worth, but if you haven't then Atari makes a good-faith gesture in return. I don't expect it to happen, and it doesn't affect me as I've definitely gotten my $30 or $40 worth of fun out of PTW, but I did think it was a good suggestion

 

[WillJ]

@pdescobar: You're right, I guess I should wait to see the price. If it costs $30 or less (what I think Conquests is worth, judging from the previews), I'll be perfectly happy.

 

[Quentin]

I guess I'm not happy about spending $$ on PTW because I haven't played it much yet due to my computer being too pathetic. I've had it since Nov but then I haven't even completed my first game(comp. hangs quite often, rather frustrating having to redo what I've spent 3+ hrs doing just because I don't use autosave). But really if Conquest is worth the same as PTW I'd think that's very reasonable. I'd still be buying it. I'm getting a new computer quite soon anyway.

 

[Mallipeep]

Dont you feel ripped off when you bought your new computer for 1000€ but your neighbour gets the same computer next year for 500€ ???

 

[Rob (R8XFT)]

I don't feel ripped off. I've had a year of PTW, and feel it was good value for money. When I buy C3C, it will not matter to me whether or not it includes PTW, I'm buying it for the C3C element of the product.

 

[marceagleye]

Instead of a mail in rebate, how about a discount on conquests for our used discs. The retailer could instantly reshelve it in the used games discount section.

 

[Ivan the Kulak]

Well, I just got PTW not too long ago, and I don't feel ripped off even if the PTW stuff appears in Conquests. The scenarios and the ease of modding make it well worth the price - DyP alone makes this worth the cost (The game is selling for about $20 US where I live right now). If you bought it earlier you paid more but you got more playing time with it.

RE: turning in your CD's - this might work in some areas, but there are no used software stores where I live - even the smaller guys won't carry any used stuff or take trades. Overall, I think they might have a problem remarketing all those used PTW CDs. If they give you $10 back for it, and the game is selling for $20 new, how is the store going to make a worthwhile profit on it, especially once Conquests is out? Why buy a used game for $15 when you can get it new for $19.99 or even less?

 

[Civrules]

I really don't care to tell you the trouth.

 

[John Falkner]

I´m so happy that Firaxis is working on another expansion of my favourite game, so i would prepay Conquest and the next four expansions. The costs doesn´t matter, just give me your account number and i´ll transfer all of my money .