Too much money

Tim Brooks · #1 August 9th, 2000, 07:08 PM

Hi jars_u:

Uuhhh, not really. First of all, I believe this game is going to come in at over 400MB - makes dl impractical. Plus there is the pirating issues involved in downloadable products. Plus, we have to pay for our bandwidth. Just a for instance: Our demo downloads cost us about $700 Last month and the largest demo is 32MB! Could you imagine what a 400MB download would cost!

I wish there was a better answer. We could ship like one of our competitors and maybe save $5.00, but then we would just get complaints that it takes 45 days to get the game! A true no win situation...

------------------
Tim Brooks
Shrapnel Games

Master Belisarius · #2 August 9th, 2000, 09:10 PM

Overseas:
I understand you perfectly, because I live in Uruguay (

), and you can be sure that in most of cases, your problem is bigger outside of Europe!
But the truth is that I am already accustomed, and to solve the problem, I was forced to purchase a mail box in Miami...

[This message has been edited by Master Belisarius (edited 09 August 2000).]

jars_u · #3 August 10th, 2000, 05:13 AM

Tim,

Mhhh, oh well never really thought about it like that. I suppose when the world is wired with cable and dsl lines that might ease the download/bandwith problems. As far as the piracy issues goes right now I think the entire industry is mostly on an "honor" system anyway - people that want to steal by burning a cd or otherwise making illegal copies are going to do it easily and any time they feel like it. I hate to see a return to the day of "decoder wheels" or other such annoying copy right protection devices but someone needs to invent something new. Even Sega's "home brew" format which takes out the ECC on CD's for dreamcast is no longer immunne... Guess my good forutne at living in the US of A got a little better today and saved me some cash 2. For everyone else I guess you will have to hope that Online sales are so outstanding that a retail Version will come out soon... I did my part

jars_u

Mike Tremblay · #4 August 13th, 2000, 10:22 AM

I have to agree with Overseas. I only live in Canada, and with the shipping costs that are tacked on, I am facing a 37% increase in the price of the game considering your flat rate of $13 for shipping to Canada. Now a flat rate of $19 for orders to Europe amounts to a greater than 50% increase in the price of the game. Surely something can be done to reduce this outrageous condition. I was definitly going to buy the game until I saw the total that I was going to have to pay (including your shipping charges). Now I will have to wait until either the shipping charges are reduced or you have more than one (or two) games that I want to order at the same time. I think you seriously have to look at your shipping charges if you consider including the profit potential of your overseas markets.

BTW Tim. I don't want to discourage the intent of Shrapnel Games in order to keep the Game out of the Retail market, but hopefully some sort of arrangement can be made to supply the (obviously) superior games of your company to overseas markets without compromising your stand while at the same time being fair to us - perhaps having overseas distributors for example.

------------------
Mike Tremblay
"Bitter Mike"

[This message has been edited by Mike Tremblay (edited 13 August 2000).]

jars_u · #5 August 14th, 2000, 12:07 AM

Well having some sort of "distribution network" overseas MIGHT work in Canada but what about everywhere else? I don't think it is reasonable to set them up in markets unless the sales are going to justify the cost of doing so. But, lets look at things a little bit pragmatically. SG/SE4 has no control over postal charges. Unless they are going to eat the cost of S&H themselves all they are doing is pretty much passing the cost on to you. Asking them to pay for the S&H is going to cut into their margin to the point that it would hinder future development - and no one wants that. It's frustrating but the price is not that unreasonable a copy of Diablo 2 goes for around $60 U.S. if you buy it retail and probably about the same amount if you order it. I'll certainly get more more play time out of SE4 then I will D2. Pre-order now and you can save $5 off you S&H. But, the best idea so far is to order a bunch of games at once and save S&H that way - AOA:WDK2K is another really good game...

lfavre · #6 August 14th, 2000, 02:01 AM

Stupid question: why Shrapnel doesn't offer cheaper delivery options? As European customer, I'm used to wait 3 to 5 weeks a game to reduce the cost. Not a great enjoyment but a workable one. And for France at least, I never experienced problem with Chips and Bits.

Richard · #7 August 14th, 2000, 02:54 AM

It is just not feasible with our setup PLUS with cheaper options we have no tracking and no way to make sure your order gets to you.

However we do sell this very game through Chips and Bits if you like to wait...

------------------
Sarge is coming...

Richard Arnesen
Director of Covert Ops
Shrapnel Games
http://www.shrapnelgames.com