Hope you enjoy this new show! We've got the next episode in the works already and we couldn't be more excited to get a show like this going on the channel finally. Let us know what you think in the comments and what other stories you think we should cover! Episode 2 of The Stuff of Legends is already out in Early Access for Patreon / UA-cam Membership subscribers!
And for about 3-4$ you absolutely was not suffering in SE. Honestly, watching your challanges is probably as interesting as playing myself, and it's free, so that's even a better deal
Dosh! Just got into your videos! Been binging them. I misread your message and thought that you thought 150 hours total was a lot and was gonna say something douchey and condescending like 'try 2000 hours noob! Haha bet you envy my lack of a social life!' but then I reread it..
I like the idea of just telling oddball stories about random games. And this guy's voice reminds me of a hard boiled noir detective, which adds to the vibe.
Honestly, Frost is one of the few creators I enjoy listening to enough that I'll usually recognize or keep an eye out for him. Especially now that he's been picked up by ZP.
i bought factorio back when the only way to buy it was through their own website and my bank called me and asked about my purchase to some strange site from eastern europe lol
LOL same here, I remember telling people its a great game but when you go to buy it don't get turned off by the place you get it from because it was a bit shady looking... Best money I ever spent tho $20
I kind of respect that commitment to the price tag never devaluing itself. I know they say it's to respect their investors but they are also saying "this game is worth the amount we are asking for".
To be honest, it's worth 10 times that price. The only other modern game I can think which can beat Factorio with buck/hour cheapest price is Terraria.
@@HelgeHolm On the one hand, this is true. On the other hand, I can't really afford games. I don't hunt bargains for "primal satisfaction" like this video implies, I hunt bargains because they're the only way I can sanely partake in the pastime/hobby I've enjoyed for the last ~30 years (or at least, the only way I can justify potentially crippling myself financially for the month in which I make the purchase). Don't get me wrong: I respect companies who have a commitment to this pricing philosophy. I don't think it's bad, per se, that they have a firm minimum value they're willing to accept in exchange for their game, and they always charge that amount. But it is an accessibility tradeoff. For every person who feels like they "paid double" when they see a game on sale they previous bought for full price (I sympathize - I bought all the CK2 DLC over the course of 3 sales, right before they switched to a subscription model), there's someone like me who traded in a pirated copy of the game when a bargain (significant enough that they could delude themselves into paying at all) presented itself. I probably wouldn't own RimWorld if not for the fact that, at one point, Epic offered a flat $10 off any game coupon during their sales - at the time I bought it, I don't think RimWorld had ever been discounted by more than 10%. Sales tax where I live is 15%. If the final price after tax is calculated is still above the non-discounted price, are you even offering a discount? At least negate the sales tax. Christ. I only own Factorio because someone gifted it to me.
@@rushi5638 With respect, as I don't know your budget, that's just an excuse. If someone can't afford to buy more than one game per month at 50% off, they can just use two months' budget to buy a full-priced game. The reality is, if they like the game enough to sink hundreds of hours into it, it's worth the price at any price whether that's $5 or $50.
I just love the cold open of Yahtzee giving Frost his own imps. Now he's really part of the family. This first episode was great. I love Frost's Noir-esque narration and can't wait to see what strange tale he covers in the future.
Unironically started a bigger programming project because I had to put so much effort into the Pyanodon mod that I decided I should just do something less demanding in real life lol.
@preacher3958 OK, and? All you're saying is that either you'll never get the game, or just pirate it. Neither of those makes you particularly special, kiddo.
@preacher3958It's vastly better than most AAA games so at $35 it's basically half off. And it has a demo. In 2023. Go try it out. You'll be happy you did
@@upcomingshoes6908 Still waiting to see how Satisfactory finally turns out when it releases fully. Specifically how much it supports modding, and how much it leans into combat. I know Factorio already does both, but I prefer Satisfactory's perspective. Those two elements are key though. I'll get Factorio, or not get it, depending on how Satisfactory comes out.
Yahtzee and Frost, together at last. What a time to be alive. Seriously though, I love this - both the story and the framing bit at the beginning. The concept of unique gaming industry stories reminds me of Yahtzee's "Special Moments in Gaming History" ZPs.
Yup! Inspiration came directly from those episodes. I've wanted to make a series out of that for as long as I've been here, so I'm really excited we've finally found a way to make it happen!
Yahtzee doing an episode all in one manic breath delivering punch lines faster than you have time to recover from last one, over to Frost doing each sentence with a fresh lung full of cigar sweetened jazz lounge air and a sip of whiskey. It is a fun dichotomy.
6:33 "During its early access period, Factorio had a base price of $20, which was bumped to $30 back in 2020 once version 1.0 was released. Ever since, the PC version has remained at said price, EXCEPT FOR THE OCCASIONAL SALE. But as Wube Software announced today on Twitter, this is......" Diego Nicolas Arguello didn't do their homework, and just tossed in that prevarication because for any other game, it would've been true.
I wholeheartedly support the idea of the price reflecting the game's development. You're essentially asking people to only pay for what is currently in the game, none of the usual bullshit of paying for what some naive moron *thinks* they can have in the finished version that might not even happen. Also frees you from that most horrid of revelations. When you buy a game full price only for it to randomly go 50% off before 48 hours have passed.
@@Coconut-219 Of course, that's my point. No more half-baked garbage pricing itself on what they claim will be in the finished product. If you're working on a game that you feel is gonna be worth 40 bucks, start by charging 10, and then keep moving the price closer to the 40 bucks as you get closer to the final vision.
Story of factorio is even deeper and cooler when you look at the fact, that the indiegogo campaign was after Kovarex. and Tomik already invested like three man years into the game without any investor.
Wube are a lot like Valve in their transparency and also radio silence. They've been working on the first expansion and haven't had too much to show for it, but I figure it's because they don't want people running away with WIP information and potentially poisoning their future content they decide to share. I ordered two Factorio shirts a while back and even THOSE were well made. Shipped from the Czech Republic, too!
Wube during early access development though was one of the best companies for communication. Their friday facts blog posts constantly kept people updated on the progress of new developments and the interesting problems they found and the cool solutions they developed to handle them. They have been on and off with continuing the weekly updates since release as the updates are a lot less incremental and take a lot more work before they can really be shown, but I just double checked and they resumed weekly updates a little over a month ago as they have made significant progress on their next expansion.
Interesting! I didn't know any of this info. I got Factorio back in 2016 for $20 and bought three copies for my friends we are still having a blast. Never felt shady or like I was being duped. Heck knowing what I know now about the game I'd pay $30 or more for it.
I have a coworker who is interested in Factorio, but said "I will wait for a sale". I told him the game NEVER goes on sale and he just said "Then I will never buy it".
Good on him. There are better, similar games out there for less nowadays (like Dyson Sphere Program). They should revise their "never goes on sale" BS.
@@NobbsAndVagene Nah, none of them come close to Factorio. Especially in terms of scale. The amount of optimization put into that game is ludicrous and allows bases that wouldnt be possible in any of the "better" alternatives. Its more than understandable that they never go on sale. Way too many people want to pay way too little for many games these days.
@@xXYannuschXx I've played Factorio. Have you played DSP? It's better and costs half as much. And as for scale? You can literally transform a planet. You can transform every planet in a galaxy if you so desire, and have all these factories working together to feed a megafactory. Or however you wanna do it. And they're not done developing that game yet, either - not that it feels unfinished, because it doesn't. Runs great too, very well optimized. Meanwhile I've heard talk of people wanting a 5800X3D or similar high-end processors just to run Factorio. What the fock? It looks like it should be able to run on a pregnancy test. I'd rather pay the same price for DSP as for Factorio, because it's the better game. And honestly, so is Satisfactory, but the full-on 3D might put some people off. Gives off a slightly different vibe. tl;dr: I suggest you listen to your friend more often.
@@NobbsAndVagene You don't understand what they meant by scale, then. Each "planet" in DSP is tiny. I've played both DPS and Factorio, and Factorio is still way ahead in almost everything. If you want a galaxy to explore there's even Space Exploration for Factorio. And I don't understand why people you've heard about wanting a high end processor for Factorio, you can run it very well on incredibly low-end stuff. But Factorio is more restricted by CPU than GPU, once you're working on massive megabase levels. It's to the point that some people use Factorio as a benchmark for the CPU. Now, I'm not saying that DSP is bad, and I really hope it becomes as good as it can, but it has quite a way to go.
@@NobbsAndVageneI've played both. They are both fun. Factorio is a much deeper game, hands down. Dyson Spirit program is nice, but it starts to drag in the late game, whereas factorio only grows in both complexity and the ways you can interact with the factory without obsoleting any of the previous mechanics. I've explored two planets beyond the one you start with and I'm not even sure I'm in the late game yet. Once you get off planet in Dyson sphere program it starts to get very samey with itself.
I bought Factorio for €10 (the $13USD era) and I have at least 700 hours. That's what it says on Steam at least. There's probably more hours from the standalone earlier in development. More recently I bought the version ported to the Nintendo Switch at full price. Plugging that into my calculator we get roughly 6 cents per hour, before counting time on Standalone and Switch. And if that ain't value for money I don't know what is. The best time to get Factorio was when it was €10. The second best time is when you have some annual leave booked so that staying awake until 2am doesn't cost you your job.
I remember when I first noticed it and it was $20 even, I tagged it for my wishlist and waited for it to go on sale. Now it's $35 and it's never been on sale. 😄
We had someone that worked at a dominos in my home down that was a bit of a local celebrity because his voice was weirdly deep and smooth, like Barry White but more. First time I called to order a pizza (to show how old I am) I seriously thought the guy was doing a bit. Ran into him a few times here and there and no, that's actually just what he sounded like. He was also a pretty scrawny white kid so that was confusing the first time.
@@hourglass1988 Not to put you on the spot or anything. But the fact that the kid being white makes a difference in association with having a deep voice. And the fact that I immediately understand what you mean with 'scrawny white kid', (again not putting this on you) is telling of how deep the anti-white sentiment runs in our collective minds. I wish we didn't need to talk about color, but since we're talking about it, we need to talk about it.
A friend from Space Engineers gifted me Factorio because he saw my creative side. After playing 2000 hours I have found zero game bugs in Factorio,. One bug report which i didn't personally experience said the chat box text goes rainbow if you set the game to 100x speed and leave it overnight. The next day the bug was fixed. That is the commitment to excellence the team at Wube strives for.
Absolutely THIS! As a software developer, I like how Wube takes their work seriously and don't rush with buggy software. Which not only leads to a better product, but also reduces development cost in the long run, since the code base is healthy and relativity easy to work on. Sometimes I'm so ashamed of what some companies release as software.
I've ran into one bug, looked for it and didn't find a post. By the time I had written the forum post with screenshots, it was posted. Bug was fixed 6 hours later. Actually incredible.
@@Cenot4ph Factorio has been on Steam for 7 years. Quite easy to accumulate 2000 hours over time. Even easier when you have a very specific taste that few games satisfy.
Which would be KINDA ok they were fair about it instead of exploitive and elitist/baring people depended on sales to take part in video game culture from their piece of art. Which is, after all, digital in nature. They do not trade it away, losing their priceless unique item, they sell an infinitely and basically free to make instance of their already finished work. That is not the same as Grandpa not wanting to sell his out-of-print LPs on the flea market for less than it costed him in gas to haul them to the yard.
@@rabenfedersonnenhut That's misunderstanding what you're paying for when you're buying some software. What you're paying is work, it's the time they spent designing it, coding it, debugging it, aggregating feedback from the community, and so on. It's the same as the hairdresser. You're not paying for some end product, you're paying for the work they did and time they spent.
@@nerze3157 If you REALLY want to get into the argument with the "you didn't buy the game, you buy a license to use their product" concept, aka "Games as a service",then there is nothing more to say, the Corpos already have brainwashed you thoroughly if you deem that valid, and I am genuinely sorry for you. We DO pay for this work by buying the game at all. It is part of the product. Server costs for multiplayer when not hosted by the players themselves, obviously those need to be paid by subscriptions etc, they are understandable, everything else is to be included in the normal price. If they need to debug more after release, that is taking care of their product in the same way you can demand a broken mixer to be repaired when it was delivered flawed. If they do the good work of listening to their community, that I would call simply intelligent, because a customer base that feels like the Dev's sincerely care beyond their legal bindings is more open to give further projects a chance. That's customer relationship management, something in their interest, not something you should by default feel obligated to pay for. Coders, designers, devs and everyone else in this process build a product when they are crafting a game, they do not provide a service.
@@rabenfedersonnenhut Exploiting WHO, exactly? It's a game, one piece of entertainment among thousands, no one NEEDS it or is forced to buy it. Stop acting so entitled, you can engage in "the culture" (lol) all you want on UA-cam and forums and discussions, but no one owes you a free game and I applaud Wube for not undercutting its full-price customers. Factorio has been developed continuously for over 12 years now and is only getting better, they know what they've got and they know what their work is worth.
@@TheKrimzonGuard If you don't think people deserve access to art and culture no matter what their financial situation is, yes, then there is no sense in arguing, you are already a convinced slave to the greed-is-good mentality instead of a fair society. Your brainless hint at games not being culture already shows more than enough about you. No one said anything about free, but such is expected from someone who has obviously no clue about the issues I mentioned. Fair prices and price policy is what this is about, and the devs spit in the face of that concept.
But here is the rub. Subjectively factorio is worth the price. I feel the price grew with the content included as the devs have worked tirelessly on it.
I dig the hell out of this format. Smaller, concise videos about fun anomalies in the game industry is a pretty good idea, and your narrator has a delightful voice! Can't wait to see more! ^^
What a delightful show. Another relevant tidbit to this story is there is another hugely popular game with a similar pricing scheme, Minecraft. The Factorio developers in the past have discussed how the game was in part inspired by various automation mods for Minecraft, so I don't think its any surprise to see a similar pricing model.
@@DemRat According to Steam, ive been playing since 2016. I have over 3500 hours logged. What's your point? If you're about to try to relate this back to Minecrap again, even back then this was nothing like that game.
@@Thingsyourollup The alpha and beta of minecraft, back when it had nothing to do with microsoft. The influence it had on the gaming landscape is inarguable, and I am really not sure why you'd want to separate Factorios development from that impact, even if you don't like the game. Would you elaborate why you get so defensive about it?
In an age of link rot, page loss, and partial archives (and how much worse these things are for games) I have to give kudos to any effort at history and archival of games. Plus, this is quite well done. My list of patreons-to-support-when-i-stop-being-broke grows once again. To whoever may read this comment: May your tomorrow be better than your today, whether by an inch or by a mile.
Factorio is also the singl game that I have seen that has a devteam pushing out bugfixes hours after reporting them, and is polished beyond perfection. Nothing else I have seen is like it.
I bought factorio for $20 after playing a pirated version for months. It is definitely worth $35. It is better than some games that cost $60. I honestly hate the stigma that indie games are never allowed to be "full price".
Saw the channel update earlier and this merely confirmed that my excitement for the growth of the channel is warranted, here's to the quality content you guys are always able to make 🎉
As I recall, it's also the only game on Steam with a pricetag that's not "and 99 cents". They're just that comitted to honest pricing, no matter whether everyone else does it ot not. You really have to commend them for that.
I paid $35 for Factorio, and y'know what? I don't regret it. They made a FINE game indeed, and I feel they deserve every single dollar for being open and honest. I hope they prosper in all ways imaginable.
Absolutely lovely voice, he's got one of those voices you could listen to read a phone book and enjoy it, but with the added benefit of interesting subject matter. Fantastic
Got this recommended to me by youtube, and was worth the watch! the silky smooth voice alone made it worth it. my only coplaint was that the background music/noise playing at 2:50 (before and onwards) was a bit grating to my ears
Great new show! And an excellent topic to start on, I am a gamer that 99% of the time waits on sales, because publishers tend to offer at least a small discount within months or even weeks of launch. It really feels disrespectful to devs and players, not asigning a fair value for a game and STICKING to it. Fine, offer a sale 6 months after, everyone deserves good games, but at launch it seems almost every game is overpriced and the industry recognises that! Add to that the crunch conditions, the revenue split between the directives and the Dev team, and products rushed with microtransactions to boot... Most games aren't worth their launch price ever. I am also part of the problem, having preordered Cyberpunk and seeing the state it launched in (although to be fair I love the game from launch so ), but I really try not to reorder and avoid bad actors just as Ubisoft.
As someone who loves factorio, i have 1350hrs in it. Bought it when it was 20$, I'd buy it again, if steam would let me. Its worth the price. Hours per dollar, ( how video games could be scored) this game is hella worth it
If there was ever a game that deserved to be priced at $60, it's Factorio. I genuinely feel guilty having gotten so much from such a small purchase. I keep checking their merch store so I can give them more money but I don't like wearing shirts that have logos/writing on them for some reason. I really hope they come out with posters and such.
@HDL_CinC_Dragon I completely forget about that. I'm definitely checking out soon!!!! I'm patiently waiting for the expansion, and everything. I love this game so much
@@Kabluey2011 There might also be a way to upgrade your Factorio account through their website. Originally you could pay for the base game, then additional costs for 'name in the game' and things like that.
To be honest the fact that it never went on sale made me buy since i had a lot of other games that i thought weren't worth the price that i was waiting to get a discount. And after buying it and sinking hundreads of hours into it, its pretty good.
Minor correction on a great video: Riot Games never had a partnership with G2A. Riot banned their professional League of Legends teams from having G2A sponsorships displayed anywhere related to their LoL teams.
First played Factorio in those early days when you could just ask for a key, then I bought it for myself later at 20$, for friends at 20, 25, and another at 30, and even now at 35$ I would buy it again. They would have even more of my money if it was cheaper/on sale (as I would hand out more copies) but even now I feel Ive gotten my moneys worth with it.
the devs themselves said they’d rather have you pirate than buy a key, so feel free to break out the torrent clients if you don’t wanna pay $35. you can always actually buy the game later if you like it enough.
funny you mention this. i used to be that guy. i pirated the game when 1.17 was the latest version, played it a bit and loved it. i think i bought it when they had the 1.0 release on steam. i also think the only reason i bought it in the first place was so it wasnt as tedious anymore to install mods. Granted this was my early days and i havent pirated a game since forever ago. But i think factorio is the only game from that time i actually bought afterwards
Factorio's pricing is super interesting, because it's like two warring factions: 1: The game never goes on sale, it will always be at least $35 for hundreds of hours of content which is a great $/hr ratio 2: The price was anchored in a lot of consumers minds at $20, both because of its launch price and the overall low-graphics indie marketplace, which makes the $35 tag and paid dlc *feel* expensive
Great points. The cost/time ratio really is god-tier, but it’ll always be a battle against the market expectations. Which is fine, but does mean some entertaining drama is guaranteed!
Science can prove that a game, previously sold for $20 now sold at $35, is factually more expensive than a game with a regular price $70 that is on sale 8 month per year at $40.
Wubes Dev Blog documenting their Journey is free and priceless. After reading that you feel you underpaid for the game, even if you bought several copies.
I forget how much I payed for Factorio, 2016, whatever the UK price was then. I did buy a copy for my brother back in 2020 for £21. Whatever I payed for it, well worth the price!
holy shit i bought factorio for like the 13$ price and played it for like 3 months and then forget about it, i just searched it again on steam and the price jumped...... i never knew this shit happened LOL
I haven't watched the video yet, but I will say Factorio is a masterpiece with fantastic developers. Bought it many years ago, played it for many years not even realizing it was still in early access, found zero bugs and had zero issues while having a crapton of fun. Now days I have over 1400 hours played and still continue to go back to it.
I still consider it anti-poor pricing. They're a business; they're not refusing sales based on some nebulous "loyalty to customers". They exist to make money. They're refusing sales because, if they never go on sale, all the so-called "bargain-hunters" might break down and buy at full price. They want to make poor people trying to be more frugal with their money pay the same price as wealthier people who can be more free with their money.
@@h3lblad3 Honey, if a poor person is willing to buy a $60 game at half off, then they should be willing to buy a $20-30 game at full price, since the amount paid in both instances IS THE SAME, so framing it as anti-poor pricing is literally insane
@@h3lblad3 Have you considered the value you get for those $35, mods not included? If you don't go around buying every new AAA game and half of Steam when it's on sale, you don't have to spend a lot of money on games, and even if $35 may seem much, the value of those $35 is comparable to at least the same amount of money, if not thrice as much, in other games. Even poor people can afford a ONE TIME $35 investment.
@@h3lblad3 If you're buying a game that's FP$60 at half off that's $30 that's like Christmas pricing typical spur of the moment sales are less which would usually come out to $40. Factorio on the other hand is always the same price so there's no need to wait for a sale and as a result the base price is less. Remember sales don't exist to save you money they exist to move product.
A while ago I knew of TWO games that never went on sale, but I heard a different reason, that being that they were certain in their appeal and did not need to engage in sales to draw in people. One was Factorio, the other was Rimworld. However, Rimworld did eventually go on sale, even if a smaller one. The reasoning did hold as both of these games have such a following that they do not need a sale.
Both games are at the very top of my steam library in terms of total play time. Both games id buy again in a heartbeat even if they were 5x more than they cost right now. Although I really prefer how Factorio has kept expanding it's base game while Rimworld abandoned it and went the cash grab route with DLC after DLC after DLC.
@@Thingsyourollup actually WUBE is working on a DLC too, but it looks much more substantial than Rimworld DLCs. In reality, a one time purchase would never work for a game that hopes to see continued development. Minecraft is the only one I can think of that manages to continue that, but they pour a lot of money from microsoft into marketing. I definitely understand why DLCs are important for a continued development cycle. Not mentioning the Realms skin thing they have? Factorio, contrary to rimworld, also has the reputation of being one of the most polished game there is. They spend an enormous amount of effort into making sure bugs just aren't a thing in their game, to the point it actually became a joke to find a bug. Their devlogs are also extremely well written and entertaining to read.
You know, Factorio is right up my alley since I low base builders and resource management games. I always told myself, "I have so many Stream games unplayed, but I'll get Factorio once it goes on sale!"..... no wonder I dont have Factorio still
Love it. Great video. Honestly the game is worth much more than it's full $35 asking price and the developers are outstanding compared to the majority now days. Many people look for a value of 1 hour of fun per $1. If I were to pay that I would already be paying $1400 for the game. :P Pretty sure I paid $20 or $25 for it originally. The amount of years listening to the players, development, dedication, etc. put into this game more than calls for a higher price than they are asking. There is a reason it still to this day has an overwhelmingly positive review status and it is fully deserved.
I bought it when it was 20 euro on Apr 6th 2016. Never had any regrets, I still play it today, with some breaks in the seven year, but 689 hours well spent, for the low low price of 20 euro.
This is awesome gang! The framing and the content covered were great for a debut. I can't wait to see what else gets covered in a series like this🙏 Cheers and thanks to all who made this idea come to life! 🍻
Another interesting thing about factorio is that they don't use odd-even pricing. The game costs $35.00, not $34.99. This has the secondary effect of making it really stand out on a store page.
Maybe in USD. In Poland, they didnt give a warning earlier, when increasing the price from 70 to 120PLN. Later on, when the 30 to 35 hit (with a warning) it jumped from 120PLN to 160PLN - about 10 bucks, not 5. The price more than DOUBLED. All within less than half a year. I cannot call it transparency - I call it scummy. Directly converted USD to PLN should be 140 at MOST, as that's 35$ - but realistically, it should be even less, as Poland is a poorer region and that's what regional pricing is for. 160PLN is a joke and a spit in the face. The devs outright admiting (or pretending) it's okay only makes it worse.
@@TNH91 I would love to get into a proper argument but unfortunately it's just a very fucking stupid and narrow-minded comment i couldn't serioualy answer even if I tried, sorry
If you're talking about the 10000 price which was quickly fixed to 1000 (removing the extra 0) then it might be less biased to also give all the facts. Strictly speaking since there are trade sanctions towards Russia for their actions it would make sense not to sell in/to Russia at all.
I got it for 20$ before steam release and even with a price tag of 35$ it is worth every penny. Just building railway infrastructure beats anything else available in the market.
Enjoying the show, this look into Factorio was objectively intriguing. I also really enjoy Frost's voice, having more of the Cold Take vibe in other videos is a treat. I feel bound to mention that G2A is actually morally okay as a purchasing vendor for the AAA games, as considering how that particular branch of the industry is completely out for the customer's wallet regardless of any ethical considerations, doing the exact same thing in reverse when feasible is straight up encouraged.
This was amazing. I've followed ZP for over a decade, and Frost is quickly climbing my list of favorite content creators. The format and content were fantastic, and even if it takes a while, I hope we get more of these some day.
If memory serves, Minecraft followed a similar pricing model. I bought in at the $15 level I believe, right before the nether was added. I got to experience the nether bug where every time you went back and forth through the portal the game miscalculated the offset and spawned a new portal in the overworld. Fun times!
as someone that almost always wait for sales because most games, specially AAA games, are almost unattainable for me in my country, I actually really like Factorio commitment to fair pricing. the game offers a lot for the small pricetag, and knowing that it never goes on sale, I can buy it with a clear conscience knowing I won't miss a sale.
I paid 20$... Canadian. It happened at mythical point in time where the prices of CAD and USD converged and for a time the two were close enough in value that Steam was selling games to Canadian for the same number as Americans. Worth every penny. That means I paid almost twice as much for the expansion. Still worth it.
I bought Factorio for $13 from Humble and never expected to get a Steam key when they launched on Steam. It was ready and waiting in my email prior to the Steam launch. 👍
I've glanced over Factorio several times, but it never felt feasible to pay that much (in my local currency, hello regional pricing) for a game that looks like that, so I went with Satisfactory instead. Lived happy and content ever since. Still, I can't say that "never on sale, ever increase" price is worse than what other devs do, like making less content for the same money in a yearly expansion and/or chipping away content for separate DLCs.
I hope you're enjoying Satisfactory. You might not really enjoy Factorio to the same degree as Satisfactory. But if you want to check you could always try the free demo which people say have 10+ hours of playtime in it.
Big fan of this concept, I’ve always been a fan -we don’t say that word anymore- moments in gaming history and this feels like that but it’s not just about the screwups, excited to see more!
Hope you enjoy this new show! We've got the next episode in the works already and we couldn't be more excited to get a show like this going on the channel finally. Let us know what you think in the comments and what other stories you think we should cover! Episode 2 of The Stuff of Legends is already out in Early Access for Patreon / UA-cam Membership subscribers!
The Jovenshire may have words.
love the story format
and from the cold takes guy! Great job!
Please make more of this
This was excellent and Sebastian Ruiz is a fantastic journalist. I could listen to him talk about video games all day. More please!!!
I did, and am curious what else you could fit into this show.
I bought Factorio for $20 and so far I've gotten 150 hours of playtime per dollar. Now that's what I call value
oh hi Dosh
@@feryth Sup.
And for about 3-4$ you absolutely was not suffering in SE. Honestly, watching your challanges is probably as interesting as playing myself, and it's free, so that's even a better deal
Dosh! Just got into your videos! Been binging them. I misread your message and thought that you thought 150 hours total was a lot and was gonna say something douchey and condescending like 'try 2000 hours noob! Haha bet you envy my lack of a social life!' but then I reread it..
@@DoshDoshingtonHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA
I like the idea of just telling oddball stories about random games. And this guy's voice reminds me of a hard boiled noir detective, which adds to the vibe.
Honestly, Frost is one of the few creators I enjoy listening to enough that I'll usually recognize or keep an eye out for him. Especially now that he's been picked up by ZP.
It's LIKE BUTTER
@@CheestusMcGruberhow does he even exist
Frost has a series on The Escapist called Cold Take, and it's exactly what youre describing.
Gruff it up a bit and be a great new fallout narrorator voice.
As 100% not biased person, I think Factorio is worth the price.
Thank you for your opinion *NOT BIASED PERSON*
only 647hours played but let me tell you :) theres no short gaming sessions xD
Completely unbiased
Well, when you put it that way... Im in!
Trupen, this is totally a not biased comment. HAHAHA
i bought factorio back when the only way to buy it was through their own website and my bank called me and asked about my purchase to some strange site from eastern europe lol
Czech republic is central Europe if you dont mind.
holy hell, i completely forgot you got it through the website. They wound up emailing me a steam key when it got on the platform.
@@szylaj it's a former Eastern Bloc country, thus making it Eastern European. Central Europe is Germany, Austria, and Italy
@@szylaj People like to understand the world in simple terms. "-Cultural history-, nah that is for people who read books."
LOL same here, I remember telling people its a great game but when you go to buy it don't get turned off by the place you get it from because it was a bit shady looking... Best money I ever spent tho $20
I love the framing bit at the start. And how frost is in a detailed suit and Yahtz and the rest of the characters are just oval torso
Yahtzee is just naked
@@gydgeza8646 he's not naked, he has a hat.
When I open an Escapist video and it's not Yahtzee talking I close an Escapist video. So a really clever trick to get me hooked, kudos.
I kind of respect that commitment to the price tag never devaluing itself. I know they say it's to respect their investors but they are also saying "this game is worth the amount we are asking for".
And it doesn't imply "suckerrrr we got ya paying double" if you buy it at full price between periodic "50% off!"-sales like so many other games do.
To be honest, it's worth 10 times that price. The only other modern game I can think which can beat Factorio with buck/hour cheapest price is Terraria.
@@HelgeHolm On the one hand, this is true. On the other hand, I can't really afford games. I don't hunt bargains for "primal satisfaction" like this video implies, I hunt bargains because they're the only way I can sanely partake in the pastime/hobby I've enjoyed for the last ~30 years (or at least, the only way I can justify potentially crippling myself financially for the month in which I make the purchase).
Don't get me wrong: I respect companies who have a commitment to this pricing philosophy. I don't think it's bad, per se, that they have a firm minimum value they're willing to accept in exchange for their game, and they always charge that amount. But it is an accessibility tradeoff. For every person who feels like they "paid double" when they see a game on sale they previous bought for full price (I sympathize - I bought all the CK2 DLC over the course of 3 sales, right before they switched to a subscription model), there's someone like me who traded in a pirated copy of the game when a bargain (significant enough that they could delude themselves into paying at all) presented itself. I probably wouldn't own RimWorld if not for the fact that, at one point, Epic offered a flat $10 off any game coupon during their sales - at the time I bought it, I don't think RimWorld had ever been discounted by more than 10%. Sales tax where I live is 15%. If the final price after tax is calculated is still above the non-discounted price, are you even offering a discount? At least negate the sales tax. Christ. I only own Factorio because someone gifted it to me.
@@rushi5638 With respect, as I don't know your budget, that's just an excuse. If someone can't afford to buy more than one game per month at 50% off, they can just use two months' budget to buy a full-priced game. The reality is, if they like the game enough to sink hundreds of hours into it, it's worth the price at any price whether that's $5 or $50.
yeah unless if they make the game more expensive at some point (which they did so, like 2 months ago)
I just love the cold open of Yahtzee giving Frost his own imps. Now he's really part of the family. This first episode was great. I love Frost's Noir-esque narration and can't wait to see what strange tale he covers in the future.
Yep. I love that bit.
I wonder what flavor those "white popsicles" are.
Very much agreed.
@@waterbullstudios9195 You don't want to know.
Glad you love it! Just a small correction that it’s Sebastian Ruiz (Frost) and not me (Nick) in the video!
Factorio is an example of a game that makes me ask... if I put this much effort into my ACTUAL life how much better would it be?
Bingo
Unironically started a bigger programming project because I had to put so much effort into the Pyanodon mod that I decided I should just do something less demanding in real life lol.
@@bleblo13pyanadon: less stressful major coding project: checks out lol
Wube also is among the very few developers where you can just download a stand-alone version of Factorio regardless of where it was bought.
And host mods in their own website
@@kitsunegamedev4526 and constantly update the game to fix bugs that only happen when playing modded!
@preacher3958 OK, and? All you're saying is that either you'll never get the game, or just pirate it. Neither of those makes you particularly special, kiddo.
@preacher3958It's vastly better than most AAA games so at $35 it's basically half off.
And it has a demo. In 2023. Go try it out. You'll be happy you did
@@upcomingshoes6908 Still waiting to see how Satisfactory finally turns out when it releases fully. Specifically how much it supports modding, and how much it leans into combat. I know Factorio already does both, but I prefer Satisfactory's perspective. Those two elements are key though. I'll get Factorio, or not get it, depending on how Satisfactory comes out.
Yahtzee and Frost, together at last. What a time to be alive.
Seriously though, I love this - both the story and the framing bit at the beginning. The concept of unique gaming industry stories reminds me of Yahtzee's "Special Moments in Gaming History" ZPs.
Yup! Inspiration came directly from those episodes. I've wanted to make a series out of that for as long as I've been here, so I'm really excited we've finally found a way to make it happen!
@@theescapist "I've"? Which of you was I here?
@@blandedgear9704it's pretty much the Honcho himself that replies via the escapist account lol
Yahtzee doing an episode all in one manic breath delivering punch lines faster than you have time to recover from last one, over to Frost doing each sentence with a fresh lung full of cigar sweetened jazz lounge air and a sip of whiskey. It is a fun dichotomy.
6:33 "During its early access period, Factorio had a base price of $20, which was bumped to $30 back in 2020 once version 1.0 was released. Ever since, the PC version has remained at said price, EXCEPT FOR THE OCCASIONAL SALE. But as Wube Software announced today on Twitter, this is......"
Diego Nicolas Arguello didn't do their homework, and just tossed in that prevarication because for any other game, it would've been true.
Man you guys are really putting Frost to work!
Collab between Frost, JM8 and our new FT editor Jesse Schwab!
Good, I really like frost.
"Now that you're all tucked in with your favorite knife." Best line, and it's not even 30 seconds in.
He ever warn him to not get them hold any knife.
I loved listening to this story and, well...
The Factory Must Grow.
The price tag must grow
grab the artillery and 'relocate' the vandals for more factory!
do watch out for the train tough
The factory must grow
the factory must grow so the factory can grow
@ohusky271 but how can a factory grow, if the factory is in the way?
I wholeheartedly support the idea of the price reflecting the game's development. You're essentially asking people to only pay for what is currently in the game, none of the usual bullshit of paying for what some naive moron *thinks* they can have in the finished version that might not even happen. Also frees you from that most horrid of revelations. When you buy a game full price only for it to randomly go 50% off before 48 hours have passed.
@@Coconut-219 Of course, that's my point.
No more half-baked garbage pricing itself on what they claim will be in the finished product.
If you're working on a game that you feel is gonna be worth 40 bucks, start by charging 10, and then keep moving the price closer to the 40 bucks as you get closer to the final vision.
Story of factorio is even deeper and cooler when you look at the fact, that the indiegogo campaign was after Kovarex. and Tomik already invested like three man years into the game without any investor.
Wube are a lot like Valve in their transparency and also radio silence. They've been working on the first expansion and haven't had too much to show for it, but I figure it's because they don't want people running away with WIP information and potentially poisoning their future content they decide to share. I ordered two Factorio shirts a while back and even THOSE were well made. Shipped from the Czech Republic, too!
Unlike Valve, Wube have just released an announcement with more details about the expansion and a new time estimate of one year to release.
Wube during early access development though was one of the best companies for communication. Their friday facts blog posts constantly kept people updated on the progress of new developments and the interesting problems they found and the cool solutions they developed to handle them. They have been on and off with continuing the weekly updates since release as the updates are a lot less incremental and take a lot more work before they can really be shown, but I just double checked and they resumed weekly updates a little over a month ago as they have made significant progress on their next expansion.
Knock knock from a year later the DLC is fire you should try it.
Interesting! I didn't know any of this info. I got Factorio back in 2016 for $20 and bought three copies for my friends we are still having a blast. Never felt shady or like I was being duped. Heck knowing what I know now about the game I'd pay $30 or more for it.
I love the idea of the imps being Yahtz's adopted kids. I'm digging the new series.
I'm pretty sure they're a metaphor for us.
I was only here for the first 18 seconds of the video.
@@Stigvandr Hahaha, definitely totally not at all but just maybe kinda sorta yes.
+
I think Frost can narrate the phonebook and people will still listen to it.
Also, good and interesting video.
I have a coworker who is interested in Factorio, but said "I will wait for a sale".
I told him the game NEVER goes on sale and he just said "Then I will never buy it".
Good on him. There are better, similar games out there for less nowadays (like Dyson Sphere Program). They should revise their "never goes on sale" BS.
@@NobbsAndVagene Nah, none of them come close to Factorio. Especially in terms of scale. The amount of optimization put into that game is ludicrous and allows bases that wouldnt be possible in any of the "better" alternatives. Its more than understandable that they never go on sale. Way too many people want to pay way too little for many games these days.
@@xXYannuschXx I've played Factorio. Have you played DSP?
It's better and costs half as much. And as for scale? You can literally transform a planet. You can transform every planet in a galaxy if you so desire, and have all these factories working together to feed a megafactory. Or however you wanna do it. And they're not done developing that game yet, either - not that it feels unfinished, because it doesn't. Runs great too, very well optimized.
Meanwhile I've heard talk of people wanting a 5800X3D or similar high-end processors just to run Factorio. What the fock? It looks like it should be able to run on a pregnancy test.
I'd rather pay the same price for DSP as for Factorio, because it's the better game. And honestly, so is Satisfactory, but the full-on 3D might put some people off. Gives off a slightly different vibe.
tl;dr: I suggest you listen to your friend more often.
@@NobbsAndVagene You don't understand what they meant by scale, then. Each "planet" in DSP is tiny. I've played both DPS and Factorio, and Factorio is still way ahead in almost everything. If you want a galaxy to explore there's even Space Exploration for Factorio. And I don't understand why people you've heard about wanting a high end processor for Factorio, you can run it very well on incredibly low-end stuff. But Factorio is more restricted by CPU than GPU, once you're working on massive megabase levels. It's to the point that some people use Factorio as a benchmark for the CPU.
Now, I'm not saying that DSP is bad, and I really hope it becomes as good as it can, but it has quite a way to go.
@@NobbsAndVageneI've played both.
They are both fun. Factorio is a much deeper game, hands down. Dyson Spirit program is nice, but it starts to drag in the late game, whereas factorio only grows in both complexity and the ways you can interact with the factory without obsoleting any of the previous mechanics.
I've explored two planets beyond the one you start with and I'm not even sure I'm in the late game yet. Once you get off planet in Dyson sphere program it starts to get very samey with itself.
I bought Factorio for €10 (the $13USD era) and I have at least 700 hours. That's what it says on Steam at least. There's probably more hours from the standalone earlier in development. More recently I bought the version ported to the Nintendo Switch at full price. Plugging that into my calculator we get roughly 6 cents per hour, before counting time on Standalone and Switch.
And if that ain't value for money I don't know what is.
The best time to get Factorio was when it was €10. The second best time is when you have some annual leave booked so that staying awake until 2am doesn't cost you your job.
I remember when I first noticed it and it was $20 even, I tagged it for my wishlist and waited for it to go on sale. Now it's $35 and it's never been on sale. 😄
That's your loss. Sorry you missed out on a great game.
@@Thingsyourollup I'll still pick it up at some point. 😀
@@RodneyG669 Moral of the story is BUY IT NOW before the price goes up again.
@@RodneyG669when it goes on sale right?
It is still cheap, just buy and lose tons of hours in your life lol.
I was amazed when I popped into a livesteam and realized that Frost isn't "doing a voice". That's just how the dude talks.
We had someone that worked at a dominos in my home down that was a bit of a local celebrity because his voice was weirdly deep and smooth, like Barry White but more. First time I called to order a pizza (to show how old I am) I seriously thought the guy was doing a bit. Ran into him a few times here and there and no, that's actually just what he sounded like. He was also a pretty scrawny white kid so that was confusing the first time.
@@hourglass1988 Not to put you on the spot or anything. But the fact that the kid being white makes a difference in association with having a deep voice. And the fact that I immediately understand what you mean with 'scrawny white kid', (again not putting this on you) is telling of how deep the anti-white sentiment runs in our collective minds.
I wish we didn't need to talk about color, but since we're talking about it, we need to talk about it.
@@mennovanlavieren3885having a deep voice does not make you better. So its not really anti white.
A friend from Space Engineers gifted me Factorio because he saw my creative side. After playing 2000 hours I have found zero game bugs in Factorio,. One bug report which i didn't personally experience said the chat box text goes rainbow if you set the game to 100x speed and leave it overnight. The next day the bug was fixed. That is the commitment to excellence the team at Wube strives for.
Absolutely THIS!
As a software developer, I like how Wube takes their work seriously and don't rush with buggy software. Which not only leads to a better product, but also reduces development cost in the long run, since the code base is healthy and relativity easy to work on.
Sometimes I'm so ashamed of what some companies release as software.
2000!! hours.. holy shhit. Where do you get the time
I've ran into one bug, looked for it and didn't find a post. By the time I had written the forum post with screenshots, it was posted. Bug was fixed 6 hours later. Actually incredible.
@@Cenot4ph Factorio has been on Steam for 7 years. Quite easy to accumulate 2000 hours over time.
Even easier when you have a very specific taste that few games satisfy.
You know a game is good when people who report bugs are heralded as champions due to their rarity.
Wube is the very definition of the phrase “I know what I got, don’t lowball me!”
Which would be KINDA ok they were fair about it instead of exploitive and elitist/baring people depended on sales to take part in video game culture from their piece of art. Which is, after all, digital in nature. They do not trade it away, losing their priceless unique item, they sell an infinitely and basically free to make instance of their already finished work.
That is not the same as Grandpa not wanting to sell his out-of-print LPs on the flea market for less than it costed him in gas to haul them to the yard.
@@rabenfedersonnenhut That's misunderstanding what you're paying for when you're buying some software. What you're paying is work, it's the time they spent designing it, coding it, debugging it, aggregating feedback from the community, and so on. It's the same as the hairdresser. You're not paying for some end product, you're paying for the work they did and time they spent.
@@nerze3157 If you REALLY want to get into the argument with the "you didn't buy the game, you buy a license to use their product" concept, aka "Games as a service",then there is nothing more to say, the Corpos already have brainwashed you thoroughly if you deem that valid, and I am genuinely sorry for you.
We DO pay for this work by buying the game at all. It is part of the product. Server costs for multiplayer when not hosted by the players themselves, obviously those need to be paid by subscriptions etc, they are understandable, everything else is to be included in the normal price. If they need to debug more after release, that is taking care of their product in the same way you can demand a broken mixer to be repaired when it was delivered flawed.
If they do the good work of listening to their community, that I would call simply intelligent, because a customer base that feels like the Dev's sincerely care beyond their legal bindings is more open to give further projects a chance. That's customer relationship management, something in their interest, not something you should by default feel obligated to pay for.
Coders, designers, devs and everyone else in this process build a product when they are crafting a game, they do not provide a service.
@@rabenfedersonnenhut Exploiting WHO, exactly? It's a game, one piece of entertainment among thousands, no one NEEDS it or is forced to buy it. Stop acting so entitled, you can engage in "the culture" (lol) all you want on UA-cam and forums and discussions, but no one owes you a free game and I applaud Wube for not undercutting its full-price customers. Factorio has been developed continuously for over 12 years now and is only getting better, they know what they've got and they know what their work is worth.
@@TheKrimzonGuard If you don't think people deserve access to art and culture no matter what their financial situation is, yes, then there is no sense in arguing, you are already a convinced slave to the greed-is-good mentality instead of a fair society.
Your brainless hint at games not being culture already shows more than enough about you.
No one said anything about free, but such is expected from someone who has obviously no clue about the issues I mentioned. Fair prices and price policy is what this is about, and the devs spit in the face of that concept.
But here is the rub. Subjectively factorio is worth the price. I feel the price grew with the content included as the devs have worked tirelessly on it.
I dig the hell out of this format. Smaller, concise videos about fun anomalies in the game industry is a pretty good idea, and your narrator has a delightful voice!
Can't wait to see more! ^^
I don't know who this guy is, but he's got a Morgan Freeman-type voice that I would happily listen to tell stories of the gaming industry all day.
Check out his other series, Cold Take, on our channel if you enjoy his voice!
What a delightful show. Another relevant tidbit to this story is there is another hugely popular game with a similar pricing scheme, Minecraft. The Factorio developers in the past have discussed how the game was in part inspired by various automation mods for Minecraft, so I don't think its any surprise to see a similar pricing model.
Did Minecraft increase again after the increase from leaving beta?
How dare you insult my beloved Factorio by comparing it to that mindless Microsoft stock block game.
@@Thingsyourollup...you haven't been around for the alpha and beta days, have you?
@@DemRat According to Steam, ive been playing since 2016. I have over 3500 hours logged. What's your point? If you're about to try to relate this back to Minecrap again, even back then this was nothing like that game.
@@Thingsyourollup The alpha and beta of minecraft, back when it had nothing to do with microsoft. The influence it had on the gaming landscape is inarguable, and I am really not sure why you'd want to separate Factorios development from that impact, even if you don't like the game. Would you elaborate why you get so defensive about it?
In an age of link rot, page loss, and partial archives (and how much worse these things are for games) I have to give kudos to any effort at history and archival of games. Plus, this is quite well done. My list of patreons-to-support-when-i-stop-being-broke grows once again.
To whoever may read this comment: May your tomorrow be better than your today, whether by an inch or by a mile.
Factorio is also the singl game that I have seen that has a devteam pushing out bugfixes hours after reporting them, and is polished beyond perfection. Nothing else I have seen is like it.
I bought factorio for $20 after playing a pirated version for months. It is definitely worth $35. It is better than some games that cost $60. I honestly hate the stigma that indie games are never allowed to be "full price".
@@Coconut-219 What indie game costs $80? I know of exactly zero.
@@timseguine2 Well, factorio does (if you want the DLC)
@@Dextrome the DLC is $35
Saw the channel update earlier and this merely confirmed that my excitement for the growth of the channel is warranted, here's to the quality content you guys are always able to make 🎉
As I recall, it's also the only game on Steam with a pricetag that's not "and 99 cents". They're just that comitted to honest pricing, no matter whether everyone else does it ot not. You really have to commend them for that.
In a thematically appropriate move, the 99 cents is deemed inefficient, and has been optimised out.
@@NextianGeometry Missing that 0.01 means the express belt is not fully stacked, therefore it affects UPS and can break whole chain :D
Nice vid! Talking about the PC games marketplace at the time really helps contextualize Factorio's pricing history.
To paraphrase Mandalore: "The developers know they're making virtual crack"
Very strong for a pilot episode.
Factorio is a great game and Wube sticking it to G2A is a great story.
I paid $35 for Factorio, and y'know what?
I don't regret it. They made a FINE game indeed, and I feel they deserve every single dollar for being open and honest.
I hope they prosper in all ways imaginable.
Factorio is worth full-on AAA Studio pricing. I've played for something like 1500 hours now. Easily the best gaming deal I've ever had.
you need to get outside more
@@Cenot4phno.
@@Cenot4ph You need to stop being an asshole on the internet, seeps into real life, slowly and surely you know.
Absolutely lovely voice, he's got one of those voices you could listen to read a phone book and enjoy it, but with the added benefit of interesting subject matter. Fantastic
Got this recommended to me by youtube, and was worth the watch! the silky smooth voice alone made it worth it.
my only coplaint was that the background music/noise playing at 2:50 (before and onwards) was a bit grating to my ears
Great new show! And an excellent topic to start on, I am a gamer that 99% of the time waits on sales, because publishers tend to offer at least a small discount within months or even weeks of launch. It really feels disrespectful to devs and players, not asigning a fair value for a game and STICKING to it. Fine, offer a sale 6 months after, everyone deserves good games, but at launch it seems almost every game is overpriced and the industry recognises that! Add to that the crunch conditions, the revenue split between the directives and the Dev team, and products rushed with microtransactions to boot... Most games aren't worth their launch price ever. I am also part of the problem, having preordered Cyberpunk and seeing the state it launched in (although to be fair I love the game from launch so ), but I really try not to reorder and avoid bad actors just as Ubisoft.
As someone who loves factorio, i have 1350hrs in it. Bought it when it was 20$, I'd buy it again, if steam would let me. Its worth the price. Hours per dollar, ( how video games could be scored) this game is hella worth it
You can buy it again and gift it..
@scottjelinek1916 I have done that actually a couple of times
If there was ever a game that deserved to be priced at $60, it's Factorio. I genuinely feel guilty having gotten so much from such a small purchase. I keep checking their merch store so I can give them more money but I don't like wearing shirts that have logos/writing on them for some reason. I really hope they come out with posters and such.
@HDL_CinC_Dragon I completely forget about that. I'm definitely checking out soon!!!! I'm patiently waiting for the expansion, and everything. I love this game so much
@@Kabluey2011 There might also be a way to upgrade your Factorio account through their website.
Originally you could pay for the base game, then additional costs for 'name in the game' and things like that.
This framing device and the fact that it’s Yahtzee’s art style is freaking amazing and I love it, I’m so glad I’m going back to watch this video
To be honest the fact that it never went on sale made me buy since i had a lot of other games that i thought weren't worth the price that i was waiting to get a discount. And after buying it and sinking hundreads of hours into it, its pretty good.
This was great! Informative and entertaining, without dragging it out in a 30 minute documentary. Can't wait to see more!
I put Factorio in my Steam Wishlist a year ago thinking, "I'll pick it up when it's on sale." 😅
Sooo...
How many years of playtime have you sunk into the factory after learning it never goes on sale?
As soon as I understood how damaging Keysites can be, I fully respected Factorio for their commitment.
Minor correction on a great video: Riot Games never had a partnership with G2A. Riot banned their professional League of Legends teams from having G2A sponsorships displayed anywhere related to their LoL teams.
First played Factorio in those early days when you could just ask for a key, then I bought it for myself later at 20$, for friends at 20, 25, and another at 30, and even now at 35$ I would buy it again.
They would have even more of my money if it was cheaper/on sale (as I would hand out more copies) but even now I feel Ive gotten my moneys worth with it.
Loved it. Such an unusual take on such an iconic game. Oh and the vibe between Frost and Yahtzee is exactly what my head canon said it should be.
This will make a great reference to point to when I tell someone about Factorio and how it will never go on sale.
the devs themselves said they’d rather have you pirate than buy a key, so feel free to break out the torrent clients if you don’t wanna pay $35. you can always actually buy the game later if you like it enough.
i know most people who pirate don’t buy the game after but i had to include that for the feds
funny you mention this. i used to be that guy. i pirated the game when 1.17 was the latest version, played it a bit and loved it.
i think i bought it when they had the 1.0 release on steam.
i also think the only reason i bought it in the first place was so it wasnt as tedious anymore to install mods.
Granted this was my early days and i havent pirated a game since forever ago. But i think factorio is the only game from that time i actually bought afterwards
Not to be an asshole, but this is the first time I've ever sat through a full escapist video that didn't have Yahtzee in it. Good stuff guys.
The lore of Yahtzee’s cartoon world continues to grow
Also love the new series, looking forward to more
this might be one of the most comfy channels at the moment
quite stark, the contrast between yahtzee's minimalist caricature, and frost's highly decorated caricature...
Factorio's pricing is super interesting, because it's like two warring factions:
1: The game never goes on sale, it will always be at least $35 for hundreds of hours of content which is a great $/hr ratio
2: The price was anchored in a lot of consumers minds at $20, both because of its launch price and the overall low-graphics indie marketplace, which makes the $35 tag and paid dlc *feel* expensive
It is also interesting for avoiding the common pricing mind tricks of $XX.99 instead of $XX.00 or $19 instead of $20.
Great points. The cost/time ratio really is god-tier, but it’ll always be a battle against the market expectations. Which is fine, but does mean some entertaining drama is guaranteed!
Science can prove that a game, previously sold for $20 now sold at $35, is factually more expensive than a game with a regular price $70 that is on sale 8 month per year at $40.
And lastly : The devs are selling crack with free sample, and they damn well know it!!
So do we. But the factory must grow
Yea... $70 for a 2D game that barely had any significant updates since launch only "feels" expensive 🙄🙄
Wubes Dev Blog documenting their Journey is free and priceless.
After reading that you feel you underpaid for the game, even if you bought several copies.
I like this form, very good structure and love that there's a moral punchline at the end
I forget how much I payed for Factorio, 2016, whatever the UK price was then.
I did buy a copy for my brother back in 2020 for £21.
Whatever I payed for it, well worth the price!
holy shit i bought factorio for like the 13$ price and played it for like 3 months and then forget about it, i just searched it again on steam and the price jumped...... i never knew this shit happened LOL
love those cute adventure is nigh plushies in the opening background
Sounds like the G2A scandal could be its own episode
I haven't watched the video yet, but I will say Factorio is a masterpiece with fantastic developers. Bought it many years ago, played it for many years not even realizing it was still in early access, found zero bugs and had zero issues while having a crapton of fun. Now days I have over 1400 hours played and still continue to go back to it.
Holy... I used to get pissed it was never on sale, but now I have to admit, the factorio devs got my full respect
I still consider it anti-poor pricing. They're a business; they're not refusing sales based on some nebulous "loyalty to customers". They exist to make money.
They're refusing sales because, if they never go on sale, all the so-called "bargain-hunters" might break down and buy at full price. They want to make poor people trying to be more frugal with their money pay the same price as wealthier people who can be more free with their money.
@@h3lblad3 Honey, if a poor person is willing to buy a $60 game at half off, then they should be willing to buy a $20-30 game at full price, since the amount paid in both instances IS THE SAME, so framing it as anti-poor pricing is literally insane
@@XiaoYueMao, joke’s on you if you think we’re talking about the same people, then.
@@h3lblad3 Have you considered the value you get for those $35, mods not included? If you don't go around buying every new AAA game and half of Steam when it's on sale, you don't have to spend a lot of money on games, and even if $35 may seem much, the value of those $35 is comparable to at least the same amount of money, if not thrice as much, in other games.
Even poor people can afford a ONE TIME $35 investment.
@@h3lblad3 If you're buying a game that's FP$60 at half off that's $30 that's like Christmas pricing typical spur of the moment sales are less which would usually come out to $40. Factorio on the other hand is always the same price so there's no need to wait for a sale and as a result the base price is less.
Remember sales don't exist to save you money they exist to move product.
A while ago I knew of TWO games that never went on sale, but I heard a different reason, that being that they were certain in their appeal and did not need to engage in sales to draw in people. One was Factorio, the other was Rimworld. However, Rimworld did eventually go on sale, even if a smaller one. The reasoning did hold as both of these games have such a following that they do not need a sale.
Both games are at the very top of my steam library in terms of total play time. Both games id buy again in a heartbeat even if they were 5x more than they cost right now. Although I really prefer how Factorio has kept expanding it's base game while Rimworld abandoned it and went the cash grab route with DLC after DLC after DLC.
@@Thingsyourollup actually WUBE is working on a DLC too, but it looks much more substantial than Rimworld DLCs. In reality, a one time purchase would never work for a game that hopes to see continued development. Minecraft is the only one I can think of that manages to continue that, but they pour a lot of money from microsoft into marketing. I definitely understand why DLCs are important for a continued development cycle. Not mentioning the Realms skin thing they have?
Factorio, contrary to rimworld, also has the reputation of being one of the most polished game there is. They spend an enormous amount of effort into making sure bugs just aren't a thing in their game, to the point it actually became a joke to find a bug. Their devlogs are also extremely well written and entertaining to read.
You know, Factorio is right up my alley since I low base builders and resource management games. I always told myself, "I have so many Stream games unplayed, but I'll get Factorio once it goes on sale!"..... no wonder I dont have Factorio still
I would advise against buying it, unless you have a week of time free.
Yes, it's that addictive.
A week? Nahhh
More like 30 days per month...
But staying a full day without playing per month may be harsh.
Satisfactory is similiar but 3d and does go on sale.
@@graphospasm5394 I like Dyson Sphere Program myself. But Satisfactory also seems cool
@@graphospasm5394 Satisfactory is nice but they don't have any real threats so it's more like just making things, last time i played it anyway.
Really love this concept! Can’t wait to see more
This guy's voice is so soothing. Hope he gets his own show where he can share his hot takes on the gaming industry
This is awesome. Love this as a new series.
I love all the plushies around the room from Adventure is Nigh.
Love it. Great video. Honestly the game is worth much more than it's full $35 asking price and the developers are outstanding compared to the majority now days. Many people look for a value of 1 hour of fun per $1. If I were to pay that I would already be paying $1400 for the game. :P Pretty sure I paid $20 or $25 for it originally. The amount of years listening to the players, development, dedication, etc. put into this game more than calls for a higher price than they are asking. There is a reason it still to this day has an overwhelmingly positive review status and it is fully deserved.
"Now that you're all tucked in with your favorite knife" serious crazy uncle vibes 😂😂
Wube Software is kinda like The Batman: sure it helped vanquish the evils of G2A, but you still can't really tell if he's one of the good guys or not.
I bought it when it was 20 euro on Apr 6th 2016. Never had any regrets, I still play it today, with some breaks in the seven year, but 689 hours well spent, for the low low price of 20 euro.
This is awesome gang! The framing and the content covered were great for a debut. I can't wait to see what else gets covered in a series like this🙏 Cheers and thanks to all who made this idea come to life! 🍻
Another interesting thing about factorio is that they don't use odd-even pricing. The game costs $35.00, not $34.99. This has the secondary effect of making it really stand out on a store page.
I like the transparency. I bought it for around €20. And later saw it grow to 30€, but before rising to 35 they actually gave a warning
Maybe in USD. In Poland, they didnt give a warning earlier, when increasing the price from 70 to 120PLN. Later on, when the 30 to 35 hit (with a warning) it jumped from 120PLN to 160PLN - about 10 bucks, not 5. The price more than DOUBLED. All within less than half a year. I cannot call it transparency - I call it scummy. Directly converted USD to PLN should be 140 at MOST, as that's 35$ - but realistically, it should be even less, as Poland is a poorer region and that's what regional pricing is for. 160PLN is a joke and a spit in the face. The devs outright admiting (or pretending) it's okay only makes it worse.
@@XplayYgrek Maybe your currency needs to be better then?
@@TNH91 I would love to get into a proper argument but unfortunately it's just a very fucking stupid and narrow-minded comment i couldn't serioualy answer even if I tried, sorry
@@XplayYgrek If you want you could catch a train to Germany and buy it in Euros which comes out to the same price roughly
The Yahtz and Frost power couple at the start is hilarious
Frost always kills it with the delivery on his videos.
This Stuff of Legends series is also absolutely legendary - please keep them coming
Oh, they also increased price on Russian steam to about $150 at the time after the war started. Interesting little detail.
If you're talking about the 10000 price which was quickly fixed to 1000 (removing the extra 0) then it might be less biased to also give all the facts.
Strictly speaking since there are trade sanctions towards Russia for their actions it would make sense not to sell in/to Russia at all.
@@TNH91 I'm sure Putin will be very upset that he can't buy a factory building game on steam
I got it for 20$ before steam release and even with a price tag of 35$ it is worth every penny. Just building railway infrastructure beats anything else available in the market.
Yes! Another Frost hosted show! I love his character model.
This game was the most polished "early access" game ever published.
Enjoying the show, this look into Factorio was objectively intriguing. I also really enjoy Frost's voice, having more of the Cold Take vibe in other videos is a treat. I feel bound to mention that G2A is actually morally okay as a purchasing vendor for the AAA games, as considering how that particular branch of the industry is completely out for the customer's wallet regardless of any ethical considerations, doing the exact same thing in reverse when feasible is straight up encouraged.
This was amazing. I've followed ZP for over a decade, and Frost is quickly climbing my list of favorite content creators. The format and content were fantastic, and even if it takes a while, I hope we get more of these some day.
Second episode is already out for Patreon / UA-cam Memberships! Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, so it's a new regular series for us now.
@@theescapist guess I've finally gotten the push I need to become premium then haha
@@theescapist told you I'd do it lol
@@P4brotagonist Yeeees, welcome to the da... cool kids club!
Good thing piracy exist
If memory serves, Minecraft followed a similar pricing model. I bought in at the $15 level I believe, right before the nether was added. I got to experience the nether bug where every time you went back and forth through the portal the game miscalculated the offset and spawned a new portal in the overworld. Fun times!
as someone that almost always wait for sales because most games, specially AAA games, are almost unattainable for me in my country, I actually really like Factorio commitment to fair pricing. the game offers a lot for the small pricetag, and knowing that it never goes on sale, I can buy it with a clear conscience knowing I won't miss a sale.
I paid 20$... Canadian. It happened at mythical point in time where the prices of CAD and USD converged and for a time the two were close enough in value that Steam was selling games to Canadian for the same number as Americans. Worth every penny.
That means I paid almost twice as much for the expansion. Still worth it.
the price, like the factory, must grow.
I bought Factorio for $13 from Humble and never expected to get a Steam key when they launched on Steam. It was ready and waiting in my email prior to the Steam launch. 👍
I Pirated It
Is this what a smack addiction is like? Just watching the arms move things on belts made me wanna get a hit (must grow factory)
I've glanced over Factorio several times, but it never felt feasible to pay that much (in my local currency, hello regional pricing) for a game that looks like that, so I went with Satisfactory instead. Lived happy and content ever since. Still, I can't say that "never on sale, ever increase" price is worse than what other devs do, like making less content for the same money in a yearly expansion and/or chipping away content for separate DLCs.
I hope you're enjoying Satisfactory. You might not really enjoy Factorio to the same degree as Satisfactory. But if you want to check you could always try the free demo which people say have 10+ hours of playtime in it.
I never knew I needed ZP Frost in my life, but here we are
Big fan of this concept, I’ve always been a fan -we don’t say that word anymore- moments in gaming history and this feels like that but it’s not just about the screwups, excited to see more!
Factorio can be played for free in the Czech National Library of Technology.