Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: Atrayo on December 02, 1999, 10:20:00 PM
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The stated fee of $29.95 a month for playing this game or any is steep,just think of the yearly fees.You guys should rethink your pricing model,cause you guys(developer/game publisher) will be price gouging the end users.The mainstream of quality online games out there charge from $9.95-$14.95 a month.Or,is this game marketed to only the rich,and screw the rest of the gamers who are interested in what your offering?I'm not a teenager either,i'm a 29 year old adult.And,half of your subscription base will be under the age of 18,maybe a minority of parents will cough up $29.95 a month,but most parents will shaft your interested users.I hope after your beta all goes well for you,but don't be surpriesd what i say comes to pass.Good luck on your project as always.Ciao!
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You have to take a look into WarBirds, which costs almost $2 per hour, now thats cheap(!).
Quality games, depends on that how you define quality game, by realism, graphics or other stuff...
I say Aces High is good (if not yet totally, I believe and hope it will be), and might be worth of $29.95.. although, it is pretty expensive.
Talking more of WarBirds, it has seem to atract people alot even though it does cost $2/hour.
I am not sure myself am I able to continue with $29.95 fees..
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Yea $29.95 is alot and its gonna hurt but i have been thinking I can wing it , Hell
I can live on bread and water, hey they
PAY for blood, be ceative. This is the first
online flight sim ive played ( for 3 weeks
now )and this SIM is awsome and addictive AND its still in BETA! $2 an hour for the other sims! , no way I can do that... $29.95
... I'll find a way.
Keep up the good work HTC!
Gabby out .....
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You don't know when the game is going pay-for-play and the state of the game at that point. Undoubtedly there will be more planes, smoother interfaces, and god knows what else.
Think about how far the game has come in 6 months (clouds, bombers, exotic planes) and you can imagine what will happen in the next year. (Carrier groups, etc)
Hell, I spend more than 30 on one night out and that only lasts 6 hrs.
But if we're just trying to browbeat HTC into a cheaper price, just for the sake of haggling, I say HTC should pay us! Beta for free?! Come on! That may have flown in the days before Quake but I'm not used to paying for playing online with my buddy BooBoo - he's 7 and can't get his parent's credit card. Get into the new millenium HTC and quit this "I wanna make a living" crap!
-sudz-
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Huh? Somehow I don't think complaining about how much a flight-sim game is going to cost is the proper way of getting your point acoss. This is a high end flight sim and to dogfight in the canyons or in the clouds is something I haven't found in other flight-sims. I'm hoping the advertising will bring the price down. So get the word out to some advertisers.....who knows, if you get enough advertisers, their payment might exceed HiTech's expectations and he might pass some savings on to the members. Also, maybe a six month subscription might be less than a one month subscription....<G> The point is, if you can't pay you won't play, and if enough don't play............do the math. I see an extra $10.00 a month as a way to keep some of the undesirables from ruining a great place like Aces High. There are plenty of other flight-sims your children can learn to swear in.......
Butchawk(Thorns_Musketeer)
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Well all I can say is screw Warbirds. Its an awesome game but they charge WAY too much. 2 bucks an hour is ridiculous and its unfortunate that people pay that much to play. I say this because if no one played it then they would get the hint. Well anyway my point is that 29.9 is steep, but as long as its a FLAT rate it will not cost HALF as much as Warbirds. Flat rates are better than hour charges by far and im sure everyone will agree. Hell, with Warbirds you pay 29.95 a month, get 5 hours free and then the bastards have the nerve to charge another 2 bucks an hour. Pure Greed I say. Anyway Im done.
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Whingeing about the price isn't going to bring it down. It is higher than your average online game, and targets people with more than a passing interest in the subject. For many it is a reasonable sum for a hobby, for others it's way too high. While charging a certain sum of money will keep out many of those just looking to raise trouble; the perceived high price will not exclude foul mouthed ackstar vulching dweebs. Anyway, this isn't the first thread on the subject, and it won't be the last. And it won't change anybody's mind. A price war in an oversaturated market is more likely to do that (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/wink.gif).
BTW, in my recollection, the demographics for this kind of flight sim is not "50% under 18", but rather mostly educated males 25-45, or something like that.
In all fairness to Brand W, it's the $10/month plan that only gets you 5 hours.
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Well i'm not whining about it,and i'm not a trouble maker either.Also,by raising the bar per se and have a dedicated group only play kind of shuts out the would be players who wish to be dedicated,but can't pay thru the nose.I do hope that they offer better rates for the quarterally and semi-annual plan than this.All i say is time will tell if i'm wrong or right,and i'm a patient sort too.
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Atrayo,
I have been in situations when looking at paying for online sims seemed a bit daunting when I didn't know what I was going to get. I cringed at paying $10 a month to race stock cars online once. I cancelled that account because of the instability of the servers we were trying to race on. Now this is from a guy who has layed down as much as $200 a month to play Warbirds!
$29.95 seems cheap to me for a flat rate and unlimited flying time. I have tried other flight sims and havn't found one that compares favorably (in my opinion) either to this one or Warbirds.
It basically boils down to whether or not you feel what you get in here (Aces High) is worth the money. If it isn't, don't play it. If it is, then pay it :-).
I just hope that HTC can make enough with this low price to make enough money to make it worthwhile to them. Badgering anyone for any thing is, in my humble opinion, in poor taste. There are more constructive ways to approach issues.
Regardless of what our personal opinions are on this subject, I don't beleive all the text in the world is going to change it. Are they ever going to change the price? They may, but it will be up to them, not constant whining about prices on this or any other bulletin board.
You say you are a patient person. I hope so, because I think you have an awfully long wait ahead...
MarkAT
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In the final analysis, it will be up to each and every individual to vote with his/her checkbook (credit card). Pay or not to pay.
This sim is shaping up to be a fine product.
The free market system (and competition) will be the ultimate arbitrator for the rates, high or low.
IMHO, HiTech Creations challenge is to create a top-notch product in an ever-increasing growing field, and then to meet the expectations of whatever business model they set forth at the beginning of this project. So the technical aspects most be good enough to please a sim crowd that is becoming more discerning, and the business aspects must satisfy the owners/investors. Not always an easy chore for any business or industry.
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Well I think that there stratagy is very effective.
I would not have played it for 10 dollars a month when I started. Now I have bought over 200 dollars in hardware and would def. pay 25-30 Canadian to continue. The problem is stretching that up to 45 $ Canadian.
At the very least I would try to get on every second month.
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I also think $29.95 is bit steep. Not for someone who plays 30 hours a week, no sir, that's a deal for them, but what about the guy who plays maybe 10-15 hours a month?
My suggestion:
Maybe have a weekly unlimited, and weekend unlimited rates, and then a rate for both being the premium rate.
Just my $29.95.
to the guy who spends $200 on Warbirds... must be nice... If I had $200 a month to spend on an online flight sim, the question in my mind would be, "I wonder what them poor folks are flying these days?"
-Shep
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Unfortunately, 29.95 per year is going to be to expensive for some people. The line has to be drawn somewhere. Considering people spend 100's on just the hardware like j-sticks etc and 1000's on keeping their PC powerfull, it's reasonable to assume epople would be willing to spend 350 per year on a hobby that offers unlimited play and is constantly evolving. Heck if you go to agw right now and say 50/month flat rate, champaign would start flowing (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/smile.gif)
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Simply put I am willing to stop warbirds which I only pay around 12 dollars a month because I fly on the free arena most of the time. I am willing to pay 15 to 20 dollars a month for Aces High. But I cannot afford to pay 30 dollars a month. I think 29.95 is close to 30 dollars wouldn't you agree.
I believe the 30 dollars a month might go down in the future, because lets face it, this is the real world. This is the best sim I have come across, but I'm not shelling out 30 bucks a month. And yes according to this post this is the place to whine about prices.
This is a forum post, and everyone has the right to say how they feel about prices.
You would have to agree the majority of people out there believe 30 bucks a month is too expensive "PERIOD".
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By the way, I'm 46 years old.
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30 bucks a month is steep, especially for a broke college student like myself. BUT, like many of you, I love WW2 aircraft, and therefore I love ww2 aircraft sims so I am willing to pay it somehow, even if I have to get another job(ok lets not get ridiculous). What im trying to say is that 30 bucks a month is not NEARLY as expensive as if the game were sharged on an hourly rate. Personally I think we have it good compared to Warbirds players.
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I'll be the a*shole.
Do you guys play Air Warrior or what!?!?
$29.95 a month is damn reasonable as far as I can tell. These guys want to make a living too. This may be what it takes for them to make a decent profit.
My little story...
I'm in the autobody business with my brother and father. We have 13 employees, some of you guys *would not believe* the overhead a small business can have. We regularly have a $600 to $700 gas bill year round, $800 a month for estimating / management software subscriptions. Each of our 4 frame racks cost $25k to $30k a piece. 2 paint booths; &50k(one is an italian gas fired downdraft model $35k) These are just some our more notable bills. (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/wink.gif)
When I write an estimate for a customer and its $200 - $300 more than our competiton, he may or may not like it. But thats ok, our reputation in this town is that "we are the highest". But thats ok too because our other reputation is that "we are the best".
If HTC continues to make this simm as good or better than WB's the price will work for me.
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Let's try these pricing arguments on Mercedes and BMW and see if we can get them to come down too!
;-)
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Those who want to pay "Will Play"
The rest will go to the inferior brand X
Don't whine because you are CHEAP.
If you are a student or such I can understand
but that is why you are a student, to learn to better your position in life so a lousy $30 is not an issue.
HOWEVER, if for any other reason you think its to unreasonable get a clue!! Why should we lower our STANDARDS so some cheap#$$ can have fun with us at our expense.
If flying here is what u want you will pay.
This is going to be CHEAPER for me because
I used to fly in WB and my bill was always over $30
You make it sound like we are welfare cases
looking for a hand out.
YOU WILL ONLY GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!!!!!
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In order to place a true value on the product you need to determine your expectation's. I come from a AW background because I couldn't afford a 50-80 hr a month bill from WB's. I also didnt feel that the product warrented the premium charged back in 1995 compared to AW on AOL. Even in it's current beta form I'd pay to play (not full price)..but only if the bugs relating to hardware (want my saitek X36 combo to work) and "stick stirring" were fixed.
To me having these guys actually listening (least some of the time) and using there own product (and taking pride in it) makes for a world of difference compared to AW. As long as the product keeps developing I'm hooked...then again I just replaced my $5,000 database package (with $550 maint fee) with a $56,000 product ($5,600 maint fee) to get what I really need to do my job (headhunter)...I feel the same way here, I only have a couple of hours here and there to spend on my addiction...I want the best bang/buck ratio I can get..and these guys are already delivering a great experience.
Now how bout that overmodelled pony... (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/smile.gif)
hmble
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Hey Toad, if BMW had the relative value of this sim, that is about all that beemer would cost.
At this point, this game ain't worth FREE, much less 30 bucks, but I have high hopes for the future.
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Ok see its like this:
30 bucks a month is cheap(Aces High, damn good game with lots more coming our way!). 30 bucks a month PLUS an additional hourly rate is not(Warbirds). Enough said, now lets fly.
[This message has been edited by Razz (edited 12-03-1999).]
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Just a minor point, in case Hitech or Pyro actually read this thread...
While I think it's a high price, I am probably going to pay just to keep flying. One of the things I would REALLY like to see (and just might be inline with your business philosophy of listening to the gamers) would be an option for those of us who have played the beta's, recorded stats, pointed out bugs and generally loved and commented and provided feedback for this game, to have a deal to purchase a Year's subscription with a discount when the game Beta period ends.
I am not talking ridiculous amounts here, maybe allowing Beta testers to purchase 12 month's with a 10% discount when the beta period ends. We could purchase the time, accounts active when we log onto the new servers with our boxed version.
It would be nice to have a reward for doing our best to help make the game what it is, and would be nice for HTC to get a bonus of 200-300 years subscriptions in advance probably a month before their boxed Gold version even ships?
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If your in range, so is the enemy.
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Atrayo, what's your point? That it's HTC's reponsibility to see to it that you can afford to play their game? If it's too much, then don't play it. They have to come up with whatever it takes to maximize their profits. They're a *business*. If you want $10 per month, go play Air Warrior. If the price is too high, then nobody will play, and adjustments will be made. I believe they will do very well at $30 unlimited, so why should they lower it?
ko
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I feel that anything "Under $50 a Month" is reasonable value for entertainment. I certainly know that I can and often do, spend much more than that.
I also must say that this is because I spend many hours in this form of entertainment. The price per use therefore is way down.
It is tremendously cheaper than my main form of entertainment, which is Golf. Or say, for example, drinking, carousing and chasing the opposite sex. (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/smile.gif)
$29.95 seems to be fairly priced IMHO.
Mino
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Ok lets face it, Nothing on Earth is cheaper than chasing the opposite sex Mino! Or keeping them happy for that matter!
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Remember, these folks have to make a living. I don't understand how they can afford to eat while this is in beta. As a long time WB fan, I welcome the unlimited $29.95. A great deal of time and effort goes into making sims like AH, and it is a continuous effort. While we're online flying, HTC will be hard at working on AH... like modelling my 190D-9... or D-13! (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/smile.gif)
IC
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Hmm well let's see now,, I fly an average of about 3-4 hours a day, (averaging here..)
say 4 times 30 days a month, thats about
120 hours a month. (obviously a slow month for me...
If I was flying Brand W, that would total out somewhere close to 240.00 a month.
29.95 is cheap..
And I've been known to spend over 24 hours in a weekend online flying.
The one thing nice about the price also, is the number of idiots and children it will keep out of the game. (thats not to say I'm not an idiot, nor Childish..)
Price is just a relative term in the long run. This sim is only been out about 9 weeks now. In that time I've seen Major improvements others haven't touched in 2 years, or more.
Guess who's gonna get my money...
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GreyBeard
Flight Commander, Aces High
Skeleton Crew
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Well I can say that I'm partially willing to pay the $30 maybe for a month but definitely not in the state the game is currently in. I realize its a beta so I'm hoping it gets a lot better (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/wink.gif)
One thing though is the BIG concern should be the number of people that are scared away with the $30. Even with the game being free right now there is never more than a 100 people online. I doubt even you hardcore guys would still pay when noone is playing ;0
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Ok, I may be repeating former posts here but I just want to state my point of view. 30 bucks unlimited play is great for people who have the time to fly 120 hours per week ('ello, guess who I mean?) but not everybody has the time to fly that much. I can afford to fly maybe a couple of hours every second day - besides my studies & family. Only because I do not spend my whole spare time with this simulation does not mean that I am not enthusatic about it. I really love Aces High and I am willing to pay a reasonable amount of money for it but there are still other things in my life that take time & money. I am sure that there would be some business plan to also satisfy pilots that fly less than 30 hours a month. Besides a broad customer base isn't a bad thing for a online game; some of my friends aren't the flight jock I am and they won't pay 50sFr. per month, but they still having a good time here at AH. So, even it may be additional administrative work to provide several business plans there is still a big gap between 20 hours a month and unlimited play...
We haven't talked about additional fees for scenarios, have we? (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/wink.gif)
Well, I really like this sim and I will pay for it... but constructive criticism should be allowed.
Kirin out
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AOL has released Fighter OPs. From what ive read they plan to charge 1.99 an hour for it. Why they are planning this for what amounts to the ACA in WB is beyond me. But it makes flat rate look real good. Where talking a buck a day. I drink a buck,s worth a coffee before I get woke up in the morning.
Oh and when ARE they gonna fix the dweebstang.
[This message has been edited by TT (edited 12-04-1999).]
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Something else to keep in mind is that even if you can't or don't want to pay for AH, you will still be able to enjoy it. We are planning a free match-making service where you can host or join an 8 player version of it. You don't need to purchase the software and there is no subscription fee to take advantage of this.
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Doug "Pyro" Balmos
HiTech Creations
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Hooray authority of Pryo speaks,at least others will be able to sample your product before investing into one months worth of play,its a good way to get our appetite for the game.
If,now you didn't just confine players to using a joystick,for your game.Right now i can't beta test it till i get a joystick.What do you players out there recommend is a good joystick to buy,i was eyeing that saitek one,perhaps getting the throttle too?Or do you think beginners shouldn't mess with the throttle at all?Let,alone the pedals?Thanks for any forth coming input!Ciao!
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Nothing on Earth is cheaper than chasing the opposite sex
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I've always found that catching them is the expensive part (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/smile.gif)
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WOW, pyro that is a step in the right direction, 8 player H2H sounds like a kick a*s idea
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Atrayo may i suggest a microsoft sidewinder i have i it has a throttle rudder is built in to stick n i love it its a good stick and as for the $30.00 a mounth for aces high ill pay cuz hell i spent more than that on my stick n newvideo card (which i bought because of ah so $30.00 is cheap but i like the post pyro said earlier too but i also wanna see more planes mostly a p-38L or a b -29 Superfortress i love ah n cant stop playing it