After all this time, No Man's Sky finally releases....

[Misery]

My point is, when you are at a similiar situation for something you like, you might not think long enough about it simply because you think "I like this game, I play it a lot, so it will be worth to invest.".
I bet the buyers of this think the same, because they like the game and play it  alot they think they get what they pay for.

Actually, the game isn't even close to being out yet.   It's.... early alpha.

This isn't even REMOTELY close to finished.  Nobody actually knows what the finished game is really going to be like, and these ships aren't even done yet.  Notice something on the one you linked to:  "Damage states being mapped".   AKA, even that ship isn't entirely done yet.  It's on sale, though.

And this gets even worse than I thought:  The *base* cost, for this game, is $75.   ......75!  It gets you the game, and what I'm assuming is probably a rather crappy low-level ship.  This, for a game that is rumored to not hit release for AT LEAST two years.  Though you have the option of paying EVEN MORE to get a slightly better starting ship (yay?)

All of this is AFTER the game already generated millions from crowdfunding.  Yet so far BEFORE release.

I just... ugh.  I don't get it.

I really would love to hear their reasons behind the deranged pricing, though.   $75 just for the game is usually a death-sentence for many developers, people get really, really angry if you do that.  But this one?  No, that's the LOWEST price!   Everyone's fine with that, and with $300 ships!

Understanding.... I has none....

[chemical_art]

They are either doing some super shady accounting (I am thinking some off shore bank accounts are getting stuffed) or they are simply poorly spending the money on frivolous things. Given the extended timeline and lack of progress despite all that money I can only guess if the game will ever be finished to begin with!

Maybe they will go bankrupt. Now that would be an internet nuke to behold.

[Misery]

They are either doing some super shady accounting (I am thinking some off shore bank accounts are getting stuffed) or they are simply poorly spending the money on frivolous things. Given the extended timeline and lack of progress despite all that money I can only guess if the game will ever be finished to begin with!

Maybe they will go bankrupt. Now that would be an internet nuke to behold.

Yeah, that's what I've been thinking too.  Where is all of that money going?  There have indeed been a lot of rumors that the developer is nearing the point of going broke.   They've been doing that thing that happens with big games sometimes:  Going REALLY REALLY OVERBOARD on the graphics.  Like, WAY too far.  Which might be part of why it's taking them so freakishly long to accomplish anything.

Or, yes, they could be just making outright shady moves, too.  That's the theory I've been going with, personally.   I mean, spending too much on graphics does make sense, but this is beyond "too much" at this point, for what little progress they've made.  And really, that store.  That just screams "shady" to me.

I have to wonder, just what would happen if they really DID go bankrupt?   I mean, there are people that, as Draco said, have spent over a thousand on this.  Or at least hundreds.  Just imagine the legal nightmare that could result from this, right alongside the internet freakout.  This is the sort of thing that would become legend in the industry, if it happens like that.

[chemical_art]

Just imagine the legal nightmare that could result from this, right alongside the internet freakout.  This is the sort of thing that would become legend in the industry, if it happens like that.

"Cloud Imperium Games, LLC is an American video game company, founded by Chris Roberts and Ortwin Freyermuth, with offices in Los Angeles, California, Austin, Texas, Wilmslow, Cheshire, England and Frankfurt, Germany." -Wikipedia

Given that it is a corporation it is by default limited in its liability. So it would go through standard bankruptcy hearings where either it is bought out by another company (which it won't) so then it will liquidate all assets.

For the average backer, they will get nothing. Ok, maybe less then a dollar if a class action lawsuit is followed but more likely they get nothing.

I will just buy popcorn in bulk.

[Mánagarmr]

Ships $345 for me. I'm in Sweden.

Holy hell $300+. I could buy a new radiator for my car for that. A high performance, racing radiator. That's nuts. Who the eff pays that much for a SINGLE FREAKING INTERNET SPACESHIP?! O_o

[madcow]

Total agreement the crazy thing is not only paying that much for an in game item. It's the unreleased item for an unreleased game part, insane!

The devil's advocate side is that the promise of Kickstarter is not that you're buying the ship or item, the genius is they are really selling the dream of what you think the game could be. The ship is the extra incentive they through in.

Having said that, I didn't see or buy into the hype for either star citizen or no man sky. No man sky I could tell would t really have much in the way of gameplay that interests me and I never understood the hype. Star citizen I can at least the game too it and how the concept seems fun, but I never saw how they could practically do it.

Hopefully this will usher in the end of the era of preorders, but I doubt it

[wwwhhattt]

Hopefully this will usher in the end of the era of preorders, but I doubt it

Wasn't Daikatana supposed to have done that?

[Mánagarmr]

Hopefully this will usher in the end of the era of preorders, but I doubt it

That's unfortunately never going to happen.

[Draco18s]

No, but every person burned by a preorder that says "never again" and then actually follows through will eventually add up.

[Toranth]

No, but every person burned by a preorder that says "never again" and then actually follows through will eventually add up.

(Looks at Civ 6 preorder)
There are people that manage to do that?  Wow.

[Draco18s]

I don't pre-order any more. I got severely burned a few times; blanking on what game was the last one, but Spore was huge disappointment and I got a refund (pre that 2 hour/2 week policy) on Dungeons (after being called a troll by an employee on their official forums).

[crazyroosterman]

No, but every person burned by a preorder that says "never again" and then actually follows through will eventually add up.

(Looks at Civ 6 preorder)
There are people that manage to do that?  Wow.

yeap like for instance my self way back when bio shock  infinite was coming out and I was on the hype train for it and preordered it then I ended up hating the game for various reasons and I never preordered anything ever again.

[Draco18s]

So the whole "X% of No Man's Sky audience drop" thing is finally showing some real data (because "concurrent" is a terrible measure).
http://steamspy.com/app/275850#tab-audience
Average and median playtime (in the last two weeks) per player has fallen off by 50%

[wwwhhattt]

No, but every person burned by a preorder that says "never again" and then actually follows through will eventually add up.

But with kids growing up and starting to ask for/buy games themselves, will the number of burned people add up faster than the number of new people starting to play games? This also goes for wondering how people never seem to learn from the last time it happened - for plenty of them this is the first major screwup.

I think it's also a mistake to focus so much on individual example, no matter how spectacular they are. E3 happens every year, and the big companies are advertising constantly - talking about how disastrous NMS's launch has been makes it look separate from all the other hyped games, when it's only difference is size. But then as long as advertising continues we're stuck with people talking endlessly about dull games and ignoring good ones. Clearly what we need to do is: seize control of all AAA games companies; overthrow the government; provide everyone with a basic living wage so Chris & Co. can make weird games about raptors without worrying about all the Darrens complaining about the graphics; live happily ever after.

[Misery]

No, but every person burned by a preorder that says "never again" and then actually follows through will eventually add up.

But with kids growing up and starting to ask for/buy games themselves, will the number of burned people add up faster than the number of new people starting to play games? This also goes for wondering how people never seem to learn from the last time it happened - for plenty of them this is the first major screwup.

I think it's also a mistake to focus so much on individual example, no matter how spectacular they are. E3 happens every year, and the big companies are advertising constantly - talking about how disastrous NMS's launch has been makes it look separate from all the other hyped games, when it's only difference is size. But then as long as advertising continues we're stuck with people talking endlessly about dull games and ignoring good ones. Clearly what we need to do is: seize control of all AAA games companies; overthrow the government; provide everyone with a basic living wage so Chris & Co. can make weird games about raptors without worrying about all the Darrens complaining about the graphics; live happily ever after.

The stupid thing is, EVERY single time this happens, most people absolutely will treat it as a separate incident, no matter what it was.  It doesn't matter that the last 20000 AAA games were all big disappointments.  The new disappointment, whatever it is, is still this huge surprise to everyone, and game X, whatever that is at the time, will OF COURSE get things right, because how could it not?!?  So the person pre-orders that.

The cycle of derp begins again.   And again.  And again.   And again.

Right now, "game X" for a lot of people is Star Citizen.  I wonder what it'll be if that one goes boom?