Electronic Download Very Expensive?

Yes I was in the same boat aswell. Waiting for cheap play.com euro release. But now with the date pushed back I immidiately preordered from stardock. Whats eating me at the moment is, that with shipping the games gonna cost me 45.68€. The customs only check out packages that are over 45€ and add 21% tax to it.

But what the h*** this is probably the only game Iam gonna buy this year in addition to Oblivion. So I rationalized to myself that it is wort the extra euros

Woah. So for a European to buy GalCiv2 using Stardock costs 45 Euros + 21%?

It's a good job that trying to use this Stardock program is the most confusing thing ever, or I would have ordered GalCiv2 already under the pretense of it costing only $45.

I have to say I'm disappointed that stardock is charging $45 for the CD (plus more for shipping/handling), when I can order the game from Amazon for only $39 (including shipping). It's all the more mind boggling when Amazon get's a cut of that $39, meaning less reaches stardock!!! I would love to have purchased directly from stardock, but paying $15 more after all is said and done strikes me as lunacy. I'm wagging my finger of shame to you, brad, for this oversight. Otherwise, can't wait. lol

He mentioned shipping, so add in another $10 for that. And tax is only an issue if you're getting a physical product.

Personally, I'd just burn my own CD with that price difference.

try filling out the light green "re-enter the US or whatever as an american citizen" form, have to figure out ho much stuff costs in $ from euros, based on the date you bought it and not including the tax

You can't undercut the retail price and expect the retailers to just smile and take it. And you can talk about profit per unit sold, but at the end of the day having those pretty boxes on store shelves generates a whole lot more sales than they'd get through this website, so making the retailers angry would be a bad thing.

I understand not undercutting the retailers. It's the charging $5 above retail, plus shipping, that I don't get.

PJ, I understand, and agree. I don't want to make a big deal out of it - it just irked me to pay an extra $10 for shipping in addition to the price difference. Otherwise, would have gladly paid the $5 premium (even more...but not $15) to purchase direct. But you're right. They cannot upset the retailing channel: they can make or break you.

~$45 is the MSRP--the retailers are cutting their own margins to sell it below that price.

That's because they understand supply vs. demand. The average gamer probably isn't going to shell out $45 for a game that doesn't have the name recognition cachet of say Doom or Civilization. They charge less to spur more sales, especially among the "hmm, sounds interesting and not a bad price...guess I'll try it" camp.

To be honest- having the CD isn't too much of a bother. As PJ_ mentioned, I'm quite happy to burn the files to a CD.

Do we get a dicount if all we want is the electronic version? And not the hardcopy?

Also, Amazon, EB Games, and so on, buy large quanities of the game and get a discount on the price. They will usually then pass on this savings to the consumer.

Do we get a dicount if all we want is the electronic version? And not the hardcopy?

The only difference is S&H, ~$5.

Wha...!?! The released date is pushed back until 3/3/06? So close to release? Why? Does that count only for the UK or the rest of the EU as well?

Yes all the other EU releases got delayed too. There is a posting about the situation at paradox galciv2 forums.

I checked out the forum and i'm a bit confused. Here in Greece it was supposed to ship on the 24th. When will it ship now? And why will it ship on the 17th in Gemany? That's way too late.
If i order right from Stardock will my order be shiped on the US release date (21st)?
One last question: Will i be able to download the game right away if i oredered, and will a CD of the game be sent to me via mail?

Sorry for the many questions but i have to know!

If everyone starts buying direct from the game publishers, we can cut out the retail middleman and avoid the issue you have now with the game publisher not being able to pass on any savings for fear of upsetting the retail apple cart. Until game makers can truely stop selling in retail without slashing the total units sold it isnt going to get any better.

I normally try to pay as little as possible for PC games. However, in the case of GC2 I decided to buy direct from stardock because I like the way the game has been sold to us. Always loads of information forthcoming very quick replies to most questions and very good support.

The olny reason i'm buying from a store is becasue I would have to use a credit card to buy off of stardock and I do not have a good credit card (haven't used one since 1997).

If you buy directly from Stardock you can download the game the minute it's released tomorrow. In fact, you can pre-download 99% of the game right now and only need to download  a couple files tomorrow to make it active so you can play.

If you orded the CD version from Stardock then that will be shipped to you separately.
Or if you ordered the electronic version only through Stardock then using Stardock Central you can simply "archive" the game and burn that archive to a CD and thus you have a CD of the game.

Don't take this as gospel, but some of the delays outside of North America are probably due to localization. There's a lot of text in GalCiv II, so localizing all that text into the various languages is going to take Paradox a bit of time.

Personally i prefere to buy it directly from stardock even if it is slightly more expensive and impatient. They made the product i am purchasing i rather give them the money directly and not some middle man.

Could you please clarify the following to me:

1) I want to pre-order a copy right now. I want to be able to download the game but i also want the CD to be sent to me later on. Is this an option or do i chose between the digital and the physical versions of the game?

2) Where should i preorder it, on this side or on Paradox?
3) If i order from here which option should i choose, the one that says Electronic DL or the other one which says Retail CD?
4) Does ordering the physical CD directly from Stardock (on this site) mean that it will ship on the US release date?
5) Are the US and the EU versions the same?

Again sorry for the many questions but i really need to clear things out so i won't do anything i'll regret.

If everyone starts buying direct from the game publishers, we can cut out the retail middleman and avoid the issue you have now with the game publisher not being able to pass on any savings for fear of upsetting the retail apple cart. Until game makers can truely stop selling in retail without slashing the total units sold it isnt going to get any better.

Amen. Developers (most of them) wouldn't be living hand to mouth if they had more control over their own distribution. Doesn't even have to mean making more money. If it's possible to make a profit while selling fewer units then it allows for more diversity.

I'll write an article on the economics in this.

But it boils down to this:

Let's say you need your game to make $2 million to break even.

When you sell a copy at retail, you get $15.  When you get it direct you get $45.

However, most people want to buy at retail.  To be available at retail you have to sell X units per store each week. If you don't seel that number, they take you off the shelves and then you sell 0.

Therefore, you need to make sure that you can sell X units at each store each week and to do that you can't undercut them or else you may not be able to quite reach that X units per store but you will still have the 70% of the public who will simply not purchase electronically.

If GalCiv II were only available electronically, we could probably sell 30,000 copies in the first year (maybe more but in this ballpark).  Having it at retail at a lower price will probably mean 100,000 units at retail and still 20,000 copies direct.  Those 10,000 people who didn't buy it direct are likely enough in those first few months to ensure that it stays on the shelves longer which is what it's all about.

Bottom line: Game sales is about this: How many units can you have on a store shelf X how long you can keep it on the shelves.