In Game Store and Prices Leaked

TheDarkrayne

Pretty hot topic on Reddit right now:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthemTheGame/comments/ajg581/image_featured_store_items_cost/



That works out at about $20 for the better skins. Personally, I'd never, ever, pay that much for a skin. I don't think I've ever bought a skin, anyway. 

Everything can be earned with the in game currency though so, even if it's a bit of a grind, I can totally ignore the prices.

I'm not really surprised by this but no loot boxes and a way to earn them without paying real money is a step in the right direction to me.

Bioware responded on the topic saying this:

"Hey there! One thing to keep in mind is these don't represent final, stamped for all of eternity pricing. We are iterating on our economy design and balance almost daily, so you're seeing a snapshot of one iteration. This is why we tend to not discuss things like pricing, because it's one of those iterative things that's sure to change frequently right up until the day you play the game."

What does everyone think?

TheDarkrayne

I know it was posted days ago but it's just starting to go viral...

SlyLoK

As long as I can earn things in game without it taking a year for a single skin then sure.

Ikeda

$20 bucks.... when it launches, I gurantee they'll SLIGHTLY lower the price so they look like they're being awesome and "listening" to feedback.  #thoughtsandprayers

TheDarkrayne

Ikeda said:

$20 bucks.... when it launches, I gurantee they'll SLIGHTLY lower the price so they look like they're being awesome and "listening" to feedback.  #thoughtsandprayers

They probably will now, yes. They've said as much on the Reddit topic, kind of...

Robsolf

Can't quite put my finger on why, but there just seems to be something wrong with charging people the same amount for an outfit that you would for an entire DLC pack...

Nevermind... turns out I can put 2 of my fingers on it...

alkarionlog

they never do learn do then? worse still is people will spend on it....

Robsolf

Arterius said:

I am fine with it as long as they keep there promise that all DLC and expansions are free. If I do end up liking Anthem and I do throw them money here and there to help development and than they charge $40 for an expansion a year from now I am going to be pissed.

Not to be Mr. Negative, but I'm pretty sure you can count on it.  And that also applies to any of their premiere subscribers as well.  You will pay for DLC.  Look at how Sims 3 pricing is set up, and you'll see it, too.

TheDarkrayne

Robsolf said:

Arterius said:

I am fine with it as long as they keep there promise that all DLC and expansions are free. If I do end up liking Anthem and I do throw them money here and there to help development and than they charge $40 for an expansion a year from now I am going to be pissed.

Not to be Mr. Negative, but I'm pretty sure you can count on it.  And that also applies to any of their premiere subscribers as well.  You will pay for DLC.  Look at how Sims 3 pricing is set up, and you'll see it, too.

They've confirmed that all 'story' based DLC will be free.

Amathe

Ok, true confessions.

I would pay $20 for a cool looking skin. And I have, more times than I care to admit.

But what happens is that for like a day or two you not only look cool, you look cooler than most other people. Until WHAMMO, everyone gets one. And now I take mine off and feel like an asshole. 

Sovrath

Amathe said:

Ok, true confessions.

I would pay $20 for a cool looking skin. And I have, more times than I care to admit.

But what happens is that for like a day or two you not only look cool, you look cooler than most other people. Until WHAMMO, everyone gets one. And now I take mine off and feel like an asshole. 

I would as well.

I think Black Desert charges "about $20" if I'm not mistaken.

I do think they will lower it "a little." Also, it's possible that this was placeholder stuff. I haven't read the article yet but if someone found this while digging then they might be blowing things a little out of proportion.

Still, no loot boxes means that they will want to make money another way so this is it.

rojoArcueid

I wouldn't mind the $20 for a skin if the game was F2P. I'll probably wait for the game to cost $20 bucks so i can justify buying a skin instead of grinding 50 hours for one.

Robsolf

Arterius said:

Robsolf said:

Arterius said:

I am fine with it as long as they keep there promise that all DLC and expansions are free. If I do end up liking Anthem and I do throw them money here and there to help development and than they charge $40 for an expansion a year from now I am going to be pissed.

Not to be Mr. Negative, but I'm pretty sure you can count on it.  And that also applies to any of their premiere subscribers as well.  You will pay for DLC.  Look at how Sims 3 pricing is set up, and you'll see it, too.

Well the thing they promised was that you get all story content for free even if that is massive expansions for the entire life of the game. You will have to buy new javelins if they release any because you don't need them for story content. I am not going to write them off just yet. I think game companies can change even if its just because they have to, to make up some good will. I think EA, at least with Anthem, is going to behave for the most part. At least I hope so. If not this will be the last EA game i buy

Not free.  You pay 60 bucks for the story content, or you subscribe to Premiere.

That's the key, in my view, which was demonstrated pretty clearly by Fallout 76.  You can expect inflated prices in a F2P game; those items are their sole source of revenue.  But for a game you'll pay 60 bucks for, then drop money on any DLC or a season pass, and then have ridiculous prices in their shop?  No thanks...

hallucigenocide

the $20 thing is just speculation from some random who decided 100 shards = 1 dollar or some crap and people have been running wild with it.

now would it surprise me if they did that? no. it's not really as outrageous as some would make it seem. it's not that uncommon to see pixels being sold for 10-20 bucks in other games.  but in this one since it's being published by EA it's the  equivalent of asking for your soul for an outfit according to some.

TheDarkrayne

rojoArcueid said:

I wouldn't mind the $20 for a skin if the game was F2P. I'll probably wait for the game to cost $20 bucks so i can justify buying a skin instead of grinding 50 hours for one.

I've just gone and got Origin Premier for a month. I thought, hey, I can play some Battlefront II until this weekend and then after until Anthem early access. If I know I'll keep playing Anthem after Premier runs out, I'll buy it permanently.

MikeB

TheDarkrayne said:

What does everyone think?

I don't think there's really anything to think just yet. The pricing isn't final, as BioWare's Chris Schmidt explained in that thread:

"Hey there! One thing to keep in mind is these don't represent final, stamped for all of eternity pricing. We are iterating on our economy design and balance almost daily, so you're seeing a snapshot of one iteration. This is why we tend to not discuss things like pricing, because it's one of those iterative things that's sure to change frequently right up until the day you play the game."

Personally, $20-25 is probably my upper limit for a cosmetic. It depends on what it includes and how cool it looks to me. I wouldn't pay $20 for those two examples, I know that much. Hopefully there's a range of options available to players on the shop. It would also be nice if you could pick out pieces in a set to buy individually. Maybe you just want the chest piece or something, that sort of thing. Either way, all the cosmetics (except for Legion of Dawn edition) can be earned in game.

TheDarkrayne

MikeB said:

TheDarkrayne said:

What does everyone think?

I don't think there's really anything to think just yet. The pricing isn't final, as BioWare's Chris Schmidt explained in that thread:

"Hey there! One thing to keep in mind is these don't represent final, stamped for all of eternity pricing. We are iterating on our economy design and balance almost daily, so you're seeing a snapshot of one iteration. This is why we tend to not discuss things like pricing, because it's one of those iterative things that's sure to change frequently right up until the day you play the game."

Personally, $20-25 is probably my upper limit for a cosmetic. It depends on what it includes and how cool it looks to me. I wouldn't pay $20 for those two examples, I know that much. Hopefully there's a range of options available to players on the shop. Either way, all the cosmetics (except for Legion of Dawn edition) can be earned in game.

A lot of people think it's possible they've released this image on purpose so they can get a response about it. Even if it isn't the final pricing, this has definitely crossed their mind as one of their 'iterations'. So.. they were considering it. They also jumped onto Reddit fairly quickly to say something, almost as if they were expecting it. Either way, it'll probably work out better overall because of it.

I don't think it's very shocking though. We've seen these prices in lots of games, especially MMOs. Even at those prices, which are probably going to change now, if the grind isn't totally ridiculous to earn them through gameplay then I'm all for it.

EDIT: I'll add what Bioware said to the OP.

Albatroes

MikeB said:

TheDarkrayne said:

What does everyone think?

I don't think there's really anything to think just yet. The pricing isn't final, as BioWare's Chris Schmidt explained in that thread:

"Hey there! One thing to keep in mind is these don't represent final, stamped for all of eternity pricing. We are iterating on our economy design and balance almost daily, so you're seeing a snapshot of one iteration. This is why we tend to not discuss things like pricing, because it's one of those iterative things that's sure to change frequently right up until the day you play the game."

Personally, $20-25 is probably my upper limit for a cosmetic. It depends on what it includes and how cool it looks to me. I wouldn't pay $20 for those two examples, I know that much. Hopefully there's a range of options available to players on the shop. It would also be nice if you could pick out pieces in a set to buy individually. Maybe you just want the chest piece or something, that sort of thing. Either way, all the cosmetics (except for Legion of Dawn edition) can be earned in game.

I know I'm probably in the minority for thinking this, but....maybe they should release the game first and then in a month after releasing, slow roll out these 'cosmetics' so people have a feel for the actual economy after they've played and if they feel the pricing is 'fair.' I know its crazy.....but, hey it used to work....

I wont go on and on about consumers and personality responsibility, but I will say that all these I/me/my etc people love to through out (which they have a right to) is driving force for these things. These things are never aimed at a mass audience, more so the person who's like "hey, it looks cool and it would take me x amount of hours ingame to get it anyway, so whatever...." People have always thought that way, even back in the days when I played ragnarok online when it was popular and got paid to powerlevel people on my mage while they were working (then gravity nerfed map wide exp....bastards)

FlyByKnight

$20 bucks for a skin in a lobby game (it's not even a MMO) that's retails between $49.99 - $69.99?

Then some folks want to question why it's absolutely OK to nitpick these games down to the texture quality and attention to detail?

$20 for a "skin" for a meh game that could be WAY better, or catch a good month of a subscription to some other software as service?

Pass.

FlyByKnight

And this whole "oh they just wanted to see, it's not really the price" sh!# needs to f@#$ing stop.

EA/Bioware has a ton of deep learning based metrics tools and 3rd party analytics agencies at their disposal. They know EXACTLY what they're doing.

Lokero

TheDarkrayne said:

A lot of people think it's possible they've released this image on purpose so they can get a response about it. Even if it isn't the final pricing, this has definitely crossed their mind as one of their 'iterations'. So.. they were considering it. They also jumped onto Reddit fairly quickly to say something, almost as if they were expecting it. Either way, it'll probably work out better overall because of it.

I think that about pretty much anything labelled "leaked".

What better way to draw attention than to make people think they are on the inside of the "super secret" info.

I know if my project were nearing release and I wanted to drum up more attention(remember, even some negative responses just add fuel to the fires of noticeability), some click-bait "leaks" would be the way I'd go.

gervaise1

alkarionlog said:

they never do learn do then? worse still is people will spend on it....

You mean they should launch with loot boxes? I have to agree with @Darkrayne this is a better system whatever the prices are. So I would say they have "learnt".

Now what people think about the prices - as and when they are revealed - that is another matter. No loot boxes though!

TheDarkrayne

Lokero said:

TheDarkrayne said:

A lot of people think it's possible they've released this image on purpose so they can get a response about it. Even if it isn't the final pricing, this has definitely crossed their mind as one of their 'iterations'. So.. they were considering it. They also jumped onto Reddit fairly quickly to say something, almost as if they were expecting it. Either way, it'll probably work out better overall because of it.

I think that about pretty much anything labelled "leaked".

What better way to draw attention than to make people think they are on the inside of the "super secret" info.

I know if my project were nearing release and I wanted to drum up more attention(remember, even some negative responses just add fuel to the fires of noticeability), some click-bait "leaks" would be the way I'd go.

Apparently, the image is a screenshot from WillisGamingTV on Twitch, who was playing a prerecorded video whilst commentating. No info about where that prerecorded video came from or anything like that.

rojoArcueid

hallucigenocide said:

the $20 thing is just speculation from some random who decided 100 shards = 1 dollar or some crap and people have been running wild with it.

now would it surprise me if they did that? no. it's not really as outrageous as some would make it seem. it's not that uncommon to see pixels being sold for 10-20 bucks in other games.  but in this one since it's being published by EA it's the  equivalent of asking for your soul for an outfit according to some.

It's no random speculation. Bioware themselves tweeted (or posted on reddit) about it and didn't deny it. They said those prices are "an iteration" of the pricing.

EDIT: the post is right on the OP link.

MauroDiogo

What happened to playing a game, beating certain challenges or bosses, finding cool secrets to earn all of these "Cosmetics" that are now sold? 
THAT is part of the content I'd be paying $60 for. When you start changing for ANYTHING that's in the game, specially at ridiculous prices like these, that's when the whole thing starts getting sour for me. 
It's a Free-to-Play business practice in a $60 game. So just like a F2P game, that's how much I'll be giving EA for all this, $0.

Mykell

My guess is they will have limited special sales every few days. So a $20 skin will be 10$ for the next 24hrs to entice people who haven't saved up enough currency to spend real cash to buy it.

They will have multiple sales every week but will only allow you to earn enough currency playing casually to buy maybe 1 or 2 items.

The trick will be to keep adding enough content to keep people happy and spending.