GhoulofGSG9Join Date: 2013-03-31Member: 184566Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, Reinforced - Supporter, WC 2013 - Supporter, Pistachionauts
edited November 2016
Okay this might shock some of you but not so long ago it was common that as customer you had the right to resell bought goods (including software licenses). Over the last 10-30 years the economy found multiple ways to restrict that right and even seems to got people to believe it is a good thing. However from my point of view these kind of restrictions only serve the interest of the initial manufacturers to increase their profits and doesn't really offer any benefits to the costumer.
Given that most of us developers share this view we decided to allow our costumers to resell their DLC skins given that steam now offers a way to legally trade digital goods. The main objective was to see if the NS2 community is overall interested in the steam economy and secondly to see how much the free market value of NS2 skins is.
About the topic of reinforcement based on some details I know:
Reinforcement was like most NS2 DLCs seen as donation.
One of the main objectives of reinforcement was to see if it was still financially possible to continue to invest into larger art content (the part of game development that costs most money). At that point of time a small team of UWE was already developing Subnautica as it's quiet common and needed for healthy software companies to follow a 2 year project cycle.
After Reinforcement didn't reach it's goal the scope of new art content was lowered (e.g. shift from working on totally new maps towards finishing a popular custom map). The money gained by reinforcement was directly invested into further NS2 development, but didn't last that long at all.
There is also a video of Hugh talking about the Kodiak DLC (including some financial details about Natural Selection 2) which might help to further understand the situation from back then (pre-Reinforcement to pre-CDT):
Okay this might shock some of you but not so long ago it was common that as customer you had the right to resell bought goods (including software licenses). Over the last 10-30 years the economy found multiple ways to restrict that right and even seems to got people to believe it is a good thing. However from my point of view these kind of restrictions only serve the interest of the initial manufacturers to increase their profits and doesn't really offer any benefits to the costumer.
Given that most of us developers share this view we decided to allow our costumers to resell their DLC skins given that steam now offers a way to legally trade digital goods. The main objective was to see if the NS2 community is overall interested in the steam economy and secondly to see how much the free market value of NS2 skins is.
About the topic of reinforcement based on some details I know:
Reinforcement was indeed like most DLCs mostly seen as donation.
One of the main objectives of reinforcement was to see if it was still financially possible to continue to invest into larger art content (the part of game development that costs most money). At that point of time a small team of UWE was already developing Subnautica as it's quiet common and needed for healthy software companies to follow a 2 year project cycle.
After Reinforcement didn't reach it's goal the scope of new art content was lowered (e.g. shift from working on totally new maps towards finishing a popular custom map). The money gained by reinforcement was directly invested into further NS2 development, but didn't last that long at all.
There is also a video of Hugh talking about the Kodiak DLC (including some financial details about Natural Selection 2) which might help to further understand the situation from back then (pre-Reinforcement to pre-CDT):
This is all fair and understandable, but it doesn't really clash with the exclusivity of the shadow skins, does it? You could use the same argument to make the Black Armor available on the market, which hasn't happened for Reasons. Those same Reasons could/do apply to the shadow stuff.
Okay this might shock some of you but not so long ago it was common that as customer you had the right to resell bought goods (including software licenses). Over the last 10-30 years the economy found multiple ways to restrict that right and even seems to got people to believe it is a good thing. However from my point of view these kind of restrictions only serve the interest of the initial manufacturers to increase their profits and doesn't really offer any benefits to the costumer.
Given that most of us developers share this view we decided to allow our costumers to resell their DLC skins given that steam now offers a way to legally trade digital goods. The main objective was to see if the NS2 community is overall interested in the steam economy and secondly to see how much the free market value of NS2 skins is.
About the topic of reinforcement based on some details I know:
Reinforcement was indeed like most DLCs mostly seen as donation.
One of the main objectives of reinforcement was to see if it was still financially possible to continue to invest into larger art content (the part of game development that costs most money). At that point of time a small team of UWE was already developing Subnautica as it's quiet common and needed for healthy software companies to follow a 2 year project cycle.
After Reinforcement didn't reach it's goal the scope of new art content was lowered (e.g. shift from working on totally new maps towards finishing a popular custom map). The money gained by reinforcement was directly invested into further NS2 development, but didn't last that long at all.
There is also a video of Hugh talking about the Kodiak DLC (including some financial details about Natural Selection 2) which might help to further understand the situation from back then (pre-Reinforcement to pre-CDT):
This is all fair and understandable, but it doesn't really clash with the exclusivity of the shadow skins, does it? You could use the same argument to make the Black Armor available on the market, which hasn't happened for Reasons. Those same Reasons could/do apply to the shadow stuff.
The black armor hasn't been made tradable because it directly represents the initial buyers of the special (backer) edition of NS2 and because of the feedback we received from the shadow tier owners after making their items tradable. The reinforcement donators are still like the constellation donators ($20+) represented by their badges.
Some of the items of reinforcement were never exclusive from the very start. E.g. the extended soundtrack always has been avaible at Spotify.
Don't get me wrong, I would still have donated, I love the game and think it's worth it. I've bought multiple copies for friends, and even have a spare copy with my account inventory currently. The issue for me wasn't the donation, it was that idea that it was a one off, never to be had again, kind of thing.
I will admit, 16 year old me probably wouldn't have donated quite the same amount if there were no perks
The black armor hasn't been made tradable because it directly represents the initial buyers of the special (backer) edition of NS2 and because of the feedback we received from the shadow tier owners after making their items tradable. The reinforcement donators are still like the constellation donators ($20+) represented by their badges.
Ehm, you did not ask me for feedback for example.... So you want to tell me that i spend over 75$ just for a badge?
Sorry Ghoul but i was told back then that the shadow tier donators will receive an EXCLUSIVE elite-assault armor.
It was promised on the main site of the reinforced-programm.
And i know a lot of people who are very angry that their EXCLUSIVES are now free to buy for all
Mimimi.
I CAN BE THE ONLY ONE TO HAVE NICE THINGS. This guy over there has nice things too, HE MUST GIVE THEM TO ME OR DIE1!1eleven!! /sarcasm off
seriously.
stop being needy little childs. pls.
don't be stupid please. of course should the shadow tier items be exclusive to shadow supporters. like the black armor is an exclusive for pre orders.
it is totally understandable that people are angry when they were promised to get an exclusive for donating A LOT of money and then their stuff gets thrown in the steam market.
i have no problem when uwe makes new armors who are free to trade for everyone. but when they promise an exclusive, it should be an exclusive. i don't understand why they do this always for the holy pre orders, but the reinforced donators who are not less important imo are not worth it to keep ones word.
Comments
Given that most of us developers share this view we decided to allow our costumers to resell their DLC skins given that steam now offers a way to legally trade digital goods. The main objective was to see if the NS2 community is overall interested in the steam economy and secondly to see how much the free market value of NS2 skins is.
About the topic of reinforcement based on some details I know:
Reinforcement was like most NS2 DLCs seen as donation.
One of the main objectives of reinforcement was to see if it was still financially possible to continue to invest into larger art content (the part of game development that costs most money). At that point of time a small team of UWE was already developing Subnautica as it's quiet common and needed for healthy software companies to follow a 2 year project cycle.
After Reinforcement didn't reach it's goal the scope of new art content was lowered (e.g. shift from working on totally new maps towards finishing a popular custom map). The money gained by reinforcement was directly invested into further NS2 development, but didn't last that long at all.
There is also a video of Hugh talking about the Kodiak DLC (including some financial details about Natural Selection 2) which might help to further understand the situation from back then (pre-Reinforcement to pre-CDT):
This is all fair and understandable, but it doesn't really clash with the exclusivity of the shadow skins, does it? You could use the same argument to make the Black Armor available on the market, which hasn't happened for Reasons. Those same Reasons could/do apply to the shadow stuff.
The black armor hasn't been made tradable because it directly represents the initial buyers of the special (backer) edition of NS2 and because of the feedback we received from the shadow tier owners after making their items tradable. The reinforcement donators are still like the constellation donators ($20+) represented by their badges.
Some of the items of reinforcement were never exclusive from the very start. E.g. the extended soundtrack always has been avaible at Spotify.
That's not true, I also can't believe cysts have made it this far
I will admit, 16 year old me probably wouldn't have donated quite the same amount if there were no perks
Ehm, you did not ask me for feedback for example.... So you want to tell me that i spend over 75$ just for a badge?
Sorry Ghoul but i was told back then that the shadow tier donators will receive an EXCLUSIVE elite-assault armor.
It was promised on the main site of the reinforced-programm.
And i know a lot of people who are very angry that their EXCLUSIVES are now free to buy for all
I CAN BE THE ONLY ONE TO HAVE NICE THINGS. This guy over there has nice things too, HE MUST GIVE THEM TO ME OR DIE1!1eleven!! /sarcasm off
seriously.
stop being needy little childs. pls.
don't be stupid please. of course should the shadow tier items be exclusive to shadow supporters. like the black armor is an exclusive for pre orders.
it is totally understandable that people are angry when they were promised to get an exclusive for donating A LOT of money and then their stuff gets thrown in the steam market.
i have no problem when uwe makes new armors who are free to trade for everyone. but when they promise an exclusive, it should be an exclusive. i don't understand why they do this always for the holy pre orders, but the reinforced donators who are not less important imo are not worth it to keep ones word.
Next time you should probably say to yourself: "Ok I should think about it first before I write something stupid again."