Planetary Annihilation: TITANS, A Standalone Expansion For Planetary Annihilation

Actually I'd have paid if they did it the clean way as SCS does with Euro Truck Simulator 2 :
- Content is only for DLC buyers.
- Any other update is for all the customers.

If they provided all the updates (UI, inter-planetary battles which were promised for the original game, tutorial, map generator) for free, but the new maps and units as a paid DLC I'd have been OK.

FYI SCS often releases new cosmetic paint jobs when they're in need of money. Why I do not buy them I buy every other content for the game. They're clean towards their customers, Uber really behave as traitors and this will bring them down.

Last : all TW Rome 2 customers got their game updated to emperor edition for free...

If they provided all the updates (UI, inter-planetary battles which were promised for the original game, tutorial, map generator) for free, but the new maps and units as a paid DLC I'd have been OK.

Maybe their financial situation is so bad that it is simply impossible to give features for free at the moment . Paid units would affect negatively to multiplayer games if others has paid units giving advantage. Maybe nobody would have bought the maps since community could make them for free with the editor.

I don't know ... I guess the situation is bad at the moment but even worse if they would have done otherwise.


Last edited by edqe on 19 August 2015 at 8:27 pm UTC

Maybe their financial situation is so bad that it is simply impossible to give features for free at the moment . Paid units would affect negatively to multiplayer games if others has paid units giving advantage. Maybe nobody would have bought the maps since community could make them for free with the editor.

I don't know ... I guess the situation is bad at the moment but even worse if they would have done otherwise.

Or maybe they shouldn't over-promise what they could do on the kickstarter budget, or make it a bigger one in order to deliver everything they initially promised?

In the end it's all about management and PR. If you don't deliver what you promise because you mis-manage, people are going to be angry at you. If you then proceed to fan the flames by failing at damage control, people will be even more angry at you.

Or maybe they shouldn't over-promise what they could do on the kickstarter budget ...

All KS projects I know the KS budget has not been even near enough; Wasteland 2, Divinity: Original Sin, Elite: Dangerous, etc. All of them ended up to use lots of their own money to deliver the game in the end. Making estimations is no easy. Underestimate the required work has been a problem from the beginning of KS and especially if the game is team's first KS project.

In the end it's all about management and PR. If you don't deliver what you promise because you mis-manage, people are going to be angry at you. If you then proceed to fan the flames by failing at damage control, people will be even more angry at you.

Maybe there would have been a manager who would have foresee all the problems beforehand and make a perfect estimations about the required work. This time that person wasn't on the project.

Kickstarter and Early Access projects has their risks and sometimes they fail just like software projects does. People who are not ready to lose their money or get just a simplified version from what was the goal in the beginning, shouldn't support and put money to KS or EA projects but wait the final version.


Last edited by edqe on 20 August 2015 at 4:33 am UTC

Link to a petition :
https://www.change.org/p/uber-entertainment-planetary-annihilation-titans-stop-making-us-pay-for-what-we-already-paid-for

The problem is that the game was already marked as final one year ago so this does not account. They promised that all updates would be free, but actually it was liar.

I understand for the financial argument, but here they're just liars, just as they were when they said their game would be DRM-free... (in French)
http://influence-pc.fr/26-04-2015-uber-entertainment-ne-joue-pas-le-role-du-drm-free-avec-planetary-annihilation

Frankly I'd be happy to support these guys... but here they're really screwing us.

Apparently if you copy the contents of the folder pa_ex1 into the pa folder you can get access to almost everything that's in the Titans "standalone".

But why they do make original buyers pay more while the new buyers get PA Titans for the same price as original PA buyers did, while original PA is removed from Steam ? Is it to force original buyers to bring more cash ???

There's no forcing. The old game plays with and integrates with the expanded version. I find this standalone approach with the heavy discount for existing users, much more preferable to the DLC alternative.

The problem is that the game was already marked as final one year ago so this does not account. They promised that all updates would be free, but actually it was liar.

The original game received many substantial updates. This expansion pushes beyond what was ever promised.

I understand for the financial argument, but here they're just liars, just as they were when they said their game would be DRM-free... (in French)
http://influence-pc.fr/26-04-2015-uber-entertainment-ne-joue-pas-le-role-du-drm-free-avec-planetary-annihilation

The game is DRM free. Offline/custom-server play was added as promised to the original game some time ago.


Last edited by N30N on 20 August 2015 at 11:31 am UTC

The problem is that the game was already marked as final one year ago so this does not account. They promised that all updates would be free, but actually it was liar.

Yes. Unfortunately the final game didn't met all Kickstarter goals, but everyone who supported the project knew that could happen.

People who supported the project during Early Access - like me - knew already that the project didn't met all goals. I supported the project because I wanted them to have a change to make the game as good as possible.

Uber has pushed patches and improvements to PA since its release (~10 months) - like just recently this one. The updates has added many features from original KS goals that were missing on release.

Yes, maybe TITANS is a bit expensive for people who has bought PA after its release. But still, Uber still doesn't force to buy TITANS so people who thinks it is too expensive should vote with their wallets.


Last edited by edqe on 20 August 2015 at 11:44 am UTC

I think the problem is that we know nothing what is going inside the company and what all ideas they have went trough.

You can always ask directly by getting involved in the 3 question game. ;)

I think the problem is that we know nothing what is going inside the company and what all ideas they have went trough.

You can always ask directly by getting involved in the 3 question game. ;)

I look forward to hear about their financial status and other secrets ;)

Hey, but thanks for sharing the link. I didn't know they have interesting stuff like that going on in their forum.

Anyone who supported them on Kickstarter gains access to it for free it seems, but if you purchased it afterwards you will have to buy it (at a discount too!). That makes me pretty happy, and will hopefully keep others happy too.

Nope! I supported them on Early Access, paying the same amount as some of their Kickstarter backers. Why do I get less of a product for the same amount of money when the whole purpose of it being as expensive as it was during Early Access was to make the Kickstarter backers feel like they didn't get shafted? Why am I expected to pay $13.50 more than the Kickstarter backers of the same tier when I already get less content because of how rewards on Kickstarter vs Steam Early Access works? Why was this UPDATE released as a standalone expansion? Other than the units and maps, everything new in Titans should have been provided to everyone. Tutorial? Sorry, if you want a tutorial, you're gonna have to pay up.

That's what's unacceptable: Despite the point of the high Early Access price being that everyone who paid the same got the same, the Steam users got less and are expected to pay more.

Nope! I supported them on Early Access, paying the same amount as some of their Kickstarter backers. Why do I get less of a product for the same amount of money when the whole purpose of it being as expensive as it was during Early Access was to make the Kickstarter backers feel like they didn't get shafted?

Kickstarter backers made the game possible in the first place. I backed the game in Early Access and I'm more than fine that Kickstarter backers gets TITANS for free.

Why was this UPDATE released as a standalone expansion?

Q: Xanoxis: ummm, Do you feel Titans was a right move, and how you feel about it launch so far?

A: jables: TITANS was a good move i think. It allowed us to go farther than the original plan of PA, and we would never have been able to afford to to that with just continued updates

https://forums.uberent.com/threads/jables-3-question-game-log.69348/


Last edited by edqe on 20 August 2015 at 4:07 pm UTC

Kickstarter backers made the game possible in the first place. I backed the game in Early Access and I'm more than fine that Kickstarter backers gets TITANS for free.

But if the entire point of making the price the same is to give everyone the same product, this goes entirely against that. Nobody was promised this, but it's a slap in the face that we all paid the same amount and some of us got more than others. I paid $40 to get into the Beta with Early Access. I already didn't get the soundtrack, wallpaper, or discussion community key that Kickstarter backers for the same amount paid to get. I'd be okay if some of it were DLC that everyone had to pay for, but if I paid the same amount as Kickstarter backers because the point of that price was to give everyone the same stuff, why do they get this extra stuff for free that I have to pay $13.50 for?

Why was this UPDATE released as a standalone expansion?

Q: Xanoxis: ummm, Do you feel Titans was a right move, and how you feel about it launch so far?

A: jables: TITANS was a good move i think. It allowed us to go farther than the original plan of PA, and we would never have been able to afford to to that with just continued updates

https://forums.uberent.com/threads/jables-3-question-game-log.69348/

A tutorial is beyond the scope of the original PA? Balance changes are exclusive to Titans, too. This isn't some supermassive expansion that couldn't have been done with DLC. Hell, put everything that's just changes and the tutorial in an update, make the DLC $5 and don't give preferential treatment and I probably would've bought the DLC. They would've avoided all this bullcrap and might have gotten more than triple the people to buy the DLC, making even more money than their current discount stuff for previous owners would've gotten them.

I don't care that this costs money. I do care that I paid the same money as Kickstarter backers because we were supposed to get the same end product, then they got bonus stuff for free and now I have to pay more to get it.

I finally bought the game again but I'll definitely put a negative review on it because they were dishonest with us. Supporting honest devs is OK and I'm really happy to do so, now supporting liars... anyone needs to know who they really are before planning to buy anything from them.

(To be honest those who bought SpaceBase DF-9 in early access were even screwed worse)


Last edited by gojul on 20 August 2015 at 7:26 pm UTC

I'd be okay if some of it were DLC that everyone had to pay for, but if I paid the same amount as Kickstarter backers because the point of that price was to give everyone the same stuff, why do they get this extra stuff for free that I have to pay $13.50 for?

They made the game possible and personally I think they deserve get more. I had change to support them but I didn't. My bad and I don't think I deserved get the extension for free.

They gave the extension for free already for 44,162 backers. That was nicely done from them but of course some sees it in negative light.

People who doesn't understand the risks of Kickstarter and Early Access shouldn't support the projects. We would avoid lots of pointless bullcr*p.

The early access price was to match Kickstarter so we backers didnt feel shafted, yes. That was the only reason, early access buyers knew the price, and purchased it anyway. Even though everyone said it would be much lower at release, only yourselves to blame.

Anyone who is annoyed by this shouldn't buy early access, ever.