Crusader Kings III: Friends & Foes releases next week, other DLC prices going up

Almost twice the price, while "everyone" is already nagging about Paradox DLC behavior, in a time where every prices but salaries go up : yes of course, sign me in !

(no)

Of all the DLC released so far, this is the one that I'm actually happy to get. Though not at any cost. I would not be surprised if this goes for 6.99, now that the price for the much "bigger" Flavor Packs has increased. Hopefully I'm proven wrong.

The reason I'd love to have this is that I usually gravitate towards rulers highly skilled in Diplomacy. There's so much benefits from having friends (they are unable to join hostile factions, they prevent accumulation of stress, etc.) that playing as anything but a great diplomat almost feels like a chore. So events surrounding friends (and a bit less so, rivals) is something that'd bring more variety to my campaigns, while I'm not feeling inclined to start in Scandinavia or Spain. As for Royal Court, I don't quite feel like decorating my abode, and the events that unfold in the court are a bit lackluster and repetitive, IMO.

Though whether or not I'll get the new DLC at full price or later at a discount, I am looking forward to the 1.7 patch. It looks like they fixed and improved quite a few systems to make for a bit more interesting (late) game.

I think I've mentioned in previous posts about DLC - I actually think Paradox gets this mostly okay. Sure, there's TONS of DLC content for their previous games - hundreds of pounds worth in fact (although only about 5 so far for this title). But no-one is forcing you to buy these, and the model allows you to buy only the bits you think you'd love.

Paradox surely isn't expecting anyone to download every pack. So provided that the packs you ARE buying are good value, then I think that's a pretty nice way to get more play time from a game you obviously love.

Maybe I'm just used to the board game model. These DLC packs are about giving you extended value from the initial investment, rather than making you wait years and then fork out for Crusader Kings 4.

> However, the main game and the Royal Court expansion prices remain unchanged.

Most markets got a price hike for the main game back in May. I wouldn't be surprised if it happened again soon.

I think I've mentioned in previous posts about DLC - I actually think Paradox gets this mostly okay. Sure, there's TONS of DLC content for their previous games - hundreds of pounds worth in fact (although only about 5 so far for this title). But no-one is forcing you to buy these, and the model allows you to buy only the bits you think you'd love.

Paradox surely isn't expecting anyone to download every pack. So provided that the packs you ARE buying are good value, then I think that's a pretty nice way to get more play time from a game you obviously love.

Maybe I'm just used to the board game model. These DLC packs are about giving you extended value from the initial investment, rather than making you wait years and then fork out for Crusader Kings 4.

The problem lies not with their business model, there is indeed added value to their DLCs, but nothing justifies such a huge price raise. Prices were already pretty high when you consider it (Dharma for EU4 which added, like, 2 buttons ; Northern Lords which severely lacked content...). It's sad to see PDX slowly joining the "baddies" like EA or Blizz.

At this point, it's just giving money away for their shareholders.

If you don't think the price hike is justified, you don't buy it. I don't get the hate (like comparing Paradox to the likes of EA or Blizzard). This isn't an insidious gambling ploy, like loot boxes. It's definable content you get to play for a price, which extends the value you get from the original game.

Sure, argue about the price (or value), but we can't compare this to gouging.

I think I've mentioned in previous posts about DLC - I actually think Paradox gets this mostly okay. Sure, there's TONS of DLC content for their previous games - hundreds of pounds worth in fact (although only about 5 so far for this title). But no-one is forcing you to buy these, and the model allows you to buy only the bits you think you'd love.

Paradox surely isn't expecting anyone to download every pack. So provided that the packs you ARE buying are good value, then I think that's a pretty nice way to get more play time from a game you obviously love.

Maybe I'm just used to the board game model. These DLC packs are about giving you extended value from the initial investment, rather than making you wait years and then fork out for Crusader Kings 4.

I strongly agree. I always put up with the high price because it was just honest - I liked most of it enough that it was worth spending a fair bit of money, and when I didn't (say, the EU4 expansion Mare Nostrum, which I just can't see the point of) I ignored it. Some DLC was annoyingly bad or badly priced, but I can live with that. And I liked the granularity, even back when portrait packs and unit packs and music packs were separate. xD

If you don't think the price hike is justified, you don't buy it. I don't get the hate (like comparing Paradox to the likes of EA or Blizzard). This isn't an insidious gambling ploy, like loot boxes. It's definable content you get to play for a price, which extends the value you get from the original game.

Sure, argue about the price (or value), but we can't compare this to gouging.

Now on this, I think increasing the price post-release is a bit deceptive - you buy into the game with a certain expectation, and then the cards change. Because part of the "honesty" of the model is knowing roughly what to expect: you know they are going to put out a large amount of DLC, which means a certain amount of replayability at a certain cost. Making the future DLCs more expensive certainly made CK3 less appealing for me, and if I had bought it I would have been at least annoyed.

There's no "hate" on my part @Scaine. I own almost all PDX games and played hundreds of hours on them. I'm just making an objective observation on the path PDX is taking over the last years, which is, sadly, really similar to the ones taken the other companies I quoted.

And that's not even surprising per se : they've gone public, they've got shareholders to satisfy, so short-term profits will now obviously outweigh software quality and customer satisfaction. Just like every other major gaming company, they will squeeze the cow dry until the players are finally fed up with it, unless it just keeps working (after all Blizz and EA are doing just fine financially).

I'm not even accusing them of being deceptive, or anything really. I'm just stating one obvious fact : the "content per bucks" ratio is going down, and will keep going down. PDX was above its competition in terms of customer relationship, it just isn't anymore. They haven't reached the levels of EA (since you mentioned lootboxes), but I would be surprised if their marketing team didn't actually consider going that way.

I'm not saying I won't buy from them again, I sure as hell will when their games will go on sales, but I still can criticize what I feel is wrong, right ?


Last edited by ssj17vegeta on 5 September 2022 at 10:13 am UTC