Why does the purchase section not say anything about download only?

http://www.drengin.net (for Drengin info and games).

There is a link on the purchase page here on galciv.com that does explain the purchase and download option.

~SDC~

And the link says.....

Purchasing Galactic Civilizations directly and downloading

On March 26th if you can't get Galactic Civilizations locally, you can purchase it directly from us and download the full game while you wait for your CD to arrive.

It will be $44.95 plus $5 shipping if you live in North America, or $10 shipping elsewhere.

---------

It Looks no different from shop buying and to be honest I am not going to trawl a sight looking for information, I want to know all the information about price and buy options when I press purchase. I got the impression from /. you were offering a nocd option I see no mention of it.... I am not going to click on a drengh.net as it looks like a external site, after all I am new to the site as others will be, you have been using or writing it for months.

James

I wouldn't hold my breath on the download price of GalCiv being 20-30 bucks.

On the 26th, there will be more order options available. Right now (since the beta is over), nobody can order it and download it immediately.

http://www.galciv.com/direct.htm

~SDC~

I understand that its not available now via that route, but surely you should tell people it is going to be available via that route? Your probably getting alot of one time visitors, if you don't explain things now, they won't be back and will probably just go... I will wait till I see it in the shops and if it isn't it wasn;t any good anyway!

Anyway I give up trying to explain my point.

James

If you click on the purchase page it states that in bold.

~SDC~

So frogboy your saying it is only available if you WANT to get the CD. What the point of offering things for download if you, have to have a box sent to your anyway which only contains things you have already download?

So this is a bit mute but why I said 20-30 for a download only... In my case well I am going to start talking in UK money.... 45+10 = 36 pounds, highstreet retail is 35 Not really a saving for me? New games it comes out on amazon.co.uk at 25 pounds moo3 did and also I get free P&P. So a download only option has to beat that, 20 pounds thats 30 bucks so 20-30 bucks for a download only option is about the right price in my book.

James

The potential for confusion (like Oolon's), is the reason I wrote my "spruce up drengin.net" thread. Here:
http://www.galciv.com/forum.asp?BID=GF&id=18337

I think it's especially important to have clear, simple descriptions about drengin.net and direct download since it's such a new and innovative idea - people will be confused because it's a way of distributing games that they aren't familiar with.

Thankyou, that was exactly what I was saying, infact I said on /. "whats the difference", it was not till greenreaper explained on /. that i understood and I had checked out your site first. Also and i got modded up as insighful, so someone else must not have understood either. You people only understand why it makes sence cos you have been living with it. Lets not forget the worse person to find a bugs in your program is YOU cos you know the code, so you don't try things that seem "stupid" to you.....

James

Hehe. I make it my business to do stupid things. Works a treat for bug-finding.

Just to be clear:

GalCiv from Stardock will cost $44.95. It will be available on March 26. On that day users can purchase and download the game.

Users will have the option to have it shipped to them which will cost $5 in the USA or $10 overseas.

~SDC~

So its 45 bucks or in my case 55 if I want the box, thats not really a big saving!?!? I really feel there should be a much larger difference between a download only and a boxed offering. I guess I am going to have to wait to see if there is a cheaper offering in the UK at that level, so I guess that will be 6 mouths

James

The box/manual costs two bucks to produce in quantity. Why would you expect a big savings?

~SDC~

Cos if I buy direct you get all the money i pay rather than the retail store taking its 50% cut?

This may appear to be a complaint, but it's really just confusion. Why do the retailers list GalCiv for $40, and StarDock wants $45? Is this just a mistake, or a five dollar surcharge for instant gratification, which I can certainly understand?

There are costs associated with offering instant gratification. And other factors. The slightly higher price is not a mistake.

I can't speak for StarDock, but additional costs of delivery aside, it's not unusual for companies that rely on retailers to refrain from undercutting them on price. Retailers tend to take a dim view of companies that try to remove them from the sales process. They tend to stop carrying the products of companies that do that. Because of this, you often find that when you buy directly from the company, you may actually be asked to pay full price, while your local mega-discount-store may even cut a little off list for you. Keep in mind, though, that when you pay those few dollars more by purchasing directly from the developers, the profit you represent as a buyer may be two or three or even ten times the profit the developer receives on a sale via the mega-discount-store. You're giving the developer their normal profit, plus the entire mark-up of the mega-store, plus the couple bucks discount the mega-store would have given you. Your one sale is suddenly worth a whole lot more to the developers, and all it cost you was a few bucks more than you were going to spend anyway -- and for it the developers did you the extra favor of delivering your purchase immediately. Not a bad trade-off, considering the fact that you probably wouldn't mind if the developers were successful and went on to create another game for your enjoyment. And, no, I have no relationship to StarDock, but I do know what it's like to make my living writing software. If you like the games these guys are making, send them your money and be happy knowing that you're now worth ten times more than you used to be worth. From the posts I've read on this site, it looks like these guys will make sure you're well rewarded for it.

JD: Excellently said. 100% agree. Support StarDock!

Sith

The understanding that I have is that the UK edition, will be out in 3 months or so.

Count your blessings. You don't have to complain all the time.

~SDC~

ok one measily little question:
in some cases you say:

"Users will have the option to have it shipped to them which will cost $5 in the USA or $10 overseas.
by Avatar Frogboy"

but sometimes you say (check the link you posted)
"It will be $44.95 plus $5 shipping if you live in North America, or $10 shipping elsewhere."

So my question : do we have the choice? cause in my case I don't need no cd wich I will never use ... so I don't want to pay 10$ extra ...

oh and if we buy from amazon or some other country, will we be able to download directly after payment (will they send us a mail with our serial right after payment?)

thanx for a great game

I meant "or some other company" not country DUH
dumb dumb dumber

Yes, you'll have the choice.