Will ALL bunus packs be free?

I get the impression the plan is for the bonus packs to all be free, although I think you'd need to 'renew' your subscription next year if they release any after that?

The bonus pack so soon after release is to reward those people who have bought the game with some extra stuff immediately. Once the game had gone gold (been sent off to the CD duplicating gods), they couldn't add anything else to the game, so they worked on stuff for the bonus pack.
That's what I've read, anyway.

~SDC~

They promised free updates to Gal Civ for a year so yes the future bonuspacks and expansions are free

~SDC~

the game was delayed a month when moo3 came out. it was ready to ship then.

As Russell says, if the game hadn't been held back to accommodate MoO3, the Bonus Pack would be coming out now, but we'd all have been playing the game for a month.

Please note that, unless people figure out that I have no official connection to Stardock, I will be charging a small fee for each bonus pack, as well as for miscellaneous transactions that may not have anything to do with the game. For example, I am currently looking for somebody to buy me lunch tomorrow. Further updates as events warrant.

End transmission.

~SDC~

LOL.

Yea, CP is right though. The reason the BonusPak came out on the same day as the game was released was because originally GalCiv was supposed to come out on February 26. But we delayed the game one month at the request of IG, GalCiv's NA distributor. So the bonus pack came out at the same time.

The bonuspaks are designed to reward customers and discourage piracy. So there is a business justification for it.

OK, now I understand why the bonus pack has been released at the same time that the game. But what about my other question? Are all bunus packes going to be free?

I really want to pay this game but I will only buy it if they all are going to be free.

Are you sure you are not a little to demanding?

I mean, patches (in the meaning of bug-fixes) will always be free but I would very well be pleased with a one year "subscription" to free bonus packs.

Other companies do nothing and then charge you nearly 70% of the original game price for a collection of "game enhancements" on a CD...

So I'm quite happy with the way Stardock handles this...

cya

Yes all bonus packs and expansion packs will be free, at least for the next year. The expansion pack is sceduled for release in june.

~SDC~

@ #7

There are also those "good" game makers (mostly not EA tho) who provide free bonuspacks with alot of content, just take a look at what Epic/Digital Extremes pull out of their sleves for Unreal, UT, UT2003 and Unreal2...

Alltho I kinda get the idea of avoiding piracy this way, I just hope the damn game gets here soon...

On the subject of very good game support, the only company that even comes close to what stardock offers is Bioware with Neverwinter Nights.

Lots of patches and extra content, although not yet on the scale of what Stardock does.

I think Brad is right that this is probably the future for games. As players (customers!) get more demanding, more companies will be forced to follow stardock's example or fall by the wayside.

~SDC~

That first sentence was intended to be my opinion, not an irrefutable statement of fact, sorry.


~SDC~

OK, I think I will buy the game then.

Arno Keiler, I do not think I am demandig, I am just not going to pay several times for the same thing. I got a bit worried when I saw the bonus pack was released at the same time that the game and I thought maybe the first one was free but all the rest where not. As long as they are free I am happy. I even would agree to pay a small (SMALL) subscription fee every year to get bonuspacks with new features (new features, but not bug fixes).

Thanks to all for your answers.

Don't worry Matj654 I am quite certain you will get far more than you would normally get. Not just in bonus packs but also in patches or whatever updates will be made.

~SDC~