eMLBCommish Posted July 1, 2007 Share Posted July 1, 2007 Arlie, I'd like to understand why you feel that a game that is more than 18 months old should still be at full price? I'm not trying to flame, I'm asking a simple business-minded question. For someone like myself, who's not much of a college football guy, but would be interested in trying your product, I do get a little upset that your price is still the same as Day 1, and there are no future plans to update this version (save for the patch when your pro game is released). That's like telling someone to pay $50 today for the original World of Warcraft released back in Nov. 2004 (Bad example due to new expansion of game, but the point is similar). Would you consider lowering your price to perhaps get those borderlines like myself to officially jump on board this late in the product's "shelf life"? I'd pay $24.95 for it today, not $34.95 - And to be frank, a very avid user of your BBCF game agrees with me on this issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orton1227 Posted July 3, 2007 Share Posted July 3, 2007 I'll answer. (1) Because there's no competition (2) Low fan base = less profit, so more purchase price = better profit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbergey_2005 Posted July 3, 2007 Share Posted July 3, 2007 It is well worth the $34.95 and since it really is not a an old game because nothing newer or better has came out and the season can be changed to start it whatever year you would like. Most people that would pay $24.95 for the game will also pay the $34.95. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smartman Posted July 6, 2007 Share Posted July 6, 2007 Ummm....using any Blizzard game as an example is really shooting your arguement in the foot before you get it out of the gate. You do realize that Diablo II and its expansion are still [B]$19.95[/B] along with Starcraft too? So is Age of Empires (though it is the gold edition). Hell, Gary's college game is still at $34.95 on his website and it evidently has a bug that corrups your save (20+ years into the game) that isn't going to be fixed making buying that game a moot point for me. There are overpriced older games everywhere you look. Should he drop the price on the only college football sim out there? Nope. It is well worth the price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConStar Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 The difference in $24.95 and $34.95, for the consumer, is $10. If you can't pony up an extra $10 for what is basically a very niche product, then I just don't understand. Face the facts on this one -- owning BBCF is a bit like owning a Panoz automobile; it's not mass produced, it's largely handcrafted by a few engineers (in BBCF's case, one) and the margin is tighter. The reason those other companies can afford to drop prices like that is because their sales volume so exceeds BBCF that it's just a question of macroeconomics. For BBCF, it's a much smaller picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooleyvol Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 While I agree with you, I do disagree that its not mass produced............there's an unlimited number of copies available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibby290 Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 [QUOTE=ConStar;257701]The reason those other companies can afford to drop prices like that is because their sales volume so exceeds BBCF that it's just a question of macroeconomics. For BBCF, it's a much smaller picture.[/QUOTE] I hate to be a jerk and nit pick..but it has NOTHING to do with macroeconomics. The situation at hand is microeconomics on a large scale, which is not macroeconomics. Oh, and I agree w/ the original poster, the price should be reduced a bit due to the age of the product. He could simply reduce the price $10 and advertise a re-release at a lower cost. I think that would generate far more revenue for this saturated product then he is probably making currently. Also, there is competition out there for college football text sims, namely The College Years at Solecismic, which is a better game IMO (even though I hate in season recruiting). I love both games and continue to buy and support almost every text sports sim released. I think Arlie, Jim, Markus, etc do a wonderful job and I spend many hours enjoying all of their products. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smartman Posted July 10, 2007 Share Posted July 10, 2007 Okay, should the price be dropped on the game? Maybe down to $30. However, the arguments on here for dropping the price are just laughable. To say that there are other computer college football games out there is just not true. To use The College Years which is WAYYYYYYYY older than BBCF (it came out before FOF2 or 3 btw so almost 7 years ago) as an example (and claim it is better than BBCF) is just a dumb statement. Was TCY a good game in its time? Yes, basically because no one else was making career college games. However, the laundry list of issues it has compared to BBCF make it clear which game is better, and I will stand by that statement until I lose a player to Northwestern due to my Chemistry dept. being ranked 90th or until I can't call a play in the game or until one of my players blows a game due to his girlfriend dumping him (in BBCF) or until I can just recruit in the off-season instead of worrying about recruiting so much that week that the game doesn't seem to matter much even if it is a big rivalry game. I could go on and on. Please, I'm sure that if someone can make a great argument for dropping the price of the game, Arlie will consider it. That just hasn't happened in this post yet. In fact, the arguments so far have been much better at keeping it at the the same price instead of what the people have been attempting to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eMLBCommish Posted July 10, 2007 Author Share Posted July 10, 2007 [QUOTE=smartman;257944]Okay, should the price be dropped on the game? Maybe down to $30. However, the arguments on here for dropping the price are just laughable. To say that there are other computer college football games out there is just not true. To use The College Years which is WAYYYYYYYY older than BBCF (it came out before FOF2 or 3 btw so almost 7 years ago) as an example (and claim it is better than BBCF) is just a dumb statement. Was TCY a good game in its time? Yes, basically because no one else was making career college games. However, the laundry list of issues it has compared to BBCF make it clear which game is better, and I will stand by that statement until I lose a player to Northwestern due to my Chemistry dept. being ranked 90th or until I can't call a play in the game or until one of my players blows a game due to his girlfriend dumping him (in BBCF) or until I can just recruit in the off-season instead of worrying about recruiting so much that week that the game doesn't seem to matter much even if it is a big rivalry game. I could go on and on. Please, I'm sure that if someone can make a great argument for dropping the price of the game, Arlie will consider it. That just hasn't happened in this post yet. In fact, the arguments so far have been much better at keeping it at the the same price instead of what the people have been attempting to do.[/QUOTE] I'd consider your points valid if you'd find a more respectful way of basing your opinion, rather than just considering those of us writing about this as "dumb". And there IS competition, even if indirect. Maybe not text based sims...so I guess I'll go spend my money on EA's NCAA Football, and there I'd even pay the $50 it'd cost because of the arcade/interactive. To tell me my usage of World of Warcraft is shooting myself in the foot, I say you didn't even make a point at all. My point was that, with knowing Arlie has a Pro version coming out, this would be similar to paying $50 for the [B]original[/B] WoW, and then being forced to spend $40 for the expansion that came out this year. They've had over 8 million sales! Yet, the farther they'd gotten from the original release date, they lowered the price. To get all economical, I consider this $34.95 an "inelastic" price on the supply/demand curve, and have even gone as far as stating that $24.95 would be acceptable, or "elastic" from this consumer's point of view to convince me to sign up. If Arlie could prove to me that his demand was high, and there was a limited supply of copies/licenses left to purchase, I'd have no choice but to buy at $34.95. But to buy a product that is still at the price of what it was Day 1, more than 18 months ago, denotes that either demand is high, supply is low (which it isn't, it's a downloadable .exe), or this is a niche product. Well, Choice 3 might be valid, but as I noted, I'd play EA NCAA Football, and even could get an older version of the game that was released at or near Arlie's Bowl Bound, and pay a lower price, which would most likely be lower than his product's. So in closing: I do not find value in paying $34.95 for a game that is closer to being replaced/obsolete than it is to being released, especially when a known new version (Please don't bother telling me the new version is a Pro version which makes it different. I know this already.) is on the way. These are the points of a "dumb" consumer. LB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConStar Posted July 11, 2007 Share Posted July 11, 2007 Hard for me not to tell you the pro game is different when that is in fact a major consideration. I won't buy or play the pro game. I have no interest in pro games and just a passing interest in professional football in real life in general. So that would be such a different product for me that it would almost be the same as comparing BBCF to pinball. It would be different if there was legitimate competition out there or if there was a specific timeline for BBCF's replacement/update. There is neither. I've owned Solecismic's game and it pales so in comparison to this one that when I had to replace a hard drive earlier this year I didn't even bother to back up TCY. Plus, the "customer service" you get from that company is so bad the Soup N@zi (filter caught that word, for some reason) has sued for copyright infringement. As for replacing or substantially updating BBCF, Arlie has already said that's not in the cards. Ergo, the current game is not obsolete. Age does not equal obsolescence. If some of you are trying to make that be so, I suggest you consult a dictionary. One definition per m-w.com is "no longer in use or no longer useful;" the other is "of a kind or style no longer current." The second definition comes closer to giving your argument credence, but the problem is the word "current" -- BBCF is still the most advanced product in its genre in the market; therefore, it is the market leader and currently relevant. If BBCF came out with a version 2.0, then you'd have a point. If a competitor came out with a superior product, you'd have a point. But just wanting a discount because something is a couple years old doesn't fly. As long as it's the industry leader, giving a discount isn't worth it to the company. This is before we get into economies of scale vis-a-vis GDS compared to a large corporation like EA Games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arlie Rahn Posted July 11, 2007 Share Posted July 11, 2007 We just discounted the price to $29.95 today to help spur interest as the college season begins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mauboy Posted July 11, 2007 Share Posted July 11, 2007 Good call! I think you got yourself a customer! Oh, wait. I already own the game but I might buy it again just cuz!!!! or not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibby290 Posted July 11, 2007 Share Posted July 11, 2007 [QUOTE=smartman;257944]To use The College Years which is WAYYYYYYYY older than BBCF (it came out before FOF2 or 3 btw so almost 7 years ago) as an example (and claim it is better than BBCF) is just a dumb statement. Was TCY a good game in its time? Yes, basically because no one else was making career college games. [/QUOTE] To revert to name calling is a clear indication of a lost arguement. It is not 'dumb' to make a statement of your opinion. I respect your opinion and realize that you enjoy BB. I still play both games and I enjoy TCY a bit more. Like I said, personal preference, which is not dumb. Just to illustrate: I still very much enjoy Beatles songs. I often put in Sgt Pepper and listen. I also enjoy Nickelback. Nickelback's CDs are much more modern. Their CD's have digital composition, more features, and generally have a higher sound quality. This does NOT mean that Nickelback is better simply because they were released more recently and both bands are in the same genre of 'rock' music. I actually prefer the Beatles. The moral...never judge another's preferences as 'dumb' simply because you don't like their choices. To do so would be dum....errrrr...wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pronk Posted July 11, 2007 Share Posted July 11, 2007 All this rhetoric just to try and save 5 bucks. :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orton1227 Posted July 11, 2007 Share Posted July 11, 2007 [QUOTE=gibby290;258659]To revert to name calling is a clear indication of a lost arguement. It is not 'dumb' to make a statement of your opinion. I respect your opinion and realize that you enjoy BB. I still play both games and I enjoy TCY a bit more. Like I said, personal preference, which is not dumb. Just to illustrate: I still very much enjoy Beatles songs. I often put in Sgt Pepper and listen. I also enjoy Nickelback. Nickelback's CDs are much more modern. Their CD's have digital composition, more features, and generally have a higher sound quality. This does NOT mean that Nickelback is better simply because they were released more recently and both bands are in the same genre of 'rock' music. I actually prefer the Beatles. The moral...never judge another's preferences as 'dumb' simply because you don't like their choices. To do so would be dum....errrrr...wrong.[/QUOTE] The irony in this is that John Lennon would have shot you himself if he learned that you were listening to Nickelback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rathen4 Posted July 11, 2007 Share Posted July 11, 2007 There's a pro version in development isn't there? Or have I misread a site somewhere. I just don't know whether to spend on this even though I have little interest in college football; or to wait for a pro version that may or may not be a fabrication of my mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Comey Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 There is a pro version in the works, yes. No timetable is set for release. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eMLBCommish Posted July 12, 2007 Author Share Posted July 12, 2007 I am very pleased to hear of Grey Dog's decision on the reduction of price. I know I was hoping for a little lower, but I will accept the good faith of Arlie and GDS, and I will go ahead and purchase a copy of the game. I will also go one further and attempt to get three other friends of mine who are avid college guys interested in the program, as well as others I think would enjoy the game. There are great leagues out there, such as Cooleyvol's Gridiron Glory! Thanks Arlie. LB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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