So from an outsider that has never played the game (although looks great) - the money and prices seems absolutely incredible for a game. Why does it work?
The prices badly represent pledge tiers, but i think the reality is that a lot of people dont see it that way, some use it as a stick to beat the project with, others throw cash at it because they want that ship.
However people choose to view it, if you pledge $100 then you chose what you get for that money like any other shop, it even lets you essentially refund a purchase for credit to change your mind. Compared to other crowdfunding ways which tells you what you'd get for certain amounts and thats what you'll get, so if you want to spend $100 to help fund the project and that gets you something you dont really care about, well thats what they're offering. enjoy.
I dont think theres any dispute that if CIG didnt know what they were doing, they certainly figured it out quickly, and have used it to their advantage. I think when the initial pricing was done, it was intended to cover the full spectrum of customers pricing, and the game worlds diversity, from the entry level all the way to the wishful thinking items you dont expect to sell many of, but you see what happens. As things grew, and the universe needed and could afford more diversity, newer & better ships were added, larger ships were added, rare alien & luxury ships were added, and they'd essentially already laid out the pricing when the kickstarter launched. You cant sell something bigger and more capable and only sell it a little more than a starter ship, when a similar but lesser ship was sold for 5x the starter ships price. So its created a situation where they're building all these ships and those prices have to align with past sales, because 1) its clearly profitable for them to sell them, and 2) it makes no sense to say the community cant own a domestic ship if it exists, only certain types of ships cant be bought (those the game lore says we shouldnt own, ie legit military grade ships, hostile alien ships - stuff theres no legit explanation of how our characters could have obtained them in the game world). So they're put on sale, people want to help funding, and pretty ships make that more appealing, and by spreading these releases out it sees regular income, which while it can be seen as cynically as greed, its flat-out financial suicide to refuse funds on a growing company working on a long term product and nothing to fall back on for finance except hoping in 1-2yrs people still want to throw money at it when you suddenly come out asking for money (easily interpreted to begging), rather than letting them do it whenever they want.
Sounds good. Looks like I could ccu to a Carrack for 220! Not that I really wanted a big ship at the start, however, at that discount... maybe
Apparently with the right CCUs at the right time, it been doable at $185. Almost half the price.
Im just annoyed that i didnt instantly grab the BMM to Starfarer CCU ($0), because i already have the Starfarer to Orion CCU ($25) waiting, but because of the price jump its now more expensive and i very much doubt they'll ever introduce the downgrade option they said they'd look into about 18mo ago. I mean, it doesnt take a genius to see something like:
use Vanguard to BMM ($0 old CCU)
buy BMM to Vanguard CCU (aka $350 to $250) = $100 credit back
Vangard to BMM ($0 old CCU)
BMM to Vanguard....
And suddenly you're replacing CR as owner of RSI
