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A platformer that you'll surely dig.


<span class="bold">Shovel Knight</span>, the award-winning platformer that devout lovers of the genre are constantly raving about, is 33% off for a few more hours. Grab it while it's hot!

Starting tomorrow, March 3rd, the game will be getting a permanent price increase. This will better reflect the free content that the game has received since its release, as well as the upcoming free update that will be added to it later this spring.

Existing owners of the game will not be affected by the price change.

To better understand the reasons behind it, make sure to read <span class="bold">this comprehensive Q&amp;A</span> by developers Yacht Club.

The 33% discount will last until March 2nd, 11PM UTC. That's tonight, so act fast!
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ROCKMAN_77: [wut]
Like seriously wut.

I love the pricing policy, the game is good (although the sound design is a crime), and I appreciate the devs' technical expertise even more after I somehow messed up my Linux install and Shovel Knight was the only game which still worked well.

But next time, when you're Doing It, please pay more attention to your partner and less to random people on the interwebs.
Well, that sale was over in the blink of an eye and now the game is 32$ for me.
A tad expensive for something I'll blast through in a weekend or two. (I adore games like this, so I burn through the content in no time.) I'll just grab it 50% off a few years down the line, unless it ends up at 40+$.
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logorouge: Well, that sale was over in the blink of an eye and now the game is 32$ for me.
A tad expensive for something I'll blast through in a weekend or two. (I adore games like this, so I burn through the content in no time.) I'll just grab it 50% off a few years down the line, unless it ends up at 40+$.
50% off in a few years? Don't count on it. The game never went down more than 33% here. Maybe you'll have to wait about 10 years for a 50% discount.
Free content...
Price increase...

Does not compute.
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logorouge: Well, that sale was over in the blink of an eye and now the game is 32$ for me.
A tad expensive for something I'll blast through in a weekend or two. (I adore games like this, so I burn through the content in no time.) I'll just grab it 50% off a few years down the line, unless it ends up at 40+$.
This is exactly the mentality that the dev is trying to combat. They won't devlue their games like that because they feel they are worth the full price. They do not like the sale culture that exists around gaming these days.
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paladin181: This is exactly the mentality that the dev is trying to combat. They won't devalue their games like that because they feel they are worth the full price. They do not like the sale culture that exists around gaming these days.
I honestly doubt the dev is trying to combat my "spend within your means" mentality. But I do agree the whole "75% off or gtfo" culture is pretty bad and I think devs should be rewarded for releasing high quality games like this. I usually try to grab a base game on sale and then later buy the expansions/dlcs at regular price. Unfortunately, that doesn't really work in this case.
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paladin181: This is exactly the mentality that the dev is trying to combat. They won't devalue their games like that because they feel they are worth the full price. They do not like the sale culture that exists around gaming these days.
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logorouge: I honestly doubt the dev is trying to combat my "spend within your means" mentality. But I do agree the whole "75% off or gtfo" culture is pretty bad and I think devs should be rewarded for releasing high quality games like this. I usually try to grab a base game on sale and then later buy the expansions/dlcs at regular price. Unfortunately, that doesn't really work in this case.
Sure it will. All the individual parts will be available for sale individually. They are really offering some great options with it.
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paladin181: This is exactly the mentality that the dev is trying to combat. They won't devlue their games like that because they feel they are worth the full price. They do not like the sale culture that exists around gaming these days.
Except there is no forced mentality (personal opinions/culture regardless of how good or shitty they are don't equal "forced" unless they are actually enforced by law) and there is no such devaluation. No Publishers/Developer ever had any intention to sell their game at a 70% off discount. If everyone had their way, each game would be priced at a million bucks, as long as there are people wiling to pay that much. The real reason is, because they have hit the market peak for their game, and do not have a choice. So, they slowly start going down the discount bands so that their game will actually do what it's supposed to do, which is bringing in the dough (especially if they depend on their games for a living. Nothing will happen to the gamer if he/she decides to wait for a game or get it now. It's not the same for the developer. Bills, food, water and shelter are not something the developer can wait or put on hold).

Some new developers may have high expectations and panic at not seeing those expectations met, and thus start going on discount faster to try to rake in more money. But, most mature developers roughly know the cycle of when their products peak/drop and maximize accordingly. Some luckier developers have their products go big and can sustain lengthy peak periods. To sum it up, it's pretty much a game of pull and pull. How long can they hold up a price, where (after popularity) they hope a gamer's impatience/excitement will cave before their need to bring in revenue? And for the gamer, how long can you hold out to get the price that you want? (The gamer has a good advantage of not having any of it genuinely affect their lives).

Everyone wants value. The customer wants to maximize their value. The publisher/developer wants to maximize their value. Framing it like it's wrong for the customer to get value, and only the publisher/developer should get value is dishonest nonsense. Although gamers are very guilty of that too.

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BrokenBull: 50% off in a few years? Don't count on it. The game never went down more than 33% here. Maybe you'll have to wait about 10 years for a 50% discount.
It's not their choice. Their products have yet to hit their market peaks, which is good for them. But when it does, they will go on discount accordingly, because there is nobody who does not want to earn money. Nobody will maintain their philosophy of keeping their game at a certain discount ( for example, 33%), when they see $0 month after month in sales.
Post edited March 05, 2017 by Nicole28
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paladin181: Sure it will. All the individual parts will be available for sale individually. They are really offering some great options with it.
Oh, that's good. Looking at their site, later on I should be able to grab Shovel of Hope to get the original campaign and eventually buy the additional campaigns, one after the other. It's just that the individual packages aren't ready for sale yet. Is that correct?
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paladin181: This is exactly the mentality that the dev is trying to combat. They won't devlue their games like that because they feel they are worth the full price. They do not like the sale culture that exists around gaming these days.
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Nicole28: Except there is no forced mentality (personal opinions/culture regardless of how good or shitty they are don't equal "forced" unless they are actually enforced by law) and there is no such devaluation. No Publishers/Developer ever had any intention to sell their game at a 70% off discount. If everyone had their way, each game would be priced at a million bucks, as long as there are people wiling to pay that much. The real reason is, because they have hit the market peak for their game, and do not have a choice. So, they slowly start going down the discount bands so that their game will actually do what it's supposed to do, which is bringing in the dough (especially if they depend on their games for a living. Nothing will happen to the gamer if he/she decides to wait for a game or get it now. It's not the same for the developer. Bills, food, water and shelter are not something the developer can wait or put on hold).

Some new developers may have high expectations and panic at not seeing those expectations met, and thus start going on discount faster to try to rake in more money. But, most mature developers roughly know the cycle of when their products peak/drop and maximize accordingly. Some luckier developers have their products go big and can sustain lengthy peak periods. To sum it up, it's pretty much a game of pull and pull. How long can they hold up a price, where (after popularity) they hope a gamer's impatience/excitement will cave before their need to bring in revenue? And for the gamer, how long can you hold out to get the price that you want? (The gamer has a good advantage of not having any of it genuinely affect their lives).

Everyone wants value. The customer wants to maximize their value. The publisher/developer wants to maximize their value. Framing it like it's wrong for the customer to get value, and only the publisher/developer should get value is dishonest nonsense. Although gamers are very guilty of that too.

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BrokenBull: 50% off in a few years? Don't count on it. The game never went down more than 33% here. Maybe you'll have to wait about 10 years for a 50% discount.
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Nicole28: It's not their choice. Their products have yet to hit their market peaks, which is good for them. But when it does, they will go on discount accordingly, because there is nobody who does not want to earn money. Nobody will maintain their philosophy of keeping their game at a certain discount ( for example, 33%), when they see $0 month after month in sales.
Like I wrote, "Maybe you'll have to wait about 10 years for a 50% discount." Of course I wrote that with sarcasm. My point is that a big discount won't happen anytime soon. Most likely it'll happen when they are working on their next game.
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ROCKMAN_77: Hell! this games deserves a physical release, and it's a shame it's only available on nintendo platforms.
Hell! It is available as physical copy, not only for Nintendo platforms, but also for PS, XBox AND for Windows ;P
Post edited March 05, 2017 by Woolytoes
Too bad, I missed this one :(
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ROCKMAN_77: Hell! this games deserves a physical release, and it's a shame it's only available on nintendo platforms.
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Woolytoes: Hell! It is available as physical copy, not only for Nintendo platforms, but also for PS, XBox AND for Windows ;P
I stand corrected then... except for PC. I would have purchased it if available for PC on a glorious cardboard box.
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Woolytoes: Hell! It is available as physical copy, not only for Nintendo platforms, but also for PS, XBox AND for Windows ;P
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ROCKMAN_77: I stand corrected then... except for PC. I would have purchased it if available for PC on a glorious cardboard box.
Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARw2Jyb8RWE
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Zoidberg: Wow, seriously, gogers, you disapoint me. :(

Increasing the game's content three times FREE as promised is being "asshole"?

Not willing to devalue your game's value by doing hilariously low sale is "bad decision"?

Let me tell you, guys: you are ALL off your chumps.

Shovel Knight is truly the BEST 2D platformer I have ever played: plays like a charm, lovely pixel art and animation, terrific music AND free content.

With the three added campaigns (which I haven't even done yet) it is well UNDERPRICED at 25€.

Yacht Club Games? Don't change: you are doing quite right. And you are losing absolutely NO sale by not selling to these kind of people.

The "reals" know! ;)
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masayersuk: As far as I can tell the new campaign that is already with the game isn't actually new levels, it is just a different class unlocked to play through with. That is fine and something a lot of games provide as freebies to new and existing customers to increase sales or cross-promote.

Heck Dungeon of endless from one of my fav devs added 4 new characters from TF2 in a free update and it impressed me enough I bought the dlc I was missing from the game with a smile.

To call things separate campaigns though does seem like someone is overselling what they actually did. The truth is what they are actually doing is providing a couple of extra classes and basically the same levels (which they promised to their kickstarter backers anyway).

The standalones just seem to be cut downs versions of the regular game and a rather feeble justification for a price rise.

Perhaps some customers are OK with it, others who have the game already are no doubt delighted about another class coming out to play through with.

I'm not going to judge anyone who bought it or is completely OK with what the dev is doing or anyone who is not OK with it.

My own opinion is I think they oversold what they are offering and frankly I will just buy stuff from companies who are more straight forward and upfront about what they are doing it and why.
The levels are somewhat remixed and expanded for Plague Knight (with the Arcana stages being new), and completely different levels sharing only names and general themes for Specter Knight.
Post edited March 05, 2017 by Pinnacle