The Story of Factorio, the Game that Only Increases in Price | The Stuff of Legends

[@theescapist]

Hope you enjoy this new show! We've got the next episode in the works already and we couldn't be more excited to get a show like this going on the channel finally. Let us know what you think in the comments and what other stories you think we should cover! Episode 2 of The Stuff of Legends is already out in Early Access for Patreon / KZbin Membership subscribers!

[@potterinhe11]

The Jovenshire may have words.

[@iamdmc]

love the story format and from the cold takes guy! Great job!

[@rocko7711]

Please make more of this

[@samstarzynski1100]

This was excellent and Sebastian Ruiz is a fantastic journalist. I could listen to him talk about video games all day. More please!!!

[@jaywerner8415]

I did, and am curious what else you could fit into this show.

[@Trupen]

As 100% not biased person, I think Factorio is worth the price.

[@roiwelboren9302]

Thank you for your opinion *NOT BIASED PERSON*

[@mplewp]

only 647hours played but let me tell you :) theres no short gaming sessions xD

[@braydonfisher9273]

Completely unbiased

[@aaronbarthel6509]

Well, when you put it that way... Im in!

[@phy6geniuxYTcreations]

Trupen, this is totally a not biased comment. HAHAHA

[@theinvisiblegentleman1142]

I like the idea of just telling oddball stories about random games. And this guy's voice reminds me of a hard boiled noir detective, which adds to the vibe.

[@normalclown]

Honestly, Frost is one of the few creators I enjoy listening to enough that I'll usually recognize or keep an eye out for him. Especially now that he's been picked up by ZP.

[@CheestusMcGruber]

It's LIKE BUTTER

[@halcyonacoustic7366]

​@@CheestusMcGruberhow does he even exist

[@letmelive4sh0]

Frost has a series on The Escapist called Cold Take, and it's exactly what youre describing.

[@isprobablyjobhunting]

Gruff it up a bit and be a great new fallout narrorator voice.

[@doshierdoshington3801]

I bought Factorio for $20 and so far I've gotten 150 hours of playtime per dollar. Now that's what I call value

[@feryth]

oh hi Dosh

[@DoshDoshington]

@@feryth Sup.

[@I8w8]

And for about 3-4$ you absolutely was not suffering in SE. Honestly, watching your challanges is probably as interesting as playing myself, and it's free, so that's even a better deal

[@mikeydflyingtoaster]

Dosh! Just got into your videos! Been binging them. I misread your message and thought that you thought 150 hours total was a lot and was gonna say something douchey and condescending like 'try 2000 hours noob! Haha bet you envy my lack of a social life!' but then I reread it..

[@braindavidgilbert3147]

​@@DoshDoshingtonHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA

[@denmark1226]

I love the framing bit at the start. And how frost is in a detailed suit and Yahtz and the rest of the characters are just oval torso

[@gydgeza8646]

Yahtzee is just naked

[@RezaLaCanaille]

@@gydgeza8646 he's not naked, he has a hat.

[@hoseja]

When I open an Escapist video and it's not Yahtzee talking I close an Escapist video. So a really clever trick to get me hooked, kudos.

[@sebbezp01]

i bought factorio back when the only way to buy it was through their own website and my bank called me and asked about my purchase to some strange site from eastern europe lol

[@szylaj]

Czech republic is central Europe if you dont mind.

[@Mrredredgreengreen]

holy hell, i completely forgot you got it through the website. They wound up emailing me a steam key when it got on the platform.

[@lEGOBOT2565]

@@szylaj it's a former Eastern Bloc country, thus making it Eastern European. Central Europe is Germany, Austria, and Italy

[@mennovanlavieren3885]

@@szylaj People like to understand the world in simple terms. "-Cultural history-, nah that is for people who read books."

[@stevenchristenson2428]

LOL same here, I remember telling people its a great game but when you go to buy it don't get turned off by the place you get it from because it was a bit shady looking... Best money I ever spent tho $20

[@DanGamingFan2406]

I just love the cold open of Yahtzee giving Frost his own imps. Now he's really part of the family. This first episode was great. I love Frost's Noir-esque narration and can't wait to see what strange tale he covers in the future.

[@watershipup7101]

Yep. I love that bit.

[@waterbullstudios9195]

I wonder what flavor those "white popsicles" are.

[@thusnameddigital9397]

Very much agreed.

[@garnetbird7557]

​@@waterbullstudios9195 You don't want to know.

[@theescapist]

Glad you love it! Just a small correction that it’s Sebastian Ruiz (Frost) and not me (Nick) in the video!

[@e.tylerwright3483]

Factorio is an example of a game that makes me ask... if I put this much effort into my ACTUAL life how much better would it be?

[@blondeguy08]

Bingo

[@bleblo13]

Unironically started a bigger programming project because I had to put so much effort into the Pyanodon mod that I decided I should just do something less demanding in real life lol.

[@chrischeng9145]

​@@bleblo13pyanadon: less stressful major coding project: checks out lol

[@Feeble_cursed_one]

I kind of respect that commitment to the price tag never devaluing itself. I know they say it's to respect their investors but they are also saying "this game is worth the amount we are asking for".

[@HelgeHolm]

And it doesn't imply "suckerrrr we got ya paying double" if you buy it at full price between periodic "50% off!"-sales like so many other games do.

[@AntonAdelson]

To be honest, it's worth 10 times that price. The only other modern game I can think which can beat Factorio with buck/hour cheapest price is Terraria.

[@rushi5638]

@@HelgeHolm On the one hand, this is true. On the other hand, I can't really afford games. I don't hunt bargains for "primal satisfaction" like this video implies, I hunt bargains because they're the only way I can sanely partake in the pastime/hobby I've enjoyed for the last ~30 years (or at least, the only way I can justify potentially crippling myself financially for the month in which I make the purchase). Don't get me wrong: I respect companies who have a commitment to this pricing philosophy. I don't think it's bad, per se, that they have a firm minimum value they're willing to accept in exchange for their game, and they always charge that amount. But it is an accessibility tradeoff. For every person who feels like they "paid double" when they see a game on sale they previous bought for full price (I sympathize - I bought all the CK2 DLC over the course of 3 sales, right before they switched to a subscription model), there's someone like me who traded in a pirated copy of the game when a bargain (significant enough that they could delude themselves into paying at all) presented itself. I probably wouldn't own RimWorld if not for the fact that, at one point, Epic offered a flat $10 off any game coupon during their sales - at the time I bought it, I don't think RimWorld had ever been discounted by more than 10%. Sales tax where I live is 15%. If the final price after tax is calculated is still above the non-discounted price, are you even offering a discount? At least negate the sales tax. Christ. I only own Factorio because someone gifted it to me.

[@Yonkage-ik5qb]

@@rushi5638 With respect, as I don't know your budget, that's just an excuse. If someone can't afford to buy more than one game per month at 50% off, they can just use two months' budget to buy a full-priced game. The reality is, if they like the game enough to sink hundreds of hours into it, it's worth the price at any price whether that's $5 or $50.

[@erfaniom9576]

yeah unless if they make the game more expensive at some point (which they did so, like 2 months ago)

[@0ptera]

Wube also is among the very few developers where you can just download a stand-alone version of Factorio regardless of where it was bought.

[@kitsunegamedev4526]

And host mods in their own website

[@moooseman3]

@@kitsunegamedev4526 and constantly update the game to fix bugs that only happen when playing modded!

[@cramer4506]

@preacher3958 OK, and? All you're saying is that either you'll never get the game, or just pirate it. Neither of those makes you particularly special, kiddo.

[@upcomingshoes6908]

​@preacher3958It's vastly better than most AAA games so at $35 it's basically half off. And it has a demo. In 2023. Go try it out. You'll be happy you did

[@ArawnOfAnnwn]

@@upcomingshoes6908 Still waiting to see how Satisfactory finally turns out when it releases fully. Specifically how much it supports modding, and how much it leans into combat. I know Factorio already does both, but I prefer Satisfactory's perspective. Those two elements are key though. I'll get Factorio, or not get it, depending on how Satisfactory comes out.

[@mattcouture2579]

Yahtzee and Frost, together at last. What a time to be alive. Seriously though, I love this - both the story and the framing bit at the beginning. The concept of unique gaming industry stories reminds me of Yahtzee's "Special Moments in Gaming History" ZPs.

[@theescapist]

Yup! Inspiration came directly from those episodes. I've wanted to make a series out of that for as long as I've been here, so I'm really excited we've finally found a way to make it happen!

[@blandedgear9704]

@@theescapist "I've"? Which of you was I here?

[@RamblerMonkey]

​@@blandedgear9704it's pretty much the Honcho himself that replies via the escapist account lol

[@buckcherry2564]

Yahtzee doing an episode all in one manic breath delivering punch lines faster than you have time to recover from last one, over to Frost doing each sentence with a fresh lung full of cigar sweetened jazz lounge air and a sip of whiskey. It is a fun dichotomy.

[@bird3713]

Man you guys are really putting Frost to work!

[@theescapist]

Collab between Frost, JM8 and our new FT editor Jesse Schwab!

[@Zedzilliot]

Good, I really like frost.

[@mechbfp3219]

Wube is the very definition of the phrase “I know what I got, don’t lowball me!”

[@Kio_Kurashi]

"Now that you're all tucked in with your favorite knife." Best line, and it's not even 30 seconds in.

[@Braiam]

He ever warn him to not get them hold any knife.

[@Raganui]

I loved listening to this story and, well... The Factory Must Grow.

[@benjamincassell7018]

The price tag must grow

[@phillipk4196]

grab the artillery and 'relocate' the vandals for more factory! do watch out for the train tough

[@ashtru1219]

The factory must grow

[@ohusky271]

the factory must grow so the factory can grow

[@physsnake]

​@ohusky271 but how can a factory grow, if the factory is in the way?

[@Chaosrain112]

Wube are a lot like Valve in their transparency and also radio silence. They've been working on the first expansion and haven't had too much to show for it, but I figure it's because they don't want people running away with WIP information and potentially poisoning their future content they decide to share. I ordered two Factorio shirts a while back and even THOSE were well made. Shipped from the Czech Republic, too!

[@Vugoseq]

Unlike Valve, Wube have just released an announcement with more details about the expansion and a new time estimate of one year to release.

[@Michaelonyoutub]

Wube during early access development though was one of the best companies for communication. Their friday facts blog posts constantly kept people updated on the progress of new developments and the interesting problems they found and the cool solutions they developed to handle them. They have been on and off with continuing the weekly updates since release as the updates are a lot less incremental and take a lot more work before they can really be shown, but I just double checked and they resumed weekly updates a little over a month ago as they have made significant progress on their next expansion.

[@CMDR-Cody]

Interesting! I didn't know any of this info. I got Factorio back in 2016 for $20 and bought three copies for my friends we are still having a blast. Never felt shady or like I was being duped. Heck knowing what I know now about the game I'd pay $30 or more for it.

[@glubothemad]

Story of factorio is even deeper and cooler when you look at the fact, that the indiegogo campaign was after Kovarex. and Tomik already invested like three man years into the game without any investor.

[@OurTalisman]

I love the idea of the imps being Yahtz's adopted kids. I'm digging the new series.

[@Stigvandr]

I'm pretty sure they're a metaphor for us.

[@gus.smedstad]

I was only here for the first 18 seconds of the video.

[@theescapist]

@@Stigvandr Hahaha, definitely totally not at all but just maybe kinda sorta yes.

[@Shrooblord]

+

[@xXYannuschXx]

I have a coworker who is interested in Factorio, but said "I will wait for a sale". I told him the game NEVER goes on sale and he just said "Then I will never buy it".

[@NobbsAndVagene]

Good on him. There are better, similar games out there for less nowadays (like Dyson Sphere Program). They should revise their "never goes on sale" BS.

[@xXYannuschXx]

@@NobbsAndVagene Nah, none of them come close to Factorio. Especially in terms of scale. The amount of optimization put into that game is ludicrous and allows bases that wouldnt be possible in any of the "better" alternatives. Its more than understandable that they never go on sale. Way too many people want to pay way too little for many games these days.

[@NobbsAndVagene]

@@xXYannuschXx I've played Factorio. Have you played DSP? It's better and costs half as much. And as for scale? You can literally transform a planet. You can transform every planet in a galaxy if you so desire, and have all these factories working together to feed a megafactory. Or however you wanna do it. And they're not done developing that game yet, either - not that it feels unfinished, because it doesn't. Runs great too, very well optimized. Meanwhile I've heard talk of people wanting a 5800X3D or similar high-end processors just to run Factorio. What the fock? It looks like it should be able to run on a pregnancy test. I'd rather pay the same price for DSP as for Factorio, because it's the better game. And honestly, so is Satisfactory, but the full-on 3D might put some people off. Gives off a slightly different vibe. tl;dr: I suggest you listen to your friend more often.

[@TNH91]

@@NobbsAndVagene You don't understand what they meant by scale, then. Each "planet" in DSP is tiny. I've played both DPS and Factorio, and Factorio is still way ahead in almost everything. If you want a galaxy to explore there's even Space Exploration for Factorio. And I don't understand why people you've heard about wanting a high end processor for Factorio, you can run it very well on incredibly low-end stuff. But Factorio is more restricted by CPU than GPU, once you're working on massive megabase levels. It's to the point that some people use Factorio as a benchmark for the CPU. Now, I'm not saying that DSP is bad, and I really hope it becomes as good as it can, but it has quite a way to go.

[@Xylos144]

6:33 "During its early access period, Factorio had a base price of $20, which was bumped to $30 back in 2020 once version 1.0 was released. Ever since, the PC version has remained at said price, EXCEPT FOR THE OCCASIONAL SALE. But as Wube Software announced today on Twitter, this is......" Diego Nicolas Arguello didn't do their homework, and just tossed in that prevarication because for any other game, it would've been true.

[@thepurplemarauder]

I think Frost can narrate the phonebook and people will still listen to it. Also, good and interesting video.

[@MeTheOneth]

I was amazed when I popped into a livesteam and realized that Frost isn't "doing a voice". That's just how the dude talks.

[@hourglass1988]

We had someone that worked at a dominos in my home down that was a bit of a local celebrity because his voice was weirdly deep and smooth, like Barry White but more. First time I called to order a pizza (to show how old I am) I seriously thought the guy was doing a bit. Ran into him a few times here and there and no, that's actually just what he sounded like. He was also a pretty scrawny white kid so that was confusing the first time.

[@mennovanlavieren3885]

@@hourglass1988 Not to put you on the spot or anything. But the fact that the kid being white makes a difference in association with having a deep voice. And the fact that I immediately understand what you mean with 'scrawny white kid', (again not putting this on you) is telling of how deep the anti-white sentiment runs in our collective minds. I wish we didn't need to talk about color, but since we're talking about it, we need to talk about it.

[@cormey8772]

@@mennovanlavieren3885having a deep voice does not make you better. So its not really anti white.

[@RodneyG669]

I remember when I first noticed it and it was $20 even, I tagged it for my wishlist and waited for it to go on sale. Now it's $35 and it's never been on sale. 😄

[@Thingsyourollup]

That's your loss. Sorry you missed out on a great game.

[@RodneyG669]

@@Thingsyourollup I'll still pick it up at some point. 😀

[@Thingsyourollup]

@@RodneyG669 Moral of the story is BUY IT NOW before the price goes up again.

[@dontcare4322]

@@RodneyG669when it goes on sale right?

[@teseutressoldi3972]

It is still cheap, just buy and lose tons of hours in your life lol.

[@ObsidianG]

I bought Factorio for €10 (the $13USD era) and I have at least 700 hours. That's what it says on Steam at least. There's probably more hours from the standalone earlier in development. More recently I bought the version ported to the Nintendo Switch at full price. Plugging that into my calculator we get roughly 6 cents per hour, before counting time on Standalone and Switch. And if that ain't value for money I don't know what is. The best time to get Factorio was when it was €10. The second best time is when you have some annual leave booked so that staying awake until 2am doesn't cost you your job.

[@spenceduggs]

I dig the hell out of this format. Smaller, concise videos about fun anomalies in the game industry is a pretty good idea, and your narrator has a delightful voice! Can't wait to see more! ^^

[@melind82]

What a delightful show. Another relevant tidbit to this story is there is another hugely popular game with a similar pricing scheme, Minecraft. The Factorio developers in the past have discussed how the game was in part inspired by various automation mods for Minecraft, so I don't think its any surprise to see a similar pricing model.

[@thatrandom_canadian]

Did Minecraft increase again after the increase from leaving beta?

[@Thingsyourollup]

How dare you insult my beloved Factorio by comparing it to that mindless Microsoft stock block game.

[@DemRat]

​@@Thingsyourollup...you haven't been around for the alpha and beta days, have you?

[@Thingsyourollup]

​@@DemRat According to Steam, ive been playing since 2016. I have over 3500 hours logged. What's your point? If you're about to try to relate this back to Minecrap again, even back then this was nothing like that game.

[@DemRat]

@@Thingsyourollup The alpha and beta of minecraft, back when it had nothing to do with microsoft. The influence it had on the gaming landscape is inarguable, and I am really not sure why you'd want to separate Factorios development from that impact, even if you don't like the game. Would you elaborate why you get so defensive about it?

[@petsan97]

I wholeheartedly support the idea of the price reflecting the game's development. You're essentially asking people to only pay for what is currently in the game, none of the usual bullshit of paying for what some naive moron *thinks* they can have in the finished version that might not even happen. Also frees you from that most horrid of revelations. When you buy a game full price only for it to randomly go 50% off before 48 hours have passed.

[@petsan97]

@@Coconut-219 Of course, that's my point. No more half-baked garbage pricing itself on what they claim will be in the finished product. If you're working on a game that you feel is gonna be worth 40 bucks, start by charging 10, and then keep moving the price closer to the 40 bucks as you get closer to the final vision.

[@LoneManProductions]

I don't know who this guy is, but he's got a Morgan Freeman-type voice that I would happily listen to tell stories of the gaming industry all day.

[@theescapist]

Check out his other series, Cold Take, on our channel if you enjoy his voice!

[@shufadragon]

A friend from Space Engineers gifted me Factorio because he saw my creative side. After playing 2000 hours I have found zero game bugs in Factorio,. One bug report which i didn't personally experience said the chat box text goes rainbow if you set the game to 100x speed and leave it overnight. The next day the bug was fixed. That is the commitment to excellence the team at Wube strives for.

[@mennovanlavieren3885]

Absolutely THIS! As a software developer, I like how Wube takes their work seriously and don't rush with buggy software. Which not only leads to a better product, but also reduces development cost in the long run, since the code base is healthy and relativity easy to work on. Sometimes I'm so ashamed of what some companies release as software.

[@Cenot4ph]

2000!! hours.. holy shhit. Where do you get the time

[@SigilSC2]

I've ran into one bug, looked for it and didn't find a post. By the time I had written the forum post with screenshots, it was posted. Bug was fixed 6 hours later. Actually incredible.

[@grmasdfII]

@@Cenot4ph Factorio has been on Steam for 7 years. Quite easy to accumulate 2000 hours over time. Even easier when you have a very specific taste that few games satisfy.

[@braydonfisher9273]

You know a game is good when people who report bugs are heralded as champions due to their rarity.

[@StrangePan]

Nice vid! Talking about the PC games marketplace at the time really helps contextualize Factorio's pricing history.

[@mr.matthews8002]

Saw the channel update earlier and this merely confirmed that my excitement for the growth of the channel is warranted, here's to the quality content you guys are always able to make 🎉

[@approachingapoapsis]

In an age of link rot, page loss, and partial archives (and how much worse these things are for games) I have to give kudos to any effort at history and archival of games. Plus, this is quite well done. My list of patreons-to-support-when-i-stop-being-broke grows once again. To whoever may read this comment: May your tomorrow be better than your today, whether by an inch or by a mile.

[@braydonfisher9273]

Factorio is also the singl game that I have seen that has a devteam pushing out bugfixes hours after reporting them, and is polished beyond perfection. Nothing else I have seen is like it.

[@rayanderson5797]

To paraphrase Mandalore: "The developers know they're making virtual crack"

[@YukoValis]

But here is the rub. Subjectively factorio is worth the price. I feel the price grew with the content included as the devs have worked tirelessly on it.

[@timseguine2]

I bought factorio for $20 after playing a pirated version for months. It is definitely worth $35. It is better than some games that cost $60. I honestly hate the stigma that indie games are never allowed to be "full price".

[@timseguine2]

@@Coconut-219 What indie game costs $80? I know of exactly zero.

[@deekin2134]

This was great! Informative and entertaining, without dragging it out in a 30 minute documentary. Can't wait to see more!

[@xbox1445]

Great new show! And an excellent topic to start on, I am a gamer that 99% of the time waits on sales, because publishers tend to offer at least a small discount within months or even weeks of launch. It really feels disrespectful to devs and players, not asigning a fair value for a game and STICKING to it. Fine, offer a sale 6 months after, everyone deserves good games, but at launch it seems almost every game is overpriced and the industry recognises that! Add to that the crunch conditions, the revenue split between the directives and the Dev team, and products rushed with microtransactions to boot... Most games aren't worth their launch price ever. I am also part of the problem, having preordered Cyberpunk and seeing the state it launched in (although to be fair I love the game from launch so ), but I really try not to reorder and avoid bad actors just as Ubisoft.

[@Kabluey2011]

As someone who loves factorio, i have 1350hrs in it. Bought it when it was 20$, I'd buy it again, if steam would let me. Its worth the price. Hours per dollar, ( how video games could be scored) this game is hella worth it

[@scottjelinek1916]

You can buy it again and gift it..

[@Kabluey2011]

@scottjelinek1916 I have done that actually a couple of times

[@HDL_CinC_Dragon]

If there was ever a game that deserved to be priced at $60, it's Factorio. I genuinely feel guilty having gotten so much from such a small purchase. I keep checking their merch store so I can give them more money but I don't like wearing shirts that have logos/writing on them for some reason. I really hope they come out with posters and such.

[@Kabluey2011]

@HDL_CinC_Dragon I completely forget about that. I'm definitely checking out soon!!!! I'm patiently waiting for the expansion, and everything. I love this game so much

[@hiddenxalpha7053]

​@@Kabluey2011 There might also be a way to upgrade your Factorio account through their website. Originally you could pay for the base game, then additional costs for 'name in the game' and things like that.

[@CPcamaro]

Factorio is worth full-on AAA Studio pricing. I've played for something like 1500 hours now. Easily the best gaming deal I've ever had.

[@Cenot4ph]

you need to get outside more

[@cormey8772]

@@Cenot4phno.

[@Riboshom]

As I recall, it's also the only game on Steam with a pricetag that's not "and 99 cents". They're just that comitted to honest pricing, no matter whether everyone else does it ot not. You really have to commend them for that.

[@NextianGeometry]

In a thematically appropriate move, the 99 cents is deemed inefficient, and has been optimised out.

[@JDHarlequin]

@@NextianGeometry Missing that 0.01 means the express belt is not fully stacked, therefore it affects UPS and can break whole chain :D

[@jtiza]

Minor correction on a great video: Riot Games never had a partnership with G2A. Riot banned their professional League of Legends teams from having G2A sponsorships displayed anywhere related to their LoL teams.

[@RedKincaid]

Absolutely lovely voice, he's got one of those voices you could listen to read a phone book and enjoy it, but with the added benefit of interesting subject matter. Fantastic

[@moshguy]

I put Factorio in my Steam Wishlist a year ago thinking, "I'll pick it up when it's on sale." 😅

[@Legendendear]

Sooo... How many years of playtime have you sunk into the factory after learning it never goes on sale?

[@KevHCloud]

I forget how much I payed for Factorio, 2016, whatever the UK price was then. I did buy a copy for my brother back in 2020 for £21. Whatever I payed for it, well worth the price!

[@erlendstaavi1151]

Got this recommended to me by youtube, and was worth the watch! the silky smooth voice alone made it worth it. my only coplaint was that the background music/noise playing at 2:50 (before and onwards) was a bit grating to my ears

[@ronjohnson6916]

Loved it. Such an unusual take on such an iconic game. Oh and the vibe between Frost and Yahtzee is exactly what my head canon said it should be.

[@FantasKanal]

As soon as I understood how damaging Keysites can be, I fully respected Factorio for their commitment.

[@nick11crafter]

First played Factorio in those early days when you could just ask for a key, then I bought it for myself later at 20$, for friends at 20, 25, and another at 30, and even now at 35$ I would buy it again. They would have even more of my money if it was cheaper/on sale (as I would hand out more copies) but even now I feel Ive gotten my moneys worth with it.

[@DoubleRBlaxican]

To be honest the fact that it never went on sale made me buy since i had a lot of other games that i thought weren't worth the price that i was waiting to get a discount. And after buying it and sinking hundreads of hours into it, its pretty good.

[@Jonthekiller9]

This framing device and the fact that it’s Yahtzee’s art style is freaking amazing and I love it, I’m so glad I’m going back to watch this video

[@notTiberath]

Very strong for a pilot episode. Factorio is a great game and Wube sticking it to G2A is a great story.

[@OlafurArons]

I paid $35 for Factorio, and y'know what? I don't regret it. They made a FINE game indeed, and I feel they deserve every single dollar for being open and honest. I hope they prosper in all ways imaginable.

[@NaSandJayZ]

The lore of Yahtzee’s cartoon world continues to grow Also love the new series, looking forward to more

[@ibuprofen-noodles]

this might be one of the most comfy channels at the moment

[@Kryonyde]

Not to be an asshole, but this is the first time I've ever sat through a full escapist video that didn't have Yahtzee in it. Good stuff guys.

[@hoshi314]

holy shit i bought factorio for like the 13$ price and played it for like 3 months and then forget about it, i just searched it again on steam and the price jumped...... i never knew this shit happened LOL

[@FO18L]

quite stark, the contrast between yahtzee's minimalist caricature, and frost's highly decorated caricature...

[@Zetalight16]

Factorio's pricing is super interesting, because it's like two warring factions: 1: The game never goes on sale, it will always be at least $35 for hundreds of hours of content which is a great $/hr ratio 2: The price was anchored in a lot of consumers minds at $20, both because of its launch price and the overall low-graphics indie marketplace, which makes the $35 tag and paid dlc *feel* expensive

[@nogravitas7585]

It is also interesting for avoiding the common pricing mind tricks of $XX.99 instead of $XX.00 or $19 instead of $20.

[@Greyhawksci]

Great points. The cost/time ratio really is god-tier, but it’ll always be a battle against the market expectations. Which is fine, but does mean some entertaining drama is guaranteed!

[@sillymonkey725]

Science can prove that a game, previously sold for $20 now sold at $35, is factually more expensive than a game with a regular price $70 that is on sale 8 month per year at $40.

[@Mirekluk]

And lastly : The devs are selling crack with free sample, and they damn well know it!! So do we. But the factory must grow

[@Omnifarious0]

This will make a great reference to point to when I tell someone about Factorio and how it will never go on sale.

[@_wija]

the devs themselves said they’d rather have you pirate than buy a key, so feel free to break out the torrent clients if you don’t wanna pay $35. you can always actually buy the game later if you like it enough.

[@_wija]

i know most people who pirate don’t buy the game after but i had to include that for the feds

[@Needforspeedfreak2nd]

funny you mention this. i used to be that guy. i pirated the game when 1.17 was the latest version, played it a bit and loved it. i think i bought it when they had the 1.0 release on steam. i also think the only reason i bought it in the first place was so it wasnt as tedious anymore to install mods. Granted this was my early days and i havent pirated a game since forever ago. But i think factorio is the only game from that time i actually bought afterwards

[@ghostiulian1]

A while ago I knew of TWO games that never went on sale, but I heard a different reason, that being that they were certain in their appeal and did not need to engage in sales to draw in people. One was Factorio, the other was Rimworld. However, Rimworld did eventually go on sale, even if a smaller one. The reasoning did hold as both of these games have such a following that they do not need a sale.

[@Thingsyourollup]

Both games are at the very top of my steam library in terms of total play time. Both games id buy again in a heartbeat even if they were 5x more than they cost right now. Although I really prefer how Factorio has kept expanding it's base game while Rimworld abandoned it and went the cash grab route with DLC after DLC after DLC.

[@celivalg]

@@Thingsyourollup actually WUBE is working on a DLC too, but it looks much more substantial than Rimworld DLCs. In reality, a one time purchase would never work for a game that hopes to see continued development. Minecraft is the only one I can think of that manages to continue that, but they pour a lot of money from microsoft into marketing. I definitely understand why DLCs are important for a continued development cycle. Not mentioning the Realms skin thing they have? Factorio, contrary to rimworld, also has the reputation of being one of the most polished game there is. They spend an enormous amount of effort into making sure bugs just aren't a thing in their game, to the point it actually became a joke to find a bug. Their devlogs are also extremely well written and entertaining to read.

[@PirateZ1]

You know, Factorio is right up my alley since I low base builders and resource management games. I always told myself, "I have so many Stream games unplayed, but I'll get Factorio once it goes on sale!"..... no wonder I dont have Factorio still

[@mwadewda7974]

I would advise against buying it, unless you have a week of time free. Yes, it's that addictive.

[@antoniotaborda699]

A week? Nahhh More like 30 days per month... But staying a full day without playing per month may be harsh.

[@graphospasm5394]

Satisfactory is similiar but 3d and does go on sale.

[@PirateZ1]

@@graphospasm5394 I like Dyson Sphere Program myself. But Satisfactory also seems cool

[@mwadewda7974]

@@graphospasm5394 Satisfactory is nice but they don't have any real threats so it's more like just making things, last time i played it anyway.

[@sharkkebunni]

I like this form, very good structure and love that there's a moral punchline at the end

[@DerSolinski]

Wubes Dev Blog documenting their Journey is free and priceless. After reading that you feel you underpaid for the game, even if you bought several copies.

[@fictitiousnightmares]

Love it. Great video. Honestly the game is worth much more than it's full $35 asking price and the developers are outstanding compared to the majority now days. Many people look for a value of 1 hour of fun per $1. If I were to pay that I would already be paying $1400 for the game. :P Pretty sure I paid $20 or $25 for it originally. The amount of years listening to the players, development, dedication, etc. put into this game more than calls for a higher price than they are asking. There is a reason it still to this day has an overwhelmingly positive review status and it is fully deserved.

[@P4brotagonist]

This was amazing. I've followed ZP for over a decade, and Frost is quickly climbing my list of favorite content creators. The format and content were fantastic, and even if it takes a while, I hope we get more of these some day.

[@theescapist]

Second episode is already out for Patreon / KZbin Memberships! Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, so it's a new regular series for us now.

[@P4brotagonist]

@@theescapist guess I've finally gotten the push I need to become premium then haha

[@P4brotagonist]

@@theescapist told you I'd do it lol

[@theescapist]

@@P4brotagonist Yeeees, welcome to the da... cool kids club!

[@diegobrandomtg]

Really love this concept! Can’t wait to see more

[@rayzerot]

"Now that you're all tucked in with your favorite knife" serious crazy uncle vibes 😂😂

[@bird3713]

Sounds like the G2A scandal could be its own episode

[@Eliagiulio]

The Yahtz and Frost power couple at the start is hilarious

[@casey4697]

Frost always kills it with the delivery on his videos.

[@MietoK]

I got it for 20$ before steam release and even with a price tag of 35$ it is worth every penny. Just building railway infrastructure beats anything else available in the market.

[@pendingrequest]

Oh, they also increased price on Russian steam to about $150 at the time after the war started. Interesting little detail.

[@TNH91]

If you're talking about the 10000 price which was quickly fixed to 1000 (removing the extra 0) then it might be less biased to also give all the facts. Strictly speaking since there are trade sanctions towards Russia for their actions it would make sense not to sell in/to Russia at all.

[@zzzzzzz...3380]

​@@TNH91 I'm sure Putin will be very upset that he can't buy a factory building game on steam

[@MentalAtheist]

I love all the plushies around the room from Adventure is Nigh.

[@crashstudi0s]

Holy... I used to get pissed it was never on sale, but now I have to admit, the factorio devs got my full respect

[@h3lblad3]

I still consider it anti-poor pricing. They're a business; they're not refusing sales based on some nebulous "loyalty to customers". They exist to make money. They're refusing sales because, if they never go on sale, all the so-called "bargain-hunters" might break down and buy at full price. They want to make poor people trying to be more frugal with their money pay the same price as wealthier people who can be more free with their money.

[@XiaoYueMao]

@@h3lblad3 Honey, if a poor person is willing to buy a $60 game at half off, then they should be willing to buy a $20-30 game at full price, since the amount paid in both instances IS THE SAME, so framing it as anti-poor pricing is literally insane

[@h3lblad3]

@@XiaoYueMao, joke’s on you if you think we’re talking about the same people, then.

[@Lodit24]

@@h3lblad3 Have you considered the value you get for those $35, mods not included? If you don't go around buying every new AAA game and half of Steam when it's on sale, you don't have to spend a lot of money on games, and even if $35 may seem much, the value of those $35 is comparable to at least the same amount of money, if not thrice as much, in other games. Even poor people can afford a ONE TIME $35 investment.

[@simonnachreiner8380]

@@h3lblad3 If you're buying a game that's FP$60 at half off that's $30 that's like Christmas pricing typical spur of the moment sales are less which would usually come out to $40. Factorio on the other hand is always the same price so there's no need to wait for a sale and as a result the base price is less. Remember sales don't exist to save you money they exist to move product.

[@muja_bunny]

love those cute adventure is nigh plushies in the opening background

[@HonkeyKongLive]

This is awesome. Love this as a new series.

[@fictitiousnightmares]

I haven't watched the video yet, but I will say Factorio is a masterpiece with fantastic developers. Bought it many years ago, played it for many years not even realizing it was still in early access, found zero bugs and had zero issues while having a crapton of fun. Now days I have over 1400 hours played and still continue to go back to it.

[@revzsaz9418]

This is awesome gang! The framing and the content covered were great for a debut. I can't wait to see what else gets covered in a series like this🙏 Cheers and thanks to all who made this idea come to life! 🍻

[@Vertexnine]

This Stuff of Legends series is also absolutely legendary - please keep them coming

[@marn200]

I like the transparency. I bought it for around €20. And later saw it grow to 30€, but before rising to 35 they actually gave a warning

[@XplayYgrek]

Maybe in USD. In Poland, they didnt give a warning earlier, when increasing the price from 70 to 120PLN. Later on, when the 30 to 35 hit (with a warning) it jumped from 120PLN to 160PLN - about 10 bucks, not 5. The price more than DOUBLED. All within less than half a year. I cannot call it transparency - I call it scummy. Directly converted USD to PLN should be 140 at MOST, as that's 35$ - but realistically, it should be even less, as Poland is a poorer region and that's what regional pricing is for. 160PLN is a joke and a spit in the face. The devs outright admiting (or pretending) it's okay only makes it worse.

[@TNH91]

@@XplayYgrek Maybe your currency needs to be better then?

[@XplayYgrek]

@@TNH91 I would love to get into a proper argument but unfortunately it's just a very fucking stupid and narrow-minded comment i couldn't serioualy answer even if I tried, sorry

[@simonnachreiner8380]

@@XplayYgrek If you want you could catch a train to Germany and buy it in Euros which comes out to the same price roughly

[@RockClimberAlex]

I bought it when it was 20 euro on Apr 6th 2016. Never had any regrets, I still play it today, with some breaks in the seven year, but 689 hours well spent, for the low low price of 20 euro.

[@okbVinyl]

I've glanced over Factorio several times, but it never felt feasible to pay that much (in my local currency, hello regional pricing) for a game that looks like that, so I went with Satisfactory instead. Lived happy and content ever since. Still, I can't say that "never on sale, ever increase" price is worse than what other devs do, like making less content for the same money in a yearly expansion and/or chipping away content for separate DLCs.

[@TNH91]

I hope you're enjoying Satisfactory. You might not really enjoy Factorio to the same degree as Satisfactory. But if you want to check you could always try the free demo which people say have 10+ hours of playtime in it.

[@simonnachreiner8380]

They could be selling it for $60usd with the occasional sales bringing it down to $45 and people would be singing their praises for selling a good game. which they are Sales don't exist to give you a bargain they exist to move product. Wube has a good product that doesn't need sales to move units, if people don't want to buy it because they think they deserve to feel like they've cheated the seller that's their loss. Say you have two sandwiches. One is dry has only processed cheese and has no condiments, however it's free. On the other hand we have a lovely sandwich with high quality meat, cheese and sauce however because this one isn't free people don't want it and rate it lower than the one that's free. If you only partake in things that are free consider _why_ it's priced as it is.

[@CzlowiekDrzewo]

Good thing piracy exist

[@thegrimdoogle9361]

I never knew I needed ZP Frost in my life, but here we are

[@Chernobog34]

Yes! Another Frost hosted show! I love his character model.

[@Shrooblord]

I really appreciated that story, thank you!! And even though I didn't expect Yahtzee to be in this, the fact that he hands off to you in the intro was a great idea.

[@gamepapa1211]

Wube Software is kinda like The Batman: sure it helped vanquish the evils of G2A, but you still can't really tell if he's one of the good guys or not.

[@armelior4610]

That's a great new addition to the channel : cool intro + neat concept + Frost's voice FTW

[@reilynn7891]

I can't agree with the increasing price due to inflation thing. It's one thing for this indie dev to do it, but it sets a really dangerous precedent and I have a horrible feeling in my gut that triple A companies will get wind of this. Right now the standard for old games is that they are sold for cheaper. This is how it should be, it makes no sense to keep charging full price for a ten year old game. It will be unbelievably bad for consumers if companies start adjusting their back catalogues to not just be full price, but actually more expensive than they were when they released. Not just old games, what if this practice extends to new games too? Remember when the "default" price for new games went from $60 to $70? Imagine if it increased every single year!

[@TNH91]

AAA developers already do this, but they just drop support for old games and put the price increase on the new titles so you don't think about it that much. AAA runs on the quick return on investment, they don't focus on the long tail that many indie games do, especially what Wube does.

[@simonnachreiner8380]

Typically AAA games get supported for a lifetime of about 1-2 years or 3 at most if they're really chucking out DLC before dropping support entirely to work on a sequel which you are expected to pay full price for. Factorio has been actively supported for it's entire lifetime of ten years with it's "sequel" being an expansion with a _remarkably_ large base game patch.

[@ravenwich5742]

I love this type of video and the way it was executed. Will definitely watch each one!

[@Kulpo]

While I have over 300 hours in Factorio and genuinely love the game, I do feel a bit cheated by Wube's regional pricing strategy. Up until July 2022 Factorio was priced at 70PLN (17,5$) in Poland but then got increased to 120PLN (30$) to be on par with the US price. In January 2023, when the inflation adjustment came along the price increased yet again to 160PLN (40$!!!) which is more than the US price and is the 2nd highest price for the game being only behind Switzerland! That's a 129% price increase in less than year! As much as I respect their stance against G2A, it is hard to recommend the game to my friends when the price became overnight an entire day's worth of work at minimum wage.

[@iamdmc]

love the story format and from the cold takes guy! Great job!

[@TheRogueWolf]

Factorio isn't worth the asking price to me. And that's fine.

[@Londronable]

I honestly think there are for the most part only 2 groups. There are those for who 5 bucks is too much and those for who it's worth paying 100 bucks for it. Me falling firmly in the latter. It's the game I often have an excel sheet open for to make calculations and the like to plan some stuff out at work.

[@TNH91]

Yup. Not every game is for every gamer. Just like Call of Duty isn't worth the asking price to me. I think a bit of the problem is that a lot of people don't actually think of the price and whether it is worth it to them, but just how much of a sale it is. Oh, it's 80% off, I NEED IT. Even if they would never have bought the game if it was that 80% off price normally.

[@xplayman]

I bought Factorio for $13 from Humble and never expected to get a Steam key when they launched on Steam. It was ready and waiting in my email prior to the Steam launch. 👍

[@VoiceofMxB]

the price, like the factory, must grow.

[@guyincognito9410]

Is this what a smack addiction is like? Just watching the arms move things on belts made me wanna get a hit (must grow factory)

[@902496]

I think the other lesson is "when you have a good enough product, you don't need sales" Nintendo teaches us that too with how frequently they sell 20+ year old games for basically full price.

[@snil4]

Definitely, with all the mario 3d all stars debacle there was you got to admit these games just never get old, they not only defined the golden standard for their genre but also aged so well that you can simply slap an HD sticker on the box and resell them over and over again.

[@thosebloodybadgers8499]

Well, doesn't sound so positive once you put the Nintendo example up front

[@argylemanni280]

@@thosebloodybadgers8499 Nintendo is trying to sell games to new gamers, not the same 50-year-old gamers who have bought every game since 1985.

[@thosebloodybadgers8499]

@@argylemanni280 so, fleecing tourists as opposed to locals?

[@pigizoid9924]

G2A be like: "nuh uh we got it on sale" Wube: *eyebrow raise*