Chris Roberts used the official announcement of Star Citizen crossing the $18 Million mark to follow up on the poll he started about the Voyager Direct store. Â Turns out, at least after CR’s clarification post about the store, 43% of survey respondents said they were satisfied with the store as is. 29% thought that prices were too high (I was one of those). Â So, since CR also stated he thought some prices were too high… we now have lower prices!
Here’s the pricing changes:
- Cot – 2,000 UEC (was 5,000 UEC)
- RSI Zeus Model – 5,000 UEC (was 10,000 UEC)
- Lamp – 2,000 UEC (was 5,000 UEC)
- Greycat PTV – 15,000 UEC (was 20,000 UEC)
- Posters – 1,000 UEC each (was 5,000 UEC each)
What’s interesting, is that the workbench is not on the list. Â Turns out, there is a reason for it. Â The workbench, is not purely cosmetic… that’s how players will “over clock” their own ship components come launch… so that one is staying priced where it was (10,000 UEC). Â I do find it a little odd that the workbench is still in the ‘decorations’ category of the VD store, since it will have a non-decorative use..but, maybe they just don’t have an appropriate category yet.
If you purchased a newly cheaper item, you will be receiving a refund for the difference. Â Be patient, I’d imagine that it will take them a little time to get through that process…I’m sure their store wasn’t setup for refunds, since it was opened as an ‘all sales final’ deal.
I’m much happier with the new prices, I think it puts purely decorative stuff at the right price point – especially once we get the ability to earn UEC in game. Â Chris’ announcement did also touch on the pricing difference between ships now, and their anticipated price in game at launch:
Also you should know that the current “dollar†price of a ship does not reflect its actual in-game value in UEC, so comparing the value of a gun against the UEC equivalent of an Aurora is not an accurate comparison. We intended backers to get a benefit for backing early rather than waiting for a finished game and one way was by obtaining ships that ultimately will be more expensive once the game is “liveâ€. A $25 Aurora may cost 75,000 UEC in the finished universe!
He also mentioned that the ability to grant ‘test’ items, and UEC, will NOT be moved up from it’s planned implementation with the Dogfighting module.. so we’re still at the ‘all sales final, if you bought it, you’ll have it at launch’ stage, so do keep that in mind when buying 1,000 buggies.
Crisis averted.. good communication with your backers CIG, overall, I think this was handled very well. Â Some advanced communication (particularly about the ‘coming soon’ aspect of test UEC) might have avoided the whole “issue” in the first place, but this was a good way to deal with the fallout.