Personal opinion about "reward" for totalgaming users

from GalCiv2 Forums
Just wanted to express my opinion about how i think that it's not very fair that people who were subscribed to TotalGaming get access to so many games for free and how new users have to pay. Plus, they have to pay a very large amount and i really feel like ive been ripped off because people who had a subscription can play the original Galactic Civilizations and other games but if i want to do that i have to pay a large amount and then use 4 tokens ($39) which is ridculous because you can buy the deluxe edtion with the expansion pack for only $29. Please don't flame me about this, it's just my opinion, but personally i think that they should have at least given the original Gal Civ as a "reward" for joining totalgaming or give access to Gal Civ's 2 beta for free or something because people who were subscribed get a ton for free while basically newcomers have to suffer.
13,967 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
I think galciv2 beta is given for free with a tgn subscription, but I'm not 100% sure.
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
There's no doubt that Stardock was incredibly generous with existing TotalGaming.net users. No doubt about it.

But on the other hand, TotalGaming.net users subscribed, for $90 in most cases, with the understanding that they would get all the games Stardock put on there during their subscription for free.

Understandably, Stardock has had to adapt the system in order to get a lot more games. But it has also meant that TotalGaming users no longer get all the games for free, they have to pick and choose.

Stardock had to make a very tough decision as to how existing TotalGaming.net customers should be compensated for phase 2. I think Stardock probably could have gotten away with just giving existing TG.net subscribers 10 tokens. Giving us all GalCiv II was a definite bonus and a show of immense good will by Stardock.

But there's nothing wrong with the new TotalGaming.net setup. Galactic Civilizations is 4 tokens. So it's basically $28. Sure you can find some boxed copy on sale somewhere very low, since the publisher, Stratgegy First, never paid Stardock their royalties, it's easy for them to charge as little as they want. Not paying others what you owe them makes it much easier to have low prices!

Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Sure you can find some boxed copy on sale somewhere very low, since the publisher, Stratgegy First, never paid Stardock their royalties, it's easy for them to charge as little as they want. Not paying others what you owe them makes it much easier to have low prices!


Shame I didn't know about stardock when I bought GC1, I'd have gone direct like a shot.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
John Hamp, what's this thing about Strategy First? How can it be legally made possible?...

And about this topic, I find the present system a very fair deal, and the deal with old customers a frank gift. They had to translate to the new system some day, and some how older customers could not be robbed of what was in their contract, neither be kept under more-or-less false expectations. They decided to make it clear that they kept all their promises by giving in fact more than what we had paid for... thx again and again, and good luck to Stardock with its new system
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Strategy First somehow got away with not paying Stardock anything for the retail sales of GC1. I doubt it was legal, and I might have heard something about Strategy First going belly up? Not sure, but Stardock lost out on that one. I think that incident is just one more reason why Stardock are developing SDC so much. You can't get exploited by a publisher if you don't use one. I'd much rather give my money to the developers than some middle man.
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

I think galciv2 beta is given for free with a tgn subscription, but I'm not 100% sure.

This is no longer the case. Being a TotalGaming.net member will not get you automatic access to betas anymore.

Ugleb - Yeah...ain't bankruptcy laws grand?

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
Yeah I heard that introvision, the guys behind uplink got screwed out of money as well from Strategy First, I still hear that strategy first is making games, it sucks how much money was lost because of them.