Today is the day - Finally

[Stewart]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

ORIGINAL: Chris Trog
Is the 28th a firm date?

Nothing ever is, but in the scale of such things, yes.

Will those who download on the 28th get a PRE-PRINTED rules manual with shipment of the CD?

Nope, we're all backed up on printing right now due to a debacle with our printed that took a month to resolve right as the flurry of recent releases began.

We do expect that we'll have EIA physical stock in time for shipments to arrive before Christmas, but it will be a download-only release at first. If you want the box and the printed manual, you should wait until those options are available in the store about 2 weeks after release.

Regards,

- Erik

Boy I post my second post and Erik posts with great (Possibly?) News. Hats off[&o]

[tgb]

How big is the manual? That will influence my decision on which way to go.

[YohanTM2]

Please offer the manual in 8.5x11 format for download

[Erik Rutins]

The manual is 128 pages and the printed copies will be in full color. Given the price point, we wanted to go all out for the physical release.

[SkyElf]

How much will the game cost with CD & Manual please?

[sabre100]

Erik -
 
Can you tell us that price of this game ?  I am hoping it is not like WiTP and cost $79.99 or something similar.  I can understand not giving out release dates as they can change but I am not sure why keep the cost a secret until release ?
 
Any info is appreciated thanks so much.

[New York Jets]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

ORIGINAL: Chris Trog
Is the 28th a firm date?

Nothing ever is, but in the scale of such things, yes.

Will those who download on the 28th get a PRE-PRINTED rules manual with shipment of the CD?

Nope, we're all backed up on printing right now due to a debacle with our printed that took a month to resolve right as the flurry of recent releases began.

We do expect that we'll have EIA physical stock in time for shipments to arrive before Christmas, but it will be a download-only release at first. If you want the box and the printed manual, you should wait until those options are available in the store about 2 weeks after release.

Regards,

- Erik

I guess what I'm asking is this...

Can we pre-pay for the CD when we download the game and have a manual shipped when the CD ships?

[Erik Rutins]

EIA will be priced at $59.99 Download and $69.99 Boxed. The Physical/Boxed versions should be live either on the day of launch or later in the same week and we expect to have physical stock to ship out by December 14th.

[tgb]

That's unfortunate. At $49.99 this would have been a day-one download for me.

Eric, you may want to rethink that pricing before release. I suspect you feel that anticipation is so great people will pay almost any price, but for most gamers $49.99 is the "magic number", and very hard to get past.

If you offered a $10 discount for pre-orders before Wednesday, I (and many others, I suspect), would jump on it. Otherwise I will be waiting for feedback and AAR's before making a decision.

[JimMerson]

ORIGINAL: tgb

That's unfortunate. At $49.99 this would have been a day-one download for me.

Eric, you may want to rethink that pricing before release. I suspect you feel that anticipation is so great people will pay almost any price, but for most gamers $49.99 is the "magic number", and very hard to get past.

Snipped...

Yes, I falter at spending over $50.00 for a computer game, but that is a price point set 20 years ago as well....

I did purchase War in the Pacific when it came out and it was a $60.00 game or more (I can't remember) EiA will be purchased as a download when it is available, I have waited to long for this.

Jim Merson

[tgb]

ORIGINAL: JimMerson

ORIGINAL: tgb

That's unfortunate. At $49.99 this would have been a day-one download for me.

Eric, you may want to rethink that pricing before release. I suspect you feel that anticipation is so great people will pay almost any price, but for most gamers $49.99 is the "magic number", and very hard to get past.

Snipped...

Yes, I falter at spending over $50.00 for a computer game, but that is a price point set 20 years ago as well....


Jim Merson

The fact that the $50 price point is 20 years old is irrelevant. It's still the standard today for most (PC) releases, and many come out at $40.

I have never bitched about Matrix pricing policies (as many have) before, and buy almost all new releases on release day from them. I could even understand the pricing for WitP, based on the scope and size, but passed on it nonetheless. With EiA, the only reason I can see for the inflated price is to capitalize on 4 years of anticipation

[WJPalmer1]

The $60/$70 price seems reasonable to me -- assuming the game delivers the real EiA experience. It will be well worth it. The out-of-print physical game is currently fetching that much and more on Ebay without the incredible advantages of a computer version. The business reality is that this game required a huge development effort and investment which Matrix is entitled to recoup. Too many subscribers lose sight of the fact that game publishers must turn a profit or they won't be around for the long term.

I may be out of touch, but it's hard for me to believe that anyone who has really anticipated this release over the years would balk now over $10.

[sabre100]

I agree, $59.99 is not bad if the game delivers on all its points.  I dont mind paying $60.00 for a good game that will keep me busy for a while.  What upsets me is paying that much for a game that is just plain horrible, now that is a rip off.  However this game looks very good from what I have been reading from here. 

[Adraeth]

For me is ok, considering i live in Europe and i have a reason to bless the Euro €

[New York Jets]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

EIA will be priced at $59.99 Download and $69.99 Boxed. The Physical/Boxed versions should be live either on the day of launch or later in the same week and we expect to have physical stock to ship out by December 14th.

So will there be a digital download plus physical shipment option available on day one, then?

I always purchase the digital + physical option when I buy games from you guys.

What I'm trying to say is that I want the download on day one and still get the pre-printed manual with the actual CD.

[cdbeck]

The price point indicates to me that Matrix must be rather confident in the quality of the product. With a $59.99/69.99 price tag, I expect to get vast gameplay nearly on par with WitP, I expect an AI that will be a fair replacement for actual players, I expect replayability (this seems almost obvious at a glance - with all the sides and all the strategies). So I am guessing the Matrix execs are fairly sure that the game will deliver all of these things.

Either that or they are trying to scare people away to avoid consternation... [;)] Just kidding!

Happy Thanksgiving!

SoM

[fw1206]

Hi. I'm from germany and here we are about to pay at least 50 EURO for a game. This means at least 70$ or more. And do you know the shipping costs form america to germany???? These are additional costs to us. I'm realy happy about a downloadable version for just 59,99$. Thats 20-30% saved money for me and i will get one of the best games.
Sure, i will be more happy if i could get it for 49,99$ but 59,99$ is a very fair price for more than 5 years of developing and spending a lot of manpower to this game. I don't think Ursa or one of the other developers will say the real costs for this game but i'm sure it will be millions. And now, please calculate these million for cost in copys for just 60$ !!

I would buy it right now for this price!!

[yammahoper]

I'll be making a new computer in a bit, so I'll get the box.  I just hate having to wait that week for it to arrive!
 
yamma

[sol_invictus]

I must admit, I had given up on this game ever being released and had decided that even if released, I would not buy it. I now feel that itch to grab the game and will almost certainly buy it. I own Napoleon's Campaigns and it is up to the usual quality of AGEOD's titles, but I don't think these two games compete against each other in the least. They will both be fine additions to a Napoleonic gaming collection.

[tgb]

Let me clarify somewhat: I will probably buy this as long as the initial impressions are favorable. Having never played the board game, my excitement level is not as great as others, but I do love me some Napoleonic grand strategy, and have itch CoG failed to scratch.

I'm just saying that at this price point it went from automatic "refresh every 5 minutes on the 28th until it becomes available" to "give it a couple of days and see what the feedback is".

If the feedback indicated it's worth the extra $10, I'm in.