Last sensibly priced copy of Galaxy Trucker in UK

Hi,

The RRP for the reprint of Galaxy Trucker in the UK is a jaw dropped £60. Even internet discount retailers are selling it at £50.

So imagine my surprise when I found a copy on amazon, of all places, for £39. Shortly after buying it the price shot up to £47, so I thought I'd caught the retailer out in having simply forgotten to raise the price of his merchandise after the reprint.

It arrived today and is indeed the RGG reprint, not the original Czech edition. But on Amazon the price has gone back down again to £39.

If you're at all interested, I check this out. It's waaay under the best price I can find anywhere else, and there's only two copies left in stock ...
www.amazon.co.uk/CZ001-Galaxy-Trucker-To...id=1232624368&sr=8-1

This is the big failing of GT- the cost is absolutely outrageous for what you get. There is absolutely no justifiable reason this game should be over $50 US retail. My Gameshark article today is about the cost of gaming and one thing that doesn't make sense to me is how some games are starting to cost more than others for no good reason.

Yes, I've been wondering about this recently too. I bought both Galaxy Trucker and Through the Ages recently and whilst I didn't end up paying hugely over the odds for the former, I couldn't find any good deals on TTA and ended up paying some £40 for it, even though it consists of nothing but a lot of cards.

So I'm interested in seeing the article - will save further comments for the discussion there.

For comparison the full RRP of GT over here translates as $82. I paid the equivalent of $55 for it, and a similar price for my copy of TTA.

They better be good games. Have started playing TTA by email, and it looks to have the potential to live up to much of the hype.

Only thing holding me back on having GT already is the price. Twice now I've had the chance to purchase it, but man, that's steep.

For comparison, Agricola has the same MSRP but is at least completely chock full of stuff...it's hard for anyone to bitch too much about that. Ditto the coffin boxes from FFG, they're crazy expensive, but you never open them and go, "Hmm, I expected more stuff, I guess."

So they give up the bottom end to get more out of those who still make the jump? Given the hype I think "for no good reason" doesn't apply here. The good reason they charge as much as they do is because they can.

Sag.

Sagrilarus wrote:

So they give up the bottom end to get more out of those who still make the jump? Given the hype I think "for no good reason" doesn't apply here. The good reason they charge as much as they do is because they can.

Indeed, that's pretty much how I feel. The unfortunate thing is that we've not seen this sort of ruthless approach before by hobby game publishers and so it sets a precedent. Oddly, I'm currently in two minds about whether it's actually a bad thing for the hobby or not because it might actually lead to an increase in quality publishing. That might be something worth me exploring in a follow up column to Michaels.

To some extent I tapped on this in a previous blog post. For an easily replicated product the return on investment curve is relatively predictable. It's a flat line or more likely a softly bending curve that has a single spot where your return on investment is maximized.

For items that cannot be duplicated, in this case due to intellectual ownership, that curve can have two humps in it, leading to two spots that are local maximums -- two places where the ROI tops out compared to the local surroundings. Alternatively, the curve can run for a stretch where a similar high ROI occurs, giving the publisher a broad set of options. Here's the thing though -- with a new or unique product, there's no data on the curve. Its shape is unknown. The publisher has to make a selection prior to production.

Given a particularly unique product, a publisher may choose (and I think this is true in Galaxy Trucker's case) to minimize their risk by printing less copies and asking a higher price. It limits their did-not-sell risk because they have less stock to dump if the product fails, and (this is my flyer in the theory) they get a more devoted set of purchasers because of the higher price. This may increase the perception of the overall value of the package by owners and outsiders alike, especially these days when reviews are available to all before the product ships. That perception helps support the higher price. Galaxy Trucker's reprint with expansions ups the ante a bit.

I suppose it never hurts to ask!

Sag.

MattDP wrote:
"I couldn't find any good deals on TTA and ended up paying some £40 for it, even though it consists of nothing but a lot of cards."
It would appear that the price hasn't increased much in two years as I paid £38 when the first edition came out.
(Not sure whether that's a terribly useful comparison though.)

Ken B. wrote:

Only thing holding me back on having GT already is the price. Twice now I've had the chance to purchase it, but man, that's steep.

For comparison, Agricola has the same MSRP but is at least completely chock full of stuff...it's hard for anyone to bitch too much about that. Ditto the coffin boxes from FFG, they're crazy expensive, but you never open them and go, "Hmm, I expected more stuff, I guess."

I was very pleased with both quality and quantity of the components in GT. I love this game and haven't regret buying it for even a second.

Vlaada Chvatil is a bit of an anomoly because his games are not only very good, but they also appeal to a broad slice of the gamer spectrum. I really love TTA, even though I readily admit its a euroization of the civ theme and style. I haven't played GT yet but by all accounts its a great game, as is his new one, Space Alert.

Game designers/publishers don't always make the best decisions, but I think they can see when they have a winner. FRED is a bunch of price gouging douches who repeatedly put out subpar crap (I have the 3rd edition of TTA and it still has printing errors pointed out two editions ago) but FRED is not dumb. They KNOW they can charge $70 and not fix things and still have tons of sales.

Chvatil is a hot name and his games will continue to see a premium price tag, in my opinion.

If you really want to discuss something overpriced, lets talk dominion. I read the expansions are going to contain the same treasures and provinces you already bought so they can charge full game price for it.

Oh, I don't blame them, man. I'm not even suggesting they lower the price. Just saying "too rich for my blood."

Ken B. wrote:

Oh, I don't blame them, man. I'm not even suggesting they lower the price. Just saying "too rich for my blood."

I understand, we have this game cheaper in Czech Republic but we have to pay more for the foreign games and there isn't a single copy of Through the Ages here And the first copy of Titan will be available on monday, time moves slowly here

It's a real pity the game is so expensive overseas and in Britain.

I already said this, but the games isn't really that expensive in Germany, here it costs about €35 (same as FURY OF DRACULA for example) and you're getting quality components (along with an excellent design).

Of course the Dollar and Pound are pretty weak at the moment.

Ken B. wrote:

Only thing holding me back on having GT already is the price. Twice now I've had the chance to purchase it, but man, that's steep.

For comparison, Agricola has the same MSRP but is at least completely chock full of stuff...it's hard for anyone to bitch too much about that. Ditto the coffin boxes from FFG, they're crazy expensive, but you never open them and go, "Hmm, I expected more stuff, I guess."

I'm looking to trim what I have and GT is one of the things that's going to go. It just doesn't get played. Shipping might be prohibitive (I live on the extreme East coast), but I'd let it go reasonably cheap (30-35) especially considering the condition of the box and that it's missing a battery. I've gotten a few trade offers, but that defeats the purpose of thinning the herd.