Battle Academy by slitherine Ltd.

[PipFromSlitherine]

Originally Posted by DotComCTO

Ummm...yeah...I knew that. Yeah. That's the ticket.



I expected as much. As a long time CTO in the marketing world, I'm just curious to see how you plan to balance all of this. It could be like BA in that the price is the same regardless of platform because it is the same game (and you also don't want to make the non-iOS community feel disenfranchised). It could be a slimmed down version of Pz Corps with the same price point as BA (and maybe more DLC to bring it up to the same level as the computer). Or, Slitherine could do something entirely different.

I guess my concern is two-fold: 1 - Can Slitherine drive enough people to pay $30 for an iOS game to make the ROI worth it? 2 - If $30 is indeed the price point, then there are 7 expansions at $5 each to consider. Will people other than die hard grognards (like myself) go beyond the initial investment and get as much DLC as possible?

Regardless, I'm very excited about Slitherine's support, and I hope us consumers can buy enough to make it profitable for you to keep up the support! I do have to say that having Battle Academy on the iPad is fantastic. Rather than holing up in my home office in the evening (and having my family complain), I can hang out with my iPad in the family room and play causally while we're all together. It makes everyone very happy! Happy wife, happy life, right?

Thanks again for bringing great games to iOS!



--DotComCTO

Unless we run into some unforeseen issue, PzC iPad will be as fully featured as BA - with all the gameplay features, and cross-platform MP.

Cheers

Pip

[GiHubb]

My bet is that Panzer Corps will be similar to the PC version and will cost no more than $20, time will tell! :-)

[Farmer Harv]

Hmmm. I'm not sure where I stand on premium Panzer Corps pricing. On the one hand I have no problem paying "full" price for fully fleshed out wargames like BA and PC. Developers need to make good money in order to see more titles make the move to iOS.

One the other hand, while Panzer Corps is one of the best beer 'n pretzels wargames ever made, I don't know how many people would pay big money ($30+ expansions) to (re)play it on iOS. I know I would, but I have no idea where I might fit into the iOS wargame buyer graph.

Here's hoping Slitherine finds the perfect price point. The more successful they are, the happier we iOS wargamers will be.

[farmboy74]

Never played Panzer Corps and if it comes with all the details and features like Battle Academy I for one will have no problem paying the same price for Panzer Corps as I did for Battle Academy

[kludger]

I was an old fan of PG and love Panzer Corps on the PC and I really look forward to having a mobile version on iPad.

If it has the same full game depth and $20 pricing as Battle Academy it will be an instabuy for me, and I really look forward to it.

[Defard]

Personally I think we are in danger of creating a debate about something we know nothing about. One mans 'premium' is another mans 'budget' lol.

[GiHubb]

Originally Posted by Defard

Personally I think we are in danger of creating a debate about something we know nothing about. One mans 'premium' is another mans 'budget' lol.

Well actually the way I see it is if the game IN TOTAL makes more money to the devs. That is, if it was $10 would it sell twice as much; if it was $5 would it sell four time more. My actual feel on this is that for $10 it probably would. I have quite a few friends who like turn based strategy games and none of them bought it due to the price - blame it on the fact that iOS gaming prices made us spoiled brats who only buy a game if it cost $3 or less. So for a price of $10 or less I know I could get some of them on board. As it stands, I got zero sales from my mates. :-(

[Red1]

Hi Guys,

This thread is for discussing Battle Academy.

If you want to discuss Panza Corps, please post in a thread for that game, preferably without turning it into another IOS pricing debate.

Thanks.

[Farmer Harv]

Well, finished the Sealion campaign today so all of the factory scenarios are wrapped up. Definitely got my fifty bucks worth so far, and I haven't tried skirmish, multiplayer or user-made scenarios yet.

Overall I'm still more than pleased with the game and system. Aside from the occasional typo, UI quibble, LOS/LOF issue and AI WTF moment it plays very well, and there's enough variety in the equipment, terrain and missions to keep things fresh and interesting. Fun, engrossing and engaging are three of the best words I can think of to describe BA.

So now that Panzer Corps for iOS has been announced, can I start asking about more BA addons now?

[d_A_v_E]

Personally I think the devs are missing out on a much larger market by going over the $10 price point, especially with IAP that when bought pushes the total price to $50. Hey, they seem happy with sales so maybe they don't mind. But there IS a different and very large pool of potential buyers on the iOS platform that would take a chance on a polished game like this at around $10 dollars. I also think there are less reviews out due to the price point, in that reviewers don't believe the average iOS gamer will bother due to price.

For me, I love strategy games and I'd definitely give this one a chance at $10 with $5 IAP. That is a very well established 'premium' price point for games in the App store. I could be wrong, but I don't think anyone other than Square Enix is at the $20 price point, not even EA.

Finally, I do believe it is justified to have a lower price as compared to the PC versions, as they aren't exactly equivalent in feature set. One is graphics and the other is a campaign editor. Yes, you get to play 'on-the-go' but that usually means you also aren't playing as much at a time as when on a PC.

Hey, I'm glad for the devs that this is a success for them at $20 even though I won't go that high. It means potentially more competition in this genre, and they said they are going to bring more games to the platform. So that's great for the gaming scene in general.

This post isn't complaint; I am just offering an opinion about their pricing decision from someone who never even heard of this game or is in the existing 'niche' audience they are targeting. No disrespect is intended.