Inflation and Prices

Hey guys, I’ve been thinking of increasing the prices of my games in line with inflation…

Since Epic Battle Fantasy 4 and Bullet Heaven 2 came out on Steam in 2014 and 2015, the US Dollar and British Pound have dropped in value by around 25% due to inflation. Epic Battle Fantasy 5 came out in 2018, and there the difference is around 20%.

Since the games are still getting customer support and occasional updates, I think it’s fair to raise the prices from $12 to $15, and from $20 to $25. Most of you already own the games, so this won’t really effect very many of you who are reading this. And if you don’t own the games yet, the games are on sale 4 times a year, if you’re looking for a bargain.

Epic Battle Fantasy 4 got a “version 2” update not too long ago, and I still regularly clean the Bullet Heaven 2 leaderboards, so both games are still getting some attention from me.

I’m also aiming to put a $15 price tag on Hidden Cats. It’s still very early in development, but I hope to have 10 to 20 hours of content in that game.

Epic Battle Fantasy Collection will stay at the current $8, unless I add more content to it, like the Bullet Heaven 3 Prototype. (Btw, please leave a review for EBFC on Steam if you haven’t already – it doesn’t have very many and they help a lot!)

I’ve also noticed that some regions aren’t happy with Steam’s new regional pricing, so I’ll make sure that Turkey and Argentina, for example, are not effected too drastically by this price update. Steam’s new pricing tool makes it easier to compare the new and old prices, so I’d like to avoid any unreasonably big changes.

Anyway, I’m aiming to update the prices in January, after the Christmas sale on Steam. So the Christmas sale will be the lowest price you’ll see for a while!

Let me know how you feel about all of this.

10 thoughts on “Inflation and Prices

  1. magictime5

    Naw, make raise your prices as needed. You gotta live as well. Appreciate asking us for our thoughts, love the games, keep it up.

    Reply
  2. Anna

    Imo it’s completely reasonable, and while people who are like “no just give me game idc about your income” might hate it, doing it after the christmas sale for the lowest price seems very reasonable, I’d just make sure that it’s very obvious like hey, buy it now or it’ll be more expensive

    It does suck though that inflation’s hitting you hard, I hope you can stay afloat and I hope that people blame the economy and whatever for being sucky, not you 💙

    Reply
  3. Robin

    I’m on the fence and treading on eggshells about getting EBF5. But not because of the price tag. Money is a means to an end and i don’t really meddle with economics, politics and petty drama when it can be avoided (Believe me. That’s where anyone would draw the line.)

    For everyones sake and sanity, the final boss did not bode well with me at all. Godcat was your most original piece of work, despite lacking some accent details, personality, world building, lore, ect, perceiving
    it as being stronger than you know what annoyed someone and something i would explain further, but it’s complicated and has me conflicted. Maybe my instincts are right all along. I need to sever my ties. Dreaming too much makes you blind to reality.

    I’m sure that you will understand. It’s harder for me than anyone else to have to do such a thing.

    But i give up.
    ~R

    Reply
      1. David Zhang

        I understand Robin completely. Not sure if he worded his opinions correctly, because it’s coming out misrepresented of his true position about the EBF series. The essay he written makes him look disorganized and lost, but I assure you he’s fine. I’ve been in his shoes before.

        He didn’t agree with the creative choices made in this series. He understands this EBF franchise wasn’t meant to please everyone’s taste, as that would be impossible, but, as a fan, he feels very strongly about this series because he sees great potential. Of course, speaking his criticism of a popular series to an audience of fans who love the game for its many achievements, would be akin to asking out Death for a date, a lost cause, and an invitation for toxicity.

        His main criticism of the new game EBF5, is its ability to retcon EBF4. If he was given the option, he liked EBF5 to pick up where EBF4 left off. Examples including not having to refind all the players again, the out-of-nowhere appearances of the Glitch, the Devourer’s ability to break the 4th wall. (The things I actually enjoy about this game, and the music too is awesome.)

        This is where I begin my opinion about this conversation:
        His opinion is not an attack, and never meant to do any harm. I think he’s just caught up in the modern system where if you have a criticism about the game and trying to address it to an audience who care about the game, that criticism needs to be sugar-coated and sweet as to remove the poignant sting of the criticism. And the modern ideology that only the criticism that are constructive to the cause, ones that can actually create reasponable changes, should be allowed. Any other criticism can be seen as an attack (while not being one), be seen as passive-aggressive (while not intended), and can be seen as a threat (while in no form of being close to one). Personally, I think both sides need to compromise on how to properly give and accept a criticism. It’s not something only one side can do, the critic and the author.

        Reply
        1. Gacha Kris

          Honestly i’m impressed you got that much out of that comment, i can’t see half that stuff except ‘I don’t like the final boss compared to the one in previous installment’. Though i fully agree, today’s people are… Well, easy to step in where there is no issue, and make one. It almost feels like honesty is a crime at this point. On the topic of the game though. EBF4-5 are really different. While the former is much more original and with a somewhat interesting story (Although Matt made it clear the story is only a background to the gameplay) it’s the latter that has much more fun mechanics and gameplay in general, while referencing a lot of popular topics at the time.
          On a side note, the original comment feels more ‘artistic’ in a sense while your appears more logical, which i find kind of funny

          Reply
          1. David Zhang

            The world appears to value “honesty” but what they truly mean is “integrity”. It’s so easy in the modern world to get the two terms, honesty and integrity, mixed up. Thankfully, Google is there to clarify the difference. Honesty is basically saying it like you think it is while Integrity is a consistent and righteous behavior. In an ideal world, the two are basically the same, but, welcome to the real world, where what you think might be right, isn’t.

            Honesty makes it easier on the communicator to communicate his/her/their thoughts. Integrity makes it easier on the audience to accept claims and statements. In a society that accepts honesty, the audience must pay the burden of fact-checking and/or any other miscommunication issues. In a society that requires integrity, the communicator must pay the burden of research and/or any other miscommunication issues. Either way, there is always a burden in communication.

            In the past, it takes a lot of effort to communicate, therefore, many people are willing to invest a lot of time to do research before they go through the process of communicating their ideas forward. Nowadays, our technology makes communication easy, and therefore, the research is the bottleneck. Unfortunately, in our media society, research is rarely used in many communication. Mainstream media sometimes don’t double-check or even triple-check their work, but at least their standard are a little higher than the average online user, who may or may not have a standard at all (which is where integrity differs from honesty, because said standard can be seen as an obstacle against honesty). In the end, somebody must pay the burden of fact-checking or research, and with the many claims thrown out there, it’s a difficult task that most don’t bother doing.

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