Fans Increase Factorio’s Price, A Simple Steam Game, Due to Inflation

As inflation is on the run worldwide, fans have seemingly put a collaborative effort to increase the price of a simple game from Steam, Factorio!

Popular factory-building simulation Factorio is getting a price increase in line with the likes of Call of Duty, Star Wars: Jedi Knight, Final Fantasy, and many others in the industry. A large portion of the Factorio community, in contrast to the vast AAA game audiences of those other games, seem surprisingly cool with the idea. However, this is not the case everywhere.

Many game prices are skyrocketing

Since last year, major publishers like Ubisoft, Take-Two, Xbox, and Sony have basically set a new benchmark for game pricing, making Factorio something of an outlier due to its smaller size. Wube Software, the studio behind Factorio, is significantly smaller than the studios behind the other games that have recently announced price rises.

Also, unlike new games that may create a precedent for the series going forward, Factorio is a much older game that is witnessing an increase from its earlier pricing. Factorio’s beta version was released in 2016, with the complete version expected in 2020.

Since then, the only downloadable material for it on Steam is the game’s $7 soundtrack, and it has never had microtransactions. However, it has never been featured in a Steam sale previously, the decision developers explained in 2016 was made to show appreciation to those who had already purchased the game.

You can find the Factorio game’s current price here.

Factorio developers’ statement regarding the price hike

Six days before the price hike takes effect, on January 20, Factorio announced it on Twitter, and the response has been surprisingly good. Even while it appears that the majority of those responding have already purchased the game, they are still eager to find new methods to show their support for Factorio. A lot of people are talking about how many hours they put in compared to how much they paid, meaning that the investment was worthwhile. Checking over the “overwhelmingly positive” reviews for Factorio on Steam reveals that there are many more individuals who share your opinion.

The change still upsets some. With two exceptions, Factorio’s customer reviews are mostly positive. Last July, reviews said a price issue in Russia made the game twice as expensive for Russian consumers. On January 20, unfavorable reviews resumed. Many “Not Recommended” ratings suggested Wube was selfish and shouldn’t raise prices due to inflation. Unlike other review bombing incidents, most of the negative reviews have many hours of playtime. This might indicate that at least some people are mad about this even if they’ve already bought the game.

But hey, don’t make that face. In fact, there’s still hope for a discount on your favorite game. The Lunar New Year Steam Sale is still ongoing!