Make the base game FREE
I keep trying to introduce friends to the game, but the price of the base game is ridiculous. $30 on Switch? $40 on PS4? What?
NOBODY wants to fork over that amount of money for a game they're not going to invest a huge amount of time in. Yes, we have a lot of members of the community who like to grind for bloodpoints - but that doesn't appeal at ALL to casual gamers who are experimenting with the game
Not to mention it's just insulting to pay $40 for a game that requires microtransactions to play most of the other killers and characters. I've seen game models that ask users to pay $10-60 upfront and no microtransactions ever, or to offer the base game free and charge for microtransactions. Dead by Daylight made the awful decision to pick BOTH - it is an incredibly greedy business model that takes advantage of users. If you ever wonder why the Dead by Daylight community struggles to grow, THIS is why.
None of my friends want to drop that amount of cash for a multiplayer game, which doesn't even unlock most of the game content. I can't get any new people to play with me because Behavior Interactive is the only game company that has a business model this absurd - not even EA would try to pull this.
Please make the base game free so I can actually have friends. We need the player base to grow, and it's not welcoming to new players at all - the tutorial isn't even updated for end game collapse. More players means more microtransactions, everyone will be happier
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The game shouldn't be free.
However it definitely should be cheaper.
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I think if the base game is free, the player base would at least triple in size.
The base game also doesn't offer much. You have a few basic survivors and killers, without access to the fun perks and play-styles. If casual new players start getting into the game, they WILL want to spend more money to access the rest of the content. The problem is most people never get to that point
As it stands, the pricing is pure robbery. The game is not new-player friendly enough
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If the base game were free, you could get everything apart from licensed characters just by playing the game. You could then get licensed characters by participating in certain events (I, for example, got 18000 Auric Cells by entering a guide contest and placing third).
Making the base game free would also attract a lot of trolls and even more hackers. So no, thanks.
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No, not even close. You cannot get "everything" from a few thousand shards - realistically, most players will get a few thousand shards, RARELY more than 10K shards.
Good for you at placing third on a contest! 99.9% of players will not have the same experience.
I'm talking about the casual/new player base, not the hardcore competitive ranked player base. DBD has enough of the latter. Trolls won't make it far up the high ranks, and it's been years since hackers were a serious issue
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I feel that $40 is too little for this game, given how many hours I've put into it.
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10K shards? I can make 1.5k shards in 1 day if I try but okay...
Where are you getting this "I think if the base game is free, the player base would at least triple in size." data from? I highly doubt that is true. Most people who want to play this game watch some videos on it and go and buy it. Only a few are deterred by the fact that they have to pay. I agree that the game should be cheaper but they do have massive deals fairly often. I see on the DBD instagram almost monthly that theres a sale on XBox and PS4 and theres even a 60% sale on steam right this minute. Steam's base price is only £15 which isnt really bad but if your saying its $40 elsewhere then I agree that its kinda ridiculous. However, like Orion said, a lot of the killers in this game (the non-licensed ones) can be bought with shards. They aren't hard to obtain, you just have to play the game for a few hours. If you aren't committed enough to the game to collect enough shards then why should the game be made free for you?
If your friends can afford the game then you should show them some youtubers or streamers like No0b3 (if he ever comes back), Monto, Otzdarva etc. They might convince them to buy the game. However, If your friends can't afford the game, that really sucks for you. I don't mean that in a mean way, it really does suck. Solo queue can be very annoying and killer can get stale. I do feel for people who can't get their friends on cus it really does suck, but BHVR (despite their shortcomings) work hard on this game and need the money to keep them afloat. Every single character that they think of themselves are availiable to the public for free, all it takes is time in the game. Thats pretty generous if you ask me. Theres no subscription, theres free dedicated servers, you are only asked to buy one thing to actually access the content and that is the base price. If half the users in the game werent even paying then BHVR will have all of their income coming from cosmetics and DLCs from the occasional paying customer while the non-paying customers are getting free access to their dedicated servers (which arent free to maintain) and using their brainchild without giving them anything in return. Games like Fortnite can afford to work like this as it was a vastly popular game genre so they could afford to bank off the minority that bought skins and the battle pass, but dead by daylight is a niche community, many of the people who play games (mainly kids) A) aren't allowed the game (its an 18 afterall) or B) are scared of the genre (its a horror. Most people forget that new players are actually scared) so dead by daylight isnt big enough to support itself on cosmetics from the minority. Everyone needs to pay.
Welcome to capitalism.
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Take base game is on sale every so often, if you aint got cash you gotta be thrifty.
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I have over 22k shards right now. I unlocked the Blight and Felix with shards and will unlock the Twins and Elodie with shards as well when they're released. Keep in mind that I also play sporadically. So yes, it's absolutely possible.
Also, the game is 20 USD, not 40.
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I used to feel the same, and was happy to support DBD by spending on cosmetics and new DLC content.
New players do NOT feel this way, and never give DBD a chance because of the price. Why would they drop $40 for a game they might not be interested in, especially a multiplayer game? Most multiplayer games are free, because they're not reliable purchases. Multiplayer games have a lifespan dependent on the game community. For a prospective gamer looking into new games to try out and buy, Dead by Daylight is not worth the risk.
By making the base game free, the community WILL grow. For the people who love the game and dedicate hundreds of hours into it, they will purchase the DLC content and cosmetics. I really see no downsides, I don't understand why the developers have waited this long. They try to emulate Fortnite's success with the battle pass system, but still price the base game at exorbitant prices when Fortnite is free?
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The game is free to play on Xbox with Game Pass and has been for months now, if that helps.
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Yes it's possible, no you do not play sporadically. By the time you get to level 100, you will get 25,220 shards. That means you've already passed level 100, something casual players will not do.
According to the Dead by Daylight wiki page for player levels, a level 7-14 player will obtain a total of 1570 shards. Level 15-24 will have a total of 3520 shards, and level 35-49 will have 9920 shards. Unless you expect most players to pass level 100 multiple times, it is NOT possible to unlock "everything". Just a reminder that perks in Shrine of Secrets cost 2000 shards...
I'm in Canada, should've clarified. For PS4, looks like the cost is $30 USD. It's $20 for PC users. For a multiplayer game with multiple DLC packages, microtransactions, and a battle pass system - that's still a complete rip off if you're not willing to put in hundreds of hours
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As I said, fortnite is a Battle Royale. Thats a game genre that is absolutely massive, hundreds of times larger than survival horror. Fortnite was free because they can afford to pay their employees, run their servers and generally just thrive as a company on the people who will pay for cosmetics. Although that is a minority of players, its still a massive amount of people. Dead by daylight simply isnt big enough for that. Unless the devs are willing to take considerable pay cuts and they revert to old killer hosting the server then making the base game free isnt an option. As JPLongstreet said, its free with XBox Game Pass which do pay BHVR for that, so maybe invest in that for access to dead by daylight and loads of other games.
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1.5K shards a day? According to Dead by Daylight wiki, here are the total shards you make based on your player level:
Level 4-6: 370 shards
Level 7-14: 1570 shards
Level 15-24: 3520 shards
Level 25-34: 5870 shards
Level 35-49: 9920 shards
Level 50-100: 25,220 shards
I don't think most people put in the hours to get past level 50, even if we personally do. I think most people in the forums invest hundreds of hours into the game.
Honestly, I think the player base would more than triple. If the game were free, I'd be able to pull dozens of people into the game easily - don't underestimate how fast free games can grow. Fortnite grew incredibly big because of its free player access, and Genshin Impact is one of the newer big "free" games with microtransactions. In the end, I think everyone would benefit including DBD
I don't think you're looking at this from a new player perspective, which I've heard many times when trying to convince my friends. As a new player, I'm only willing to drop $40 on big budget games such as Mass Effect, Dark Souls, Dishonored, The Last of Us, Resident Evil, Red Dead Redemption, etc. The reason is because these games will always be worth the cost as single player games. Dead by Daylight is a MULTIPLAYER game, and multiplayer games have a limited lifespan dependent on how active the community is. Even though the community is active now, we can't guarantee that 5 years from now. Anything over $10 is too much of a risk for a multiplayer game.
Yes, you can come at it from the white collar perspective where $20-40 isn't that much. But from a young gamer perspective, there is no reason to drop that kind of money when we have free alternatives like Fortnite, Apex Legends, or even one time purchases like Overwatch. If we're just talking about the horror survival genre, we have Deceit (free), Friday the 13th (one time purchase), and that other one in the EPIC store I never tried. New potential players will NOT choose the "risky" option over the free game
I let my friends try playing Dead by Daylight on my account to give them a free demo, and they admit it is very fun. They WANT to get into it and play with me. But I have to tell them that most of the content they play on my account would be restricted on theirs, and that the game is between $20-40. There is absolutely no reason for them to switch over, because on first glance it's not worth it - the game needs to be appealing at first glance, or offer a free demo version. Hence, the base game should be free since it doesn't offer that much content anyways
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Check this out to see how many shards you get per player level: https://deadbydaylight.gamepedia.com/Player_Level
If you have 22K+ shards, you are not a casual player. You're past level 100
I just checked the PS4 price in the US, it's $30. I'm in Canada, should've mentioned that. I believe it's $20 USD for PC only
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Weird how it costs like money to run servers, provide updates, employ developers and such.
I just don't like get it... Where am I? Make it free!
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I've been playing barely a year and have personally bought at least three copies at the $40 price point.
I strongly feel it should be a like $60 game.
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hell no free to play. That's the model we're seeing develop, and that suuuuuucks.
Should be cheaper for the base game tho
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Level does not equal casual. Don't confuse new players with casual players.
Casual means they just don't play that often/they don't "tryhard" during matches, no?
And would double in hackers...?
Again, the game should be cheaper, you're playing for like 1-1,5 triple AAA games if you buy everything.
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As well as the excellent comments on this thread, please also remember that there are plenty of free weekends with this game which is the perfect opportunity for new players to try out the game to see if they like it - plus the regular amount of sales that the game has on the base game alone as well as the DLC.
I really don't think the game needs to be f2p at this present time especially as someone suggested that most of the characters are available for in game currency (shards) so it's pretty easy to save those and get a range of different characters - it's really not hard to get shards. I have something like 60k shards right now because I rarely use them and I've not had time to play much recently due to work.
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The issue with the shards is that it takes so many games to even get them, so when you are a new player you have to play the game with poor perks and even then this game is so grindy where you have to grind the killers or survivors up to lvl 40 to make their perks teachables then grind again so you can give your fav killer/ survivor the perks that are unlocked and even then you have to go through perk tiers and the rng of bloodweb so for a new player they would have to do this:
Play a huge number of games to get enough shards for the killer/survivor wanted
Grind other killers/survivors to get their perks teachable (which can mean grind the shards to get the killer that has a certain perk or wait till the shrine gives it out which you have to pay with shards aswell)
Grind with your fav killer/survivor through the RNG bloodweb to get the perks plus getting it to max tier oh plus add ons and offerings etc
This game is increadibly grinding and i dont blame anyone new to be put off from this game due to the sheer amount you need to do just to get a semi decent build or a build you want to try out. There need to be less grind its is perhaps one of the biggest turn off for new players.
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the game should be f2p but the compagnie is to greedy to go this route them they release a dlc when they know its not ready yet so they can get your money faster and be on time for the next broken dlc
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Could just wait for a sale. I snapped it up from PSN for like £12. I believe the reason consoles pay more is because more DLCs are included in the base game for free compared to the PC version.
Big fat no to f2p. As others have said, it's just going to bring unwanted attention from hackers and such.
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I can understand why the base game isn't free. What I can't understand is why there aren't bundle versions of the game that include a good chunk of the Chapter DLC (particularly for PC). At this point, I believe multiple of the old non-licensed chapters should just be included for free with the base game.
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I've been playing the game for nearly 2 years, and I've never gotten over 40K shards. I think you play more than the casual player - it costs like 9K shards to get a new character, and 2K for just the perks. With all the DLCs in the game, it doesn't help much
Realistically, people don't play on the free weekends. The game requires 25 GB of free space, that's a LOT to download for just a couple games - people aren't interested in doing that. It also doesn't let new players experiment in the game with different perk builds because of how grindy the bloodpoint system is. BECAUSE the game is so grindy, they should make the base game free so that new players can actually level up characters and experience high level game play - this will then encourage new players to purchase DLCs once they get more into the game. Or maybe they can offer the base game for free, but prevent new players from leveling up without buying access to the rest of the game - that will also get more players invested, even though the price model is still abusive
If making the base game free is too much of a hard sell, I strongly believe the price should be lowered to under $20 (preferably under $10) - DBD is selling each DLC for $7-8, for a total of EIGHTEEN DLCs. They are making TONS of money off DLCs, they don't need to make the base game so expensive. The base game price prevents new players from joining, $30 USD is too much for a game that heavily relies on microtransactions for more content.
We even have a battle pass system ffs - battle passes are a business model for free to play games, not games that already cost money to play. Whoever designed the pricing model for DBD really doesn't care about its player base, and only squeezing out as much money as possible. A good pricing model doesn't make its users feel taken advantage of, and there's a healthy equilibrium where users encourage new people to get invested into the game. That's not possible in its current state
Post edited by PccK on0
