A Popular Steam Game is Raising Its Price Due to Inflation
Factorio, a very popular factory-building sim, is joining a wave of much, much larger game franchises such as Call of Duty, Star Wars Jedi, Final Fantasy, and others in getting a price bump due to inflation. But unlike the massive AAA audiences of those other games, much of Factorio's community seems...surprisingly cool with the idea. But not all.
While companies like Ubisoft, Take-Two, Xbox, and Sony have all effectively set a new standard for game prices over the last year, Factorio is a bit of an oddball because it's a much smaller game. Its developer, Wube Software, is a much, much smaller studio than any of the other companies that have announced price increases, and Factorio itself isn't increasing from $60 to $70, it's going from $30 to $35.
It's also notable that Factorio is a much older game that's seeing an increase from its former pricing, rather than a new game setting a trend for a franchise moving forward. Factorio first launched in early access in 2016 before its 2020 full release. Since then, it's never had microtransactions, and the only extra content available to buy on Steam for it is its $7 soundtrack. But it's never been part of a Steam sale before, either - a choice developers explained back in 2016 (as spotted by Kotaku) as a way to respect the players who had already bought the game.
"We don't want to reward the people who hold off on buying the game, the game is a price we find reasonable, and this is the deal. If you think it is priced too high, then it is your choice to not purchase, and we hope that with enough time, and extra development, we will be able to convince you of its value."
Factorio's price increase was announced on Twitter on January 20, six days before it goes into effect, and the
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