In the course of Stardock becoming a publisher we've learned a lot about the industry.  Here's the dirty little secret -- game publishing is a business. A mature business. One whose models are well understood.

If I make game Wizbang 1, I can't realistically release Wizbang 2 for at least 36 months. 

So what you get is this formula (and after reading this, take a look out there at other games).

WizBang 1 released.

IF WizBang 1 is BUGGY THEN release WizBang Complete 6 months later.

ELSE if WizBang 1 is a success release 9 months later WizBang: Expansion Pack which adds NEW content and a token new feature at $29.95.

THEN IF WizBang 1 wins any game of the year edition, create WizBang: Game of the Year Edition which incorporates (maybe) the Expansion Pack.

ELSE if WizBang 1 doesn't win game of the year edition, create WizBang: GOLD EDITION which does the same thing.

Here's my problem: I don't want to wait until 2009 or later to put in a bunch of features that users have come up with.  I want them NOW or at least really soon.

In the upcoming expansion pack to Galactic Civilizations II (Dark Avatar) we have a pretty ambitious feature set there.  But what if there's more we want to add to that? Users post some really interesting stuff. But it's too early for a sequel but at a certain point, you are way beyond an expansion pack.

Heck, a normal expansion pack for GalCiv II would be new ship components + new scenarios + new maps + new campaign + some cool new feature.  That's how it's supposed to be done. It's not about whether that's a good thing or not, that's simply what the market has determined is the optimal business strategy for expansion packs.  You can go back 6 years and see the same thing.

My other issue with a system like that is the cost to new buyers.  For people who have WizBang 1, a $30 expansion pack isn't a big deal. But what about the new buyer? Paying $40 to $50 PLUS $30 is now a major purchase. 

I'd like to see soething like WizBang: Half-Away to Sequel for $40 to $50 and then for people who bought the game the $30 expansion. That way, you can get new people into it and still provide a discounted upgrade path to the half-way sequel version.

I think it's not just better for gamers but it's also better for the game companies as well.  So why don't they do it? The answer: Retail.  Few games can put both on the shelves at the same time. It is confusing to consumers. It doubles shelf space.  Since most publishers are completely reliant on retail for their income, we end up with the result: Expansion packs and "Game of the Year" editions.

And I don't want to knock that system. It's not a bad system. But in the case of Galactic Civilizations II, I am really anxious to keep going. It's done so well.  It's done so vastly better than our wildest estimates and it's still doing well. Very Very well.  And there's no end of fans with interesting ideas. 

AND we realize that we can't do a sequel. But why can't we do something that really takes GalCiv II up a notch and then sell the upgrade to existing users as an expansion pack while having the retail version be the compilation all at the same time? 

Most publishers couldn't.  But thankfully we have something most publishers don't have -- TotalGaming.net. We have the proven capability of selling large volumes of games digitally.  And because we opted to NOT have CD copy protection but instead provide a simple serial #, we have the capabilty of being able to tell who currently has the game.

What that means is this: We could potentially have a stand-alone retail game that is a quasi-sequel AND provide a digital (or at least direct boxed version) upgrade path in the form of the expansion pack to users. 

The net result is that existing players could look forward to an expansion that has even MORE features than what had been promised without having to pay a cent more than the original expansion pack price AND new players wouldn't have to spend $70+ to join the fun.