Evaluating Games By Cost Per Scenario

I haven't purchased Command Modern Operations. At $79.99 US dollars, I think the price is too steep, even though it has hundreds of scenarios to play for pennies on the dollar. Sometimes, it is about more than cost.

But when it is about game cost, I try to use "cost per scenario" to evaluate whether I should purchase a game. Often, when you do that, the sticker price for a game doesn't seem so bad.

I got to thinking about this strategy again as I evaluated the Heroes of the Pacific DLC from Lock n Load.

Lock n Load seems to have a strategy of pricing the "Base game” cheaply ($4.99 in this case, free in the case of Command Ops 2) and then charging you roughly $10 a pop to expand with numerous DLC. I purchased Heroes of the Pacific on sale and spent less than a dollar per scenario to expand it. Not a bad deal for a game I like.

Command Ops 2 (also from Lock n Load), which I have purchased nearly all of the DLC for, charges much more per scenario, examples below:

$2.30 per scenario for Highway to the Reich

$1.74 per scenario for the Cauldron

$2.49 per scenario for Knock on All Doors

$2.49 per scenario for Westwall

I have put more hours into Command Ops 2 than any other game (nearly 1,600 hours), so I never think twice about purchasing this game’s DLC even though they charge more per scenario for it. The inclusion of game editors and map-making tools has kept me busy for a long time.

I also don't think twice about purchasing John Tiller games because at $39.99 per game; you are nearly always playing scenarios for $.50 per scenario or less. JTS games, if you don't know this already, have dozens of scenarios, and each scenario has numerous variants. Based on the number of hours JTS/WDS put into their games, you are taking money from them.

I know that I am not alone in using this metric to evaluate purchases. I wish more game companies would take Lock n Load's approach in general. Put out cheap base games or free demos and then expand them with DLC. They are genuinely letting the market decide, and I hope the market is rewarding them for it.

JTS does this too, but they need to expand their offerings to a demo per product line (the demo doesn't need to be free, just cheap). I know the Little Bighorn demo is coming for Early American Wars, and I think another popular product line is also adding a demo. Hence, JTS/WDS seems to understand this strategy.

But Slitherine and Eugen, you need to try it.