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Over 8 years in development later, Factorio is properly out now

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Originally crowdfunded on IndieGoGo back in 2013, who would have thought this 2D game about building conveyor belts across a big map would be such a big hit? A great many years later, 8+ in total and here we are. Factorio has now left Early Access as a proper full game.

The game was pretty much finished already, this last push was to get it out before Cyberpunk which ended up being delayed anyway. With that in mind, there's some rough edges here and there that needs sorting. Still, they said they wanted to make the release truly special, so they added in a big 'Spidertron' walking spider mech that has all sorts of ridiculous uses and it sounds like serious fun. It can driven, remotely controlled, it has rocket launchers and more. To go along with the new release, they put up a short timeline trailer:

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Looking at the cuts between styles, showing how it advanced along the way is pretty amazing. I especially enjoyed going over all of their Friday Facts development posts, they're a ridiculously dedicated bunch and it shows how much they cared about the community with their communication. Not everything they wanted to do made it in of course but that's just how game development is.

They also gave it another gameplay trailer:

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If you've been holding out due to the previous Early Access tag, just stop what you're doing and go buy it. Being totally honest here, it's absolutely incredible. Funny really, I didn't get into Factorio until years after it appeared on the scene, a little while after it came to Steam and even then I was absorbed by it and loved it. My appreciation for it since then has only continued to grow, as it's close to a masterpiece. 65,468 (at time of writing) user reviews on Steam have given it an Overwhelmingly Positive score too, so Wube Software have done well.

Just note: they have no plans to put the game on a discount, so don't wait on that and they've stuck by it.

You can buy a copy of Factorio from Humble Store, GOG and Steam.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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8 comments

Mal Aug 14, 2020
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The factory grew into 1.0

Hurrah!

The factory must grow.
Ehvis Aug 14, 2020
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One of my top games. Started seriously playing it after the 0.17 release and quickly running up to 300 hours now. Still trying to get good though.

The only discount you can get is the Humble Choice discount on the humble store.

Also important, it's available DRM free on their website. And if you register on their website and link your Steam account, you also get the DRM free version.
14 Aug 14, 2020
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Quoting: EhvisOne of my top games. Started seriously playing it after the 0.17 release and quickly running up to 300 hours now. Still trying to get good though.

The only discount you can get is the Humble Choice discount on the humble store.

Also important, it's available DRM free on their website. And if you register on their website and link your Steam account, you also get the DRM free version.
I would bet that the Steam version is also DRM-free. Not everything sold and distributed by Steam uses their DRM.

Cool news about the game. I didn't even know it wasn't released yet. Ha.
RFSharpe Aug 15, 2020
Quoting: EhvisThe only discount you can get is the Humble Choice discount on the humble store.
Factorio has been on my Wishlist for quite some time. When I added it to my Wishlist, I took my usual approach for games over $20.00; "I will wait until the next Steam Sale event and buy it at a discount". I have yet to see it discounted (granted, I could have missed it). Factorio has now left Early Access. Quite often when a game leaves Early Access it is discounted a standard 10%. Not Factorio.

I am going to have to come to terms with the fact that if I want to play Factorio, I must pay the full $30.00 price. No discounts on this game.

BTW: I do not doubt it is worth the price.
Mal Aug 16, 2020
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Quoting: RFSharpe
Quoting: EhvisThe only discount you can get is the Humble Choice discount on the humble store.
Factorio has been on my Wishlist for quite some time. When I added it to my Wishlist, I took my usual approach for games over $20.00; "I will wait until the next Steam Sale event and buy it at a discount". I have yet to see it discounted (granted, I could have missed it). Factorio has now left Early Access. Quite often when a game leaves Early Access it is discounted a standard 10%. Not Factorio.

I am going to have to come to terms with the fact that if I want to play Factorio, I must pay the full $30.00 price. No discounts on this game.

BTW: I do not doubt it is worth the price.

The devs policy has been to not participate into sales.

The reasoning is that the game is already sold at the right price, no reason to wait if you want to play it (no 60$ inflated price that drops to 30$ during sales).

Personally I like that. It's really annoying when you want to buy something but you have to wait for sales. Surely a lot of people don't understand the anchoring manipulation and will be urged to spend. Yet for those who understand it's a lot of hussle. In my eyes it's much better a transparent and honest approach like theirs.


Last edited by Mal on 16 August 2020 at 12:58 am UTC
Ehvis Aug 16, 2020
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Quoting: RFSharpeI am going to have to come to terms with the fact that if I want to play Factorio, I must pay the full $30.00 price. No discounts on this game.

It might change at some point. Rimworld did the same thing for many years until it finally started showing a 10% discount this year. But for now there are no signs that it will change in the short term.
entmiener Aug 18, 2020
a few months ago i stumbled over factorio on this site. watched the trailer. shaked my head, what a bunch of crazy people would do something. at this time i thought i would'nt buy it. knowing me well enough to know i would spend days on this.
its crazy how this game is sucking up my time. i played the demo on sunday. not till the end. bought the game instead. just to get satisfied and dont need to stop playing. and now i am sitting here typing these words while its running in the background, farming some coppercables and steelplates...
(i play like a 5 year old. no explanation or how-to-videos. just exploring everything wiht my set of time)
compared to the other not so overthinked stuff i bought here and there, its the best invested 25€ for an hobby/addiction in a while.
i understand the people who wait for a discount on games. i do it by myself quite some times. but if you played it for a while you see its worth the 25€ instant. you get the thought minutes later. all the mods, and configs, options its crazy..
Mal Aug 18, 2020
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If one just bothers to look at Steam review score chart he will immediately realize that 25 euro are steal for this masterpiece.

Wube is one of those developers that doesn't fear forums or reviews. :)
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