I’m a big fan of city-building and sandbox games, but ones that lean in on automation always end up feeling the most rewarding to me. The sense of satisfaction that comes from setting and forgetting your base in the likes of Factorio, Astroneer, Dyson Sphere Program, and The Planet Crafter is tough to match – but the one that best captures that sensation for me is Satisfactory. As it plans for its 1.0 launch in 2024, developer Coffee Stain announces that the price is going up ahead of the full release, but you can snag it cheap right now.
With its beautiful open worlds, wandering your giant industrial sprawls and setting up pathways and pipes to jet around them quickly as your hard work whirrs and chugs around you really sells the feeling of accomplishment core to the best building games. In a recent Satisfactory interview I spoke with community manager Snutt Treptow about the team’s plans for Satisfactory 1.0 and how the game’s audience has helped it to grow into something special.
That 1.0 launch is set to arrive at some point in 2024, but before that, the price of the game is set to rise – and soon. In a new video blog, Treptow confirms that the game’s price is going up shortly following the ongoing summer Steam sale. This means it will arrive before the 1.0 update, although Treptow is clear to highlight that the current sale price is the cheapest the game has been since release.
“The game’s base price will increase from $29.99 to $39.99,” Treptow explains. “This is to account for inflation, but also because we’ve spent many years improving the game since its initial release and its original price. He notes that the price increase is designed more to reflect the game’s 1.0 launch but, due to store restrictions, it had to happen now.
“We wanted to time the change with the 1.0 release and it’s a bit of a bummer that we have to do it now, as we feel that 1.0 will better reflect this price point, but unfortunately there are some rules in place on Steam and EGS regarding price changes that in our case made it so we needed to do it beforehand.”
For now, you can get Satisfactory 50% off on Steam through Thursday July 11, meaning you’ll pay just $14.99 / £13.99 down from its current price of $29.99 / £27.99. The permanent price rise of $10 will happen shortly after this sale ends, so if you’ve had your eye on Satisfactory be sure to pick it up now.
Alternatively, here are even more of the best sandbox games in 2024 to stretch your creative legs, or you can lay back and chill with the best relaxing games on PC.
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