Best Way to Pick up RoR: The AoE2 Bundle Discount

Age of Empires II: DE II - Discussion
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I think they’ve added this option only recently, but if you look on the store page for Return of Rome (Save 15% on Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Return of Rome on Steam), you’ll see an option to pick up an AoEII / RoR bundle. Assuming you already own AoE2, this is the deepest discount available for RoR out of the gate.

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Hmmm, this reminds me a lot of AoE2 discount bonuses…

Anyway, the new price with the bundle is almost as good as the normal DLC, which is a pretty good discount.

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I would prefer a bundle containing AoE 1, AoE 2 and Return of Rome DLC. Example:

  • $ 14.99 (15% discount for bundle) - standard price of DLC ($ 12.74 with preorder discount on this sale)
  • $ 34.98 (19% discount for bundle) - standard price of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition – Return of Rome Bundle ($ 21.68 with preorder discount on this sale)
  • $ 29.97 (25% discount for bundle) - my proposed standard price for this bundle + AoE 1 ($ 15.77 with preorder discount on this sale)
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4

You are correct.

I think given their apparent strategic goal for Return of Rome (to attract the Vietnamese community), even the AoE2 bundle is a bit too expensive.

To do some napkin calculation using the classical “Big Mac index” metric:

  • The AoE2 + Return bundle currently costs $21.68 in the US, 325,500 VNĐ in Vietnam.

  • A Big Mac burger is now $5.15 in the US, and 74,000 VNĐ in Vietnam.

  • The Food Expenditure Share in Vietnam is 20.8% at the moment.

If I’m a Vietnamese who’s not used to gaming on Steam, I might honestly hesitate on paying the price of over 4 Big Macs for a new version of AoE1.

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Prior to the announcement, I thought their bundle scheme would be more like this:

  • The option for typical existing AoE2DE players is to buy Return of Rome alone, which can be priced cheaper than it currently is.

  • A Steam package (which must be bought together, not supporting personalized Complete Your Collection) of AoE2DE + Return of Rome, very aggressively priced - it can be discounted lower than buying AoE2DE alone (!), but still more expensive than buying Return, to make it only attractive to new adopters who never owned AoE2DE, including the potential Vietnamese users.

  • A Steam bundle (supporting Complete Your Collection) of AoE1DE + AoE2DE + Return of Rome, as a discount bridge for AoE1DE owners, and not attractive to users with no interest in AoE1DE.

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