This is not related to what the game itself is worth, on its own it is a pretty good and polished game. The issue is the attitude of the developer, who has said multiple times the price was final, has done some moral grandstanding about why they won’t do sales only to go and do the opposite. Here are some examples:

After careful consideration, we have decided to set the new price of the game to 30 USD (or your regional equivalent). This change will become effective as of the 16th of April 2018. This is the final Factorio price update, unless something unforeseen happens, so it will also be the price for the game for 1.0 release.
Link[www.factorio.com]

Inflation is something "unforeseen"?

I’m aware, that the sales can make a lot of money in a short period of time, but I believe that it is not worth it in the long run, and since we are not in financial pressure we can afford to think in the long run.
Link

It isn't about visibility or sales, its about respecting the players who have already purchased the game. We don't want to reward the people who hold off on buying the game, the game is a price we find reasonable, and this is the deal. If you think it is priced too high, then it is your choice to not purchase, and we hope that with enough time, and extra development, we will be able to convince you of its value.
Link[forums.factorio.com]

Why are sales not worth it in the long run, besides greed, is anyone's guess. Apparently they are under financial pressure now. Notice how both times they have increased the price, the narrative is almost the same: “buy it now, or it’ll be more expensive later!”. So they won’t do sales, but reverse sales are all right. Ok.

The game hasn’t got any big new content since before the final release. Mainly bug fixes and very minor changes, but you don’t need a big dev team to do that. The game is very polished anyway, so I doubt it requires a lot of attention in that sense. They are developing an expansion, yes, but it won’t be free and apparently it’ll be priced close to the full game. If they are in need of cash, releasing small DLC would be something your established player base would support. Instead, increasing the base price of the game and going against what you’ve said is just a PR disaster.

Many other developers are still updating decade-old games without increasing the price and most of the times said games currently are at a way cheaper than release. Wube Software apparently has special needs.

Games work like movies, there’s an initial inversion and developing cost and once they release, studios break even or even get pure benefits. I’m sure Factorio has more than broken even since it was released. Studios then move on and work on new projects.

Inflation is just a poor excuse for greed. Congratulations, I won't be buying the expansion. Hope it was worth it.

[h1]This is an adjustment to account for the level of greed displayed by the developer since the Steam release in 2016.[/h1] This is not related to what the game itself is worth, on its own it is a pretty good and polished game. The issue is the attitude of the developer, who has said multiple times the price was final, has done some moral grandstanding about why they won’t do sales only to go and do the opposite. Here are some examples: [quote=][i]After careful consideration, we have decided to set the new price of the game to 30 USD (or your regional equivalent). This change will become effective as of the 16th of April 2018. This is the final Factorio price update, unless something unforeseen happens, so it will also be the price for the game for 1.0 release.[/i] [url=https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/016-price-change]Link[/url] [/quote] Inflation is something "unforeseen"? [quote=][i]I’m aware, that the sales can make a lot of money in a short period of time, but I believe that it is not worth it in the long run, and since we are not in financial pressure we can afford to think in the long run.[/i] [url=https://www.destructoid.com/factorio-is-wrapping-up-early-access-and-raising-its-price/]Link[/url][/quote] [quote=][i]It isn't about visibility or sales, its about respecting the players who have already purchased the game. We don't want to reward the people who hold off on buying the game, the game is a price we find reasonable, and this is the deal. If you think it is priced too high, then it is your choice to not purchase, and we hope that with enough time, and extra development, we will be able to convince you of its value.[/i] [url=https://forums.factorio.com/viewtopic.php?p=159626#p159626]Link[/url][/quote] Why are sales not worth it in the long run, besides greed, is anyone's guess. Apparently they are under financial pressure now. Notice how both times they have increased the price, the narrative is almost the same: “buy it now, or it’ll be more expensive later!”. So they won’t do sales, but reverse sales are all right. Ok. The game hasn’t got any big new content since before the final release. Mainly bug fixes and very minor changes, but you don’t need a big dev team to do that. The game is very polished anyway, so I doubt it requires a lot of attention in that sense. They are developing an expansion, yes, but it won’t be free and apparently it’ll be priced close to the full game. If they are in need of cash, releasing small DLC would be something your established player base would support. Instead, increasing the base price of the game and going against what you’ve said is just a PR disaster. Many other developers are still updating decade-old games without increasing the price and most of the times said games currently are at a way cheaper than release. Wube Software apparently has special needs. Games work like movies, there’s an initial inversion and developing cost and once they release, studios break even or even get pure benefits. I’m sure Factorio has more than broken even since it was released. Studios then move on and work on new projects. Inflation is just a poor excuse for greed. Congratulations, I won't be buying the expansion. Hope it was worth it.