Zwift Hints at Potential Subscription Price Increase

Is this increase a hint for some big future updates coming soon because some features I really want are rowing and custom maps.

Putting one word in a paragraph in italics isnā€™t enough to convey sarcasm. So nobody is wrong to think that what you type is what you actually mean.

Regardless of my obviously unskilled attempt at humor and lightheartedness, this appears to not be the case of someone thinking I meant what I typed, but rather a case if someone thinking I meant something I didnā€™t type or say. So please donā€™t attribute to me, and letā€™s please not argue about, something I never even said, ok?! Cheers!

I used a Peloton for a few years. It has a lot going for it, but one thing that it missed was the ability to simulate ā€˜real terrainā€™. The original bike was a mess of inconsistency and mystery. There was no way to calibrate them to any standard so bikes at the studio and individual bikes would vary by quite a bit. My bike was odd. After hearing about the calibration issue, I got their kit and set out to recalibrate it, and went into a dark place. The bike got noticeably harder and I had to recalibrate it twice more to get it even close to where it was. I feel that calibration issue allowed for people to have ā€˜hotā€™ bikes and always appear super-human on their ride leaderboards.

So I started looking for trainers and a better system, and ended up here, and TR with a hysterically loud H2, and felt like I arrived at nirvana. The bike, MY bike was torturing me and holding me accountable in a way never felt before.

That said, the new Peloton bike is a lot more accurate and calibrates itself and also is capable of adjusting the resistance along with their rides as opposed to the rider cranking a knob. Quite an improvement. So donā€™t count Peloton out, I hope it survives. Itā€™s for a certain person. And they have brutal rides just as capable of causing suffering as any other system. And if it gets people into riding outdoors (or calming the f down), isnā€™t that a good thing?

And they raised their prices on almost everything.

Back to the subject, Zwift should rewrite the app to fix the issues, but thatā€™s not likely to happen, and if it did, would be really expensive. Plus donā€™t people ride for the UI glitches? The flying riders, the wheels riding through in concrete, the wheels sunk in the asphalt, the bystanders walking stiffly, the gaps in the pavement, the trees growing out of buildings, etc? (JK)

Itā€™s the punishment that we all come for, right?

Do they need to raise prices? Only they can answer that. As long as they are up front and reasonable, it will be received well. Iā€™ve tried other apps, even ones with ā€˜real videoā€™, and have been disappointed. Riding in a cartoon world sounds silly to outsiders, but it works really rather well.

For sure, I just think that there is a sort of person who will like Zwift and absolutely not be able to stand Peloton. Not that the workouts arenā€™t good, not that the equipment isnā€™t good. Itā€™s the presentationā€“that super-hyped ā€˜weā€™re all in this togetherā€™ flashing lights and loud music sort of vibe (one commercial a couple of years ago featured one of the workout leaders singing along with the musicā€¦thatā€™s a big nope for me) is in my experience very polarizing. But itā€™s also true that people who like Peloton for that sort of thing probably wonā€™t like Zwift as much.

Some people want big loud group workouts, thatā€™s their jam. Thatā€™s fine, do what works for you :slight_smile:

I was on vaca and ran into a Soul Cycle that was open and had a class going on. I was horrified. The loud music, the dark room, the yelling and sweating andā€¦ Reminded me of the Matrix movie ā€˜group dance thingā€™.

Not for me. Nope. Hell NO!!

Mat Wilpers and Christine Dā€™Ercole were Peloton dungeon masters. I have actually setup a few of their workouts based on their workouts from followers. I think one of their instructors is actually following me on Zwift. Itā€™s all goodā€¦

Peloton is stuck in the position of having to appeal to a much wider array of people, and that got them into some controversy while I was still riding them. ā€˜Naughty wordsā€™. :roll_eyes: I heard one instructor got in trouble for just saying ā€˜If I canā€™t say it, yā€™all should be able to. Shout it to the ceiling. Itā€™ll feel so much betterā€™. If you arenā€™t swearing even a little, you arenā€™t working hard enough. :hot_face: :hot_face: :hot_face: :melting_face:

Personally I donā€™t use the full features of zwift as it is. I just enjoy this as my cardio workout and am not an avid rider. Maybe 1-2 hours a week when working full time. So any price hike will make me leave the platform. If they donā€™t introduce a cheaper version for those of us not wanting the full experience I will ride elsewhere.
If they did not waste millions developing products they never brought to market they would be in a better position financially. They fell for the pandemic pump and over invested in a future that was not sustainable due to shutdowns ending and people going back to normal patterns. Itā€™s not for us to pay for there poor spending choices and short sightedness. Take the loss and move on with a better more responsible plan or get sold to someone that will. Raising prices may or may not work out for them at this point but i for one wonā€™t continue to support a company that has proven for years they canā€™t make a profit.

The folks who set zwiftā€™s prices five years ago must have done an amazing job. There seems to be a huge number of people who are paying now, but wonā€™t pay one penny more!

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Well, if youā€™re not using much of the features then moving to another platform (or none at all) makes sense.

I wonder if that could possibly be due to disposable income dropping massively, Zwift subs not being essential, inflation going mad at least in the UK and inflation matching wage increases not happening? :wink:

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Fair point!

I wouldnā€™t think that it would be about money theyā€™ve lost on other venturesā€“the Zwift bike, for example. Spending money unwisely is a different issue from profitā€“one is what youā€™re doing with the money you have, the other is whether money is coming in from the product or not. If Zwift was profitable as an operation, it would still be turning a profit even if a bunch of that money got thrown away.

Absolute disconnect with reality, Zwift leadership has never understood what users want but delivered but no one askedā€¦ same thing was said when prices went from 10 to 15 bucksā€¦ the platform hasnā€™t changed in 5 years!

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Thatā€™s true, I know the wages of a lot of people arenā€™t increasing,but their costs of living are going up so expenses like Zwift, gym memberships or others like that will probably get chopped to focus on things like mortgage repayments, etc.

In my country people are having huge increases in the cost of mortgage repayments.

In a way itā€™s a little like Porsche in the early 90s, spent money to develop an entire 989 then didnā€™t sell it!

Though maybe not quite as desperate as Zwift isnā€™t hanging on by its fingernails yet.

Thatā€™s the thing I hate about Peleton. All vids or images of it show some instructor doing cringeworthy poses on the bike. Iā€™m more about ā€œget on with it, get the workout done, stop messing aboutā€.

I see more and more Strava friends switching to Rouby or leaving Zwift (indoor training) for outdoor ride only;
For me, the riding feel in Zwift hasnā€™t changed since 2018ā€¦ when I started using TrainingRoad. I came back a few years later, same old same oldā€¦ Zwift does do anything outstanding, I wouldnā€™t say I love Zwift, but overall it is just a bit above everyone elseā€¦ Iā€™ll stick to it regardless of the price until I find an alternative -which I am always actively searching LOL

I think it has changed, but, new worlds and the main screen aside, many of those changes have been in the support of racing/time trials, or ā€œFuture Worksā€ type projects that havenā€™t resulted in widespread in-game changes or adoption (e.g. steering/Repack Ridge, or lane changing with the Sterzo). Pacer bots and PR ghosts are welcome additions.

What would you have liked to see added or changed? I certainly have several things Iā€™d personally value.

I have a Rouvy subscription, but I still prefer Zwift. Rouvy offers variety and itā€™s nice to look at the real world scenery. But the juxtaposition of video and average rider graphics always irks me a little; plus itā€™s much more of an isolated experience.

Over the better months I tend to ride outside more, but I donā€™t much like riding in atrocious or dangerous weather, so Iā€™m glad of indoor riding in the winter. I donā€™t think Iā€™d ever go back to riding wholly outside; but if the price goes up ā€œtoo muchā€ I might become on of those people who cancel over the summer.

If the price increase is substantial I will likely cancel it. Iā€™ve already switched to a basic Strava account and cut some of the streaming apps that we donā€™t use often enough (Disney+, Netflix). All of those apps are raising their prices.

There just comes a point where people canā€™t just pay more for everything without cutting something out. Wages are stagnant yet the price of everything is skyrocketing.

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ADZ was the last effective ā€œgame changerā€ introduction to Zwift circa 2018ā€¦ Sterzo was an awesome idea horribly delivered -pretty much no one other than myself uses it LOL
Even with all those new worlds good old Watopia is the most popular world because when you ride as much as I do: everything looks pretty much the same! Neokyo is just hideous only a computer geek would think itā€™s motivating to ride around neon arcades (same goes for NY)ā€¦
Anyway, there isnā€™t any better alternative out there, thatā€™s why demand is pretty inelastic for the time beingā€¦ 80% of my training will always be indoor, all my racing outdoorsā€¦

Early 2000ā€™s I was using Netathlon/WebRacing which were at least a decade ahead of their time, but they never figured out how to upgrade themselvesā€¦ then, TrainerRoad, etc, etcā€¦ now itā€™s Zwift, sooner or later someone else will show up being better and cheaper :wink:

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Iā€™m a humanities guy who lives in the rural Midwest and I really enjoy Neokyo. I also enjoy the Makuri countryside. In fact, most days right now Iā€™d choose Makuri over Watopia.

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$15 is good price for me on a tight budget as freelancer and creative work. Any much more would have to cancel zwift. Love makuri for the long rolling/ flatter rides and Watopia for the longer climbing rides. The other maps really do not ride unless in a event/race now that I have the badges for those maps. Prefer free riding on my own routes which Makuri and Watopia allow easily long rides without repeating too much.

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