In 2022 we tried out some new things with ProCyclingGame and faced a lot of problems. However we have learned from the mistakes made, listened to the feedback (thanks!) and have made some changes for the 2023 game. Because the game needs to be balanced, we can't change one aspect of the game without looking at the whole game concept. So when reading this you should take a birds eye view of the game. We hope that the changes will make a significant positive impact.

The first major change is that the prizemoney is lowered by a factor 10. With this change the increase of players cash is much slower and forces players to make hard allocation choices for a longer period of time.

In previous versions of the game you needed to sell or buy quickly to not be faced with losses or high rider prices. This meant you were under time pressure to sell and buy riders. In 2023 rider prices will remain fixed throughout the day and are changed in batch at midnight. Another major change flows from this change. As prices jump at midnight, you could easily make a large sum because you bought a rider relative cheap. This is why the 2023 game is based on money earned, instead of teamvalue. Rider prices fluctuate as riders become popular or less popular, but at all times you can sell your rider at the price at which you bought him. However, still it pays of to buy before the other players. Each time some other player buys a rider that is already on your team for at least one day, you earn directly [transfer_earnings],-. Each time some other player sells a rider that is on your team for at least one day, you loose [transfer_earnings],-. So when you buy a rider, and the day after your purchase 100 other players also buy this rider, you earn 200,-.

Now rider prices are no longer of influence on your teamvalue, they can fluctuate more to better represent the value of the rider. The formula for the price of a rider is based on two components. When a player buys a rider, the price becomes 1000,- higher. When selling, the price drops with the same amount. Furthermore a ranking is introduced based on PCS points scored over the past 36 months. Point in the past 12 months are counted at 50%, points in the past 24 months at 30% and the last 36 months for 20%. As a rider matches the past results, his point total will remain stable. If he scores more points, the point total goes up and when a rider has a weak season, the point total goes down. For each point difference a rider wins or looses 500,-. This ranking is computed at the end of the day and effects the price change at midnight.

From simulation and analysis we have come up with the numbers for prizemoney, transfer earnings and rider prices. However, we can finetune these numbers throughout the game. This will be announced at least 7 days upfront. We will do this in such a way that the game benefits for it and no players will be disadvantaged. Also, changes will be minor finetuning, no drastic changes will be made.

Another change is that no information about the sales and purchases today is given. In previous games it was easily possible to buy those riders everybody was buying. This will no longer be an option, as al statistics and overviews are designed to not give any information about the riders popular today, only for yesterday. One exception is the sum of transfer earnings on your riders today. You can view in realtime the amount of money you have earned today from transfers on your riders. You can buy riders that were popular yesterday, but the price will by then already be higher.

All these changes have the intention to make the game more fun and more easily playable, with less time management stress than before. We hope it turns out like this. As always, your feedback is more than welcome. We wish you the best of luck and lots of fun playing ProCyclingGame 2023!