Indie Games Pricing

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estel
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Indie Games Pricing

Postby estel » Fri Jan 29, 2010 5:37 pm

As Introversion [url=tweeted this[/url] earlier, I was wondering whether they actually agree with what it says? http://www.gamedrinkcode.com/blog/2010/ ... ndie-game/

Why should a game being made by an Indie developer affect my judgement of the game's value to me?
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Re: Indie Games Pricing

Postby RabidZombie » Fri Jan 29, 2010 6:40 pm

estel wrote:Why should a game being made by an Indie developer affect my judgement of the game's value to me?


It shouldn't, which is why you should be willing to pay $15 when you may be so willing to spend $60 on something that isn't indie.

Also, the comments over there are fucking painful to read.
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Re: Indie Games Pricing

Postby estel » Fri Jan 29, 2010 9:30 pm

RabidZombie wrote:
estel wrote:Why should a game being made by an Indie developer affect my judgement of the game's value to me?


It shouldn't, which is why you should be willing to pay $15 when you may be so willing to spend $60 on something that isn't indie.

Also, the comments over there are fucking painful to read.


I'm willing to spend $60 on some non-indie games, but I'd also be willing to spend that on some indie games (Subversion >_>).
It's a value proposition based on an individual title. Most people who look at an indie game and say "I'm not buying that for $15" don't say that because it's an indie game and "shouldn't be so expensive", but because they don't think that they'll get $15 of value from it. Similarly, I won't buy a... golf game for $15, because I just won't get that much enjoyment out of it.
If I choose to buy a coffee from Costa, that's my decision on the value that it is worth to me, and for the author of that article to suggest that not buying it to fund the purchase of his game at a price greater than what I personally value it as is frankly condescending.
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Postby The GoldFish » Sat Jan 30, 2010 8:02 am

The thing is though that I am currently thinking in dollars (because I am currently in america). I see 15 dollars for vvvvvv and think to myself, "wow, that's quite a bit, I enjoyed the demo a lot and I think it would be quite a lot of fun to play, but I'm worried about committing that much money since I don't know really how long it is, or how the difficulty curve works out, etc etc. If it was say, $10-12, I would probably buy it given my current experience but for some reason something is holding me back"

I then thought, well, what would that be in GBP... £9.30. Hmm...

*goes off to buy vvvvvv*

Why is this? I didn't really like the way eufloria and world of goo panned out long term after buying them - I know at least I got the former for £12.50 preorder, since I was definately uncomfortable paying £15 for it, and the fact that, for me, it just became simpler, clumsier, and pretty dull and repetative in the long term game made me resent that additional £2.50 I spent rather than waiting for it to drop in price. What this does for me is actually make me weary of paying £15 for games like this - it's not the individual games fault, they were still pretty good games that I would have bought, I just would have been happier with them had they been cheaper. One key element is that, eg Braid and other games made its gameplay mechanics mostly apparent to me (each set of levels would have a gimmick), as well as indicated roughly how long the game was, with the clear stages and jigsaw puzzle pieces in each area showing the difficulty curve, so that I could weigh up if it was something I wanted to buy. Mystery is not a bonus when trying to sell a pricier indy game, I think. "Surprise, more of the same thing!" wasn't what I was hoping for with eufloria and goo.

Also yeah I agree that poster thing is pretty pretentious, but they do still have a point. The $5 difference is not really much to a lot of potential customers, if you put it on the scales you probably live your every day life by, but makes a large difference for the developer (especially if the distributer is taking a cut). It makes a stupid point comparing this to a $60 dollar new console game, when I'd wager most of the people who are looking at that article are people who think maybe $60 dollars is too much for new mainstream games (even some of the good ones) and they would generally be much happier at say, $40 (turns out $40/4 = $10, surprise!). $5 is probably about maybe 1/2 to 2/3rds what I'm spending on food in a day, though, so it makes a difference to me right now, but I don't think it's me that this poster is targetted at. The problem is, it doesn't exclude me as a target, either, so really it's just a bit rude since it may well be only people just like me who see it.

How times have changed, really, I'm pretty sure I bought Darwinia for £30... My ideal prices for things nowerdays are like, 20-25 pounds for a new mainstream game that I am very positive about liking, and £10 for what appears to be a small, short, simple or otherwise niche indie game that I like but am a little unsure of. If Darwinia was new, now, and I didn't like the DGvsDG combat (which I don't), I would probably have been dissapointed with its prevalence in the later stages of the game if I'd bought the game on the experience of the early levels/original demo. This is one of the reasons that the new demo was good - it was a better example of the gameplay overall. Game length was never discussed, nor indicated, except maybe via the scope of research points you earn. No idea what the plan is with d+ though, so, who knows... but then again I'm probably not your average consumer.
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Postby elexis » Sat Jan 30, 2010 8:39 am

When reading this I was genuinely surprised that there were so many people who's "impulse price range" was only $10. I will buy any game for (AU or US)$20 if I like the concept/demo/hype. At $10 I will buy it if the 2 like description sounds good. At <$5 I will almost always just buy it.

Perhaps it's because I only got Steam/Impulse etc. 6 months ago and I'm still running on retail prices. A game like borderlands got discounted to $80ish during christmas and games like Defcon are still sold for $25. That said, I would gladly go out of my way to buy a retail version of a game I like (even if it includes £20 postage from london). Generally when it comes to indie games, I'll play the demo or at least watch some gameplay videos. I will buy it if I like it, normally regardless of price.


btw I tried to read through the comments but I got so pissed with those idiots I quit about halfway.
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Postby The GoldFish » Sat Jan 30, 2010 11:32 am

The GoldFish wrote:*goes off to buy vvvvvv*

Welp, that was easy; 2 hour game completion time I guess is uh, average probably? Now I just need to complete the horrible horrible trophey achievement things. Excuse me while I probably don't do that.
Last edited by The GoldFish on Sat Jan 30, 2010 11:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
-- The GoldFish - member of former GIT and commander in chief of GALLAHAD. You could have done something, but it's been fixed. The end. Also, play bestgameever!
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Postby elDiablo » Sat Jan 30, 2010 11:32 am

Man, and there I was just finding a comic funny.
We dont stop playing cos we get old... We get old cos we stop playing.
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Postby RabidZombie » Sat Jan 30, 2010 11:46 am

elDiablo wrote:Man, and there I was just finding a comic funny.


Indie games. Serious business.
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Re: Indie Games Pricing

Postby Xocrates » Sat Jan 30, 2010 12:44 pm

estel wrote:Why should a game being made by an Indie developer affect my judgement of the game's value to me?

This depends on whether or not you consider an indie game to be more relevant than generic space marine shooter 247, and whether or not you feel it's important to support small developers or if we can rely in giant megacorp inc.

If you don't, then it shouldn't affect your judgement. The creator of the poster (which is half-joking, although it doesn't seem so from all the reactions) obviously thought otherwise.


Regarding pricing. Being part of a high-middle class in "games are bloody expensive by comparison" continental Europe, my impulse price for games I have only passing interest in is in the 10-15€ (ballpark to 15-20$) range, and pretty much anything upwards for games I really want.

I didn't buy VVVVVV because it was expensive, I didn't buy it because I had no particular interest in it. Among the indie games I bought I don't really recall any that I deemed to be particularly overpriced (and most certainly not World of Goo).
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Re: Indie Games Pricing

Postby estel » Sat Jan 30, 2010 8:30 pm

Xocrates wrote:
estel wrote:Why should a game being made by an Indie developer affect my judgement of the game's value to me?

This depends on whether or not you consider an indie game to be more relevant than generic space marine shooter 247, and whether or not you feel it's important to support small developers or if we can rely in giant megacorp inc.


Err, but just because a game isn't made my an indie developer doesn't mean that it's "generic space marine shooter 247". Yes, there's plenty of generic tripe made by the big developers, but there are also plenty of tripe being developed by indie developers. If a game is good, this is a quality that is independent of whether the developer considers themselves indie or not.
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Postby ynbniar » Sat Jan 30, 2010 10:28 pm

I don't regret the GBP39 i paid for Uncharted 2 and I don't regret the GBP15 I paid for VVVVVV...

Buy what you like...
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Re: Indie Games Pricing

Postby Xocrates » Sat Jan 30, 2010 11:27 pm

estel wrote:Err, but just because a game isn't made my an indie developer doesn't mean that it's "generic space marine shooter 247". Yes, there's plenty of generic tripe made by the big developers, but there are also plenty of tripe being developed by indie developers. If a game is good, this is a quality that is independent of whether the developer considers themselves indie or not.

This statement is a complete tangent to the original point.
More specifically: No-one expects you to buy a bad game, being it indie or not. Of course Giant Megacorp Inc. can also produce good and even original games (they got big for some reason). Neither of this is the point.

The entire pricing argument is based around the idea that many people are more willing to spend 60$ in a big name game (regardless of quality) than 15$ in a truly good indie game (but no-one is expecting you to buy a game you don't want to). Specifically, their argument often revolves around the idea that they could only afford the Indie game if it was 10$ or less.

So that guy made a joke on how to afford the 15$ game you want, even though you're only willing to pay 10$.
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Postby GreenRock » Sat Jan 30, 2010 11:50 pm

Hell, I would pay 60 dollars for an Indie game....If I thought it was worth my money.
The game shouldn't be judged on the developer, but the quality of the game. Be that based on popularity and graphics, or creativity and imagination.
If I want a damn game, I'll buy it.
Money isnt easy for me to to come buy, so this is saying alot.
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Postby elexis » Sat Jan 30, 2010 11:52 pm

I paid well over $50 for Darwinia...
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Postby GreenRock » Sat Jan 30, 2010 11:56 pm

elexis wrote:I paid well over $50 for Darwinia...


Good man.

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