Is price everything? (Steam related)

[charlesr]

The app thing is weird too. Maybe a bit off topic, but we used to have programs (apps). Then there was a move to browser based stuff in the knowledge that they work on anything that had a browser, without needing to code 15 different versions for different platforms. Then everyone realised there was money to be had in different platforms, so now we are back to having to buy an app multiple times (iOS version, Android version, Windows version).

[Duncan James Waugh]

Unbelievable. Were they saying it should have been 99p and was no way worth the extra, or were they saying it should have been freelol?

I don't think there was a demo available was there?
A demo might have persuaded them to part with the cash.
If it was released on the 3DS/GBA/DS, I'd pay ?20

I'm not sure where the breaking point was for them, just that asking ?1.50 for a game was apparently outrageous.

We struggled to cut the game into a demo that gave people enough content to play, without making a purchase unnecessary. So shortly afterwards we did release a free version of the game that was supported via in application advertising, which we sourced from a couple of intermediary companies.

We added a personal thank you at the end and linked to the paid version, explaining what a difference it made to us. The conversion rate has been 0.002%.

On the advertising pages we kindly asked people to click the adverts to help support us (advertising views are worthless, companies are only paid on the click through rate), for anyone on wi-fi this costs them nothing. The click rate was 0.004%.

We've also had people directly contacting us thanking us for the game, asking for follow up titles whose names just so happen to match those on piracy forums...

[Duncan James Waugh]

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-store-in-2013

Sadly financial success all seems to be concentrated in a small number of companies and products, as others have said if you don't get lucky with being promoted, which you can't do anything to achieve yourself, the chance of seeing a proportion of that cash is all too slim.

[Guts]

Sounds like a really messed up situation, Duncan. It truly doesn't sound fair to the small, hardworking devs out there. Unless you get incredibly lucky and make the next Super Meat Boy or something you barely make anything at all.

[Guts]

Another developer's point-of-view on the matter. He thinks that the sales screw over the loyal fans who buy the game when it comes out.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-01-16-for-this-developer-steam-sales-screw-your-fans

"Your fans love your games and eagerly await your next release," he said. "They want to get your game as soon as it comes out, at full price. But they are foolish to do that, because a sale is right around the corner. Even in economic terms, the extra utility of playing the game early, at release, is not big enough to offset the extra cost for most people.

"It makes more sense to wait, unless they love you and your work so much that they're willing to throw economic reason out the window. It's nice to have fans that love your work that much. And these are the fans that you kick in the teeth when you put your game on sale."

Rohrer said the "culture of rampant sales is a culture of waiting", adding launch weeks become "weak". He reckons developers come to depend on sales for financial survival, pointing to the statistics derived from his game Inside a Star-filled Sky.

Rohrer said there's the "possibility" that this culture of sales reduces developer revenue over the long term. "If just half of the players who buy the game during a 50 per cent-off sale would have bought the game at full price if that was their only option, we'd already have a wash," she said. "What fraction of sale-waiting players fall into this category? I suspect way more than half. The picture gets even worse for 75 per cent-off sales."

So, what's to be done? Perhaps people who buy random games during sales and never play them will make up the shortfall, Rohrer suggests, but even so, this would not be a good thing. "It's just people being tricked into wasting money on stuff they don't want or need. Better that they spent that money on one full-price game that they really want rather than four 75 per cent-off impulse buys to add to their backlog."

The man makes some very good points.

[H-Man]

I disagree with the above. Everyone I know on Steam buys the games they've been following or feel they must have on day one - it's in the sales that you take a punt on scores of games you weren't sure on or, as is often the case, had never heard of. Indy wise the PC smashes every console put together - there are just too many games to keep up with - and it's through the Steam sales that I've been introduced to many great ones.

Off topic - there was a thread a little while back asking if the PC had an equivalent to console launches and how it was missing out in this respect. Looking back over the last few generations and up to the most recent launch, I'd say each Steam sale is more exciting. There's certainly shed loads of better games to play!