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Indie games should have indie prices
jusomdude
Member RarePosts: 2,706
What's with indie companies trying to charge AAA prices?
I guess some can get away with it, if they have a AAA quality game, but in most cases they don't.
Comments
I find myself in agreement. I would love to say otherwise cause I really support indie companies as they are more likely to try new things and offer the next step in the MMO experience.
But if there is a noticable difference in the quality of the game then you can't get away with charging the same as a game that offers so much more.
Well, it's expensive to make these games.
While true, the quality of these games might not equal the quality of their AAA counterparts, in theory they are offering something unique that their AAA counterparts do not.
So in some ways you are supporting the chance they took.
Because make no bones about it, if indy companies cannot stay afloat and cannot support their game beyond launch then they will fold. Too many indy companies fold and the writing on the wall will say that it's not worth it to go indy. No indy then you get what the big boys give you and that's that.
So maybe they should be charging a little less to entice players to get into their game but it seems that the subscription model is all about making a bit of their money back at launch so they can continue. In the end, on our end it's only 10 or 20 dollars extra which should really break anyone.
Of course then there is the other side which says that these indy companies should not be encouraged to release crap and expect to be paid for it. In the end it's about finding a product you are interested in standing behind and then just standing behind them.
if a game company were to charge 30 dollars over 50 dollars then over 100,000 sales they would be losing 2 million dollars. Might not be a big deal to a large company but to a small company that 2 million could mean the salaries they were waiting to pay.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
That's the same problem I'm having. If you don't deliver quality then don't charge for such quality. If I pay 14€ a month for a game I expect it to be smooth,balanced and without too many bugs. And I'm not only looking at indie developers, even the bigger studio's think it's okay to do so. Some are just not worth that much a month. But then again it's our choice to pay those prices or not. Eventho I enjoyed Fallen Earth, I think it's overpriced, especially if you compare it with WoW, EVE,...
Tho you can give dozens of examples on each side. I do get that people pay it anyway, since for most it's about fun. But that still doesn't make it right
You don't pay the same amount for a Lada than you do for an Audi.
Since some indie games offer me more fun and allot more content then these so-called A-tittle games which often offer just a massive combat game, they are worth the prices they ask for them, even more so then the company's already loaded with money, for example WoW should be around 5€/$ and they still would make a bucket full of cash.
Funny how The Humble Bundle event brought in over 1,2 million where 400 thousand dollars was donated to charity. That's 800 thousand divided amongst 5(If I remember correctly) indie developers. I highly doubt those five developers would've made that much cash if the games were sold at their retail value. The special thing about this event was that you could pay 1$ for all those games, since it was on a donate to own basis.
Just because 100 thousand people bought a game at 30$ (3 million dollars total) does not mean that 100 thousand people would buy the game if it was retailing at 50$. If what you say was true though, I could just make a browser game and charge a million £ per person, compared to a mere 50$.
Eleanor Rigby.
I'm pretty much in agreement with the others here lol. If you can't deliver the quality you have to lower the cost. And this shouldn't just apply to indie games. If an indie dev can deliver the quality deserving of a AAA price, then by all means. But not many can.
CCP did with EvE
AV couldn't with DFO
SV couldn't with MO
C'mon, $15/month. How much lower can you really go?
I´m fully ok with 15$ a month but the box price should be abit lower. Maybe 20-25
All statements I make is from my point of view unless stated otherwise.
You are talking about that Penny arcade thing no?
funny that, I believe one of the guys was ranting about all the people who didn't pay anything. They could have even paid a penny but people just downloaded it and that was that. Nothing for charity. At least if we are thinking of the same thing.
You very well maybe be right and that lowering the price wouuld bring in more people. But would those people stay? Or are they essentially just being cheap. Do they believe in the game or are they just looking for a bargain to amuse them for a small bit?
I think that is where my part of the discussion lies because I don't believe in being cheap. It rubs me the wrong way. And if I'm going to support an indy game company who has a product I believe in then I have no problem paying them standard retail price to keep going.
Because I'm on a different side of that coin. You are saying that a game will bring in more players at $30 than $50 (again you maybe right) and I'm saying that if you made the game a cheap 10 dollars I still wouldn't play it if it wasn't a game I was interested in. If I AM interested in it then the 50 bucks is no skin off of my nose and I would view it as going to a good cause. And I think there are others who would also be in agreement. But again, we are talking about a game you believe in and that you want to support.
I don't see why the indy companies couldn't offer a free limited trial so that players could see what they were getting and make a decision to subscribe and the players who jus want to try out the game could just pass without paying a dime.
Or, they could offer 30 dollars to pay for the game but the subscription could be 15 dollars per month but for those who paid the 50 dollars they would pay 10 dollars per month.
Just shooting from the hip on that one.
but again you may be right and lowering the fee might just get people in the door. I suppose it depends on how much money they need at launch to keep going.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
I agree. However, boxprice is usually set by publisher, not developer, so sorta impossible to do anything with unless a pure digital download.
A lot of indie games are flat-out free.... but those are ones that are not even listed here, and are of very low standards. The only game I've seen that charges too much is ATItD at 13.95 a month, but I don't see a reason to complain when UO is still charging far too much for what is (by today's standards). Other games like Wurm (5e a month) and LOVE (I think 8$ a month) are not that bad off.
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I was under the impression that most indie developers doen´t have publishers as per say?
All statements I make is from my point of view unless stated otherwise.
APB and UO are only $10 a month. So I think they can at least go $5 lower lol.
yay, $5! I think that's what I earn when medittating on the rim at work any given day
Aventurine actually lowered the cost to buy Darkfall to $30.
And your point is? I fail to see what that has to do with proper pricing of a product or service......