Editorial Vogel Talks Game Sales, Part Two

[WanderingThrough2]

I think the $28 price point is too high for an "impulse purchase." At least for me, even though the actual cost isn't really a big deal, I seldom bring myself to pull the trigger for a game at more than $20 unless the reviews are universally glowing and I'm confident I'll love it. (I'm not sure why that's the case, since $40, as I say, isn't significant money at the end of the day, but it is what it is.) At $10, you'll see significantly more impulse buys. (Valve recently discovered this with respect to Left 4 Dead -- which incidentally I bought for $20 after equivocating over $40 for weeks -- and as a result they've totally significantly the Steam pricing system.)

But the thing is, I don't think anyone will ever purchase Vogel's games on an impulse. They have huge demos (with small DL sizes) you can play through, and either you like the game or you don't. There might be some small degree of self-righteousness or embarassment (I'm paying $28 for this?), but the number of lost sales is probably fairly small.

For a game like Aquaria or World of Goo or Weird Worlds or whatever, where the game looks good but has the risk of becoming boring, I would think an impulse price point would be a good idea.

 

[Thrasher]

The thing is that adding more people doesn't necessarily make a product better.

Think of Tolkien, for example. One author - great stuff.

 

[Thrasher]

$$$

 

[WanderingThrough2]

I'm sure that for $30k he could significantly overhaul the quality of the presentation. It seems likely that this would generate more than 1,000 additional sales, especially because he could re-release the older games with the updated art / sound / interface.

 

[Davaris]

I think the $28 price point is too high for an "impulse purchase." At least for me, even though the actual cost isn't really a big deal, I seldom bring myself to pull the trigger for a game at more than $20 unless the reviews are universally glowing and I'm confident I'll love it. (I'm not sure why that's the case, since $40, as I say, isn't significant money at the end of the day, but it is what it is.) At $10, you'll see significantly more impulse buys. (Valve recently discovered this with respect to Left 4 Dead -- which incidentally I bought for $20 after equivocating over $40 for weeks -- and as a result they've totally significantly the Steam pricing system.)

But the thing is, I don't think anyone will ever purchase Vogel's games on an impulse. They have huge demos (with small DL sizes) you can play through, and either you like the game or you don't. There might be some small degree of self-righteousness or embarassment (I'm paying $28 for this?), but the number of lost sales is probably fairly small.

For a game like Aquaria or World of Goo or Weird Worlds or whatever, where the game looks good but has the risk of becoming boring, I would think an impulse price point would be a good idea.

You sound like an Indie developer, who spends a lot of time reading casual game developer marketing articles.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Bearing in mind that the percentage cost of credit card processing increases as the price goes down, and, to make the same profits from Geneforge 4, I would have had to triple my sales. Triple!

http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=30360

• * 10% sale = 35% increase in sales (real dollars, not units shipped)
  * 25% sale = 245% increase in sales
  * 50% sale = 320% increase in sales
  * 75% sale = 1470% increase in sales

rofl

 

[WanderingThrough2]

You sound like an Indie developer, who spends a lot of time reading casual game developer marketing articles.

Huh. Not sure whether that's an insult or a compliment, but in any event, I'm not and I don't.

 

[Davaris]

Bearing in mind that the percentage cost of credit card processing increases as the price goes down, and, to make the same profits from Geneforge 4, I would have had to triple my sales. Triple!

http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=30360

• * 10% sale = 35% increase in sales (real dollars, not units shipped)
  * 25% sale = 245% increase in sales
  * 50% sale = 320% increase in sales
  * 75% sale = 1470% increase in sales

rofl

That article is talking about portals for the most part isn't it? I just want to point out that portals are very different to the lone developer as you can't build up a feeding frenzy, when you have a few titles and your games aren't shiny and hip.

The other problem the portals have with their regular sales, is they train their customers to hold out for them. So its easy to get a sales boost when most people won't buy till the sales are on.

 

[WanderingThrough2]

The other problem the portals have with their regular sales, is they train their customers to hold out for them. So its easy to get a sales boost when most people won't buy till the sales are on.

It depends how long you wait to run the sales. A lot of people like to play games when they're just released, for whatever reason (to experience the buggy crapness while it's still fresh, I guess). It does strike me as a problem, though; I would also strongly suspect that post-promotional sales are adversely affected. I know that I hate to buy something for $40 that cost $25 a week ago, even if I would've maybe paid $40 for it two weeks earlier.

 

[Livonya]

Two comments.

1) sales/price

As someone that runs a business and has sold stuff every single day for the past 20 years I can tell you that "sales" don't always work.

Sometimes they actually just cost you money, as often the actual number of units sold doesn't change enough to warrant the loss of revenue from the new sale price.

It is extremely hard to judge. And honestly, I doubt that anyone besides Jeff could actually make that call. He very well could be wrong.

Getting the price right is very difficult.

If you go too cheap then people figure it isn't worth anything.

If you go too high then you price yourself out.

He is dealing with small sales numbers. So if he tries to experiment with sales or price then there may very well be no way to actually know if the changes he makes had any effect at all.


2) Credit cards

In my business I do NOT take credit cards. That might seem crazy to you. But if I took credit cards I would have to sell 20% more product to break even. That would mean a LOT more work.

Credit cards fees are a real drain. They represent a constant source of lost revenue.

For many small businesses the fees they pay to credit card companies will be their largest expense. More than rent. More than anything other than payroll and the actual cost of the goods they are selling.

- Livonya