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Should Good Indie Games Be More Expensive?

Posted by Soulskill on from the i-wonder-what-the-internet-will-say dept.

spidweb writes "Indie gaming blog The Bottom Feeder has an article on why independent games should be more expensive. The enforced low prices on XBox Live, Amazon, and iTunes might feel good now, but they'll kill off the variety and depth gamers are hoping indie developers can provide. From the article: 'Every year, life is getting more and more expensive. Insurance. Rent. Food. And, at the same time, games are getting cheaper and cheaper, sometimes as cheap as a dollar, as we engage in a full speed race to the bottom. This is not going to help developers stay in business. This is not how a healthy industry is maintained.'"

9 of 150 comments (clear)

  1. Economies of Scale by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If your game is really good, then won't it sell more copies, making you more money?

    Is there some hidden cost in producing more copies of a binary file?

    --
    May the Maths Be with you!
    1. Re:Economies of Scale by Yvanhoe · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Somehow, I feel that if a game is good enough to make me go through the process of grabbing my credit card, going to the website, checking for traps, entering the number, etc... a price of 1$ or 15$ doesn't really make a difference.

      10-15 is probably the good price range to maximize the number of copies sold. Lower won't make more under our current distribution methods.

      --
      The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
  2. Just like how software should be... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    'Every year, life is getting more and more expensive. Insurance. Rent. Food. And, at the same time, software is getting cheaper and cheaper, sometimes as cheap as a dollar, as we engage in a full speed race to the bottom. This is not going to help developers stay in business. This is not how a healthy industry is maintained.'"

    I agree. The race to the bottom for software is not how a healthy industry is maintained. What will we do if software reaches a price point of zero?

    There are no clear examples out there of how free software or applications can stay in business.

    *rolls eyes*

    1. Re:Just like how software should be... by bigstrat2003 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Hate to break it to you, but those models aren't going to work for gaming. Gamers don't need support contracts, and they'll go nuts if you try to cram advertising down their throats. Just because it works for some, doesn't mean it'll work for anyone else.

      --
      "16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
  3. Enforced low prices? by dangitman · · Score: 5, Informative

    iTunes doesn't set a maximum price for games, neither does Xbox Live, apparently except for those created with the XNA tools. So, the only one enforcing low prices is Amazon. Thus, calling the credibility of the summary into question, and the article for tenuous exaggeration.

    --
    ... and then they built the supercollider.
  4. Wrong question... by denzacar · · Score: 4, Informative

    It should be "Should expensive games be better".

    FYI: Indie =/= Good

    This is also an example of a "indie game".

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  5. What rock have these guys been living under? by TOGSolid · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Have they completely missed Valve's Steam pricing report on what happens when you sell good games for cheap?
    At twenty to twentyfive bucks, an indy game that isn't going to have the exposure a triple A game has is going to alienate shoppers that would have otherwise bought it just for the hell of it. It's going to have to be pretty damn good and get a lot of word of mouth exposure in order to be able to reign back in lost potential customers.

  6. (Sigh...) Again, it's supply and demand by dazedNconfuzed · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Supply and demand is an economic law. Arguing that prices should be higher than the market will bear, in an attempt to re-write that law, is foolish.

    I recall a little "indie" game company that released, with little advertising, a mindless shoot-em-up by giving away much of the game and selling the full package cheaply. They made a good game, didn't charge much, and did well by it. 17 years later you can _still_ buy Wolfenstein 3D.

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    Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
  7. Some games are niche by cliffski · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It is not at all that simple.

    My best selling game is this one:
    http://www.positech.co.uk/democracy2
    It's a very complex and in-depth political simulation game based around the idea of the interconnectedness of all aspects of government policy, and modelled using a custom-written neural network. It assumes a decent understanding of modern political issues and a willingness to not be put off by what appears (at first glance ) to be a VERY complex interface (it's actually not that complex).

    In short, the game appeals to politics junkies, political science students, and people who enjoy chaos theory and complexity.

    It doesn't matter HOW good it is, how polished it is, or how well I market it...if your idea of games is Halo, you will NOT enjoy it, and NOT buy it.

    Many games exist in a very small, specific niche, a niche where the developer can make a living selling $22.95 games like that one. A lot of those niches are already on the borderline (mine is). Unless I can actually generate a worldwide greater interest in playing political strategy games, I can't expand my sales. So a drop in prices just means less overall revenue, and thus makes it less viable to make games like that.

    If all you want is 'mainstream' games that appeal to everyone, why bother with indie games anyway? we make games for specific groups of players, not the whole market.

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    DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games