Outpriced the Market

[AsheMan]

As soon as I heard about this game, I came to the store page to check it out. Then I saw the $49.99 pricetag and instantly lost interest. I think you've totally outpriced the market here.

[HolyGrail]

引用自 ShMo：

引用自 Rammur：

self entitlment what i see sure it looks spendy af but 49.99 is a basic game price just because its not a flashy aaa styled game doesnt make it automatically cheaper these kinda games either way are intended for a fan base not the bandwagoners.

Skyrim was $60 when it launched 6 years ago, but it's $20 for the base game these days -
and mods further improve the value.

The fact that Square is labeling a wallpaper as "exclusive" for day-one DLC just goes to show how out-of-touch they are with the harsh reality of the world.

lol, talking about the harsh reality of the world, do you know of something called "price skimming"? And wow, mods... even with them Skyrim was a disappointment.

[Nichtswisser]

引用自 Rammur：

self entitlment what i see sure it looks spendy af but 49.99 is a basic game price just because its not a flashy aaa styled game doesnt make it automatically cheaper these kinda games either way are intended for a fan base not the bandwagoners.

This is a small team project with indy level graphics. And those kind of games sell for around ~20€ on Steam. This game is going to sell extremely poorly.

[HolyGrail]

引用自 @R+5：

my point, again, is that there are many better options than this game for this price.

Oh like The Witcher with generic Western fantasy world #21054. Such an amazing game... what price did that game sell at on launch? And again; it's called price skimming, where a price goes down over time. Quality is subjective, you're not the gatekeeper of what's quality. ♥♥♥♥ off with your buzzwords.

[N1ghtmare ∞]

引用自 DeathevokatioN：

引用自 ShMo：

Skyrim was $60 when it launched 6 years ago, but it's $20 for the base game these days -
and mods further improve the value.

The fact that Square is labeling a wallpaper as "exclusive" for day-one DLC just goes to show how out-of-touch they are with the harsh reality of the world.

lol, talking about the harsh reality of the world, do you know of something called "price skimming"? And wow, mods... even with them Skyrim was a disappointment.

It's nice that you have an opinion and all however, Skyrim was far from a disappointment.

Skyrim is still an awesome game and always has been, just defending Skyrim's honour as a brilliant game and with mods it's even better. That's all.

[N1ghtmare ∞]

引用自 DeathevokatioN：

引用自 @R+5：

my point, again, is that there are many better options than this game for this price.

Oh like The Witcher with generic Western fantasy world #21054. Such an amazing game... what price did that game sell at on launch? And again; it's called price skimming, where a price goes down over time. Quality is subjective, you're not the gatekeeper of what's quality. ♥♥♥♥ off with your buzzwords.

Can you develop a better game? that gets many awards and even GOTY yourself? with your opinion and all that?

[Psychic Kitty]

50 dollars for a digital game.....um NO

That is not very good.....why would anyone want to spend double the physical copy price.
and then not even get the full color instructions or much of anything else.

I am baffled by this.

[goldgriffin360]

Not to mention the mobile game quality graphics. What are people paying 50 bucks for really. Definately a wait for a year when it will be a third for the price and still wait for a better sale game. IMO.

[PRinciple prickley!?!?!]

I can't imagine that this game can justify its price. Like, it actually looks pretty cool. It's reminiscent of some old final fantasy mixed with chrono trigger. But it can't cost that much for square to make a game that looks like this. It should be priced accordingly.

[@R+5]

引用自 Zuul：

NES (1986) 29.99-49.99 59.79-99.65
SNES (1991) 49.99-59.99 80.17-96.21
N64 (1996) 49.99 69.60
PS2 (2000) 49.99 63.41
Xbox 360 (2005) 59.99 67.10

First numbers are the average prices for games of the era, second numbers are adjusted for inflation...back in 2010. You're paying far less now than you ever have for games.

how you calculated the inflation and how you concluded that? adquisitive power was also generally higher in the 90s and 80s globally, even in countries that had little to do with videogames. we are actually paying more today than before, at least in premium games (the economic crisis and the 911bs changed how things could be sold too). this title shouldnt be sold as premium or a aaa title: its an experimental one, and rarely new audiences go for the odd if it isnt polemical or a gimmick related to a different trend.

[Mike Pence But Even Gayer]

Graphics aren't everything, but I am not paying premium for a title that looks like an up-res 3DS title. We know a lot of budget goes into things such as visuals and voice-acting, and the obviously low budget in those fields are not represented in the retail price.
I'll grab this around it goes between $20 - 30.

[RanceJustice (Kyo)]

I am skeptical of the pricing and even more so because of my past experience with "I am Setsuna".

That was a title that even today asks $40 and is almost NEVER on sale (note: Humble is offering a sale on SquareEnix published items as I write this but I Am Setsuna is not included) . Even in the rare cases it is on sale, I've never seen it any lower than $20 even after all this time. That might be more understandable if it was exceptional not just as a game, but in terms of the PC porting and other features (ie adding Linux and OSX support etc), but sadly that is not what was available. I am Setsuna itself was given midding reviews from both players and critics alike for both gameplay/story and technical issues. The length of the title was another factor, being rather short (without padding/grinding).

Now I see Lost Sphear which looks very similar to "I am Setsuna" (developed by the same team, using a very similar battle system, etc...) with an even larger price tag of $50 USD, so it worries me. I am glad to see so many JRPGs coming to Steam. Thankfully some of their developers and publishers realize that they can make more money by selling a higher volume of (otherwise high quality both in terms of technical and gameplay aspects ) titles at a reasonable prices and then allowing their titles to go on sale, often significantly so. Sadly, Lost Sphear's developers do not have a very good precedent in this regard and even less in comparison to many other titles (JRPG and otherwise) that provide a better value.

I can hope that I am proven wrong and Lost Sphear is an exceptional title in all regards justifying its launch price, but even if that is the case I can only hope that its policy on pricing/sales etc... evolves considerably.

I would be very disappointed if publishers or the developers themselves decide that "Well, this title isn't performing well on PC. PC isn't worth it!" instead of looking inward on the shortcomings of their policies and/or the game itself as a reason that things didn't perform as well as projected. They already had a midding response to "I am Setsuna" so you would think they would want to try something different with "Lost Sphear", not simply more of the same.

I suppose time will tell.

[@R+5]

According to this page, setsuna lowest has been 19.99 usd when on sale. thanks to its flaws, and starting price, those who own it will be likely to feel distrust to this new title under a similar starting price.
https://www.steamprices.com/us/app/441830/i-am-setsuna

[AsheMan]

25% more expensive than Setsuna was on release.

[DioCyde]

I noticed the price is for "Day One" edition. I bet if you wait a week or 2 and let them sort some ♥♥♥♥ out it will reduce to 30 or 40 which is below market average for square enix games upon release

[@R+5]

more jrpgs (and jrpg-like) in steam:
.hack//G.U. Last Recode 3rd November 2017
$ 49.99 (hasnt been on-sale)

Tales of Berseria 26th January 2017
$ 49.99 (from 30 to 20 on-sale)

Anima Gate of Memories 2nd June 2016
$ 19.99 (10 on-sale)

Atelier Firis 7th March 2017
$ 59.99 (40 on-sale)
* has mixed reviews, many related to the price and lack of innovation in relation to Atelier Sophie

Atelier Sophie 7th February 2017
$ 29.99 (20 on-sale)
* most reviews are positive and few complain about price

BLUE REFLECTION 26th September 2017
$ 59.99 (54 on-sale)
* hasnt been very popular

Children of Zodiarcs 18th July 2017
$ 17.99 (13 on-sale)
* A Square-Enix game; has mixed reviews mostly related from lack of story while having an interesting conbat system and game mechanics.

CrossCode 15th May 2015
$ 19.99 (14 on-sale)
* most reviews are very positive even if they havent offered it at a lower price yet, which is very impressive considering its an indie game funded by its own community. Many people usually want to pay less for indie games.

20 usd is what most people usually are willing to pay for jrpgs (at least outside japan), even if the title is great. i didnt include upcoming (which are also modern looking) jrpgs that will make harder for this game to reach a bigger audience with this price.