Indie games becoming more expensive. Will it backfire?

[Rzep]

I have noticed that indie games are becoming more expensive. There seem to be more releases around the 20 euro price, 18.99 euro being very popular. Maybe I am just imagining things I don't know but if this continues and indie games get closer and closer to the price of the so called AAA games do you think the whole indie boom will grind to a halt? Are indie games percieved as good enough to be priced like "premium" games?

[Mystery Mouse]

Guess what Steam. I stopped ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ buying them.

[Satoru]

Indie does not mean 'cheap'

[Rzep]

Never said it did.

[Satoru]

Originally posted by Rzep:

Never said it did.

Indie games becoming more expensive

Those statements are mutually exclusive

[Rzep]

That is pointing out the fact that 18.99 euro indie games were rare and now they are becoming common.

[Satoru]

Personally the indie bundles have done a terrible job in the respect that now people have vastly devalued what 'indie' gmaes should cost.

Games cost money and again 'indie' doesn't mean 'inexpensive ot produce'

[Rzep]

Yes, it does not mean inexpensive, but while gamers have been made to accept the 50 or 60 dollar game over the years, the same cannot be said about indie games. Just because we buy indie games at full price, not only in bundles, does not mean that the general perception is indie game pricing can/should equal the AAA price model.

[Persephone Sapphora]

I doubt there is any concern over the pricing of some indie games. Games like Prison Architect, Godus and Kerbal Space Program are stupidly popular and are around that price. If the game is good then pricing is irrelevant. Indie or AAA. The developers have the data to see if their pricing model doesn't work. If it doesn't the game will get a price adjustment.

Also, 20$ is not priced like an AAA Game. 20$ =/= 60$..

[Rzep]

What you must understand is that I am not in America, I do not make American money and the prices that work in for example in America don't have to work in Poland so my view will always differ a bit.

For example 20 euro is 27 dollars.

Now secondly, games in a store cost between 35 and 40 euro.

So I think I can see why for example Americans may see a 20 dollar game as not much of a problem, I mean its 1/3 of a AAA.

In my case when the near 20 euro indie game is becoming more common, and games cost 35-40 euro, its more of a problem.

[Silv3r9]

Is one thing to say that indie games are becoming more expensive [as they should imho] and suggest that pricing could potentially cause the "indie boom" to come to a scratching halt and another to admit that your wallet is not agreeing with all them numbers after the dollar sign [or your local equivalent].

I have to agree with Satoru's comment regarding indie bundles.
The way I see it, in their attempt to bring more attention to indie developers, the PWYW bundles have also created a very particular kind of customer who will only pay a dollar [or less if possible] for a pack of games and go as far as furiously demand that <XYZ> game be featured on a bundle otherwise they won't even buy it.

This particular kind of bundle customer also gets very angry [as in full gorilla angry] when they don't get any extra games for their dollar or cannot trade their keys for a game of "equal value". The whole thing has taken "cheap gamers" to a whole new level of crazy. <_<

But back on topic, indie devs deserve to see some money for their work me thinks just like any other big developer/company out there. \o/

[Rzep]

I can't agree with the idea that bundles are so damaging. There are always people who want something for the cheapest possible price, and those that prefer to get a game that interests them day one, although I haven't met a person who would say "Oh that game looks awesome I can't wait till it pops up in a bundle."

On the one hand some one claims that Devs have the data to support for example the 20 euro price tag, so going by the same logic Devs who sell their games through bundles must have data that says there are advantages to bundles.

Still if any bubble will burst it's going to be the bundle one. Even now you can see that there are more and more repeats in various bundles, some bundles have gone out of business and when Greenlight stops being a problem for devs, even less games will show up in bundles looking for votes and free advertising.

[Τhe Rolling Cheese Wheel]

Poland uses euros?

[Rzep]

Originally posted by The Rolling Ham Cheese:

Poland uses euros?

Nope, but Steam forces us to use it anyway. It's pretty damn ridiculous. If developers at least used the cheaper second Tier Euro prices, but nope thats a rare thing indeed. I get to pay the same price that for example Germans do, which is a problem since the avarage Polish salary is a few times less than a German one.

[gusgreco7]

imo the indie developers did wrong with bundling their games all the time and so soon
i for instance will never buy an indie game full price again
the problem is that people have now with all these bundles big backlogs of games to play, so even if they like a new indie they can wait
especially the humble bundle used to be 2-3 times a year, now its much too often and theres a weekly humble as well, theres no stop with bundles
i cant imagine anyone knowing of the existence of those bundles to buy indies full price
p.s there are always exceptions of indie games like rogue legacy or papers please which seem to sell well on steam, but they are exceptions

[Τhe Rolling Cheese Wheel]

Originally posted by gusgreco7:

imo the indie developers did wrong with bundling their games all the time and so soon
i for instance will never buy an indie game full price again
the problem is that people have now with all these bundles big backlogs of games to play, so even if they like a new indie they can wait
especially the humble bundle used to be 2-3 times a year, now its much too often and theres a weekly humble as well, theres no stop with bundles
i cant imagine anyone knowing of the existence of those bundles to buy indies full price
p.s there are always exceptions of indie games like rogue legacy or papers please which seem to sell well on steam, but they are exceptions

Good indie games with strong hype will sell at max price even with the existence of bundles. EA games got bundled too, but that won't stop people from buying EA games at max price.