Are Indie Developers Undercharging For Their Games?

#21
T-man
I just don't see the logistics in buying a game like Journey for 60 or even 40 bucks when you can get much more for your money. Now, Journey is a fucking incredible experience that brought tears to my eyes, but I wouldn't pay much more than the 15 dollars they're asking for it. In a perfect world people would be affluent enough to be able to spend 60 dollars on Breath of the Wild and 60 dollars on Journey, but people aren't made of money so you need to go with what'll get you the most bang for your buck.

I think if indie games were priced higher people would be even more picky about how to spend their money.
Those 20,000 sales at 20 dollars wouldn't translate to 20,000 sales at 60 dollars.
#22
Yrrzy
u make some fair points and im gonna shift my stance slightly to "modern triple A games are overvalued"

I'm not saying that even short games should be worth as much as a major release, I'm saying the same game released by two different companies would make 3 times the amount if it was released by a triple A company than an indie one because people just completely overvalue the big names and undervalue the small ones
#23
Aidan
(Aug 19, 2017 at 6:40 PM)Yrrzy Wrote: game dev is undervalued, people arent buying well-crafted games, theyre buying games with big budgets and marketing behind them

this is why indie dev is so undervalued, its not the quality, its not the presentation, its the idea that the big name stuff is inherently better crafted because its bigger budget and better marketed

even if someone made the best hour-long linear 2d platformer ever, and every second of the game was polished to perfection, it still wouldn't be worth 60 bux to me because i'd blow through it and have no reason to replay

other genres are different though. "indie" fighting games tend to do reasonably well if they're quality because the whole point of that genre is polished mechanics. you see similar stuff with bullet hell games for the same reason
#24
Draku
(Aug 19, 2017 at 6:52 PM)Yrrzy Wrote: u make some fair points and im gonna shift my stance slightly to "modern triple A games are overvalued"
do you have any idea how huge the budgets are for those games? there's a reason why DLC is being pushed so aggressively now, $60 literally isn't high enough of a price tag to cover for that shit anymore. meanwhile indie games can make huge returns off of their low pricetags

its a big issue and unsustainable but not what you're claiming
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#25
Mario
Gamedev in general is definitely undervalued; we all know art is undervalued but even the things like software dev you can make a lot more doing something less complicated than game making LOL (I guess this is probably part of the root of the problem of gamers being whiny babies and even talking about games can sometimes be impossible)

but even without that on its face value yeah production + marketing of AAA games does cost more than an indie game but that doesn't really line up with the consumer price as much as it Logically seems so. AAA titles have extremely varying amounts of money put behind them but they all end up costing around the same price. Same goes for indie games really. More important for pricing a game is the ROI (return on investment)- what are you getting back in the long run? If priced the same, sure indie games would need to sell far less to break even than AAA games but Getting The Game Out there is the real problem, People are more willing to Spend Less but also like I said before indie games kinda hope their game will impress someone good enough to go Viral or whatever- word of mouth def is the most Powerful marketing but its also the one you cant really force
#26
Mario
(Aug 19, 2017 at 6:52 PM)Yrrzy Wrote: "modern triple A games are overvalued"
extremely Bad Take and I hate most games
#27
Yrrzy
"lots of effort goes into indie games"
"not my problem"
"triple a games are overvalued"
"UM DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH EFFORT GOES INTO TRIPLE A"
#28
Yrrzy
like are we counting effort or end product here guys make your fucking minds up
#29
Mario
this Take is getting worse somehow
#30
Mario
hold on wait i got the response here:

"gamedev is undervalued"
(5 seconds later)
"AAA games are OVER valued"
#31
Mario
anyway games in general are too cheap and people treat them like candy instead of the load of fuckin work they are. like idk i shouldn't be like 'i have $15 in my pocket, i can go to the movies, grab a meal, or get this 20 hour indie game' gone home is probably priced about right for what it is but most games probably aren't.

but also most games probably aren't worth playing more than you would watch a movie or enjoy a meal either. cuz not everyone is super into the same games? there's a few games you're gonna find that really resonate with you and you'd say hey i'd be fine paying the big butts for this, but most games you probably don't feel that way about. it's complicated (on the other side of the coin though, it feels like most games don't really have that level of care (not sure this is the right word?) put into them that Makes you want to care about it either)
#32
Draku
(Aug 19, 2017 at 7:01 PM)Yrrzy Wrote: "lots of effort goes into indie games"
"not my problem"
"triple a games are overvalued"
"UM DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH EFFORT GOES INTO TRIPLE A"
reading comprehension, please. i'm talking about the money not the effort.

also stop trying to combine arguments from different people.
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#33
Yrrzy
im not just talking about from the consumer end tho, huge amounts of money is poured into AAA games in ways that don't improve the end product the same amount they increase the price

im finding much better value for money in indie games than in AAA ones lately
#34
Mario
Sonic Mania is a good example of 'care'. like its a game im not really super into but damn you can tell a lot of love went into it. there's some weird glitchy stuff, sure, but its irrelevant. unlike say, a bethesda game which isnt even playable but reviewers give them above 90 points fsr
#35
Mario
(Aug 19, 2017 at 7:20 PM)Yrrzy Wrote: im not just talking about from the consumer end tho, huge amounts of money is poured into AAA games in ways that don't improve the end product the same amount they increase the price

What Did She Mean By This? Seriously?
#36
Yrrzy
i mean sometimes a 60-person team doesnt produce a better game than a 6 person team, but still hikes the price up cause its a big studio and those cost lots of money
#37
T-man
(Aug 19, 2017 at 7:20 PM)Yrrzy Wrote: im finding much better value for money in indie games than in AAA ones lately
I bet the fact that they're usually 20 bucks really helps with that. When you pay 60 dollars for something and it's mediocre or doesn't live up to your expectations you get pissed off because that's a little more than half of a hundred down the drain. Sonic Mania is my shit right now, I am in love with it, but if it cost even 40 bucks I would have wanted more from it.
#38
Mario
Shovel Knight as a lot of polish but its bland as shit honestly. Probably not worth what I paid but it sure looked neat so I'd probably still buy it LOL
#39
Mario
(Aug 19, 2017 at 7:26 PM)Yrrzy Wrote: i mean sometimes a 60-person team doesnt produce a better game than a 6 person team, but still hikes the price up cause its a big studio and those cost lots of money

any examples?
#40
T-man
(Aug 19, 2017 at 7:29 PM)Mario Wrote: any examples?

The shittiest Ubisoft game costs more than the best Indie game.

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