If a 2D game had production values of around $100,000 USD... Originally we made a budget of $40,000 USD but decided we have a unique game design that can be expanded with features galore. So if a game had these features: 1. Lots of levels for single play mode 2. Bluetooth multiplayer with up to 4 players with a special game mode type and levels 3. Two player iPad version 4. Ghost racing connected to leaderboards, using Openfeint 5. Challenges using Openfeint 6. Game Center 7. A map tool for level creation in a future update 8. Super smooth framerate and a very polished game What would people expect/except for such a game on price? We are talking about a game that would stand miles ahead of the 99c type of games but is strictly in the realms of 2D. To spend that amount of money on an iOS game of this type could be classed as high risk because in real terms to sell for 99c we would not get the development costs back if the game does not sell well. So I'm trying to find out how people feel about this... Would a game of higher production values and content be accepted with a higher price tag.
Think it would. But surely you 'might' make more selling it cheaper ? Eg a 99p game might sell 500,000 copies, a 3.99 game might only sell 50,000 as people might be put off by the price Look at ebay. People put things on at 99p to attract more bidders, there might be the same item on for sale with a starting price of £50. But that puts people off so they all bid on the same item which was 99p, then it goes for £70 (as so many people bid) and they could have gone for the other one which would have been cheaper ! The cheap prices get the good reviews and more people will buy them, i've bought many games thinking 'i might like this' if theres not a lite version, but as its 59p or 99p i give it a go, might only get an hour or two fun out of it before thinking 'nahhhh' but when its so cheap i think more people would give it a go.
I'd personally rather pay more for a deep game with lots of varied play, replay value, and higher production values than $0.99 for a game that won't last me more than an hour or two and get repetitive.
Yes.......... but not on the appstore. That game can only be sold on a PSP, DS, maybe even the downloadable services of other platforms, but not on an iDevice. Like Reggie Fils-Aime (president of Nintendo of America) mentioned, some people -- erroneously -- have adopted this mentality that a piece of gaming, no matter how good it is or not, should be just a couple bucks thanks to the Appstore prices.
I don't mind paying more money for games. All of the things you listed sound great I would pay more for them but the actual gameplay and enjoyment value has to be there as well, or the things you listed mean nothing.
I'd been preparing for, and will gladly pay, $10 - $15 for fully fledged, high production value games.
Ok here is my take from the time I been here. Most people will not touch a game unless its 99 cents. The only time people sort of break away from it is when you make a game like dead space or a game with super high quality graphics. Even gameloft and EA drop thier prices because people are so cheap. Iam not one of the cheapies but Iam far from the norm here.
A mixed bag of thought here... Some people will and some people will not. Price wise, I'm thinking of around 2.99/3.99 USD because it's 2D and not 3D. The game concept is very original, it will be the first of it's type on any platform and judging by the prototype it is pretty addictive. If you do the numbers for 99c you need to get around a 130,000 downloads to break even. And from my past experience on the App Store selling at 1.99USD it took well over a year to generate the money we expected. We will probably invest in the game because we will be going down the multi-platform route but my God this is very risky to do. In a way it will be very hard for the App Store to mature as a viable platform for games with higher production values in it's present state. I certainly believe the game warrants the development and hopefully it may change the thought patterns that if it's above 99c then I will not buy it attitude.
Please keep in mind that TA does not reflect even a fraction of the iPhone market. You are looking at much more serious gamers here.
