Hero of Sparta: Price Drop ($0.99)!

[salsamd]

It would be nice if Sega, Pangea and Gameloft released some sales figures plotted over time. Then there would be objective data from which this discussion could move forward. As it stands everything is theoretical based on more generic marketing principles.

[Moonmist]

I belive Gameloft has another strategy in mind. I belive that they reduced the price of HoS because aren't they supposedly creating HoS 2 right now?

Now if your getting ready to release a sequel relatively soon, I would drop the price on the original to get people "hooked" to the franchise.

Think about how many more people are going to buy the sequel now because they played and enjoyed the original. HoS 2 probably builds on the story of HoS too, so you wouldn't want to play the second one without first beating this one.

If this is the case then I think Gameloft has a good business strategy.

[dmbfan1192]

Originally Posted by Moonmist

I belive Gameloft has another strategy in mind. I belive that they reduced the price of HoS because aren't they supposedly creating HoS 2 right now?

Now if your getting ready to release a sequel relatively soon, I would drop the price on the original to get people "hooked" to the franchise.

Think about how many more people are going to buy the sequel now because they played and enjoyed the original. HoS 2 probably builds on the story of HoS too, so you wouldn't want to play the second one without first beating this one.

If this is the case then I think Gameloft has a good business strategy.

Well I sure as hell am not going to buy HoS 2 at $10 and probably will wait until it hits at least $2.99. Same with their other games. I have a whole list of devs that do this. I wait until Pangea's games hit $0.99 and I wait until Nimblebit's games become free. It's in general a good strategy because it will gain visibility of new iPhone owners but it's also going to hurt their initial sales of future games.

[rpb1975]

How much has sega made on the app store? Just curious if you actually know.

Also, EA dropped their prices quickly too on their new releases, so I don't think you can use them. Gameloft is having limited time sales rather than permanent price drops. Enjoy it while you can.

By the way, Gameloft has proven to be a very solid developer on the platform. I don't think they need any coaching on their business strategies from high schoolers and/or college students.

Originally Posted by spiffyone

How much money has Sega made in the app store?

How much has EA made?

How much have the publishers following the model I've outlined?

Answer:

On individual apps, they've made more.

So, I'm going with Sega, EA, and the rest on this one. You can join hands with Gameloft, Pangea, and the rest of the publishers who've done the "race to the bottom" hula and sing the "I'd like to buy the world a Coke" song instead of doing the $afety Dance if you'd like, but that doesn't mean that you're following the right trends.

No offense.

[meder87]

There are so many games in the app store. There is so much competition that companies have to match up with their competitors. Some of these drastic price drops seem stupid to those who look at it in a logical sense. Maybe look at it this way. I assume this is how it works with revenue on games. A game is created and released for people to buy.

The first goal is for the company to make back all the money for the time put into the game, paying every person involved with it. So after that first step is done then the company wants to actually make money off it. Then finally from there the company just wants to make revenue. With games like Hero of Sparta, Asphalt 4, Let's Golf they have probably sold all the copies they are going to sell. Heroes of Sparta could have dropped to $3 and maybe made some more money, stayed off the top 100, and then be forgotten. So instead they can drop the price to $0.99 and probably sell a large amount of copies that surpasses what they would make at $3, make it to the top 100, and be able to market the company and the game. That cheap price causes customers to probably look at what other games that company has to offer. Maybe they might have other games that the customer didn't even know about. These $0.99 games for Gameloft markets for them.

Most games that don't drop in price or "set the standard" for how price drops should work don't know consumers very well. People have been screwed over for a long time in the console world. You have to pay out the butt for games that sometimes should not be the price they are. To see a price drop you have to wait sometimes longer then you want. In the app store your seeing a trend where companies can't get away with over pricing. Yes, these companies have make to money because they have families to feed, but it doesn't mean consumers have money money laying around to pay for games at high prices.

[GodSon]

Why am I not surprised? Oh well...I am still satisfied even though i got it at $5.99. It's a good title imo.

[mek]

i would not have picked this game up ...but for 99 cents...hey why not
gameloft made a sale that they otherwise would not of, plus 100,000+ others when the game made it into the top 100

[Eli]

I think all these armchair business experts that come out of the woodwork when any game goes on sale are pretty amusing. Surely GameLoft, a publicly traded company with a $200 million dollar market cap, a CEO who has been around since the birth of video games, and over 4000 worldwide employees have absolutely no idea what they're doing.

[Devilishly Good]

If for some reason anyone is hesitating even at 99 cents...pick it up...loads of button mashing fun with this game. A must download at this price IMO.

[salsamd]

Originally Posted by Hodapp

I think all these armchair business experts that come out of the woodwork when any game goes on sale are pretty amusing. Surely GameLoft, a publicly traded company with a $200 million dollar market cap, a CEO who has been around since the birth of video games, and over 4000 worldwide employees have absolutely no idea what they're doing.

Well, at least it keeps things interesting, for there is otherwise little substantive value of this thread, but to bring the sale to the attention of the masses. Anyone, who enjoys iDevice gaming and doesn't already own this game, and still balks at its purchase, gets the raised eyebrow of confusion from me.