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[Woseseltops]

Interesting article over at the Steam Spy blog: https://galyonk.in/the-indie-games-are-too-damn-cheap-11b8652fad16

Not sure if I agree, any thoughts from you guys on this topic?

[ｂ∀ ｋｋｕｓａ]

the article would be more interesting if they put the fact that a lot of indies lately are coming  from russia & south america where they usually need less money to break-even.

[Grandlion1981]

Since everyone can make a game now, quality requirements and IPs will become more and more important. Keep in mind that there are some famous IPs that are not too expensive that you could use for your game, this would help you get more Media coverage as well. For instance first game about IP X is always a good story.

[Josh Bossie]

tI get the argument. I think the "race to the bottom" issue is very evident on mobile and that market still hasn't really recovered from it - and maybe never will.

Still, I agree with Grandlion1981: the thing about indie games is that the barrier of entry has never been lower. That means you can charge much less to recoup your costs, and it just makes "sense" that a cheaper game will be easier to sell than an expensive one, especially for a new developer

I also don't like his example of Jonathan Blow and The Witness. I'm happy Blow has had success, but make no mistake: it is largely because Braid came out with an enormous marketing push from Microsoft in a time when being indie was novel. He has a big reputation, especially among journalists which very much helped The Witness.

If you or I tried to release a puzzle game for $40 it would not sell - full stop.

[FreeFly]

I do not agree at all with the article.

First and most important, most of the indie games have relatively small production costs. A game such as Assassin's creed has hundreds of people working on it, you can watch the final credits for over ten minutes and see new names raining on your screen. Those people have a cost, while many indie studios work from a rather small and cheap studio, assuming they have one.

Second, advertising. You need money to make money, and big industries can spend millions in advertising, and need to get those money back from the game (and merchandise, but this is another subject). If you can't pay for advertising, it's going to take you forever to reach the same amount of people.

Third, big companies already have an audience, and it is often brand-based. The last Battlestar Galactica game is not something worth it IMHO, but I bought it, because fucking hell, it's BG and I wanted to try it. And this works with all big brands. And if you are an indie, even with the best game in history, you need to get to people somehow, they won't come to you, at least at the beginning. It's easy to bring Jonathan Blow as example, he already had a 450,000 people audience, a name, and million of dollars to invest (See the second point).

Fourth, the article talks about average games, and being fair, the average indie game on steam sucks. It's true that many indie games are great and they should charge more for their product, but I'd say that those are the exceptions, not the rule. Many games aren't worth a penny for what they give, at least from the gaming experience.

These are just my 2cents of course, but on average, I tend to agree with Ron Gilbert, "Never pay a game more than 20$"

[Fun Infused Games]

As someone that has sold a whole lot of games at the $1 mark, I agree with this article 100%. I have come to realize that my games aren't going to appeal to every single gamer but there are a subset of gamers that will really like them and will happily play a premium price for those games. That is my target market and who I want to sell to at a price that feels fair to them.

To underscore this point, my best selling game on Steam was released at $1 and got all kinds of "such an amazing value for this game" sort of reviews. My best selling game also happens to be my LEAST profitable release (besides my Ouya ports, but those hardly count).

Unless you luck into Flappy Bird sort of virility, you aren't going to make your most money selling cheap games. And so very few people will have such fortune. Instead target those that are into your style of game and price for them.

[SouldomainTM]

Gamers want to pay more for my game? Do I look like that I would stop them? :D

It's called capitalism. Raise the prices, and then observe. If your forum glows, then you may have gone too far.

For instance, I bought INSIDE for 10 Euros if I recall. But it's normal price is whopping 20 Euros! And that for ONLY ~3 hours of gameplay. Yes, INSIDE as a high quality indie game. No, I don't think that they forums were glowing with complaints at all. I think I was the only one who complained. So that's why I waited, and only bought it for 10. Normally I don't wait, or hesitate to pay for games. But INSIDE is too expensive.

People complained about Steam World Dig, being too expensive with its 15 Euros price tag. And being too short. But this game could amass ~7 hours of game time, if I recall. And the quality also is quite decent there. Maybe, to be fair, INSIDE also got quite detailed levels compared to Steam World Dig.

[Josh Bossie]

Actually I think the #1 complaint of Inside was the length. Ditto with Limbo before it. It's an evergreen argument

I have similar feelings toward Inside as I do The Witness - if it wasn't for their previous release and heavy backing by Microsoft then the sequel would simply not have sold at a 'premium' price for what it is

[ionside]

I think there are too many factors to take into account to give an average price for an indie game. It could be a solo developer working on the game, but they may have spent years developing it - so one factor is time = cost.

The skill level of the developer(s): skilled developers would normally create something quicker than someone who is learning as they go.

Quality of the game: a highly polished game with solid gameplay, should effect game cost.

But the same could go for a 'AAA' game with a large budget. Should it only charge more if it was expensive to make?

Who's to just the quality of a game?

I think we should look at the film industry where there is relatively the same price no matter the film budget and who directed it (whether the cost is a movie ticket, DVD or what have you).