How much is a fair price for Automation

[AlfaDave]

still tho guys you dont want to be pitching the price of your game at the same as these guys the main game makers as they have trust and a reputation.
http://game.gamesplanet.com/buy-downloa ... es-42.html

as u may have a fan base at the moment but surely you want to have a wider appeal and you will need to set your price at a price that people will take a gamble if the game is ok or not as they wont have a clue as you do not have any background history. and being as times are hard for people they wont take a gamble on a game just for the sake of it.

[AlfaDave]

http://game.gamesplanet.com/buy-downloa ... 92-42.html
this is a very close game apart from its to do with f1. you research the engine and other parts and body work. yet this game is only £10.99 as a digital download
http://www.kalypsomedia.com/en/games/index.shtml thats a big firm and a trusted firm yet its a cheaper price as lots of buyers at lower price makes more money than a few buyers at a higher price.

[Kubboz]

Alfa, This is not F1 game. It's Automation. And Automation deserves a higher price

[Drake]

still tho guys you dont want to be pitching the price of your game at the same as these guys the main game makers as they have trust and a reputation.
http://game.gamesplanet.com/buy-downloa ... es-42.html

as u may have a fan base at the moment but surely you want to have a wider appeal and you will need to set your price at a price that people will take a gamble if the game is ok or not as they wont have a clue as you do not have any background history. and being as times are hard for people they wont take a gamble on a game just for the sake of it.

Yeah, they have a reputation for making Rubbish Games

They make bland, heartless, unimaginative games.. Basically the kind of games that end up in a Bargain bin at Walmart, and they are priced as such.

And I think you are wrong.. Setting the price too low will just mean much less profits. I doubt there are people that would play a demo, and look at videos and screenshots of Automation and not buy it because its "too expensive". Automation is a niche game, and should be priced as such. If someone wouldn't buy it at 40$, they wouldn't buy it at 20, or 10$ either.

People will pay 70$ for the latest Call of Duty game, and for what?.. A few extra maps? A few extra guns? A storyline nobody cares about?.. Its the same unimaginative rubbish they've released so many times I've lost count of how many CoD games there are... Yet it sells, and it sells very well. So don't give me that 'in this economy people won't take a risk' BS, because if gamers were really that hard up for cash they would just play the previous CoD game, which is just the same thing anyways.

And that is a Genre that is over saturated with games. There is no competition to Automation, so they can pretty much charge what they want, and a large majority will pay it. Hell I'd pay 70$ for this. I paid as much for StarCraftII, and despite being a great game I hardly play it. I'd pay more even because I know I'd get my moneys worth out of it. 40$ is more than a fair price, Its a quality niche game for second rate game money.

That isn't to say Automation doesn't have the possibility of wide appeal. I think almost every male between the ages of 14-40 loves cars, and would jump at the chance to build and tune their own cars. Then you have the people who just like business management games, and if that aspect of Automation lives up to what is planned, then they too would want to buy it.

http://game.gamesplanet.com/buy-download-pc-games/Pole-Position-2010-1892-42.html
this is a very close game apart from its to do with f1. you research the engine and other parts and body work. yet this game is only £10.99 as a digital download
http://www.kalypsomedia.com/en/games/index.shtml thats a big firm and a trusted firm yet its a cheaper price as lots of buyers at lower price makes more money than a few buyers at a higher price.

How is that anything like Automation? Its a Racing Manager game with some research aspects; its completely different from Automation.

There are a bunch of games like that, and I have played a couple and they were Rubbish. I haven't played that one, but I wouldn't waste my money on it..

[dread_darven]

I think the pricing and pricing strategy can only be determined once there is enough attention for this game and we will see some coverage of it on ign for example.

On a side off topic note, anyone know a f1 manager game like that pole position 2010, but then good ?(doesnt matter which year it came out)

[Deus ex Machina]

@ alfa:

u ever played pole pos 2010?!?

best wing setup is 1200kg downforce, regardless of track / weather.



the rule changes were a nice touch; but as always, its the usability that counts, and that was crap, since sometimes u gotta use 16 cyl engines, which u cant build and therefore have to buy.

also it always changes EVERYTHING, meaning the parts u developed one year are scrap carbon fiber the next 90 % of the time. (it gives a range for eg. wings, so if u r lucky the new range overlaps so that your wings are still legal)


and those are just the things i still remember after a year....

[Daffyflyer]

@Alfadave

I don't think the reputation of the company counts for that much to be honest - except in a few cases, like Valve for example, I never really pay attention to who made a game.

I'm more concerned with the reviews and if it looks fun from trailers etc.




Pole Position is a similar sort of game broadly, but so for example is - Football Manager (A quite niche and technical game, not really targeted at mainstream audiences, you have to love football) http://www.gamersgate.com/DDB-FM2011/fo ... nager-2011
and it is, no kidding, 58 pounds!


I'm not saying we would want to charge that much, or even that we'd charge any more than pole position, but just pointing out that games of this variety vary wildly in price.

The question is, is our audience niche enough (like football manager) that we can afford to charge a fair bit and we won't lose many sales as the casual crowd who has just stumbled across it won't buy it anyway?

Or does it have enough mainstream appeal that if priced low, lots of people will stumble across it and buy it on a whim.


I know it sounds greedy, talking about the best ways to get money out of everyone - but in the end its not about us getting rich, its about us making enough money to quit our jobs and make more games, we have some pretty cool ideas (we think) we'd love to make, but without money its just not going to happen.

[AlfaDave]

that football manager game is £19.99

[AlfaDave]

if u dont think people buy safe then why do golfs sell so much they are less reliable than they used to be but the reputation holds for them.
im just thinking from a business side of things in this current economy. the uk market is a big market to out price yourself from. and at the moment so many people are out of work. so yes i think a game set at a slightly bargain bin price not £4.99 for instance like a £15 mark would be a good price as every one can afford that no matter what the state of their work situation is. look at the tv add for things they vary from around 19.99 to £29.99 and thats for fitness stuff. which people will pay a little more for as they think if they buy fitness stuff they can indulge in other stuff.
oh and my references are my dad owns his own printing company and has been marketing director of many companies and even through the 80's depression and thats how he kept businesses alive was to market the price right. if you take my advise or not i know i can afford the game and probs most of the fans on your site but thats only small numbers compared to the vast amount of people. 200 X £29.99 is no where as much as 2000 x £15.99.

you have to remember also like you have said you cant make things look like other games as it will take too much time. as that will be a negative if you price yourself at the same price as more mainstream games as people will expect a completely polished game. cod is so popular and price like that due to its pick up and play style and the game is graphicly rounded very well. you might think cod is crap but for the majority the rest of the people think its amazing. also the other problem is you want to price the game to a point where people wont think its better to change it a little and therefore not need to pay for it lots of games get copied and downloaded.

[AlfaDave]

this is what i see for your link daffy http://www.dumpt.com/img/viewer.php?fil ... 3abre7.jpg
i think maybe they got the converter wrong as i selected place england and it come up with £19.99

[AlfaDave]

i did play pole position was too confusing so i did not play it again.

[AlfaDave]

also daffy you need to get the $$ out of your eyes and think logical. its easy to make a quick buck but not easy to make a million

[AlfaDave]

here a game for hardcore niche gamers sniper for consoles sold at the same price as cod but did not sell anywhere near as many. i know i waited for the game for a few months to get it second hand as in alot cheaper i got it for £14.99 not the £39.99 it was new to try it as i was not sure if i would like it and it had amazing trailers and screen shots. this was the same with a few of my friends they waited for the price to drop then waited for me to try it first b4 buying it. it was a good game had some amazing features over cod but also had some drawbacks like some things did not work as smooth and it did not seem as polished. they were my down sides and if i would of brought the game for full price i would of took it back.

[Daffyflyer]

Whoa... Getting a little over excited there.

I don't see it being likely to be priced over about 20 pounds, I'm just pointing out that there is a fairly wide range of pricing between games of this nature and there is a lot for us to consider when deciding a strategy in that regard.

also daffy you need to get the $$ out of your eyes and think logical. its easy to make a quick buck but not easy to make a million

Ok, now that's just a low blow - As I've said, we aren't looking to get rich (although I'd hardly complain if we do) but what it comes down to is if we are going to make more games, we need more time, making games only in our spare time is going to make games take a long time to finish and our rent/food/software licencing isn't free, bare in mind that before we even sell a copy we are going to be out nearly $40k of our own money!

Don't get me wrong, we arent looking to price anywhere near full retail games.


I would also ask you to remember that you are one of the few people we have let into our beta test, so whilst I'm happy to accept well reasoned arguments for the most sucessful pricing strategy, I think its starting to decend into a bit of a personal attack..




Edit: Oh, and that 58 pounds was converting from the aussie price (about $90) - so it might indeed be priced differently for the UK market

[Daffyflyer]

*edited into the last post*