So I just got an email from Nintendo about their Switch holiday game sale. As it turns out, there are many game that I bought this year — and paid full price for — included in the sale. Adding it up quickly, waiting until the sale would have saved me about $120. I am sure I’m not the only one in this situation. My question is: where’s the outrage? Why aren’t people yelling “rip-off” and swearing off “premium” games on the Switch? Compare that to the AppStore, where people scream bloody murder when a $4.99 game goes on sale for $2.99. Why are so many people who buy premium games on the AppStore so quick to get on a soapbox about a couple bucks, but willingly to put up with $30 drops on $60 Switch games? Perhaps it’s time to get a sense of proportion when talking about AppStore economics.
AFAIK, it's a combination of: 1) Switch gamers aren't that phased by having to pay more 2) They know that paying more yields in a better gaming experience 3) They like staying with Switch since that's where some of the unique games are that can't be replicated (or willingly) on iOS. Examples in include but not limited to various games also on Steam, and Nintendo 1st party titles.
I think a large part of it is the demographic of each console. Switch games are more expensive and tend to be purchased by “someone else” (a parent, for example) or by people who have more disposable income - the console buy-in cost is already fairly high. iPhone gamers skew younger, towards people. I remember a time when spending $2.99 on a game was a big deal because I literally only had $3 to spend. You weigh up between one $3 game or three $1 games... Combine that with a volatile nature of sales on the App Store; compared to consoles. Consoles tend to stick to big holiday sales - Christmas, Black Friday, Easter and so on. All times when sales are commonplace and even expected. Mobile games go on sale for any number of reasons at literally any time: the dev noticed a dip in sales, panicked and halved the price; it’s their birthday; Venus is in retrograde; you name it. The mindsets and expectations are different.
Yeah, still doesn’t make it right when people (and I mean adults) lose it over a $3.99 game going free. Granted, this is less of an issue now that there are fewer premium games. And I didn’t even mention Steam sales...
Also it depends on the price fluctuation and the initial amount. I will admit if I paid full price for Civ VI and the next month it’s half off I would feel a bit chaffed and it’s even worse if the publisher makes a habit out of doing this tactic seemingly every other month. I consider that bad business since it’s a slap in the face to your customers willing to pay the full price. If Aspyr feels the full price is too steep and has to pull flash sales to generate buzz then the initial price is set too high. Don’t get me wrong I think Civ VI is a great game to have on iOS but I am not the biggest fan of how they went about their business. When it comes to lower priced premiums I think your right. People shouldn’t lose it over a couple of bucks but I believe a lot of that frustration comes from the AppStore being traditionally cheap. Games like Darkest Dungeon are priced much higher on the Nintendo store while on iOS it costs as much as a pack of gum. Most iOS gamers are used to free or next to nothing while console users are used to paying much larger amounts for software.
Is the majority of mobile gamers now kids? It thought this day in age, we'd still have a fair amount of adults who partake in mobile gaming. I myself will admit that while I can afford a lot of mobile games, I don't b/c of time. I've sort of taken to that "Steam approach" of if I finish a game, I can buy 2 more. I've already purchased a library of games at discount, years ago, that I should be able to fall back to (assuming they have no major show stoppers). The AppStore is too saturated. Even after the "App-ocolypse", and Apple's somewhat usual purging of apps that haven't gotten support in a long while, there's still too much choice. It's still a "consumer market". I don't believe there's enough demand for all the premium games that the gamers are crying for (remember, the TA community is just the vocal minority). For some who want a more premium experience, they'll just go to Steam or console. There are developers who've given up on mobile b/c the price ceiling on iOS and Android tends to be $5. Anything more than that, and you lose A LOT of volume sales b/c that seems to be the figure that tops any sort of sufficient impulse buys. On Steam or Switch, they can up that to $20, or more, no problem. As a bonus, they're not at the mercy when Apple updates iOS, and they now have to pour in a whole bunch of work to "fix" something that was already implemented.
I couldn’t agree more. I would love for certain high profile premiums to be released for my latest apple device but I understand why. Why should a big name pubisher release their big premium game when they’ll have to sell next to nothing for those impulse buys. The user skepticism with purchasing premium games because of, like you said, iOS updates that break certain games or a large amount of software makes it difficult for some people to invest in that big premium on the App Store.
I think it's important to remember that most people *expect* holiday sales and things of that sort, so I suppose they wouldn't find it amiss to have the price drop significantly. I tend to hold off on any game purchases if a major holiday or sale period is close, such as Steam sale dates for PC games. I don't always wait, if it's a title I really want to support, and don't mind if I don't get a discount.
