Haha well this game hasn't even came out yet, why are you so worried about the Expansion pack? It will come out, and it will probably be the same price, but remember there might be Online Multiplayer too right ?
Sounds like a fair price to me, I mean... You did put your sweat and blood into it, and your team also. Lets just stick with $3.99 for the first 3 days as a sale, then make it $6.99. Sound good ? Then it will be a win-win for everyone!
Thanks - I really hope luck is on our side for this release! Everything is going smoothly at the moment. Knock on wood...
If that's the case then I guess there is no reason why you couldn't charge more. It seems odd.. but the Underworlds update did supposedly give 1.5 or 2x the content of the original. I would think it mainly depends on development costs and the success of the game itself.
The online multiplayer is promised in an expansion pack.. I'm not "worried" about it. I just think that since Cresent Moon Games is focused that much on expansions that they should have a low price for the initial game and have the same price or a few dollars more (depending on the expansion's content).
the great news about the expansion is - we have some truly talented artists lined up to work on it. I won't have to do so much this time, and I can concentrate on making sure Russ gets what he needs. If this is selling decently, Russ is going to hire someone to help him out too.
Real Racing was unknown IP: started at $9.99, and we already know how it's done. Sure, Firemint had Flight Control first, but I can assure you that people did not buy Real Racing because they thought Flight Control was a neat little app. They bought it because they thought it blew away the competition -- it was the first console-quality racer on the platform. The audience for such games is necessarily smaller than the audience for a casual game like Flight Control (you don't play RR while waiting in line at the bank). Considering development costs, the only way to make a profit with a premium game is to charge a premium price. In a market economy, pricing generally moves in only one direction over time: down. Starting at 9.99 gives you a lot more room to move than 6.99 or 4.99. This is not a matter of "becoming millionaires" as you so condescendingly put it: it's a matter of survival. And frankly, I would prefer it if great developers actually remained on this platform and didn't feel a need to move to another one -- but I'm greedy that way. [Edit: When I speak of market economy, I'm referring specifically to entertainment products and technology. Other kinds of goods can obviously fluctuate in price, based on scarcity, consumer demand, etc.)
just to reiterate... theres no char customization, the main reason I want this game, and i still voted $9.99, this game looks big enough to hold me for longer than 10 .99c games, so I say might as well price it that way, and I hope that the expansion comes out fast... Because I dont want to restart cause my char looks fugly.
I would pay between $6.99-$9.99 for this game and can't wait till it is released. I think that is reasonable for a game developed by a newcomer with less than a handful of people working on it and unless you are doing some seriously ground breaking stuff that will set a new standard for gaming on the device I wouldn't set my price higher than games developed by dev teams with industry legends like John Carmack on them. So the questions you need to ask yourself are: 1) What am I doing that is new and ground breaking? 2) What is the length of my game? 3) What is the quality of my content? 4) How polished is my product? Take the answer to these questions and compare them to other games on the market and see what they are priced at. Good luck with Ravensword, I look forward to playing it and hope you are well compensated for your efforts.
I think you you should have it at $9.99 for 1-3 weeks and then drop the price down to $6.99 because: 1) It's being published by Chillingo, a well known publisher. 2) It has already generated some hype seeing as it's been previed by toucharcade, slide to play, etc. and the youtube trailer has 30,000+ views and a 4.5 star rating. 3) There are many of us (including me) who are willing to pay $9.99 for it. 4) It's (looks like) a quality game! $4.99 just doesn't get enough income for all of the (apparently) hard work you put into this. EDIT: 5) People are used to paying $6.99 for a quality game, but many are going to get this as soon as it hits the app store.
Why do developers lower the price of their games? So more people buy them and the amount dropped will hopefully be countered by the amount of people buying it so more money is made. What Gameloft have seem to have decided on is a lower introductory price which is getting more people buying their game as it seems in recent times that unless the game has so much hype its not funny (Real Racing or Rolando) then it won't sell all that incredibly at $9.99 without a huge brandname. I think you should 'Do a Gameloft' as such and start at $6.99. If the demand is huge and the game gets in the Top 10 then I would consider a price raise if you give about 48 hours warning. Hope this helps
The whole point was that RR didn't do as well as it should have because of the price point and unknown IP as compared to NFS is, they simply felt the game was worth 9.99 ( and it is ) and kept it there but at the same time was nowhere near to be found on the top 100 for a good couple months after initial sales until the price drop to 6.99. For one of the best games on the platform it certainly didn't sell like it. Whether its worth 10 bucks or not if you sell 3x the amount at 5 bucks then you do at 10 you'll make more money and you have a better chance at getting in the top of the charts at 5 bucks then at 10 and as such will likely out sell what you would by least 2.5 times still making more money. It is about survival and thats why indie devs have to start small and hope to have enough money from other means/jobs to survive and hope they get noticed over time. You cant just wish it and hope people will buy games at 10 bucks cause it doesn't happen even if its worth it or they deserve it just cause you think so doesn't mean the average gamer out there who doesn't know of Spider until it starts climbing the charts and its at a low price point but if Madden comes out will instantly grab it at 10 bucks.
Yes, but Firemint themselves made more money off Real Racing than they ever did with Flight Control. Having a spot in top 100 doesn't always guarantee great revenue, although it does give you visibility. As for bad unit sales, that comes down to the markets. As Nintendo hath proven time and time again, casual gaming is the way to go. So it's no surprise that a fun casual game like Flight Control sells wells, whereas a pretty hardcore sim racer like Real Racing doesn't.
Thanks for making that point -- saved me the time. It should be added that the only value the top 100 list has is as a marketing tool: it makes your game visible in a crowded store. There are, however, other ways to achieve the same thing: YouTube, blogs, forums, interviews, media coverage, etc. More important, marketing begins before you even start working on the game, by understanding the marketplace and defining a viable position where your product can dominate. Josh and Co. have done a great job in both positioning the game and getting the word out about it. I have no doubt that they will find a ready audience for their efforts. All that, of course, will only work if the game is great. Guess we'll have to wait to know for sure.
Uhh $19.99? Since when did games in the appstore cost over $10 before taxes? Well I voted for $4.99, since most other RPGs like Zenonia and Hybrid are around that price; shouldn't be much above that price tag.
I only put that choice in there to have a wide range of choices. While Zenonia is a great 2d rpg on the iPhone, I can't imagine that the development costs are as high as making a true 3d rpg, which is why we are going for a high price tag here. Having said that, I don't know what their development costs were, so I'm only guessing. Believe me I'm not knocking Zenonia - I have it on my phone! Theres just so much that goes into 3d animated stuff on the iPhone, which is why Gameloft and Firemint charge premiums for their games. Do you remember that Hero of Sparta came out at 9.99?
You are comparing cell-phone style RPGs with a console/PC style RPG -- that doesn't work. I'm not knocking Zenonia or Hybrid, since they're both very good for what they are, but they're in a different league altogether.
Hey maybe people will mistake it for a Gameloft game. BTW, have you bought Dungeon Hunter to see all the stuff people like in that game? ou were talking about that in the other thread.
