Maybe for AAA devs. I’m thinking of indie devs as well, who may not be thinking of “big business extract max profit no matter what” optimizations.
You also seem to be leaving out of the equation that some customers will buy a game for $15 but not for $20. If selling at $15 on Steam would give too little money, but selling for $15 on Epic would give enough money, it doesn’t seem absurd selling at $20 on Steam (with the biggest market) and for $15 on Epic (with the higher margin) to reach a few extra customers with the lower price point.
The reason games go on sale so often is because lower prices can mean more sales. Lower middleman cuts can allow for lower prices.
you sell it for the highest possible price that doesn’t lose you too many customers aka the “sweet spot” > Indie devs charge less not because they are less greedy but because in the public eye an indie game isn’t “worth as much” as a AAA game.
For example: most people happily pay $70 for the new Silent Hill but no one will pay $70 for Vampire Survivors because its an “Arcade/Indie” Game even tough it has more gameplay/playtime and millions of people just loved it as much or even more
now you got the money of everyone who is willing to pay “full price” > so you put it on sale for $50 (obviously time limited) this manipulates people that kinda want the game but aren’t willing to pay “full price” to buy it because it’s “on sale” and the human brain loves when stuff is on sale (just look at black Friday, people buy because its on sale and not essentially because they need or really want it)
In other words people buy things based on perceived value and not what its actually worth, if something “costs” $100 but is always on sale for $25 it seems like a “HUGE VALUE” even is it is just worth $10 and if something is below the expected base price the human brain goes “there must be something wrong with it”
so lowering the base price on epic will just make people think “something must be wrong with the epic version” + people a subset of people will wait for a sale no matter the price, they just wont pay “full price” so if you start at $70 and sell it for $50 they are happy but they wouldn’t have bought it if the price was $50 from the beginning > they would have waited for the price to be $35
While on paper your argument sounds logical, people aren’t logical and the masses are easily manipulated > thats the job of every marketing person, marketing is just another word for manipulation.
Maybe for AAA devs. I’m thinking of indie devs as well, who may not be thinking of “big business extract max profit no matter what” optimizations.
You also seem to be leaving out of the equation that some customers will buy a game for $15 but not for $20. If selling at $15 on Steam would give too little money, but selling for $15 on Epic would give enough money, it doesn’t seem absurd selling at $20 on Steam (with the biggest market) and for $15 on Epic (with the higher margin) to reach a few extra customers with the lower price point.
The reason games go on sale so often is because lower prices can mean more sales. Lower middleman cuts can allow for lower prices.
In other words people buy things based on perceived value and not what its actually worth, if something “costs” $100 but is always on sale for $25 it seems like a “HUGE VALUE” even is it is just worth $10 and if something is below the expected base price the human brain goes “there must be something wrong with it”
so lowering the base price on epic will just make people think “something must be wrong with the epic version” + people a subset of people will wait for a sale no matter the price, they just wont pay “full price” so if you start at $70 and sell it for $50 they are happy but they wouldn’t have bought it if the price was $50 from the beginning > they would have waited for the price to be $35
While on paper your argument sounds logical, people aren’t logical and the masses are easily manipulated > thats the job of every marketing person, marketing is just another word for manipulation.