I have started game development over year ago and I have recruited several people - some of them left right away but two of them are still with me and we have quite a solid team - and we have learned a lot during this time.

Anyways - after this long development time now there is a task "start selling game" in our project list. Dated: "in March".

I have had a pricing model in my mind for 6 months now and I have tweaked it last week and would appreciate if you could have any comments on this.

the model
prices in US dollars :)

1st quarter 2004 = first version 0.6 in sale (price: 10$)
2nd quarter = v0.7 finished (15$)
3rd quarter = v0.8 finished (20$)
last quarter = v0.9 (25$) and 1st expansion pack (10$) => together 30$

2005:
v1.0 some day = 30$? 1st expansion pack (10$) => together 35$

I'm not sure about that 30 dollar price in the end - we could left it to $25 if it seems appropriate at that time.

Anyways. What would you think about this model?

Our game is 3D multiplayer game where you don't kill anyone - you use your wits and win together - in two teams. Graphics are nice and game idea perhaps original? (at least I have never heard about a "3D multiplayer game where you control small creatures which try to pile up stones together ;)")

The crucial parts of the pricing model are that
-upgrades are free (if you buy v0.6 you get v0.7, v0.8 etc. for free)
-there wouldn't be any monthly subscription costs
-later we would provide an expansion pack with more monsters and levels and this would cost about 10$
-30-day money back quarantee

community
the other (extensial) part of the model is that only paid customers could take a part in our forums. only paid customers organize game times (using our system) and only paid customers could add & vote for new features.

what do you think of this?

I thought it would be very good idea to have little but intense community where few people would have lots of chances to participate (instead of lots of people having few possibilities to participate).

I think this could work - but I'm quite sure there should be also possibility to "ask before you buy" notes which new (potential) customers could use to ask questions like "should I buy this game? is this a good game? and what I get for this and that?" and stuff like that - whatever they have in their mind. and both us (developers) and paying customers (citizens? :)) could answer to these questions.

You can find some info (but not much eye-candy, no screenshots, no demo) from our website: www.morphlings.com if you wish to check out what's coming there.

Comments & suggestions?

No dedicated server means you may run into some big trouble achieving critical mass.

A scaled price system has the pro of it creates incentive to buy as long as you CLEARLY state your intentions. Not only will clearly stating them improve your spontanious purchasers but it also prevents some backlash.

The only problem I may see with it is that the largest quantity of your sales will come from the intial fanfare of your product, when your game is cheapest. This may negatively impact your oberall profitability.

However, I think it may be worth the risk to pick up the extra users and get your closer to critical mass.

Joseph Lieberman

I actually popped by your site a little while ago (must have been some other post that pointed to it) and was dying to see some screenshots... but there are still none :( (sniff)!

My two cents:

As for the pricing model, I think it might be better to start with a more finished released (i.e. closer to 1.0) and a price higher to your final price. The difference between $10 and $19 is not much for most people, the difference between a game that doesn't quite feel finished yet and a game that has been polished is huge. You might turn some customers off with an early release, and they might not give you a second chance.

I think a private community can work wonders, if you have enough people to visit and if the community can give them something worthwhile. For Return To Wonderland, I started a private community (link to it only from within the registered game), and so far the response has been better than I could have imagined, with more than 500 good quality posts and already over 50 custom levels (all in under two months). And none of those "This game suxxors my roxxors" posts from non-registered trolls.

Good luck with your game. Hope to see it soon, it certainly has me intrigued!

Good points guys.

@Terin: but there is one catch. We will provide the game so that not-registered and registered players play the same game. so when non-registered guy starts hosting game - registered players can join there and visa versa.

My idea here was to get funding - at least small amount in the start and encourage people to buy NOW :) maybe they will even tell other people to buy now as well..

and - when we have polished the game enough we shall launch the expansion pack to get paid customers to hopefully pay some more.

but I listen to your words. I listen to them carefully and think about the risks. Thank you for your opinions.

@Midnight: you have some similar thoughts with Terin. I shall think them. and thanks for your encouraging words. I promise we will put some screenshots visible - when we get some! :)

I won't totally forget this pricing model, but I will think to polish it a little.. maybe I should start selling the game a bit higher price (like 15 or 20) and then increment it to (25 or 30). but this decicion can't be done so quickly. I need to think this better (and try to imagine it from the customer point-of-view).

more comments & criticism are welcome!

Have you considered starting with a price that is closer to your planned final price, and offering players who buy early a bonus of some sort. That way, you don't have as much price movement.

For instance, set the price at $19.95. With people who buy the early, pre-release versions getting minor in-game bonuses, recognition in the community (eg: symbols by their name), and so on. Then, when the official version is released, you discontinue the incentives. The players who bought early will feel good about helping you out in the "good old days", and will have status over the new players who join the game.

-David

@DavidRM: yes, I have thought about minor incentives (read your book ;)) but I was thinking them on top of lower price anyhow. Kai-Peter (www.mistaril.com) and Lauri Hyvärinen (www.frozenbyte.com) suggested a heavily reduced price but maybe they were talking about the same you speak here.

The fact is that I think that our v0.6 is certainly not complete. It will resemble more a like a "small demo" and that's why I thought it should be much lower than the latest price.

v0.7 will look something like GAME (hopefully ;)) and this is where we should have the reduced price, but near the full price.

In the first price model I had 4 (or 5) price steps. maybe I should reduce the steps and put price like:

=> v0.6 with $19.91 - get some status thingy if you buy
=> v0.7 with ($19.91 or) $24.42 (I like stupid figures) :P - also get some status thingies if you buy
=> and later versions $24.42 (or $29.92) (trying to scale which could be the right price for me) - no more status thingies given

(plus release the expansion pack with $9.99, or bonus offer of little reduced price (total of $29.92) if you buy it together with the full version of the game)

I think the final price would be that $24.42 - at least if I think what I could pay a game like this I could say I would spent like 20 euros = $24 (if it's a good game!) but that's about it. If I get both the game & expansion pack in 25 euros ($30) then I could buy them both. but that is my limit and I'm a student.... maybe spending 20 or 30 dollars ins't big bucks for working people?

Be careful of releasing your program to the public too early, because first impressions count. The people who sign up first are your early adopters, and probably the ones most likely to spread the word, so you need to impress them at least a little.

I've been involved in beta testing of some fairly major (non-game) products, and the early versions are usually, uhm, not so great. Testers can get really upset with the initially poor quality. One company did everything they could to make their testers happy - beta testing was free, update CDs were sent free by overnight courier (!), and they developed a sense of community between the testers. They gave testers a sense of ownership too - "hey, they wouldn't have found that bug without me!" "That feature was my suggestion!" By the time it got to the shelves, the testers were rabid fans, and the product was a hit.

On another product, customers had to pay to become testers, they had to pay for update CDs, the early versions weren't *that* impressive, and the communication wasn't always friendly. That product may still become a success, but the testers weren't as enthusiastic in the end as on the other product.


My second point is: Do not... I repeat... do not price based on what you would be prepared to pay for a game. Do NOT! I did that with my two products at first, and they were massively underpriced. When I finally learned to do basic market research (finding potential customers, giving them surveys asking pricing related questions) I found I could achieve maximum profit by charging nearly 4x as much! I hadn't even known that customers thought my products were underpriced. It is harder to raise your prices than to lower them, and even now (years later) I haven't reached that sweet-spot pricing.

Please keep this in mind before locking your prices in place! Just asking 30 prospective customers in an online survey (or even 10 if you're really struggling) will give you a much better sense of how your customers will react to your prices.


Sorry for the rant, I just don't want to see others make the mistakes I did.

@SyneRyder: thank you for your comments.

the first point: I think our demo shows where the game is going, but it won't have all the content that will be in v1.0 no no no. no.

the second point about the price: yes. very true. I'm currently reading about market research and I shall conduct one. very true.

but... I disagree that "it's harder to raise the prices than lower them". uh... I actually think it's quite the opposite. people who pay $100 for a product which price rises to $120 are not going to say anything. but people who pay $100 for a product which price decreases to $80 two weeks after they bought it will be disappointed and ask if they get refund or something.

but I shall ask. the only problem is that I really don't know where I should ask (well.. this was the first place ;)). Have to read more and do some witty plans how to proceed.

It depends on the situation morph.

Ill give you three scenarios.

Scenario 1, you are producing a game that is single player in nature. The updates are few, if any.

Does the person care that the price increaed? No, they probably would never find out.

Scenario 2, you run a game where players play the demo a LOT before upgrading. As in, perhaps your model, where a player may play the demo for months before they buy. Get a few thousand people playing the demo thinking about ugprading and suddenly you have a few thousand people angry that the price just got jacked up.

Scenario 3, you run a game that is a subscription based product, IE, our product FaitH. You jack up the price and suddenly not only have you pissed off thouse thousands of people playing the demo but you also pissed off however many people are paying subscription pricing.

Hope that helps illustrate the price increase vs. price the same.

You are looking more at scenario 2 which was why I originally posted you must make your price scheme ABUNDANTLY clear to everyone, so that the amount of upset people will be minimized.

Joseph Lieberman

Firstly, you pricing seems pretty sound, however if we are talking about a puzzle style game $19.95 is basicly the standard and I would be aiming for that mark.

Secondly I would not go around advertising "$14.95 for the version 0.6 release" instead use a gift certificate style method for you pricing. Now with yours your having five release stages so you will need to tie in your gift certificate scheme with that. Here is how I would approach it:

Release 0.6 -- Advertise you game has been released and for this quater only we are offering a huge 65% discount of the full price of the game and giving it to you for only $10 !! Thats a saving of $20 for this limited time.

Release 0.7 -- Due to the addition of feature xyz and the growing popularity of our game our team has decided to offer another certificate for a 50% discount of the full price of our game and giving it to you for only $15 !! Thats a saving of $15 dollars for this limited time.

ect.

Now the only thing you have to be carefull of is doing this too often. I would only have 3 release stages rather than five. When your full game is released you can then give out gift certificates to people who review your game for posting on their site and what not. If you do it too often this has a negative effect on the market (usually).

Just my 2 cents anyway :-P

Gah Sorry for the double post, please delete

@Terin: ah, oh yeah. that could be. it sometimes is that some things seem to be so clear to me (in thinking) that I don't write them down. okay. the first scenario could be.

but anyways: the scenario 2 is the thing which I comment. certainly - the price must be clearly stated: you buy now - you get the discount :) (like ScrewBall mentioned)

@ScrewBall: yeah, I was thinking 3-step system (on the price!) and I would announce stuff like that. of course the development continues AFTER v1.0 (v1.1, v1.2 etc... ;) - but before we can charge full price I think I will use either 2 or 3-step model. thank you for your comments.

and notice: the game is 3D online multiplayer game.

I think I got a good grip on this (the exact price is still mystery to me... but I shall think about it). thank you for your answers