The psychology of the price tag

Today I want to talk about the psychology of the price tag on potential players of our games. I should clarify that by price tag, I also include free to play games. Note that this is all the result of my personal speculations and some shady articles about people speculating on the web that I read (definitely not professional articles in a reputable journal).

Now, the price tag of game can certainly affect the decision of a potential buyer, or player if it's f2p. The thing is that it might not affect it like we believe it does. It would be nice if it's simply "the higher the price, the less likely they will buy" and "the lower the price, the more likely they will buy".

So first all, FREE TO PLAY games. My impression is that this will yield higher downloads than if it was not free. However, I think people expect a lot less from a free to play game than games they have to buy. F2p games might be seen as "inferior" and many people might not complete it, or even play more than an hour or 2.

Now on to COMMERCIAL games. Right of the bat, I think less people are going to buy your game than if it was free, but people might feel compelled to finish it because it is something they bought. But again, I think the pourcentage of people that actually finish a game isn't high (read some stats somewhere).

When deciding what the game is going to cost, the price tag certainly affects a potential buyer. I read somewhere that people are more likely to go for the 10$ game than a 5$ game because they expect the 10$ to be more refined than the 5$ game.

So what are your thoughts? It would be interesting to have some numbers. Like how many 5$ rpg maker games and how many 10$ rpg maker games, and also have the number of copies each sold.

I've been researching this kind of thing a fair amount recently, and yes, your pretty much on point.

For some reason, the human brain automatically values something more the more it costs. This is why idiots still line up for iphones even after all the bad press apple gets year after year. I mean, all their recent macbooks are essentially designed to fail after a short time - look into it...

Anyway, yeah, the more expensive something is, the higher people value it. I'm certain if you had 1000 people play and review your game, where half had paid $1-5, and the other half had paid $14-20, the half who had paid less would review it as such - meaning their average review score would not be as high as the half who had paid more.

It certainly gives you something else to consider when determining the price of your work. :)

It makes me think of a Quebec TV series called Bob Gratton.
The mower seller sells the most expensive mower to him.
And he says.
It's so expensive, it must be good.

Unfortunately many people think like that.
The more expensive it, should be more quality.
See fun scamer in action here :guffaw:


It's simple between cheese at 1$ and another mark at 2$, people buy one has 2$ because they think they have a better quality.
The marketing specialists understood it.

My economy teacher told me this story one day:

In a fair, one of his student was selling high-tech pillows. But he barely sold any. He didn't understand why, since the product was good and the fruit of advanced study in sleep and body position.
My teacher, who happened to be there as a visitor, asked him: "how much are you selling them?".
The student answered "Only 30 francs, but no one is buying them." (yes, it's an old story, before the euro. That's about $5).
My teacher advised him: "sell them 300 francs."
And guess what? It sold a lot better!

A mere 30 francs for a so called high-tech pillow was deemed too low by the public and they didn't believe it was a good product.
At 300, they were convinced it was good and worth its price.

@cabfe That's a good and sad story. Sad because the people will pay more for something they could have for less, but good for us because I guess that means we can sell games at higher prices.

In general, it is better to sell the product at a very high price initially, in order to sell your product to very rich people.
Then reduce the price for the average rich people to buy your product.
And in the end, reduce the price to the minimum to get people less rich.
But the last step applies to the field of technology.
These less true for the renewable product.

@Jonforum But do you think that if your goal is to have the more people playing your rpg maker game, free to play is the way to go?

I am not fan of free to play, I always find these games without interest.
In addition to the poorly honored approach. they create stupid objectif bogus in which you can make micro payments for cheating.

You must also calculate that as an independent RPG game developer, you will probably spend 3 or 4 years developing your engine and game.
It is necessary to return in your expenses.

Do not forget that a simple pizzaman will charge you $ 40 for a pizza that took him 20 minutes to make and 0 years of study.
An indie game sold $ 49 is therefore very reasonable.

Then if your goal is to touch a lot of people, my personal approach would be especially at the level of advertising and marketing. without forgetting to have your game translated into as much language as possible.
There is more than 7 billion of people on the planet, it easy to get only 20 000 people.

But I think everyone has their opinion based on their context and what they want to develop.

@Jonforum Okay, but imagine a free to play game with the same quality as a commercial one, with completely optional non-game changing dlcs.

yes am 100% ok with dlc ,example diablo 3 , or starcraft , i buy all dlc.
And start craft are free to play arcade online, and if you want play the campaign , you can buy it.
I love the marketing approach of blizzard inc.

I know it's out of fashion, but there are also free demos.
Free to play for all people, and it they love game, they can buy full game.

I believe, and I could be wrong, that the main reason why cheaper games tend to not sell well is due to an economy that we tend to forget about: time. A person can only spend so much time playing games that they are less apt to "waste" it on one that they think isn't as good (the $5 game) then they are on one that they think is better ($10) or top tier in the indie market ($15). The stakes are higher as the price goes up. A $15 game is going to have to impress people more to get good reviews and keep selling so if it's determined to not be "worth the price", it's dead in the water. Perhaps at $10, it would have lived up to expectations and fared better. As with most products of any kind on the market, you want to sell it for as much as you can so long as it doesn't disappoint.

Having a restricted demo version is something i have been leaning more towards. It does seem kind of old school now though :)

Buying an iphone doesnt make someone an idiot but flash judgements and incomplete logic both make convincing arguments for stupidity.

If i buy something expensive.. especially something flashy like a shiny phone or car... or watch.. or house... it tells people i have money ( or want to look like i have money) look at me i can afford this.

But iphones arent so relevant to this thread from this angle.. i dont buy rpg maker games to look sucessful. What is common ground? How about the support youd expect from apple or mercedes or cadillac? Its superb. Why? Well they can afford it with their massive profit margin and customers expect more from expensive companies. Buy cheap expect cheap.

Is cheap? Then it is indeed cheap. The expectation is you know your product and you know what its worth. Advertising and showcasing is a different story since i wont buy if you dont tell me why i should and i wont buy if i dont know it exists.

Reality is perceived and perception is reality anything is worth what you ask for it if you can find and convince the customer.

Of course some sales maybe easier than others.. hard to sell 1 copy of stick man adventure for 100k but hell its not impossible.

That's kind of a good thing if old-school is what you're going for.

we must be careful with the critics, because on the internet it is not always a good values.
This is because sales are often hidden.

People who have nothing to complain with the product will rarely take the time to write a positive review, unlike the person who wants to complain, will take pleasure to write negative complain.
Also me , i never quote product, only if i have a bad review to make.

So finaly you can sell your product to 10 000 people, they will love your product.
And to another 100 peoples would not like your product and quote 1 start.
Finally your product will quoted 1 start! , with 100 bad reating , and will no take the 10 000 other people dont rates , because they have fun and just don't waste her time to write a review.

The platforms should rethink their quoting system.
When buying a product, automatically assign 5 stars, and only if the person wishes to complain, adjust the rating.

The problem on a product quoted 1 stars, you do not know how much sales are made, and so you have a bad overview of the general opinion.
If you sell a product to 50 people and you receive 5 complaints, and the other 45 does not give quote because it is appreciated the product, your death..

Not sure if this plays in, but any licensed characters placed in a game also cost more money due to paying for the usage of that character and then the game.

Also, people go for brand names. EA, Nintendo, Sony. People associate certain game styles, value (now questionable for some), quality. They're willing to pay the money for a name they recognize and trust, similar to other markets.

@Ryisunique Yes, but I doubt that anyone in the RPG Maker community will be recognized for his brand, well at least not like EA, Nintendo, or Sony.

I've always told people this: VALUE, as beauty, IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER.
Way back when, I collected comics but once the average price rose over $3.00, I stopped. My initial $2800USD has been currently valued at $5600USD. Inflation, time, and being a buyer's market however has devalued my investment by nearly 24%. Now, tell me: how much ENJOYMENT did I get from my collection? How much was it worth in USD?* You see, value isn't always objective. That's why even smart people spend money on stupid things. Now with that said, I saw this some time ago, and I feel it might be useful to @MushroomCake28 's question.

If they didnt complete it or stop after a few hours, its not about it being free, your game simply isn't worth playing. If its free and its GOOD, people would try to finish it.

Realistically, the first big hurdle is enticing the player to get your game. There are tons of games out there so why would I buy your game? It needs to catch their attention.

Once they do download it, its now a matter of the actual game quality. If it's good for them, they will continue playing it, if its not good they will junk it.