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How do you choose how much to pay?

Total Posts: 813

Joined 2004-08-01

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When purchasing a bundle where you can choose how much to pay, I’m curious how people here choose the price. Does the number of games you actually want in it matter? How do you count games you already own? Do you just pay the minimum and call it a day?

Fire away.

     
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Total Posts: 8998

Joined 2004-01-05

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$10.

It’s the random amount where I feel I’m not ripping off the developers nor paying too much. Unless it’s a specific game I want I try not buy bundles that I own a lot of the games.

     
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Total Posts: 2653

Joined 2013-03-14

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Depends really if I’m buying the bundle for one game or most of them. And if I already own some of the titles.

     
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Total Posts: 179

Joined 2004-01-25

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Always the minimum or the minimum required to get Steam keys.

     
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Total Posts: 3933

Joined 2011-03-14

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Most of the time I already have most of the games, or are really only interested in a single game in the bundle. So I only rarely buy bundles and when I do I chose the minimum price. In the rare case there are more than one game I’m interested in, I might pay a bit more, but that almost never happens.

Generally speaking I don’t really think these bundles are a good idea!
The developers might sell a few more copies, but the profit from these sales are so low, and I believe that it hurts the normal sales because many will simply wait for the bundles, where they can get the games for almost nothing.

Also the speed at which some games end up in these bundles are almost chocking. Bundle some games that are a few years old, and selling them very cheaply, can be a good idea. But when games that are only a few months old ends up being sold for almost nothing, then there is no way that it can’t hurt the whole industry.

     

You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ

Total Posts: 232

Joined 2010-08-21

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Iznogood - 06 November 2014 06:03 AM

Generally speaking I don’t really think these bundles are a good idea!
The developers might sell a few more copies, but the profit from these sales are so low, and I believe that it hurts the normal sales because many will simply wait for the bundles, where they can get the games for almost nothing.

Here’s the snag: With bundles your game gets tons of very important visibility, without them, they don’t. That’s why indies are flocking around bundles. Also it generally means a lot of immediate revenue, which as an independent developer -surviving on a paycheck to paycheck basis- sometimes is the only choice, even if it may mean less revenue in the long run.

The “I’ll just wait for it to wind up in a bundle before I buy it” mentality is so deeply rooted among pc gamers already, that I don’t think it matters whether a certain game is in a bundle or not, many are still going to hold off buying it, until it is.

I’m not really happy about what bundles are doing to pricing and sales of games, but again, bundles have saved us and many a independent studio over and over again so it’s impossible to boycott them altogether…

     
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Iznogood - 06 November 2014 06:03 AM

Generally speaking I don’t really think these bundles are a good idea!
The developers might sell a few more copies, but the profit from these sales are so low, and I believe that it hurts the normal sales because many will simply wait for the bundles, where they can get the games for almost nothing.

I don’t think it really matters that much.

People that are anxiously awaiting the game will pay at release.
People with enough money that are interested in the game will still pay.

People that have little interest in the game will not and would probably never pay.

However with the cross-selling and cheap price of bundles, drawing money from that last group becomes possible.

     
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@theo
I can understand that as an independent developer you have to do what is best for your business and what you can to survive, and going against the trend on your own would be difficult or perhaps even impossible. I also don’t know how good or bad a deal it actually is for the individual games to be in these bundles.

I just find it a bit absurd that on one hand we have the whole kickstarter idea, where players are backing games, not just to help the individual game but also to make sure that the type of games we like will continue to be made. And then on the other hand we have what can be described as a race for the bargain bin, where many games end up in these bundles only shortly after they are released.

As a gamer I should probably be happy about this, as it means I can buy a lot of games for a very low price, but if the long term consequence is that less games of the kind I like will be made, simply because the revenue is too little, then I would rather pay a bit more.

@Origami
I hope you are right, but I’m not convinced that this is the case.

I don’t think that what you get from these bundles is purely extra sales. I believe that there are a lot of people who would otherwise buy the games on release at full price, or at least only wait for a smaller price drop before buying them, but because they know they will most likely end up in a bundle soon, then they wait for the that.

Now there might of course be some that simply can’t afford the games otherwise, and some that might search for a pirate copy instead if it wasn’t for these bundles, so it isn’t necessarily all bad.

     

You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ

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Iznogood - 07 November 2014 05:10 AM

I just find it a bit absurd that on one hand I believe that there are a lot of people who would otherwise buy the games on release at full price, or at least only wait for a smaller price drop before buying them, but because they know they will most likely end up in a bundle soon, then they wait for the that.

They don’t know if and when their game will end up in a bundle. When you see a discounted game you want, you usually buy it because you don’t want to experience regret of having missed the opportunity.

Now there might of course be some that simply can’t afford the games otherwise, and some that might search for a pirate copy instead if it wasn’t for these bundles, so it isn’t necessarily all bad.

People that can hardly afford the game would never buy the game at full-price game anyway. At least with these bundles the games become accessible to purchase for this demographic. And people who don’t and planned on pirating the game will have already done so anyway, so it is only a win. And otherwise a lot of people that already pirate the game might also lay down the money for a bundle because it will make them ‘feel better’ or ‘support their developer’ without paying a substantial amount.

I get your point though, that if people didn’t have the option of the bundles they are forced to shelve more money. But honestly…I think the majority of these people are what make up the pirates.

Also, the number of sales of humbles don’t reflect the number of otherwise full-price sales that are now missed. I have bought tons of bundles where I already previously owned the majority of the games.


Sure, bundles affect buying behavior in some way at least. But I don’t think it’s anything significant.

 

     
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Total Posts: 2653

Joined 2013-03-14

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One thing with the bundles is, that with them people buy games they would never buy. I have got a ton of games already I will never play, but I got on the side, hence the devs got revenue even from me despite the games will be forever unplayed by me.

     

Total Posts: 232

Joined 2010-08-21

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@Iznogood

I totally see your point, but remember that a “low price” isn’t a problem if it’s multiplied with a big fat volume of units sold. So, just because a dev is selling off a game dirt cheap does not mean they aren’t making juicy money off of the product.

Also remember that pushing many units has a value in its own, as it builds brand awareness. (though I guess it could be argued that your advertising your game as something “cheap” but I honestly don’t see brands being damaged by this.)

Again, in this age when there are so many brand new releases every single day, being noticed over the noise is very difficult, and being part of a bundle can really help get you some visibility. (the first time TJD1 was bundled, in indie royale, not only did it save our asses financially, it also created a huge buzz, where previously there was practically nothing.)

I do agree however, that the “race to the bargain bin” is kinda scary and is creating a potentially very weird market in the long run.

     

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