The developers of PEAK, explaining how they decided on pricing for their game.

[astrolightz@lemmy.world]

For me, the price listed is the price listed. If it's $5, it's $5. $8 is $8, etc.

This kind of ratio would just confuse me otherwise.

[altkey@lemmy.dbzer0.com]

1.99 prices > 2.00 prices

Maybe I adapted to that with time, like .99 always felt like a scam pricing strategy, but for me everything involving number nine is worse than, say 1.20. Double nines are the worst. Flat prices with zeroes make me more confident and interested somehow.

[chaogomu@lemmy.world]

Vibe pricing.

[pyro@programming.dev]

0: this will stay in my backlog forever

[electric_druid@lemmy.world]

Does my game's thumbnail please you, m'lord?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3993180/No_More_Mages/

[endymion_mallorn@kbin.melroy.org]

Mine is more:

$0.00: Is it FOSS, or is it on GOG? Is it DRM-free? Cool. (see: Luanti/MineTest, OpenTTD, Battle for Wesnoth, Beyond All Reason, FreeCiv, FreeOrion, Remnants of the Precursors, Endless Sky, The Ur-Quan Masters, Mindustry, Jill of the Jungle Trilogy, etc)

$0.01+ - $4.99: Is it in eXo? I'll get it that way.

$5+: I can't imagine buying it if there's anything either in the FOSS category or in eXo that does the same thing.

And 99% of the time, if there isn't, straight to torrents.

[tothegravemylove@sh.itjust.works]

Remind me to never play any games by these assholes. Wtf kind of psychological mind-game bullshit is this.

[endymion_mallorn@kbin.melroy.org]

How about a different pattern;

• Figure out what your breakeven is - in other words, how much money you need to make to recoup salaries, licenses, and generally keep the lights on.

• Put out a free demo (and I mean free - no DRM either). See how many people download it within a month or so.

• Project the production budget for the next game.

• Price based on a 2% retention rate of the demo downloads to accommodate breakeven + next game + 5% profit for op-cap.

Rinse and repeat as necessary.

[tothegravemylove@sh.itjust.works]

Remind me to never play any games by these assholes. Wtf kind of psychological mind-game bullshit is this.

Edit: y'all really like being manipulated, huh. Wild world we live in.

[accospoot@lemmynsfw.com]

This feels like a Discworld scene.

[liketearsinrain@lemmy.ml]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_pricing this kind. It's not unusual, although I never liked it either

[slazer2au@lemmy.world]

It's so odd hearing how North America doesn't have total purchase price on the item.

[tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip]

Just seems to be a basic commentary on how people think about prices in general. The x.99 thing seems stupid but there's plenty of data showing that it has an effect.

[sharkattak@kbin.melroy.org]

Oh get out. Would you prefer "hey this game costs $60 cause it's an AAA, and anyway now 70 will become the standard cause we know that some sucker will still buy em"?
At least PEAK it's a fun little game with a decent price.

[flatplutosociety@lemmy.world]

It does, but it also makes sense to me.

[monkdervierte@lemmy.zip]

That trick with the $ x.99 all over again.

[dryfter@ani.social]

I’ll probably never play it, but the game looks cool and I can appreciate someone else’s hard work, so Imma buy it.

Good speed on your journey!

[wirlocke@lemmy.blahaj.zone]

Then I'd have to also tell you to never play a game or buy a product ending in 99 cents. Getting into the mind of the consumer is business 101 and is literally the difference between a game/product having any success or not.

And this has been proven, JCPenney tried to get rid of 99 cent pricing and led to losing 30% profits and bankruptcy. The people who want fair and square pricing won't be there to actually buy it.

[starman2112@sh.itjust.works]

Basically everyone thinks that, and yet the data shows that basically everyone falls for it anyway. No matter how aware of it you are, you are not immune to manipulation

[dipcart@lemmy.world]

Quick question for a game dev:

How does getting steam deck verified work? Like do you reach out? Or do they just check whenever they get to it?

Cool looking game! If I wasn't deeply unemployed right now I would buy! Hopefully soon