[Sammual]

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:

quote:

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Originally posted by Sammual:
I disagree. Better documentation and -$10 on the price would sell a lot more copies. The word of mouth advertising this game is getting is growing daily and is the only reason I don't think the better docs and -$10 would not double sales.

I know that seems logical but its not true. I think it should be that way also but game publishers dont agree (thats publishers, not developers). I know the next easy thing to think is that its done just out of greed but thats not true. OK well maybe it is true but its different saying they are doing something stupid out of greed, vs saying they are doing it based on statistics and profit margins.

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Greed / Stupidity never enter into it.

Simple economics.

The computer game industry is currently set up around certain price points. The consumers buy any game that in their perception is worth this price point.

The price points are set by Wal-Mart (No joke, they are the 600 lbs. Gorilla and everyone follows their lead) and to a lesser extent the publishers.

The pricepoint on Dominions 2 was set by Shrapnel to be as high as it was because of the following;

1) Small expectation of demand (Almost everything else relates back to this). Shrapnel did not think they would sell this many copies of Dominions2. To make this deal worth their time they had to raise the pricepoint to where they were reasonably sure (Pricepoint X Expected Volume) - Costs = Desired Profit Margin.
Cost per Unit drop as Volume goes up (Manual Printing, CD Burning, and tech support get cheaper by unit. Advertising, PR are fixed costs and more volume makes the cost per unit for them drop quick). If Shrapnel had known this game was going sell this well then they would have put in larger orders for CD's and Manuals and they could have set the price point lower.


2) Large Manual - Small print run costs on a manual like this are expensive. Look up "Print on Demand" publishing and check out the costs for 1,000, 10,000, and 50,000 items then check out the "Offset Printing" costs for 10,000, 50,000, and 100,000 items. They could have saved a lot of money and lowered the pricepoint by putting the Items and Spells on the CD as PDF files. I am guessing that they choose not to because A) WARGAMERS like to have charts and lists in hand to look things up. B) More incentive for people to buy the game rather than pirate it.


3) New Developer Relationship.
Artists of any type do NOT get a very good deal the first time with a Publisher unless they have a GOOD track record. Publishers loose money off of most artists and most new artists generate the least amount of money for them. So the publishers stack the deck in their favor for the first contract. It's not greed, it is just good business.

OK, enough with that sidetrack. Now back to "perception of value".
Wargammers put gameplay above all else. Documentation is up there.
Ease of use is not all that important.
Eye candy is not all that important.

My argument is that by increasing the documentation and ease of use (Thru a tutorial / Walkthru) and reducing the pricepoint by ~$10 your pricepoint meets more people's "perception of value".

To have a game like this become a hit with a larger audience you have to look at the "perception of value" the general gamer has.

Eye candy is close to the top. Parents / Friends / Family make a lot of the purchases for this group and this is all they can judge thinks on.

Ease of use is very important. If they can't figure it out quick then it gets set aside or returned (Short attention span, refuses to deal with a large learning curve).

Gameplay is not all that important. If the game keeps them occupied for a week it is good enough. Anything more is good but not required.

Documentation is almost meaningless. DVD boxes with 12 page manuals that have 8 pages of tech info.

---- Crap I am late --- I have to go.
Sammual