You just reminded me of a time when $70 felt like nearly unlimited opportunities. Now, $70 means that I might get to buy groceries AND restock on spices.
I found a pizza place near me that still has like 2010 prices. It's like a large pie with 5 toppings for $20. Most places are more like $30 now, here (NYC)
I keep being both entertained and baffled for the past three years or so by USians on Reddit complaining about games costing 60 bucks and simultaneously complaining about food delivery that they order every day. Not buying pizza for a couple days? Unimaginable.
It's an optional part of getting your game on the steam marketplace, but I've had a friend try on steamdeck without messing with it and had no issues. Ymmv, I'm one example and this is my first project.
$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.
1-4 might buy and never play it
4-12 eh if it's got good reviews and it's my genre it's a potential impulse buy
12-25 it's got to be very acclaimed and I have to desire it strongly
25-35 if it's like the sequel of a game I loved A LOT, and has good reviews, and it gets me on a good day
35+ no way, I'll wait for a discount
There's been a lot of good games for free on epic, and epic still pays the dev/publisher for it, so it's worth clicking the button even if you don't download it and play it from thier client.
no, completely valid, but pricing is a psychological question rather than a math question for some.
reason for example products are priced with X.99
some people se it as cost X amount, others (like youself) see it as X+1 amount. the 0.99 is the extreme end of the psychology and choosing 8 in the case of peak increases number of people who dont see it at the higher price
Nah. But I think the difference in this specific case is that if you're already kinda wanting to buy something and it's 8 dollars, you might convince yourself that it's basically just 5 dollars to justify the purchase.
This is a really basic business concept; business 101 stuff. They definitely didn't make it up, they're just using it.
It works against the general population, if this particular one doesn't, don't get too busy strutting, there is almost certainly something else that does work on you.
Buy shit because you need/want it, not because it's a deal.
I had my sewer line backing up into my basement a couple of months ago. My regular plumber was busy so I had to call in a company that I knew was an overpriced scam ("Dream Team" lol) but I had no choice since I had guests in the house for my father's funeral. They came and of course they couldn't clear the line and said they had to dig up and replace the whole thing. The guy had a special tablet that he showed me the three options and the prices on and it initially showed them all in dollars per month with "zero-interest financing". I was like dude just show me the total cost. The three options were $17K, $22K and $36K total but the monthly payments actually decreased with increasing total price (naturally the payment option didn't show how many total payments you would have to make).
Fortunately I called my regular plumber and he was so outraged at these motherfuckers that he came out that afternoon and cleared my line for me. Total cost $850.
It's wild, I released a shareware music creation app for Windows back in 2000 and it was easy to get people to pay $29.95 for it. I now have a vastly superior iOS version and nobody's willing to pay a dollar for it. It's a very depressing situation for an independent developer.
Yeah. I used to have a $20 shareware product back when kagi was a payment processor. Apple introduced $1 pricing as a dick waving contest and fucked the entire indy developer community.
I originally sold my app on Beyond.com (which was originally software.net). They took 10% which didn't seem too bad. One day they contacted me about giving my app a "freebate" -- basically the app was still $29.95 but buyers could fill out a form and send it in and eventually (like months later) get their $29.95 back. Per their data only about half of buyers ever bothered to do this so it was effectively a 50% off deal. Beyond.com was supposed to give me about $10 per copy sold instead of the normal $27 to cover the freebate and they would make $5 per copy instead of their normal $3.
I said OK and they featured my app on their front page and sales went up like 100X and I was of course pretty happy. The funny part was that their accounting system was all fucked up and I kept getting $27 per copy sold even though the freebate was still in place. I actually tried contacting them multiple times about this to get the situation corrected and I could never get through to anybody who had any clue about what was going on. Eventually they went bankrupt and shut down and years later I got one of those class-action settlement checks in the mail without any explanation of what it was for. Maybe sales of my app were even better than they were telling me, I dunno. I've never once met a person in the real world who has ever even heard of the app so that doesn't seem very likely.
It’s cuz people expect free or close to free mobile apps to be scummy and have a bajillion paywalls and need a monthly subscription and steal all your data so on and so forth
On iOS I have no problem paying 20 euros once or 10 per year for an app I like. Sometimes more if it's really useful and/or the desktop app is included. Monthly is a harder sell though.
I payed 7 euros for Collections Database and goddamn I wish it had cost more or the developer would add a tip jar.
It works against the general population, if this particular one doesn’t, don’t get too busy strutting, there is almost certainly something else that does work on you.
That is very well put! I feel like I've talked to so many people who see one ad that doesn't land and say, "ads don't work on me."
The $8 tier has been around for a decade, for exactly this reason. MMO subscriptions, bargain games, podcasts, delivery fees. People love charging you $8
I mean the best parts of Discworld, no matter how absurd, still made some sense; of course we have to believe in a jolly, present delivering, pig man, otherwise the sun won't rise in the morning, a great big ball of flaming gas would rise instead.
Nah it's still ten, especially if you grew up in a place that doesn't include tax in the price. That's easily getting to mid 8 after tax, and that might as well be ten.
Yeah, I'm with you. There's tons of games I've paid a lot more than $16 for that I would absolutely tell past me to buy again instantly. Most recently Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. $40 with all dlc and I'm over 100 hours in, enjoying every minute. Over 100 hours of entertainment from something that cost me less than an hour of labor, in what world is that not worth it?
But even this seems to have gone stale over time, as retro game prices get sticker (even going up as vintage games come back into fashion).
One thing I don't see on this list is "piracy", which is a bit weird if your line is $15. I find a lot of bargain bin games to be as bad or worse than FTP games. $20-30 has historically been my sweet spot
Considering the huge number of games I have that I haven't tried yet, I don't think it's crazy at all to have a high threshold for buying yet another one.
I spawned as a nun in-game on the rooftop of a cake restaurant. I've got nothing but a bible to wreck zombies. And there are so many, there is no tutorial, the controls are tanky, the devs are out of their mind.
I found some good stuff in the F2P demo/early access. Especially if you're just looking for a few hours of fun. Every now and then you can find a release F2P title that's not monetizing you. But without the marketing budget or polish they don't take off in popularity.
Ugh, sometimes we'll be in the grocery store, and my wife will look at something that clearly says $7.99 and she'll say "oh it's only seven dollars". Every time. I can't believe how well that works on her. If I didn't like her so much, I don't know if I could handle it...
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
I remember when I saw my first main() I just started writing code only inside of it. That seemed to work so I kept going. 20 years later I've only ever written code inside that same main(). I've changed jobs 4 times. Just... if(job==0)... or if(job==3)... Works like a charm.
We supposedly evolved to perceive values logarithmically. The difference between 1 to 3 should feel bigger than 3 to 5. Yet, the difference between $5 and $10 feels to me way more than the difference between $1 and $5.
Maybe I'm just broke as shit and think $10 is a lot of money
Nothing new tbh. How we subconsciously round off numbers is a big part of super market pricing. Everything with a zero at the end seems bigger. Not only does 19.99 seem much smaller then 20, but even 21.99 seems smaller then 20 at a glance.
I used to work at a call center dealing with phone bill questions. Once you go past 20, people only see the first digit and the total number of digits, and perceive every digit after the first as 0.
If I had a nickel for every time I had this conversation, I'd have more than two nickels.
Customer: Why has my bill gone up by £10?!
Me: I see that on you called a premium rate line which cost £2.
Customer: That's only £2! I want to know why my bill is £10 higher!
Me: Your bill is normally £29.50. This month it's £31.50. That's a £2 difference.
I've never really understood it, tbh. I've always rounded to the nearest whole number. I don't know why you would do anything but that. The whole "$6.99 is $6" thing makes absolutely no sense to me. I see that and immediately see $7, without even having to think about it really.
Unfortunately up here the Benjamins to beaver bucks conversion rate sucks. And then we have to pay 15% tax on top.
So anything that’s trying to follow that logic breaks apart real quick, even when there’s 10% off on launch, still comes out to more than the full price would be.. :(
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.
I usually look at it from cost per hour perspective. Tears of the Kingdom was 70 but I played it for ~140 hours, so 0.5 per hour. I’m ok with 1 per hour too but anything higher I start to ask myself “is the developer / publisher worth my support?”. Not all games can be judged by this metric though (eg outer wilds, unpacking)
So far, nothing beats the value of factorio. Mindustry (being so cheap) is a close second.
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.
Its more the "how do we find the optimal price to psychologically manipulate the consumer" aspect that's bothersome, instead of just setting it at a price that you think is fair. The 99 cent thing has been in effect long enough that my brain just automatically rounds it up.
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.
This isn't getting into the mind if the consumer, this is manipulating the consumer. Also, where did you get the idea that changing their prices caused their bankruptcy?
For whatever reason, people see the 0 and think it’s bajillions pricier. I have seen .99 long enough that .00 feels cheaper even tho it’s 1 cent pricier. If they can fairly price, the product is also likely good.
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.
Bruh, 8 euro for a full game is greedy!!?? People out here regularly spending 20 for a skin, or a slotmachine dopamine surprise box..... Now that's real greed
Good thing I didn't buy this game. Or continue to buy anything from steam. I got lost trying to figure out what this is even talking about, other than money money money.
I have to disagree. This quote would be super shitty talking about microtransactions, but if this is about Peak, I dont believe they have any microtransactions in their game. Its the full price of the game. And honestly, if you have friends to play it with, $8 is a steal. Its nothing ground breaking or like world changing, but it's a fun time-waster to spend time with people you like and accomplish a goal with decent replayability.
Very replayable, goofy, and fun, worth your time, and very lightweight, though you can increase settings if you have a better rig. 1000% worth your time especially if you have a few friends. If you all turn off your common sense it becomes even better.
What, for questioning the mental gymnastics over the number for the price tag? 3 is 5 and 8 is 10 or whatever? Just say your game is worth $8 and leave it at that. All this feels like the rationale used to explain not rounding up the prices of everything, $2.99 instead of $3 - something I'd like to see gone too.
169 Comments
ALoafOfBread@lemmy.ml · 220 pts · 189d
Little different for me:
$1 - 5 = $5
$6 - 12 = $10
$13 - 20 = $20
$21 - 50 = $50
$51 - 70 = $100
>$70 = $1000
TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world · 130 pts · 189d
That's basically right.
I could buy a car for that kinda money.
fartographer@lemmy.world · 58 pts · 189d
You just reminded me of a time when $70 felt like nearly unlimited opportunities. Now, $70 means that I might get to buy groceries AND restock on spices.
TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world · 39 pts · 189d
Bruh a single bag of groceries is like 110 rn
very_well_lost@lemmy.world · 33 pts · 189d
God, I wish I could get groceries for 70...
fartographer@lemmy.world · 24 pts · 189d
Sorry, I meant an extra $70. I was irresponsibly drowsy-posting.
jjjalljs@ttrpg.network · 10 pts · 189d
I found a pizza place near me that still has like 2010 prices. It's like a large pie with 5 toppings for $20. Most places are more like $30 now, here (NYC)
SlurpingPus@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 188d
I keep being both entertained and baffled for the past three years or so by USians on Reddit complaining about games costing 60 bucks and simultaneously complaining about food delivery that they order every day. Not buying pizza for a couple days? Unimaginable.
Gullible@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 189d
Same, quite a bit of difference to me.
$1 - 7 = how many of these are they going to charge? 100+ dollars
$8 - 60 = round to nearest $5
$61+ = irrelevant collector’s edition
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz · 5 pts · 189d
Been quite a long time since I spent over £35 in a game
WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 189d
Cocodapuf@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 188d
Guybrush has it right.
EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 189d
No way $6 is $10 to you and not $5 this is how I know you’re lying.
ALoafOfBread@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 189d
I'm not saying it's rational, it just feels like more money.
Deestan@lemmy.world · 148 pts · 189d
60+: Haha, I can't imagine it's worth it.
20-59: Buy if it comes strongly recommended.
10-19: Impulse buy if the description and screenshots look cool.
1-9: Buy if I like the store thumbnail.
0: Hahaha FUCK no this will hold the game flow hostage every few hours to get me to pay infinite money.
EDIT: YES I know proper - often Open Source - free games exist. :) OpenTTD and good ol' Nethack are my faves
Electric_Druid@lemmy.world · 38 pts · 189d
Does my game's thumbnail please you, m'lord?
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3993180/No_More_Mages/
dryfter@ani.social · 25 pts · 189d
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!
Electric_Druid@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 189d
Thanks, the support is appreciated!
baropithecus@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 189d
Not necessarily my cup of tea, but at two bucks it's basically free, so...
Olgratin_Magmatoe@slrpnk.net · 10 pts · 189d
Not the one you asked, but I do like the art. Though I'm not a fan of beat em ups.
Electric_Druid@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 189d
Thanks! My partner worked hard on all the art.
dipcart@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 189d
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
Electric_Druid@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 189d
It's an optional part of getting your game on the steam marketplace, but I've had a friend try on steamdeck without messing with it and had no issues. Ymmv, I'm one example and this is my first project.
TheRealKuni@piefed.social · 5 pts · 189d
That’s really fun, reminiscent of old-school platforming, absolutely worth the $2 and it runs great on the Steam Deck! Good job!
Electric_Druid@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 188d
Thanks!
Camille_Jamal@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 188d
Main previews won’t load for me right now I’m using mobile tho but yeah the banner looks great
WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world · 23 pts · 189d
https://supertuxkart.net/
https://www.wesnoth.org/
https://xonotic.org/
https://freeciv.org/
p0358@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 8 pts · 189d
Super Tux Kart is very underrated, super fun game actually
MajorasTerribleFate@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 188d
These seemed like recommendations for free games that both are quality and aren't money grubbing.
floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 188d
I wish Armagetronad wasn't so forgotten and had more people in the servers :(
zecg@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 185d
https://www.beyondallreason.info/
Endymion_Mallorn@kbin.melroy.org · 15 pts · 189d
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.
dukemirage@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 189d
BloodborneNightmare Kart costs 0Damage@feddit.it · 13 pts · 189d
For me it's
1-4 might buy and never play it
4-12 eh if it's got good reviews and it's my genre it's a potential impulse buy
12-25 it's got to be very acclaimed and I have to desire it strongly
25-35 if it's like the sequel of a game I loved A LOT, and has good reviews, and it gets me on a good day
35+ no way, I'll wait for a discount
TheRealKuni@piefed.social · 3 pts · 189d
As someone who came to PC gaming from decades as a console gamer it blows my mind how cheap PC gaming is once you get over the initial cost of the PC.
Damage@feddit.it · 3 pts · 188d
And the Steam discount golden age ended years ago, nowadays it's much more expensive. Not to mention the bundles of the time.
MeatPilot@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 189d
I thought this was age instead of price until I got to 0.
mohab@piefed.social · 4 pts · 189d
Oh, this is fun, lemme do mine:
1-5: It's most likely worth the money because I'll likely beat it and have fun even though it won't land in my all-time favorites.
5-10: I'm hesitant, but it's probably worth the risk or it's niche and I need to support the developer.
10-15: I either know for sure I'll have a lot of fun with it or I'm desperate to play anything new because my library feels a little stale RN.
15-20: It better be fantastic and end up an all-time favorite because why would I pay this much for a video game.
20-60: I'm good. I can wait.
smeg@feddit.uk · 4 pts · 188d
Don't let me tempt you with !freegames@feddit.uk!
Pyro@programming.dev · 3 pts · 189d
0: this will stay in my backlog forever
JackbyDev@programming.dev · 2 pts · 189d
Unless it's free because it's open source!
Camille_Jamal@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 188d
Netscapes?
JackbyDev@programming.dev · 2 pts · 188d
Clippy! What's up man! It's been forever! It's me, Netscape Navigator! Remember me?
Camille_Jamal@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 188d
Yes, I remember you! How are you doing, Netscape Navigator?
Venator@lemmy.nz · 0 pts · 187d
There's been a lot of good games for free on epic, and epic still pays the dev/publisher for it, so it's worth clicking the button even if you don't download it and play it from thier client.
exu@feditown.com · 110 pts · 189d
Am I weird for rounding 8 to 10??
slazer2au@lemmy.world · 84 pts · 189d
No. 8 is closer to 10 then it is to 5
cecilkorik@piefed.ca · 17 pts · 189d
I'm Canadian, so I instinctively just round 5 bucks up to 8 bucks instead (adding exchange and tax)
slazer2au@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 189d
It's so odd hearing how North America doesn't have total purchase price on the item.
TommySoda@lemmy.world · 26 pts · 189d
Yeah, but what about $7.99?
Mika@piefed.ca · 10 pts · 189d
Closer to 800
exu@feditown.com · 5 pts · 189d
That's 8, so also 10
Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 189d
As a Canadian, that’s 10 bucks cause of tax
Dudewitbow@lemmy.zip · 14 pts · 189d
no, completely valid, but pricing is a psychological question rather than a math question for some.
reason for example products are priced with X.99
some people se it as cost X amount, others (like youself) see it as X+1 amount. the 0.99 is the extreme end of the psychology and choosing 8 in the case of peak increases number of people who dont see it at the higher price
mohab@piefed.social · 5 pts · 189d
8 is definitely 10. 10 starts at 7.30~7.40 for me. Anything above 7.50 is 10.
StrongHorseWeakNeigh@piefed.social · 4 pts · 189d
Nah. But I think the difference in this specific case is that if you're already kinda wanting to buy something and it's 8 dollars, you might convince yourself that it's basically just 5 dollars to justify the purchase.
Camille_Jamal@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 188d
As a Canadian, $8 is $10, $5 is $8
Yeah uhh that’s pretty normal. Megabonk: $22.99 which is really $27
tanisnikana@lemmy.world · 86 pts · 189d
First, these jabronies need adderall.
Second, I need adderall.
I think we’re the same sort of jabroni.
Marshezezz@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 37 pts · 189d
Camille_Jamal@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 188d
Oh, me too! Uhh throw in some vyvanse while you both are there!
The_Picard_Maneuver@piefed.world · 27 pts · 189d
Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 79 pts · 189d
This is a really basic business concept; business 101 stuff. They definitely didn't make it up, they're just using it.
It works against the general population, if this particular one doesn't, don't get too busy strutting, there is almost certainly something else that does work on you.
Buy shit because you need/want it, not because it's a deal.
Agent641@lemmy.world · 34 pts · 189d
Same reason that shit on TV is five easy payments of 29.95.
I'm willing g to spend $29. I'll even spend $29 five times. But not $150.
ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 189d
I had my sewer line backing up into my basement a couple of months ago. My regular plumber was busy so I had to call in a company that I knew was an overpriced scam ("Dream Team" lol) but I had no choice since I had guests in the house for my father's funeral. They came and of course they couldn't clear the line and said they had to dig up and replace the whole thing. The guy had a special tablet that he showed me the three options and the prices on and it initially showed them all in dollars per month with "zero-interest financing". I was like dude just show me the total cost. The three options were $17K, $22K and $36K total but the monthly payments actually decreased with increasing total price (naturally the payment option didn't show how many total payments you would have to make).
Fortunately I called my regular plumber and he was so outraged at these motherfuckers that he came out that afternoon and cleared my line for me. Total cost $850.
Blumpkinhead@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 188d
Holy shit. Hold on to that plumber, lol.
ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 188d
He does like to launch into racist rants, but sometimes you just gotta hold your nose and swallow.
Camille_Jamal@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 188d
Ah that sucks but hey at least he’s not scamming you
AlecSadler@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 11 pts · 189d
The only time this breaks down for me though is that I still struggle to pay $0.99 for a mobile app I use often sometimes. Really not sure what it is.
ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 189d
It's wild, I released a shareware music creation app for Windows back in 2000 and it was easy to get people to pay $29.95 for it. I now have a vastly superior iOS version and nobody's willing to pay a dollar for it. It's a very depressing situation for an independent developer.
Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 5 pts · 188d
Yeah. I used to have a $20 shareware product back when kagi was a payment processor. Apple introduced $1 pricing as a dick waving contest and fucked the entire indy developer community.
ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 188d
I originally sold my app on Beyond.com (which was originally software.net). They took 10% which didn't seem too bad. One day they contacted me about giving my app a "freebate" -- basically the app was still $29.95 but buyers could fill out a form and send it in and eventually (like months later) get their $29.95 back. Per their data only about half of buyers ever bothered to do this so it was effectively a 50% off deal. Beyond.com was supposed to give me about $10 per copy sold instead of the normal $27 to cover the freebate and they would make $5 per copy instead of their normal $3.
I said OK and they featured my app on their front page and sales went up like 100X and I was of course pretty happy. The funny part was that their accounting system was all fucked up and I kept getting $27 per copy sold even though the freebate was still in place. I actually tried contacting them multiple times about this to get the situation corrected and I could never get through to anybody who had any clue about what was going on. Eventually they went bankrupt and shut down and years later I got one of those class-action settlement checks in the mail without any explanation of what it was for. Maybe sales of my app were even better than they were telling me, I dunno. I've never once met a person in the real world who has ever even heard of the app so that doesn't seem very likely.
Camille_Jamal@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 188d
It’s cuz people expect free or close to free mobile apps to be scummy and have a bajillion paywalls and need a monthly subscription and steal all your data so on and so forth
When there’s truly good apps, it sucks
ClassifiedPancake@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 188d
On iOS I have no problem paying 20 euros once or 10 per year for an app I like. Sometimes more if it's really useful and/or the desktop app is included. Monthly is a harder sell though.
I payed 7 euros for Collections Database and goddamn I wish it had cost more or the developer would add a tip jar.
Mniot@programming.dev · 7 pts · 188d
That is very well put! I feel like I've talked to so many people who see one ad that doesn't land and say, "ads don't work on me."
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 188d
The $8 tier has been around for a decade, for exactly this reason. MMO subscriptions, bargain games, podcasts, delivery fees. People love charging you $8
AccoSpoot@lemmynsfw.com · 71 pts · 189d
This feels like a Discworld scene.
flatplutosociety@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 189d
It does, but it also makes sense to me.
AccoSpoot@lemmynsfw.com · 5 pts · 188d
I mean the best parts of Discworld, no matter how absurd, still made some sense; of course we have to believe in a jolly, present delivering, pig man, otherwise the sun won't rise in the morning, a great big ball of flaming gas would rise instead.
deacon@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 189d
It's almost Cut Me Own Throat Dibbler type math, but it does actually make sense to me.
Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 189d
... Dibbler was an extremely good hot sausage salesman. He had to be, given the nature of his sausages
CMLVI@lemmy.world · 53 pts · 189d
Finally, someone who thinks like me
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz · 41 pts · 189d
Meanwhile factorio devs being chads and going with a round number for pricing.
MoffKalast@lemmy.world · 62 pts · 189d
Well it's different when you're selling drugs
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 7 pts · 189d
Surprised Factorio 1 isn't free so they can hook you before Factorio 2 comes out.
Passerby6497@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 188d
Isn't factorio 2 basically the space expansion pack?
kate@lemmy.uhhoh.com · 39 pts · 189d
i get it but for me 8 is 10
ThatGuy46475@lemmy.world · 22 pts · 189d
8 is 10 but 7.99 is 5
iamthetot@piefed.ca · 17 pts · 189d
Nah it's still ten, especially if you grew up in a place that doesn't include tax in the price. That's easily getting to mid 8 after tax, and that might as well be ten.
panda_abyss@lemmy.ca · 10 pts · 189d
7.99 is 9
kate@lemmy.uhhoh.com · 4 pts · 189d
7.99 is 10 but 7.49 is 7.49 and 6.99 is 7.49 also
Camille_Jamal@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 188d
And 5.55 (stores do that sometimes) is 6.99
ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.com · 34 pts · 189d
Every premise leading to the conclusion here is verifiably false, and yet they all completely make sense.
SethranKada@lemmy.ca · 33 pts · 189d
For me, it goes:
0 - hell no
1 to 5 - sure why not, that's about as much as a bottled drink.
6 to 10 - maybe once a month.
11 to 15 - better be a pretty damn good game, or I'm refunding.
16 to 20 - I'm waiting for a discount, not worth it.
21 to 60 - hell no
61+ - I'm blacklisting your company from my recommendations.
gmtom@lemmy.world · 40 pts · 188d
I get that this is Lemmy and users here are a certain way but calling anything over 16 dollars not worth it is genuinely insane.
fishy@lemmy.today · 10 pts · 188d
Yeah, I'm with you. There's tons of games I've paid a lot more than $16 for that I would absolutely tell past me to buy again instantly. Most recently Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. $40 with all dlc and I'm over 100 hours in, enjoying every minute. Over 100 hours of entertainment from something that cost me less than an hour of labor, in what world is that not worth it?
gmtom@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 188d
Yeah man, every single game I've got a ton of hours in or thought was a truly great game has been over $16
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 188d
You can always do the XKCD trick
But even this seems to have gone stale over time, as retro game prices get sticker (even going up as vintage games come back into fashion).
One thing I don't see on this list is "piracy", which is a bit weird if your line is $15. I find a lot of bargain bin games to be as bad or worse than FTP games. $20-30 has historically been my sweet spot
ameancow@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 188d
nailbar@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 188d
Considering the huge number of games I have that I haven't tried yet, I don't think it's crazy at all to have a high threshold for buying yet another one.
dil@lemmy.zip · -3 pts · 188d
imo over 16 it better have workshop support or an active online playerbase
stardreamer@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 15 pts · 189d
What do you have against OpenTTD and Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead? \s
TalkingFlower@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 188d
I spawned as a nun in-game on the rooftop of a cake restaurant. I've got nothing but a bible to wreck zombies. And there are so many, there is no tutorial, the controls are tanky, the devs are out of their mind.
0/10
Datz@szmer.info · 12 pts · 188d
Saying indies are expensive seems wild, but I kind of get it since the Steam Sales on pre-2015 games go hard. And easy piracy of anything up to PS2.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 188d
The biggest challenge I have with pirated games - especially Nintendo games - is the controller.
Yeah, I can get Metroid Prime or Mario 64 or Super Smash easily enough. But I can't have that classic experience on a PS knock off controller.
It's not the end of the world, of course. But I feel it.
untorquer@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 188d
I found some good stuff in the F2P demo/early access. Especially if you're just looking for a few hours of fun. Every now and then you can find a release F2P title that's not monetizing you. But without the marketing budget or polish they don't take off in popularity.
TheSeveralJourneysOfReemus@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 188d
ameancow@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 188d
ulterno@programming.dev · 1 pts · 188d
So I suppose you are not doing
pacman -S endless-sky endless-sky-high-dpi?xeekei@lemmy.zip · 33 pts · 188d
The best bang for buck Steam purchase I've done is Halo MCC for 39,99€. Five great games plus Halo 4.
damnedfurry@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 188d
Getting the Orange Box for $10 back in the day has to be my all-time best.
Camille_Jamal@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 188d
I’m curious now if anyones selling it used that’s such a steal
PumaStoleMyBluff@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 188d
It's frequently on sale for 3.99 on steam!
Camille_Jamal@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 188d
Oh sweet! Thanks for saying! Have a great day!
scala@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 188d
Unfortunate they want to shut those servers down.
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip · 24 pts · 189d
That trick with the $ x.99 all over again.
psycotica0@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 189d
Ugh, sometimes we'll be in the grocery store, and my wife will look at something that clearly says $7.99 and she'll say "oh it's only seven dollars". Every time. I can't believe how well that works on her. If I didn't like her so much, I don't know if I could handle it...
AstroLightz@lemmy.world · 23 pts · 189d
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.
chaogomu@lemmy.world · 27 pts · 189d
Vibe pricing.
starman2112@sh.itjust.works · 25 pts · 189d
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
Darkness343@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 188d
A reminder that you don't need to know advanced maths to be a developer. Just call the necessary functions to do the job
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 188d
Glances at this guy's main() function
Instantly dies
nexguy@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 188d
I remember when I saw my first main() I just started writing code only inside of it. That seemed to work so I kept going. 20 years later I've only ever written code inside that same main(). I've changed jobs 4 times. Just... if(job==0)... or if(job==3)... Works like a charm.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 188d
Darkness343@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 188d
I haven't touched software development in years. Fuck that shit
UnspecificGravity@piefed.social · 19 pts · 189d
For something that makes absolutely no sense at all, this makes a lot of sense.
ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml · 14 pts · 189d
We supposedly evolved to perceive values logarithmically. The difference between 1 to 3 should feel bigger than 3 to 5. Yet, the difference between $5 and $10 feels to me way more than the difference between $1 and $5.
Maybe I'm just broke as shit and think $10 is a lot of money
p03locke@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 13 pts · 188d
This is just this scene from The Jerk in written form.
lolola@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 11 pts · 189d
I just round up to the nearest multiple of 5. Who the hell rounds down when looking at prices?
Cellari@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 188d
The crafty madmen
Sirence@feddit.org · 10 pts · 189d
No way. 7.99 is 10
FirmDistribution@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 189d
they could've just said they smoked weed
gegil@sopuli.xyz · 10 pts · 189d
For me:
Under 100₴ - free
100₴ - 300₴ - it must be worth it for me to buy it.
More than 300₴ - i will never finacially recover from this purschase.
tyler@programming.dev · 19 pts · 189d
I have never seen that symbol before. What currency is that!?
Edit: it’s the Ukrainian hryvnia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hryvnia_sign
TomMasz@piefed.social · 8 pts · 189d
I get it, but it reads like Trump talking.
Grimy@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 189d
Nothing new tbh. How we subconsciously round off numbers is a big part of super market pricing. Everything with a zero at the end seems bigger. Not only does 19.99 seem much smaller then 20, but even 21.99 seems smaller then 20 at a glance.
Infrapink@thebrainbin.org · 10 pts · 189d
I used to work at a call center dealing with phone bill questions. Once you go past 20, people only see the first digit and the total number of digits, and perceive every digit after the first as 0.
If I had a nickel for every time I had this conversation, I'd have more than two nickels.
Encephalotrocity@feddit.online · 4 pts · 189d
New rage unlocked.
ozymandias117@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 189d
The 99 pricing messes with me the other way...
I see like 399, and think it's 400. Then when I think about whether I want it later, I remember the 4 and the 99 and believe it costs 500
expr@piefed.social · 3 pts · 188d
I've never really understood it, tbh. I've always rounded to the nearest whole number. I don't know why you would do anything but that. The whole "$6.99 is $6" thing makes absolutely no sense to me. I see that and immediately see $7, without even having to think about it really.
MarauderIIC@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 188d
I figure people stop reading at the decimal point like it's a period.
4am@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 189d
They’re outta line, but they’re right
voidsignal@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 189d
There's Math, then there's Math By Marketers
Whitebrow@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 189d
Unfortunately up here the Benjamins to beaver bucks conversion rate sucks. And then we have to pay 15% tax on top.
So anything that’s trying to follow that logic breaks apart real quick, even when there’s 10% off on launch, still comes out to more than the full price would be.. :(
Camille_Jamal@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 188d
Yeah, in Canada here, peak is $10 no discount, $12ish after tax
bdonvr@thelemmy.club · 6 pts · 189d
8 bucks is definitely 10 bucks in my book. 6.99 is 5 but above that and I start thinking 10.
ragas@lemmy.ml · 6 pts · 189d
Still waiting for ANNO 1800 with all extensions to fall to the 5$ category. Until then, I'm enjoying me some ANNO 2070.
altkey@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 5 pts · 189d
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.
ceenote@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 189d
And they say you can't make money with a psych degree...
piyuv@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 186d
I usually look at it from cost per hour perspective. Tears of the Kingdom was 70 but I played it for ~140 hours, so 0.5 per hour. I’m ok with 1 per hour too but anything higher I start to ask myself “is the developer / publisher worth my support?”. Not all games can be judged by this metric though (eg outer wilds, unpacking)
So far, nothing beats the value of factorio. Mindustry (being so cheap) is a close second.
Endymion_Mallorn@kbin.melroy.org · 3 pts · 189d
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.
YeahToast@aussie.zone · 9 pts · 189d
Ain't no one surviving on a 5% profit margin
termaxima@slrpnk.net · 3 pts · 189d
That seems very subjective. Personally I always round prices correctly (yes I'm pedantic), and every 2.5€ block counts. So 7.99 ≈ 7.50 to me.
ameancow@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 188d
ToTheGraveMyLove@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 189d
AceFuzzLord@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 188d
Cossty@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 189d
ToTheGraveMyLove@sh.itjust.works · -6 pts · 189d
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.
tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip · 7 pts · 189d
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.
ToTheGraveMyLove@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 188d
Its more the "how do we find the optimal price to psychologically manipulate the consumer" aspect that's bothersome, instead of just setting it at a price that you think is fair. The 99 cent thing has been in effect long enough that my brain just automatically rounds it up.
Wirlocke@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 6 pts · 189d
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.
ToTheGraveMyLove@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 188d
This isn't getting into the mind if the consumer, this is manipulating the consumer. Also, where did you get the idea that changing their prices caused their bankruptcy?
Camille_Jamal@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 188d
For whatever reason, people see the 0 and think it’s bajillions pricier. I have seen .99 long enough that .00 feels cheaper even tho it’s 1 cent pricier. If they can fairly price, the product is also likely good.
Liketearsinrain@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 189d
SharkAttak@kbin.melroy.org · 4 pts · 189d
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.
ToTheGraveMyLove@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 189d
No, I don't buy AAA games.
Camille_Jamal@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 188d
Where I live, peak is $12ish after usd to cad and taxes but every cent has been worth it and every second, I’ve been having a blast
Crashumbc@lemmy.world · -21 pts · 188d
So their greedy assholes that admit to price manipulation...
AmanitaCaesarea@slrpnk.net · 20 pts · 188d
Bruh, 8 euro for a full game is greedy!!?? People out here regularly spending 20 for a skin, or a slotmachine dopamine surprise box..... Now that's real greed
douglasg14b@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 188d
Do.... Do you not know what price manipulation is?
Scribbd@feddit.nl · 4 pts · 188d
Yeah duh, it is when they manipulate you into buying a game for 8$, while we think it is just 5$. Didn't you read the post?
/jk
fishy@lemmy.today · 13 pts · 188d
I got like 40 hours of playtime from Peak before taking a break. For $8 I'm very satisfied.
Camille_Jamal@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 188d
Never mind, ignore original comment
$8 is a fair price for peak
ameancow@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 188d
cybernihongo@reddthat.com · -30 pts · 188d
Good thing I didn't buy this game. Or continue to buy anything from steam. I got lost trying to figure out what this is even talking about, other than money money money.
Kevo@lemmy.world · 22 pts · 188d
I have to disagree. This quote would be super shitty talking about microtransactions, but if this is about Peak, I dont believe they have any microtransactions in their game. Its the full price of the game. And honestly, if you have friends to play it with, $8 is a steal. Its nothing ground breaking or like world changing, but it's a fun time-waster to spend time with people you like and accomplish a goal with decent replayability.
Camille_Jamal@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 188d
Very replayable, goofy, and fun, worth your time, and very lightweight, though you can increase settings if you have a better rig. 1000% worth your time especially if you have a few friends. If you all turn off your common sense it becomes even better.
shinra@lemmy.zip · 12 pts · 188d
What a way to reveal how stupid you are
cybernihongo@reddthat.com · -3 pts · 188d
What, for questioning the mental gymnastics over the number for the price tag? 3 is 5 and 8 is 10 or whatever? Just say your game is worth $8 and leave it at that. All this feels like the rationale used to explain not rounding up the prices of everything, $2.99 instead of $3 - something I'd like to see gone too.
SleeplessCityLights@programming.dev · 6 pts · 188d
After work do you say to yourself "work work work for money money money", because those are the vibes you are giving off.