• @ampersandrew@lemmy.world
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    1625 days ago

    $35 is a deal breaker? Your financial situation is your financial situation, but compared to the rest of the industry, this is cheap.

    • @bread@feddit.nl
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      824 days ago

      Without being able to try a demo, that price is more than I’m willing to pay for this, yes.

      • Rentlar
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        324 days ago

        You might be able to try a “demo” of v rising 1.0.0.79266-b23 before you buy…

        • @bread@feddit.nl
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          -124 days ago

          Appreciate it. I actually found that out earlier today, and I gave it a shot. Tried it for a bit and uninstalled it, but I now know for sure that I would pay $10-15 for it, and no more.

    • VaultBoyNewVegas
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      424 days ago

      Ehh can’t speak the for the parent comment but I don’t like spending more than 15 quid on indies unless it’s something I really like the look of. Like I bought stray and kena full price but I haven’t bought this when I’m not a survival fan so not sure if I’ll enjoy it despite it seeming like a good game.

      • @ampersandrew@lemmy.world
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        624 days ago

        This game and the two you mentioned require what I would consider to be a very liberal definition of “indie”.

    • @Woozythebear@lemmy.world
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      224 days ago

      Lol no it’s not, tons of great games are like $25. This game doesn’t have enough to deserve a $35 price tag compared to the rest of the industry and I’m sure sales will reflect that.

      • @ampersandrew@lemmy.world
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        324 days ago

        It peaked today at just shy of 100k concurrent players following its successful early access period, with about 70k reviews, both of which are indicators that it’s selling extremely well, as well as taking the #4 spot on the top sellers list on Steam.

    • @abbotsbury@lemmy.world
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      -424 days ago

      “Compared to the rest of the industry” is damning with faint praise.

      I’d say most games are maybe worth $20, more only for the ones filled with content that you can replay many times.

      • @ampersandrew@lemmy.world
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        524 days ago

        Fortunately there are enough people who value them more than you, because most games, even moderately budgeted ones, wouldn’t be able to sustain themselves at that price.

        • @abbotsbury@lemmy.world
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          -124 days ago

          “Moderately budgeted” compared to what? Modern AAA game budgets have absolutely exploded and are not sustainable, turning game dev cycles into 5+ year marathons and giving it Hollywood Syndrome where every game needs to be a blockbuster to be considered a success and no risks are able to be taken because of the massive investment each project requires. Do you think that’s sustainable? Or do you think that perhaps things have gone out of control when a $90 price point is being floated, even in conjunction with money printing anti-consumer features like lootboxes?

          • @ampersandrew@lemmy.world
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            023 days ago

            Let’s say that including benefits, a developer’s salary is about $100k. Maybe a small team of 8 people worked on a game like The Thaumaturge for 3 years. Before you even factor in contract work like voice acting, that would put the development budget at $2.4M. If the game cost $20, they’d have to sell about 120k copies to break even on that investment, which is far from guaranteed. By pricing the game at $35, their break even point is nearly half of that. This is a moderately budgeted game, not a AAA game with microtransactions.

            Even an experienced team like Mimimi games, who made smart development choices by iterating on what they built before to keep costs down, releasing critical successes several times in a row, ended up closing down because the money coming in was too tight. Their games ranged from $30-$50 and had every sale, bundle, giveaway, and promotional opportunity you could think of.

            • @Don_alForno@feddit.de
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              212 days ago

              If the game cost $20, they’d have to sell about 120k copies to break even on that Investment,

              Far more actually. You have to deduct taxes, steam’s cut etc. from those 20$.

            • @abbotsbury@lemmy.world
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              123 days ago

              8 full time 100k salaried employees is quite a bit more than “small team.” Doom was 6 people. That many people are simply not required to make the games that are being produced; they can choose to size down any time they want. If they want to go “all in” on making a “AAAA” game, then they need to deal with that reality and make a game that is actually worth $60.

              Their games ranged from $30-$50 and had every sale, bundle, giveaway, and promotional opportunity you could think of.

              Perhaps that’s part of the problem? Maybe they should have priced their works more fairly from the start and not rely on bundles and givaways which surely aren’t going to make them more money.

              My point is, the “average” game is absolutely not worth $30. Most games should flop because they’re overproduced trash, and we should return to smaller, more artistic-focused development with a smaller scale, more consumer friendly pricing, and where the (few) devs get more slices of their pie.

              • @ampersandrew@lemmy.world
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                123 days ago

                I’m sorry that you don’t enjoy video games enough to pay $30 for most of the good ones, but I hope one day you can sit down with a calculator and realize why it must be that way.

                • @abbotsbury@lemmy.world
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                  223 days ago

                  I’d gladly pay $30 if they are worth it, most games are simply not worth it. Recently I’ve put over 75 hours into Atom RPG the last two weeks, and it’s $15 full price, and the developers have released a spinoff and announced a new project, so they seem to be doing fine.

                  Hopefully you can sit down with a calculator and figure out that things can be better.

                  • @ampersandrew@lemmy.world
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                    023 days ago

                    The value that I get out of games isn’t measured only in hours, especially since it’s easy to inflate a game’s length.

      • @Don_alForno@feddit.de
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        112 days ago

        That’s a movie ticket and a snack. Most games offer far more (or at least longer) entertainment than that. Even games I won’t finish.

        • @abbotsbury@lemmy.world
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          111 days ago

          The average movie isnt worth ticket price either IMO, and length certainly doesn’t equal quality.

          And I’d certainly say “most games” are absolutely not worth it, as the majority of games are simply lacking in terms of inspiration, innovation, compelling gameplay or story, or anything else to set it apart and give me a reason to play.

          • @Don_alForno@feddit.de
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            111 days ago

            The average movie isnt worth ticket price either

            The worth of a thing is determined by what people will pay for it.

            length certainly doesn’t equal quality.

            For any single product that’s true, statistically it makes the two classes (games and movies) comparable.

            I don’t think you’ll earnestly want to argue that 1 hour of movie entertainment is in general worth multiple hours of gaming entertainment. There are good and bad movies and games, but if you compare those of similar quality, the fact stands that the game will give you more for your money. Whether you want more of course depends on you - I gather that gaming doesn’t seem to really entertain you for the most part.

            • @abbotsbury@lemmy.world
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              19 days ago

              The worth of a thing is determined by what people will pay for it.

              No, that’s how price is determined, not worth.

              I don’t think you’ll earnestly want to argue that 1 hour of movie entertainment is in general worth multiple hours of gaming entertainment

              Depends on the movie and depends on the game. Some games with lots of content are good (if they’re well made), others are filled with trash content that is a waste of time to go through. Same with movies, there are some fantastic 75 minute cinematic experiences, and there are some that drag on for 3+ hours and do not successfully utilize their resources into a good movie. And vice versa.

              but if you compare those of similar quality, the fact stands that the game will give you more for your money

              If it’s a good game, sure, but we’re talking averages here and the average game is not good, so needing to play even more tedious uninspired levels doesn’t add any value, it in fact just makes it a bigger waste of time.

              I gather that gaming doesn’t seem to really entertain you for the most part.

              I actually love gaming, and I wish more consumers would have higher standards to not enable the terrible practices of the industry.