Game length VS price

[InvertMouse]

I'm very close to releasing a game I've been working on named Unhack. Having spent around $2000 on producing the game, I'm hoping to at least make a bit of that back >w<;.

 

I'm wondering, how much game time do people expect in return when they buy a game for a particular price? For me, if the game is a great experience, I have no issue with it being short. In fact, I usually prefer when it's shorter. Long just makes me suspected they've added stuff to drag the experience out. That's something I'm against, but of course, then I become worried that my works might be regarded as being too short.

 

I've watched a lot of reviews from all kinds of people on YouTube. Many of them have said things like, "I really enjoyed this game, but for five dollars, I would have wanted more than just two hours of gameplay.", etc. Of course, everyone will have a different opinion, but it's hard not to be concerned and have thoughts about this. So yeah, I would love to hear what people think. Thank you !

[hotsauce2000]

I don't mind a game being short at all, as long as the experience is supreme. But I guess it depends on price/length/quality. They all need to add up. You can't have a 2 hour game be priced 20 dollars and then be a mediocre experience.

[solidbatman]

It really does come down to competition for me. Generally, for something below $10, I'm more likely to impulse buy without any research into the game. Anything over $10, I will take a good look at the game, and weigh it out compared to other games. I would think a good number of others are like that too.

[Darklord Rooke]

I'm wondering, how much game time do people expect in return when they buy a game for a particular price? For me, if the game is a great experience, I have no issue with it being short. In fact, I usually prefer when it's shorter. Long just makes me suspected they've added stuff to drag the experience out. That's something I'm against, but of course, then I become worried that my works might be regarded as being too short.

 

I've watched a lot of reviews from all kinds of people on YouTube. Many of them have said things like, "I really enjoyed this game, but for five dollars, I would have wanted more than just two hours of gameplay.", etc. Of course, everyone will have a different opinion, but it's hard not to be concerned and have thoughts about this. So yeah, I would love to hear what people think. Thank you !

 

I don't mind short games. I come from a D&D background so I love the long RPG campaigns, but short and sweet is good as well. Game length doesn't really bother me, I'm more looking for quality. Polish in writing and gameplay, that sort of thing.

 

I'd buy your game even if it was priced at $10 because it looks really good. Price it at 20 and I may have to think about it...

 

50 is right out

 

I'm not sure if this is applicable, but I was reading about self-published ebooks the other day, and  people are finding they get more success when they price ABOVE the normal amount. I think they said most people price at $2 and they got more sales at 4-5. Something about people seeing that price and thinking 'this is priced higher, it'll have higher quality' or something. Of course, your product will then have to back that up by producing more quality than the average product, but it's something to think about.

[WinkBlinkel]

The cheaper it is, the more inclined I am to give it a shot out of the blue or via recommendation. Anything that's $20+ I'd have to research because it feels more like an investment. As far as game length goes, I never really worry about it before my purchase. I rarely feel "ripped off" because of a simple time figure. If the game is only two hours long but I had fun, I consider it a good use of my money and I'll still recommend it. I bought Wonderful 101 for $60 and it was only about 8-9 hours, but it's my favorite game of last year because the gameplay is fantastic. There's no easy "conversion rate" for hours-to-dollars. Just know that most people probably don't feel the way I do. I'd say compare your game to other indie games on steam, compare their average lengths, and price accordingly.

[Flutterz]

If the price of a game reflects both the quality, length and depth/complexity of the game, or is lower than that, then it's a good price, things like impulse buying notwithstanding. Let's say quality is both the presentation quality and polish of the mechanics. Length is how long can I keep playing without playing a part more than once, or playing something new that doesn't add anything to my experience, so things like grinding in an area or replaying a game don't count. Of course this definition fails in multiplayer, but let's not touch that. Depth/complexity, for lack of a better word, is how much the game has to offer from a mechanics standpoint. So a game with either a large amount of mechanics that were thought through would be complex, and a game with few mechanics that have a lot of interaction with one another would be deep. These are the best definitions I can pull off the top of my head, so don't judge too harshly.

Of course, it's hard to put definitive numbers on these kinds of things, but let's try nonetheless.

 

For example, for $5 I'd most likely expect a game that is:

-well-done, but short and not very complicated

-a complex game that perhaps isn't very long or polished(hehe)

But I wouldn't want a long game that isn't well-done and doesn't have any depth, because while length is undoubtedly a factor, it's not as important as the other 2.

 

For $20 I'd expect:

-a well-done, complex, but short game

-a longer game with complex mechanics which isn't as polished

-a longer game that has good presentation, but the mechanics aren't very deep (I didn't plan this, but this sounds totally like a VN)

 

For $60 I expect a game that is presented well, has well-thought out mechanics and can occupy me for at least a couple dozen hours.

 

Now the really nasty part comes in when you add sales into the mix. The reason why I said that I was expecting more content out of Dysfunctional Systems, even though with the above system it fits perfectly into the $20 category, is that for $5 I can get, for example, Mass Effect 1 or 2(maybe even both!) which are presented better, have straight up more mechanics and I can play them for longer. And while I understand that it's not fair comparing one game which isn't on sale and another which is, after all if DysSys was on sale for $1.25, I wouldn't say a word about it not having enough stuff, that doesn't change the fact that for $5 I can straight up get more. Another problem with sales is that, as Batman said, if a game is on sale on steam for $1.25, it would have to be really unappealing for me to not get it.

 

Now that I think about it a bit more, VNs really fit well in this model. While they can be categorized as long games with good presentation, little complexity, which would fall into the $20 category, length can vary much, much more than the other 2 values, so even though it does not influence the price much at low values, you can have a good game which is an hour long, and you can have a good game which is a hundred hours long. It's much harder to say that one game is literally a hundred times better presented than another, or that some game's mechanics are literally a hundred times better. So once you factor in the huge length of some VNs, maybe it brings the price up into the $60 category.

 

This whole post is just a stream of my thoughts, but hopefully it's at least comprehensible.

Edit: You know how you sometimes see people say things like "This post gave me cancer"? Well this post gave me a headache. xD

[nohman]

As my free time dries up, I'm starting to prefer short titles. There's still the occasional, mindlessly grindy type of game that I enjoy having on a handheld for my downtime, but for the most part I prefer short, well tuned experiences. One of my favorite games last year was Gone Home, which ran me $20 and only lasted me about 3ish~ hours, but touched me quite a bit. I consider it money well spent.

 

Loosely though, if I spend $10-15 on a game, I'd at least like to get 4 to 5 hours out of it - if it's not the kind of game with lasting replayability. Maybe $5 bucks for a game that I get a fun 2 hours out of.

[InvertMouse]

Thank you heaps for the response guys! It's great to get some feedback on this. So nice to hear that you folks are more into quality than quantity. If the entire gaming community were like that, maybe we'll have shorter but more finely tuned games, which is what I'd definitely prefer.

 

Thank you heaps, Rooke! I know exactly what you mean by the theory of expensive books being more popular. It applies to me in games. When I buy a triple A game on day one, even if I end up hating some parts of it, I still struggle through because, well, I want to feel like I've spent my money wisely. Second, let's face it--a lot of us buy into hype. When we see something's expensive, we think, "Wow, this must be serious business!"

 

Anyway, I'm glad to hear you'd be up for buying Unhack even at $10. I'm very thankful. My plan is to price it at around $5 so thank you in advance for your support m(_ _)m.

 

Flutterz, it's interesting how you brought up Dysfunctional Systems and Mass Effect. I wonder if the game's development context is considered as well? For example, maybe there's a single creator who's struggling to get exposure, but you want to support him, so you're willing to buy his game even though a AAA company can present something bigger for the same price. That certainly applies for me. When a game tries something different, even if it ends up having some flaws and it's shorter than normal, I'll still support it more than another war FPS.

 

Nohman, I also find that I'm more accepting of mindless, grindy games on handhelds. I'm on the train anyway, so it's either that or sleeping. It's an odd thing. I'd never play those games when I'm at home. And yes, Gone Home was definitely a unique game that deserved the praises it received.

 

Thanks everyone .

[Flutterz]

Thank you heaps for the response guys! It's great to get some feedback on this. So nice to hear that you folks are more into quality than quantity. If the entire gaming community were like that, maybe we'll have shorter but more finely tuned games, which is what I'd definitely prefer.

 

Thank you heaps, Rooke! I know exactly what you mean by the theory of expensive books being more popular. It applies to me in games. When I buy a triple A game on day one, even if I end up hating some parts of it, I still struggle through because, well, I want to feel like I've spent my money wisely. Second, let's face it--a lot of us buy into hype. When we see something's expensive, we think, "Wow, this must be serious business!"

 

Anyway, I'm glad to hear you'd be up for buying Unhack even at $10. I'm very thankful. My plan is to price it at around $5 so thank you in advance for your support m(_ _)m.

 

Flutterz, it's interesting how you brought up Dysfunctional Systems and Mass Effect. I wonder if the game's development context is considered as well? For example, maybe there's a single creator who's struggling to get exposure, but you want to support him, so you're willing to buy his game even though a AAA company can present something bigger for the same price. That certainly applies for me. When a game tries something different, even if it ends up having some flaws and it's shorter than normal, I'll still support it more than another war FPS.

 

Nohman, I also find that I'm more accepting of mindless, grindy games on handhelds. I'm on the train anyway, so it's either that or sleeping. It's an odd thing. I'd never play those games when I'm at home. And yes, Gone Home was definitely a unique game that deserved the praises it received.

 

Thanks everyone .

Hmm... I think it wouldn't affect how good the price is, but knowing that would affect whether I buy it or not, if that makes any sense.

[sanahtlig]

I typically expect to pay about $1/hr of game content for a quality professional title.  Any more than $2/hr and I'll likely balk, though I'll also be dissatisfied if the content is padded to the point of not being enjoyable.  Short games tend to have poor value by these criteria.

 

It's worth mentioning however that I usually take 2-3x as long to complete the same content as other people.

[Kaguya]

In my country, if we convert the prices to dollars, I'm used to pay at least 30$ for any half-decent game. Anything below that is no better than pacman. For really good ones, the price is at least 80, sometimes 100 or higher.

Then again, no one should ever use lulzil as a reference. We do have a serious problem with taxes in the gaming industry (well, in anything, really). 

[neromercer]

5$ - Indie game or discount game, nuff said, hours don't count here for me

10-20$ - Must do a gameplay research and see one good review of the game, prefer for it to take around 8 good hours to 35 decent hours

20-40$ - Must be prepared to do an investment, when I waste near 40$ is because I want a game that's going to take me more than 100 hours and that I know I'm going to do 100% of it (J-RPGs most of them)

40-60$ - Probably something like a bundle, just like Tales of Symphonia: Chronicles which comes with two games, so it's more than 150 hours there you have if you want everything done and the Platinum.

 

So..

5$=Any

10-20$=8 Good Hs-35 Decent Hs

20-40$=50 Good Hs-100 Good Hs

40-60$=+100 Good Hs

 

I'm not willing to waste on something that is bad all the way through.

[InvertMouse]

Thank you for your further responses folks !

[Mevvrynne]

Personally when it comes to pricing a video game, it has several variables as to how much I would value it, but length is only part of one of them, that being replay value (which can add a large amount of play time to it).  If the game was meant to have only about 5-10 hours of gameplay (gameplay including all the story elements, and actual manipulation of the in-game factors), I would value it at an average value of around $8-10 (U.S. dollars), but this number is also subjected to change as to how well the gameplay and story elements were created and how much replay value it would have (if any).

 

However, that 5-10 hour game example would only be applied if it had ANY replay value.  If it had none whatsoever at all I would value it far less.  

 

This is just a personal opinion, as I am a stickler when it comes to buying games.

[Alucard]

Under $1 an hour and probably going to the lower end of that. Probably more like .50 an hour

[InvertMouse]

Thanks for the insight guys ~

[Alucard]

My gaming backlog is what drives down prices for me I can usually wait out until a deep discount or bundle. For example I'm waiting for dishonoured goty edition to hit the magic 75% off on steam before I bite. I know they will do better than 66 since base game was 75% off during Christmas

[Guest hairybumslapper]

If you're a PC gamer, price doesn't really matter since many games can be easily pirated, or bought on the steam store dirt cheap. Console gamers get shafted especially when it comes to store bought games. I mean, where i live its 98 bucks for a new ps4 game!

[InvertMouse]

If you're a PC gamer, price doesn't really matter since many games can be easily pirated, or bought on the steam store dirt cheap. Console gamers get shafted especially when it comes to store bought games. I mean, where i live its 98 bucks for a new ps4 game!

 

Now that there are dirt cheap sales all around, I find this is when people start feeling like they should get 50 hours of gameplay for 10 bucks. It depends on your age as well, though. Adults tend to have less time and so want something to get to the point. Younger people might have less money, so whenever they do spend it, they want it to occupy them for a long time. Thinking back, I have no idea how I used to spend 50 to 100+ hours on those RPGs. It'll be tough for me to do that now.