[casual_games] Price as Signal

[Joe Pantuso]

Ah don't get me wrong.  I definitely agree that games can have the
appearance of commodity.  Especially when there are dozens of games in each
genre (defining 'genre' as "hit game and it's imitators").

However I don't think that prospective customers are going to say to
themselves, "Gee, I think I'll buy a word puzzle game this week.  Let's see
which one has the best price."  Price is only a small part of the overall
decision to purchase a game.

My opinion is price isn't a factor in the decision as to WHICH game to buy.
It is a factor in WHETHER they they buy or just satisfy themselves with the
demo.  In this way price may be a factor in which one they choose, but it is
unlikely to be the largest factor.

So in the decision of how they will use their limited time to entertain
themselves, content is more important than price.  As you say, licenses can
be an easy way to set yourself apart.

Pricing is a complicated subject.


On 12/14/05, Lionel barret De Nazaris <lionel.bdn at free.fr> wrote:
>
> You overgeneralize. Some game are a commodity, some are not.
> That why license are worth so much money. They represent the fact that
> the game, movie, book has escaped from the commodity world.
> Games have content, some unique feel that's true, but until your
> customer feel that way, your uniqueness is not very useful.
> Until you have a game that is considered as unique *by your customer*,
> your game *is* a commodity.
> Before this point, your customers are buying your game as they would
> have bought an other game.
> That why marketing, branding, and customer relationship is so important.
>
> Being unique is quite hard, Being good is not enough, you need to be
> very good and very special.
> (Of course, being too special means you're risking being arcane...)
>
> And in the end, people have only a limited amount of money and time. So
> they have to choose even between Unique items (book, games, etc).
> Being cheaper (or perceived so) is factor of choice, an easy one.
>
> --
> Lionel Barret De Nazaris
> =================================================
> Gamr7.com > http://www.gamr7.com
> Gamr7's Blog > http://creatinggames.blogspot.com/
>
>
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