Opportunity #20: The Price is What?

[James Andrew Coote]

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The Price is What?

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OUYA puts the product before the price, but when judging the value of a game, you need both

So that games are judged on the basis of how they play, rather than their price, OUYA implements a policy that every game must be “free to try”. For that to work, there are no prices on the OUYA store, otherwise people might judge the game based on that, rather than the actual content of the game

However, for many of the games, it is not necessarily clear what the price is until the player is suddenly confronted with a message asking them to pay to continue. This has two problems

Firstly, it gives the player the feeling they’ve been suckered into a game that while they enjoy, is not worth the (large) price now being asked for it.

Secondly, it pulls the player out of their immersion in the game, suddenly bringing the player back to the financial concerns of the real world that they may well have been seeking to escape through gaming

Unfortunately, there are no easy solutions. The “products” that game developers sell through IAP (in-app purchase) in their games are not linked to any one particular game. Furthermore, even for a simple demo + unlock full game type monetisation model, there may be multiple products. My own game has “Full price” and “20% Early discount”. Some games may even mix monetisation models, having individual items or levels unlockable, or having one purchase to unlock everything. So there is no way for the store to automatically pick these things up.

Another option might be to have developers specify from a list of timed demo, free to play, donation etc, that then gets displayed on the store. However, putting the onus on game developers is what happens with the current system, where clearly some developers aren’t being as up front as consumers might like them to be about pricing. It may also introduce bias against particular monetisation models, which again mean people are judging a game before they’ve played it

My personal hope is that developers will recognise that sales are hurt for everyone when not being transparent with game prices, and that consumers will vote with their wallets to encourage good behaviour. OUYA is in many ways breaking new ground, and as the platform matures, we’ll see whether this particular experiment works out

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Published simultaneously in conjunction with Crystalline Green (You can view back issues here)

[terpfan1980]

Great points. Hopefully things will improve in this area as it has definitely been a big frustration for me (as someone that is not averse to spending my money to pay for products like yours). The not knowing how much something costs and where/when it will offer me the opportunity to complete the purchase, etc., has been incredibly irritating in many of the early games that have been on the Ouya.

[James Andrew Coote]

There's no harm in giving people more than one way to pay either. Paywalls are annoying but at least put a purchase button on the main menu so people know what price to expect when it does pop up (or if they're really keen, can buy before playing and so know they'll never have that problem)