How Cheaper Game Prices May Make More Profit (And The "Ifs")

[@Fractured_Reflection]

Since you decided to be the numbers guy for this theory I've decided to throw in my own little additions and be the "psychology gal" for this (man is that a title) and discuss a few other side effects this lowering of price may have. Firstly, if production costs are high, games will need to be more appealing to general audiences and attract more crowds in order to make back money. This can either result in game developers getting creative and making games that can truly be enjoyed by anyone, or the worst case scenario that games will be targeted to younger demographics and only younger demographics (a.k.a 99% of stuff for "all ages" nowadays). Marketing will also need to be very convincing and effective, which may seem redundant but with other games competing in the market for the same low price they will REALLY need to convince consumers to buy theirs and theirs specifically. Although there is a chance that with such low price people might instead decide to buy multiple games instead of settling with one, because people are more willing to buy multiple cheap things than one expensive thing since the human brain still associates multiple low value things with low value and thus doesn't worry as much, even if the multiple cheap things cost as much as the one expensive thing (Microtransactions and impulse purchases being perfect examples). Games directed towards mature audiences, like horror or realistic shooters, will also need to find a solution as they have way less broad apeal than platformers, sandboxes, puzzles and other universal genres. There's the option of appealing to younger audiences, which Fortnite and practically every massively popular horror game after FNAF have proven is more than possible, which only comes with the downside of needing to market them to an audience not used to those themes but considering children are infamously known for enjoying doing things they're way too young to do yet I highly doubt that'll be a major problem. They can alternatively attempt to lean further into microtransactions, which would work well for shooters (need I say more?) but I highly doubt horror would be able to find a way to do that (horror is really the genre that would suffer the most from what I've gathered). The main problem I see with them switching to digital is that consoles would practically go extinct with that. Consoles only have so much memory and with bigger and bigger games coming out PCs will inevitably outcompete them thanks to their practically endless and somehow still expanding memory. The only ways I can see consoles surviving is: 1-Console exclusives. 2-Fun console gimmicks (being portable, modifiable controllers, user friendly UI, etc) 3-REALLY crank up optimization. Console exclusives and console gimmicks have proven to be very effective despite lower game prices on PCs, however increased optimization would result in longer development times, more employee work to pay (unless you don't, if you know you know) and overall much more work into something that probably won't help in the longrun. As Nintendo has proved, it seems a mix of all three is the best way to go (despite their infamous problem of over optimizing games and the inevitable problem to all consoles of having limited memory. Only way I can see them overcoming that is making their consoles easily modifiable but that practically just makes them more limited PCs and they'd have to lean more onto the 3 previously established things to stand out). Lastly, let's talk about the consumers place in all of this. I can see people being very impulsed when the average price first drops but afterwards I can see it going 2 ways. Either people will be more willing to buy games in bulk (like the restaurant analogy you mentioned) or not be interested and just wait for something more interesting to come out or wait for sales. First one would be optimal for business but would require the consumer to REALLY give in to their urges and not care about the games themselves to work at maximum efficiency. The second one is less of a road this can go down and more of an inevitable outcome that will happen sooner or later, as said previously games will REALLY need to have good marketing and stand out if they want to be successful. It will be a difficult obstacle to overcome as coming up with original ideas is very hard amongst a species that gets more and more inventive on a planet that has existed for billions of years, but a possibly good consequence for this outcome is that it'll incentivise game devs to be more creative and result in a way more diverse and innovative gaming scene. As one last thing to top it off, you did a great job with this video! The research you did was outstanding, I can't see myself going through that much lol. The comment for the FNATI video is also reaching it's final stages so you can (hopefully) expect it soon. Have a fantastic day!

[@millennialseniorproductions]

All good thoughts and points, marketing and homogenization of games and ideas was something I had concerns about as well but couldn't figure out how they would exactly fit with everything. Consoles vs PC in the new hypothetical market I didn't consider at all, but I think consoles may still have a place as "limited PCs" and it can be argued they're already making them as such, only with less word processors. Like I said in the video there's a lot I'm unsure about or unable to predict but it was a fun exercise either way. And in terms of optimization I've constantly complained for years that consoles seem to have become "Next-Gen graphics, Last-Gen storage." That definitely is a problem that needs to be addressed with the push for digital games.

[@jasonwilliams573]

With such a small price point, large companies might be able to scale to profit (I certainly don't think $15 is achievable but maybe $50). But Indie developers could not compete with that kind of pricing. It would be not unlike Big Box Mart's ability to sell cheaper products to drive their competition out of business.

[@millennialseniorproductions]

I considered what it all meant for indie devs, but in the end they were already between 10-20 price point, which to me meant they were already as cheap as they could generally be. The only thing I could see changing is increased sales from the wallets having more left over after not paying $60-$70. Considering the hypothesized result is all digital sales, I don't think competition against indie games would change much since digital storefronts wouldn't push indie/smaller games "off the shelf" since there's infinite "shelf space" and quite possibly no contractual and/or legal way they could do that, but as I've said in the past companies like to do what they want then play "catch me if you can" to the people that can't afford to chase them. Also the one thing that I can't reliably predict or analyze, as stated in the video, is whether or not enough people want to get the games regardless of how cheap they are to increase sales in the first place. And if game companies could slash purchase costs to drive others out of business, I think we'd already see near-permanent cheaper game costs instead of Steam Summer Sales, etc. None of this says you're wrong in thinking about those possibilities though, since knowing a multitude of possibilities helps prepare for or prevent such things no matter how slim a chance one might think they'd happen. In fact that's what you're supposed to do in business, since thinking outside the box can discover new services or products the competition, or anyone for that matter, overlooked.

[@millennialseniorproductions]

To be a bit more clear, I'm not saying I'm right, I'm just saying these are my reasonings.

[@jasonwilliams573]

@@millennialseniorproductions Just Devil's Avocado, tho. If the consumer has extra money from buying a cheaper AAA game, wouldn't they buy more AAA games and skip indie titles altogether? One of indie games' few strategic advantages over AAA games is pricing. Consumers want nice-looking games with reliable servers for netplay. If all games were the same price, I have a hard time believing consumers would favor indie games in any way. It might be an example of trickle-down economics.