

A game developer’s guide to sales - alexissantos
http://www.binpress.com/blog/2015/01/26/game-developers-guide-to-sales/

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alexissantos
Writer of the article here. If you've got any input/experience/questions/etc.
on how discounts affect sales, let me know! The post is intended to be a
living guide, so I'll updated it as I come across more useful information.

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fenomas
Great post. Random question: do the game storefronts offer much help with (or
indeed, exert much control over) how to get value out of sales? I'm reminded
of the famous "Dark side of Indie PR" article[1], where the author suggested
(2nd comment) that devs selling through Steam don't necessarily control when
or how much their games are discounted. Though your account of Jason Rohrer's
game obviously tells a different story. Or is it something you can comment on?

[1]
[http://www.puppygames.net/blog/?p=1574](http://www.puppygames.net/blog/?p=1574)

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alexissantos
Thanks!

Hmm. That's something I hadn't considered. It's clear you have the option of
whether or not your game is included in a sales promotion, but I'm not sure
how much influence Valve has when it comes to price. I'll reach out to the
indie devs I wrote about and see what the word is.

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jbattle
Another angle to sales that I'd love to hear more about is how sales affect
multiplayer games through their communities. When I'm considering purchasing
an multiplayer game that has been out for a while I'll try to get a sense for
the size and 'health' of the community. If the player base is small I know
I'll only get in the occasional game and be learning to swim around hyper-
experienced sharks. If the player base is larger I'll expect learning the game
is more fun / less punishing.

Both as a newcomer to a older game and as an 'established' player my
perception is that sales tend to bring in a bunch of new players juicing the
number of active players/servers for a time (good thing). Because of network
effects in MP games, I'd imagine that injecting some fresh new blood into a
community is a good way to attract more players even after the sale is over.

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alexissantos
Good point. The Castle Doctrine used sales promotions to build its initial
player base, but not for injecting some fresh blood down the line. I'll do
some digging!

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pricechild
Edmund McMillen (of The Binding of Isaac) surprised me by stating quite
clearly that it isn't all roses!

> i have personally noticed a decline of sales and $ of both smb and isaac in
> the years we did humble bundles. > for both games the next years sales were
> a lot higher than the year we put them in bundles.. so i do think for more
> well known games that bundles can actually hurt sales a bit.. other devs
> might find different numbers but for us this was the case

[http://edmundm.com/post/93053340820/as-an-answer-to-a-
previo...](http://edmundm.com/post/93053340820/as-an-answer-to-a-previous-
question-you-said)

~~~
alexissantos
I think he hit the nail on the head: for games that already have plenty of
exposure, promotions/discounts are more likely to cannibalize sales. Thanks
for putting that on my radar!

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walru
This is why Nintendo rarely has sales. You completely destroy your brand when
you say it's really only worth X percent of what you're normally charging. The
same could be stated for anything, really. It's all in perceived value. Sounds
a little crude, but we apply the same theories in dating that we do to IP. If
something is more easily available we're not always willing to go out of our
way to get it - or something to that effect. My coffee is still brewing.

