Determining the Ideal Price for Your Indie Game

In the video game industry, setting the right price for an indie game can be a daunting task, especially for developers without the resources of a large publisher. At Develop:Brighton 2022, Lewis Denby hosted a talk to help developers navigate this challenge. Denby emphasized that the price of a game can significantly influence a buyer's decision, conveying value and quality to potential customers. If the price is too high, buyers may perceive the game as overpriced, while a price that's too low may raise suspicions about the game's quality. Finding the perfect price point is crucial, as it can make or break a game's success. When developing and releasing a game, developers take a risk with their time and money, and while profit may not be the primary goal, it's essential to consider the potential return on investment. Denby suggested that developers research their competitors by analyzing games on Steam, using user tags to filter by genre, theme, or attributes. By estimating competitors' revenue based on price and user reviews, developers can estimate their own revenue at different price points. This method, although not perfect, provides a good starting point for making informed decisions. To apply this method, developers need a spreadsheet application, a Steam account, and approximately two hours. They should collect competitor data, estimate revenue, filter by game quality, and use the data to estimate their own revenue. When filtering through Steam tags, it's essential to choose specific keywords that narrow down the search results. Ideally, this should leave between 50 and 200 games to analyze. Games outside of a certain age should be filtered out, and the data should be used to estimate revenue based on price points and user reviews. Denby stressed that this method provides only a rough estimate and that other costs, such as marketing and taxes, should be factored into the final total. Developers should apply guesswork to how well their game will perform, considering sales, quality, and reviews. By estimating median low and high revenue estimates at each price point, developers can compare these figures to their hopes for the game and identify patterns or trends that make a particular price point seem optimal. Denby recommended using the median rather than the average to rule out anomalies in the data. While collecting and analyzing data can be helpful, Denby cautioned against over-interpreting the results and emphasized the importance of considering the context and potential versus reality. The data collected can be instrumental in identifying trends, tendencies, and patterns, highlighting opportunities and risks, and informing business decisions, such as pricing, release strategy, and pitching to publishers.