Software Price Cuts: "A Tricky Balancing Act"

04 Jan 2010 at 16:16:49 by Andy Alderson

Lower priced retail software with a focus on DLC may not offer publishers the rewards they hope for according to a UK industry expert.

Earlier today we reported how EA's Jason DeLong has predicted that publishers will drop the price of retail games, offering a “smaller” experience that can be expanded through DLC.

IncGamers spoke to UK industry expert Nicholas Lovell who expressed some doubts about the DLC-focused pricing model.

“The traditional approach to getting people to play your game is to spend a shedload on marketing. That way the public go out and buy it, no matter how good it is,” he said.

“Marketing is often a bigger expense than development. For example, for Modern Warfare 2, Activision spent $50 million on development and $200 million on production and marketing.”

Conversely, web games tend to offer the player a  taste of the game, requiring them to pay if they want to experience more of the game.

“The challenge for lower priced boxed products is more subtle,” warned Lovell.

“The majority of gamers don’t finish their games. They feel annoyed at being nickeled and dimed in a game they’ve already paid for. It’s a tricky balancing act, and one that works best when the whole game experience is optimised for it.

“Bolting optional upgrades onto a lower price game is unlikely to work without a full rethink of the gameplay and the business model.”

What's your take on the software pricing issue? Let us know in the comments section below

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