Last week indie developer 2D Boy celebrated the one year anniversary of the launch of their critically acclaimed World of Goo.
In celebration of the first year anniversary of the game, the developer allowed users to purchase the game at whatever price point they decided. Consumers could buy the game for as little as 1 cent, and many did so.
The much publicized experiment resulted in 57,000 people buying the game. 2D Boy’s Ron Carmel announced that the average price paid for the game was $2.03, which means that 2D Boy netted around $115, 710 from the experiment. The regular price of the game is $20.
17,000 people elected to pay the minimum for the game- $0.01. 16,000 people paid between $1 and $2. Interestingly 85 people chose to pay more than the regular price of $20, and 4 people paid $50 for the game.
A very interesting side effect of the experiment according to Carmel, is that STEAM sales of the game saw a dramatic 40% increase during the week of the promotion.
“I do get a sense … that there is a lot of room for improvement in how games, and in fact, all digital products, are priced,” he said in an email. “I think the optimal pricing strategy for any digital product is one in which every person pays what they feel is a fair price that they can afford, based on their economic situation, their perception of the value of the product, the balance of their bank account on that particular day,” Carmel told Gamasutra in an email.
“If a strategy that yields this result can be devised, I think the product creators would make more money AND people would feel better about their purchase (the latter being something that companies like Apple realize is extremely important),” elaborated Carmel.
Due to the success of the experiment, 2D Boy has extended the limited offer until October 25. The download is available on the 2D Boy website.
Can the “pay what you want” strategy work in gaming in general, or was World of Goo and exception? Give your views
Loading ...
