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Should Valyria Chronicles been priced at $30?
- Thread starter Beer Monkey
- Start date
Beer Monkey
Member
RpgN said:
Then we should consider that maybe they should sell titles like this at $80?
That might draw the ire of fans. Making it more expensive than comparable games could potentially be a solution if you could somehow get around the marketing problems it would cause.beermonkey@tehbias said:
A safer solution would be to develop on a reduced budget such that you could release at $60.
It's a tight rope they walk.
Price and quality were not this games problem. The lack of a 360 port was the problem. 3rd party exclusives are a bad idea this gen, at least for US releases.
I might end up buying this game just to have it for when I eventually get a PS3, but I would have bought it day 1 had it been multiplat.
I might end up buying this game just to have it for when I eventually get a PS3, but I would have bought it day 1 had it been multiplat.
Wouldn't Sega have to sell more than twice the copies to make the same profit at half the price? Some costs, such as licensing, manufacturing and shipping are fixed regardless of the price of the game itself. I'm not sure if decreased profit margin of selling VC at $30 would be compensated by an increase in sales.
RpgN
Junior Member
beermonkey@tehbias said:
They do that quite often in Japan, depends on each game, lots of niche games are plain expensive (compared to the usual price) or they also make a limited edition and ask ridiculous prices out of fans. I don't think the same can be done in the West just like Slavik81 mentioned. It doesn't happen often here and when it does, it will be compared to other games and therefore dropped out of the list.
A Human Becoming
More than a Member
It all depends on supply and demand. Just because a game is cheaper doesn't mean it will sell better (aka Viva Pinata: Trouble and Paradise and Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts).
Like anything else, it depends on supply and demand. If they did the research on it, they might have found it benefited them to drop the price in order to sell enough copies then to make a larger profit then at $60. The big issue is because almost all 360 and PS3 games start at $60, some people see games cheaper then that as lower quality titles, unless they're a "greatest hits" or they are a recognizable brand. Wii owners are different in that regard.
Like anything else, it depends on supply and demand. If they did the research on it, they might have found it benefited them to drop the price in order to sell enough copies then to make a larger profit then at $60. The big issue is because almost all 360 and PS3 games start at $60, some people see games cheaper then that as lower quality titles, unless they're a "greatest hits" or they are a recognizable brand. Wii owners are different in that regard.
Its failure had more to do with it being launched in the holiday rush, against a great 1st party lineup from Sony and a bunch of games with much more obvious appeal to the American consumer (Dead Space, Call of Duty WaW, Fallout 3). A J-SRPG just had no chance against that competition no matter what.
I don't think that discounting the price a little on niche titles is a bad idea on the larger scale, though. I think many would attract a fair bit more interest if they were only $10 lower than the norm, and they wouldn't sacrifice much profit if that turns out not to be the case. Cutting it in half, though, is much too extreme, the prospect of it selling twice as much is just too much of a long shot.
I don't think that discounting the price a little on niche titles is a bad idea on the larger scale, though. I think many would attract a fair bit more interest if they were only $10 lower than the norm, and they wouldn't sacrifice much profit if that turns out not to be the case. Cutting it in half, though, is much too extreme, the prospect of it selling twice as much is just too much of a long shot.
CrushDance
Banned
Oh please, the only people who complain about the game are those with only a 360 or Wii and keep talking about how it would sell better on their platform of choice. What "sonyfans" are angry about it? Go look at the main thread for the game.Keikoku said:
CrushDance
Banned
Not at the level he was trying to paint it as. Pretty sure even I commented on it as well ages ago, but I'm not losing any sleep over it because the franchise seems to be doing well for itself even after the fact.Llyranor said:
CrushDance said:
Yes it is. Same in the main thread and other threads. I've never seen so much whining about bad sales, and I repeat this includes other good JRPGs of this generation. And stop doing like VC was so much superior than those and deserved better sales. It's an excellent TRPG, and it deserved better sales, but it's not the only one which bombed. End of the story, I don't get the point of all these debates... and wtf at people with only a 360/Wii complaining about the sales of this game ? Are you serious ? What would be the point of that ? Actually segafans/sonyfans themselves are saying that it should have been multiplat :lol So bitter.
I don't think they expected it to sell more than it did in the West. In general I just don't agree that the game or localization "bombed" nearly as much as the popular sentiment on GAF would indicate. I believe the main reason this comes up so often is that a particular poster started to whine about this games' sales months before it was released and continued to do so incessantly.Brandson said:
Quoting myself:
Durante said:
I may be wrong, but does the creator of this thread have a PS3?Keikoku said:
Dr. Kitty Muffins
Member
I always thought that making the game downloadable would have pushed sales a bit.
CrushDance
Banned
Biiter? No. More like annoyed if anything by the constant port talk that eventually comes up, other games have "bombed" in the same genre and you don't see that much whining about those title.Keikoku said:
And sorry but, Folklore is the best JRPG released thus far and it didn't get that many great sales either. I still enjoyed it though and in the case of Valkyria a sequel is highly likely what with the inclusion of an anime, toy line and other merchandise.(Manga)
NG: Sigma 2 is what we call bitter. When they port over Yakuza then you can talk.
Yeah I'm pretty sure beermonkey does.Durante said:
CrushDance said:
Wow, wtf are you talking about ? NG2 Sigma ? Folklore ? Dude, do you read my post above ? All I was saying was STOP CRYING because of the bad sales of this game. That's just it, your consoles wars stuff has nothing to do here.
Never seen such whining in the TOV official thread. Valkyria Chronicles owners are just doing like this game was so much superior to other JRPGs which bombed as much, and this is annoying.
Beer Monkey
Member
Durante said:
I'm a launch PS3 owner. PSN gamertag is BEERMONKEY.
Angelcurio
Member
I am personally waitiung for the gfame to hit the $30 market before i buy it. Same thing with mirrors edge. So i think that at that price and in a better month (most of us were broke after all the AAA releases) the game would have fared better.
The Blue Jihad
Member
beermonkey@tehbias said:
I just want to point out how incredibly absurdly bizarre that bolded part is. No more than a generation ago, console online was in its infancy. Two generations ago, there was almost no console online. Yet now it's like...a surprise or something when a console isn't connected to the internet. It's just a very strange paradigm shift.
gregor7777
Banned
Perfect title for DD at this point, IMO.
Red Blaster
Member
Well the creator says he was surprised that the acceptance of the game was so high in Japan and would love to do a sequel, so this topic is pretty moot.
I don't think anyone seriously disputes that it would have sold more at $30. But is anyone claiming that it would have sold 2.5 times as much? Because if you count the per-copy retail overhead and the lost opportunity for price differentiation I think that's the least it would have had to do. The $50 thing is a more interesting proposition, but again I wonder how many people can be swayed by a $10 difference.
I think "don't give a fuck" is saying a bit much but I agree with the general argument. I think the demand for this type of game is not very elastic with price.Raist said:
You should add it to your profile!beermonkey@tehbias said:
Rollo Lawson
Banned
i dig what youre saying, but the question - "if they want to reach more people, shouldnt they lower the price?" can be said about any product being sold anywhere. but there's a psychology attached to price. if you come out the gate at $30 when the going price is 50-60, your product immediately seems less valuable to the average person. it could hurt more than help
just think about when youve seen a brand new game at a ridiculously low price, and the first thing you think is "whats wrong with it?'
just think about when youve seen a brand new game at a ridiculously low price, and the first thing you think is "whats wrong with it?'
Beer Monkey
Member
Durante said:
D'oh. Done.
rykomatsu
Member
beermonkey@tehbias said:
You would have a larger audience at $30 vs $60, however I'm pretty sure Sega does a cost-profit analysis. They'd effectively need to sell 2x the copies at $30 to maintain the same gross profit as selling at $60. Their analysis probably told them that their gross profit would be higher going the $60 route than the $30 route. This is obviously a simplified analysis but yeah...1/2 price != 2x sales (in some cases it may...but it's not universally true)
Their goal is to make profit, not necessarily increase their target audience population.
NorrenRadd
Member
XiaNaphryz said:
Negative.
Short-term it worked great. Then EA goes to the NFL and shows them how 2k is killing profitability and 2k football is basically on its last legs now.
As for VC, I would have jumped in initially at $30 for sure. However, I think it could have benefited from a bit of mainstream marketing. It is certainly a $60 game, it just needed some help!
SCE: Hey, we're thinking about doing a DD release of some old game, Valkyria Chronicles. Thoughts?gregor7777 said:
Gamestop: Wow, you think you can infringe on our market like that? Are you prepared for our wrath?
SCE: When was the last time you even had a new copy of Valkyria Chronicles in stock?
Gamestop: ...
SCE: ...
Things will have to get worse before they get better.
Mr Killemgood
Member
Valkyria Chronicles should of had a 360 port...It would have sold better in NA if it were multi-plat, as every niche game like a JRPG should be.
Hcoregamer00
The 'H' stands for hentai.
GitarooMan said:
The game bombed for a variety of reasons, price is not one of them.
-Niche Market
-Poor advertising
-VERY POOR release date placement (November 2008)
-New IP
Had Valkyria Chronicles been released in Summertime or Winter 2009, the game would have likely garnered more sales.
The $60 has nothing to do with it.
madara said:
Like it or not the market in NA for a game like RE5 is significantly larger than traditional JSRPGs, and so unless your argument is that all games should be $30, which is silly, I'm not sure where you're coming from.
Atlus seems to do alright with premium priced releases but they release small amounts to a core set of fans. If that's what Sega was attempting to do then $60 was probably appropriate and they may have succeeded at their goals (I don't see Valkyria Chronicles games flooding the shelves at EB). However if their intention was to reach a wider audience and to build the genre then $30 certainly would have been appropriate.
Hcoregamer00
The 'H' stands for hentai.
flabberghastly said:
I agree, making it exclusive was a mistake.
Here is hoping future games will be mutiplatform.
drakesfortune
Directions: Pull String For Uninformed Rant
I don't think so. I think they have to try to charge full price for everything at first to make up costs, especially on a game with far less sales potential like VC. I think they should more aggressively be dropping the price on these types of titles as time goes on though.
That said, I think that $49.99 should be the price of 360 and PS3 games to start with. I think they'd both sell a lot more games if they were $49.99 at release. I think $50 is psychological barrier. I think it has not only hurt game sales, but I think it has hurt 360 and PS3 sales as well. People see those consoles, see the price of the games, and they go into mental shut down.
That said, I think that $49.99 should be the price of 360 and PS3 games to start with. I think they'd both sell a lot more games if they were $49.99 at release. I think $50 is psychological barrier. I think it has not only hurt game sales, but I think it has hurt 360 and PS3 sales as well. People see those consoles, see the price of the games, and they go into mental shut down.
I think a major problem was that over the last several years the SRPG fanbase has been essentially trained to be ok with simple, abstract graphics and as well cheaper SRPGs. At what point in the past were SRPG fans hyping themselves for the next gen and a mindblowing upgrade in graphical fidelity for their SRPGs? That has never happened. Of course it's possible that people could have really WOWed by the graphics and it could have changed the way SRPGs are made, but I don't think that was very likely to happen, and we've seen that that didn't happen.