Dev Behind Highly Regarded PC Game Explains Why He Raised The Price: "Go Pirate It, I Don't Care"
Dev Behind Highly Regarded PC Game Explains Why He Raised The Price: "Go Pirate It, I Don't Care"
David Szymanski is hoping publicity from the upcoming film makes up for lower sales volumes right now.
summary:
The article discusses game developer David Szymanski's decision to raise the price of his game "Iron Lung" from $6 to $8. Szymanski explained that he raised the price to make more money and believes the game is worth the higher price due to added value/content. He openly stated that he makes games to earn money and that if people don't think his games are worth the price, they are free to not buy them, wait for a sale, or even pirate them. Szymanski acknowledged that the price increase was a gamble and that the game's sales volume decreased as a result. He expressed hope that the upcoming film associated with the game would help make up for the lower sales. Szymanski also mentioned that he is open to adjusting prices based on feedback for future releases.
I rather like what he said. It is completely reasonable in my opinion.
Here is his full response:
"Yes, no f**king shit, I make games for a living," he said. "If I didn't want to earn money from them I wouldn't charge money for them. I like the business model of 'I want money so I make something that I think is worth money, and you pay me that money and you get the thing, and we're all happy' That's it. There's nothing complicated or hidden here."
"If you don't think the things I make are worth the money I charge, that's completely ok," he added. "Don't buy them, or wait for a deep sale, or go the sneaky route and get them for free or whatever, and please tell me that so I can adjust the prices for whatever I release next."
Damn, cut right through the bullshit. I can respect that.
Not knowing anything about the game, $8 for a PC game is not unreasonable, though raising the price after the fact is a little questionable and it sounds like the dev mispriced his original creation and is trying to correct for that. Though, if he had called it “early-access” and then doubled the price it would just be accepted as normal.
I mean, it can be argued that games depreciating their value overtime is not a natural phenomenon set in stone, but rather a way to squeeze more sales out of the product once it stops being the latest, hypest thing, and everyone who really wanted it already has it.
If you accept that, then it is not hard to accept the opposite: a game that starts not being the hypest thing, and thus needs to start at a low price because nobody really wants it; but then becomes the hypest thing due to some unforeseen factor (in this case, getting a movie based on the game), and thus appreciates in value because people now really want it.
From that perspective, I honestly don't see an issue with it, it's just staying consistent with the rules that give us lower priced sales in the first place, this is just the rare situation in which it works the other way around.
I'm pretty sure the price of the other From Software games (Dark Souls titles especially) went up after Elden Ring got super popular. And I know my interest in them did as well (I'd only played DS1 prior). Seems like a reasonable market reaction to demand, but damn there went my hopes of getting them cheap for my patience lol
On the opposite end there are games like Terraria which was inexpensive from the start and in bundles and everything but grew to like 10x it's original scope, I think somehow without a major price bump.
inflation had doubled the cost of most things. If he priced it originally in early 2022 or earlier this is not even keeping pace.
I don't see the problem here. If you were planning to buy it at $6 would you give up at $8?
Right? At that point, if you're making drama out of it, you're either pirating on misguided principle alone because you're Ayn Rand's petulant zombie, or you didn't have that money to burn anyway. Your account is at zero.
Here I was, thinking it would be some insane hike like a $12 game jumping to $50, for "pirate it, then" to even be a meaningful response. No. It's a $2 increase from...the equivalent price of chicken nuggets.
This was a painfully slow day at the newsroom.
Given the last I don't know 20 years, I truly am happy for slow news days
Fair enough. Respect the lack of corporate speak
Whiney bunch of cunts. Imagine bitching about and then writing a fucking article over this waste of Internet space.
David is a very talkative and honest person on his accounts. No wonder he says it straight. Dusk, then Iron Lung did bring him a reputation, he can't be confused for a random greedy dummy, as he does deliver as a dev and I can't remember him causing frustration in his fans.
"I did it to make more money."
I mean, this is kind of a scummy thing to say. Nobody really would have cared about an increase to $8 from $6 for the game, but a person with the attitude that this developer has by saying what they said will probably not be conducive to getting more sales. Should have just not said anything.
I rather like the honesty of it
People are so used to being lied to that they get angry when you tell them the truth instead, even though they already knew the truth.
I'm half joking, though. Part of what makes society work is all the things we do to put a nice facade on things that are ugly. If we all went around telling the hard truth all the time, everyone would be angry at everyone.
All that said... Basically saying "I underpriced the product of my hard work and I'm correcting that" shouldn't be that shocking. Especially when tempered with "Go pirate it if you want".
It would make me more inclined to buy it actually.
Why else would one raise the price? Honesty is far more valuable than making up a lame excuse
Would you feel better if he blamed inflation and Covid and the evergrande supply chain issues like every other business on this planet? And they’ve doubled and tripled their prices. He only increased his by 33%
Spoken like someone who's never had to earn money
you know I have switched jobs to make more money and have even told the company that at exit interviews.
He's effectively trying to get a raise. I don't see this any different from asking a raise from your boss at work. I mean, if you don't want more money from work, that's your problem, not his.
I dont have a problem with him wanting more money, it's just his incredibly abbrasive attitude. How he said what he said just comes off as needlessly rude. If he had just raised the price without saying anything, people probably wouldn't even bat an eye. I mean, its $2.
To say "well pirate it then" is just aggressive without cause. Thats something you say when you raise the price from $6 to $60. Not for a $2 increase. Unless you have a chip on your shoulder/ incredibly abbrasive personality.