Poll: Would you buy an indie game that costs $60?

[Joccaren]

I don't care who made it, Indie or Triple A publisher, but if the game has had sufficient effort put into it, and looks as good as the AAA titles that actually DESERVE a $60 price tag (Skyrim for one, CoD should not be $60) and has a similar amount of content, sure. If it seems worth $60, then no way is 'Its Indie' going to stop me from buying that. Valve is Indie from memory, and most people will lick their games up like gold, and would do so even if the price tag was $100.

 

[tzimize]

As a fairly invested gamer, I can say that over the recent years, some of my favourite games have been made by indie developers. Limbo, Super Meat Boy and Binding of Issac are some of the few games that I think have proven themselves to be extremely fun games despite the fact that they're only made by a smaller sized development team. They're cheap, very fun and can provide a couple of hours of entertainment each.

But back to the topic at hand, some of these teams are amazing but is the appeal of these titles just their small price tag? If a company like Team Meat said they were going to release a bigger than average game for the normal $50-60 amount that would be spent on a "Triple A title", would you buy it?

Depends. Just to check it out? Hell no, I'm not that rich.

That said I've clocked 20+ hours on Binding of Isaac and I'm likely to clock twice that amount before I'm sick of it. Thats more hours than most AAA games...

Would I pay 60$ for binding of Isaac? No. Even if its something I can have fun with for many hours I need to have my mind blown a bit for 60$. Big explosions are not necessary, but I expect some kind of impressive production values for that kind of money.

 

[Squilookle]

Considering most games here cost up to $110 when they first come out, Sure! I paid $30 for Mount and Blade Warband, and would gladly have paid twice that for the joy it has brought me.

 

[Roxor]

I wouldn't spend $60 on any game. So I don't. The industry needs to learn that this price average is just too high.

Indeed. One of my common reactions to seeing something new in the Steam store is "Oh, this looks interesting... Oh, hell, no! I don't care how good it is, I'm not paying that much!"

If you launch it for $60, I'm going to wait until you drop it to $20 before I buy it.

 

[Arakasi]

If the game is good yes.
If, for example, Spiderweb Software were to release a Geneforge 6 which was 5 times the size of the original, yes.
So long as it is a good game there is no reason not to buy it.

 

[The Name's Bond]

I guess if the game is really good, after all some people have spent more than that on games that deserve to have person who thought of such a terrible concept to be beaten for their incompetence. Yes I'm looking at you Final Fantasy 13

 

[Laser Priest]

If it was good, sure.

I have yet to see any indie game good enough to warrant that price, though.

 

[Burs]

Hell I cant remember when I spent more then £18 on a game so no, im one of the 3 years behind gamers so I'd wait if it got any cheaper and I got a rig that can play modern games. XD

 

[M4t3us]

I said yes, with this slight caveat:
I'd have to have heard of said game and checked out some reviews or similar, that'd peak my interest enough.

 

[go-10]

well if games like Bastion, Zenonia, and other like them were to be made into a full blown triple-A title, or at least to Fable production values. I would in a heart beat dish out the $60, problem is the minute they try to take any of these games further they might ruin their short and sweet stories

 

[brunothepig]

Yes and no. Yes, because it's not like I'd stand on principle that Indie games should be cheap or something stupid, but no in that most Indie games are cheap because
A)They have less content than $60 titles should, not that $60 titles are guaranteed to have a good amount of content.
B)It's a much greater risk, in that I likely don't know of this Indie studio, or their last game could have just been a lucky shot. I'm much more willing to drop $15 on a game with an interesting concept that really could go either way, than I am to drop $60.

But, thinking back I would have happily spent $60 on Warband. That's about it really, maybe Super Meat Boy... Bastion, I would have been willing to spend about $40. And yes, I know Valve are technically an Indie studio in that they publish their own games, but I think of an Indie studio as more of a small team with limited funding kind of deal.

So to answer the question, sure, as long as I think it's worth it. And it would have to be damn good, I don't buy many games at that price.

 

[GeorgW]

I would. Some of my favourite games are indie and I'd gladly pay more, as long as they're worth it. Still, I wouldn't take as many chances, and it would probably have a hard time competing with AAA titles for my money.

 

[Steppin Razor]

No, I wouldn't. For full price I expect all the shiny bells and whistles that come with a AAA title, and indie games have never really offered me that. Not to mention that the indie games I've enjoyed most have all been on the short side, usually maxing out at about three hours. $10-15? Yeah, I'll pay that. $60-100? Kindly go fuck yourself.

 

[TrevHead]

Sorry chaps I felt my post was worthy of its own thread so ive deleted this.

On top. Yes I would pay full price for many indie games. Since most genres that indies populate are games that have fallen from favour of the meanstream market and are only viable as cut down budget titles (as good as they are)

Its worth pointing out that some niche products games and non games are priced at a premium if they dont have a market large enough to support lower prices. Japan is full of these niche genres and figurines and anime (im not an otaku btw im just making an observation, honest!)

Thats why shmups have in the past been priced at a premium when it comes to new shmups. XBLA is full of shmups but most of those are old re-releases and HD remakes or smaller shmups in contents and quality. And why new shmups like those from CAVE, Konami and Grev are boxed even in the west at $30-$50.