The World of Goo Birthday Sales results

Fien · 10-21-2009, 08:19 PM

Very interesting data. For one week, everybody could buy the game at whatever price they liked.
The developers call the promotion a huge success: 57,000 people bought the game. Wow! If all those gamers paid the normal price, that would bring in over a million bucks.

You can read all about it in their blog (http://2dboy.com/2009/10/19/birthday-sale-results/) but isn't it fun to guess first?

A. How many people paid the normal price ($20) or more?
B. How many people paid $5 or less?
C. How many people paid $0.01?
D. So how much money did the devs make in the end?

Spoiler:
A. 391 = 0.68%.
B. About 45,500 = 80%
C. Almost 17.000 = 30 percent. That's not just cheap, it's an insult, a slap in the face. Frankly, I'm shocked. I had not expected the number to be that high.
D. Somewhere between $100,000 and $115,000, depending on the PayPal fees.

tsa · 10-21-2009, 08:57 PM

I just bought it for 1 $. I wouldn't have bought it at all if I couldn't get it that cheap. I'm not very much into any other games than adventures and I think I will only play it once or twice a year. I guess the people who paid the full price for it really really like it and would have bought it even if there wasn't a Birthday sale. The rest of the income is just extra for 2Dboy.

Crunchy in milk · 10-21-2009, 09:02 PM

A very interesting experiment. It illustrates just a little better how difficult its going to become to choose the right price point for games as the market increases and digital distribution becomes the norm.

The iTunes app store is in a similar evolution/experiment phase as full production titles make a stronger showing on a digital delivery service with a very low price point average.

The number of people who paid less than a cent is still positive in the sense that that's still people who had to know about the title and the existence of the sale. Given only the choice to pay between price A and price B, you have to figure some of those who went with price C, would still have paid up.

Erwin_Br · 10-31-2009, 04:03 AM

I would be too embarrassed and ashamed to buy anything for $0.01.

ozzie · 11-07-2009, 03:08 PM

I bought it for a bit more than 5$. It seems to be worth it.

10-21-2009, 08:19 PM	#1
Fien Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: the Netherlands Posts: 1,923	The World of Goo Birthday Sales results Very interesting data. For one week, everybody could buy the game at whatever price they liked. The developers call the promotion a huge success: 57,000 people bought the game. Wow! If all those gamers paid the normal price, that would bring in over a million bucks. You can read all about it in their blog (http://2dboy.com/2009/10/19/birthday-sale-results/) but isn't it fun to guess first? A. How many people paid the normal price ($20) or more? B. How many people paid $5 or less? C. How many people paid $0.01? D. So how much money did the devs make in the end? Spoiler: A. 391 = 0.68%. B. About 45,500 = 80% C. Almost 17.000 = 30 percent. That's not just cheap, it's an insult, a slap in the face. Frankly, I'm shocked. I had not expected the number to be that high. D. Somewhere between $100,000 and $115,000, depending on the PayPal fees. __________________ Just finished: Machinarium Looking forward to: 15 Days and Dark Fall 3 Last edited by Fien; 10-21-2009 at 08:49 PM.

10-31-2009, 04:03 AM	#4
Erwin_Br Under pressure. Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Apeldoorn, The Netherlands Posts: 2,186	I would be too embarrassed and ashamed to buy anything for $0.01. __________________ > Learn more about my forthcoming point & click adventure: Bad Timing! > Or... Visit Adventure Developers: Everything about developing adventure games.

11-07-2009, 03:08 PM	#5
ozzie Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Germany Posts: 372	I bought it for a bit more than 5$. It seems to be worth it. __________________ I'm looking for the following games: 7 Tage, 7 Nächte, Infinity One, Suspicious Cargo [DOS only], The Romantic Blue, GAG, In the Shadow of the Raven, Louis Cat Orze : The Mystery Of The Queen's Necklace, Town with no Name [DOS only], Stay Tooned! Trade for a lot of other games (many of them in german though)! Here, take a look!

10-21-2009, 08:57 PM	#2
tsa Custom User Title Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Netherlands Posts: 1,021	I just bought it for 1 $. I wouldn't have bought it at all if I couldn't get it that cheap. I'm not very much into any other games than adventures and I think I will only play it once or twice a year. I guess the people who paid the full price for it really really like it and would have bought it even if there wasn't a Birthday sale. The rest of the income is just extra for 2Dboy.

10-21-2009, 09:02 PM	#3
Crunchy in milk Freshly Squeezed Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 726	A very interesting experiment. It illustrates just a little better how difficult its going to become to choose the right price point for games as the market increases and digital distribution becomes the norm. The iTunes app store is in a similar evolution/experiment phase as full production titles make a stronger showing on a digital delivery service with a very low price point average. The number of people who paid less than a cent is still positive in the sense that that's still people who had to know about the title and the existence of the sale. Given only the choice to pay between price A and price B, you have to figure some of those who went with price C, would still have paid up.

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