Pay What You Want For Proun: A Dev's Tale
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In a humble and honest gesture, Joost “Oogst” van Dongen has released the sales figures of his fantastic little game, Proun, on his blog. It’s a fascinating read since sales figures are something barely anyone gets to see for a game. While Joost himself has taken it perfectly well, I can see now why some developers can’t help but drop their jaws to the floor when they see figures like 40% piracy. That said, he still considers the game a great success since it was a hobby project that didn’t even start out with a profit in mind. He goes on to explain that while it was a great success for him, his analysis of the “pay what you want” model is less encouraging. With a free option available, the combined number of people who got it because “it was free” and the amount that didn’t pay anything because it required entering one’s credit card information made up the majority of game downloads. It’s an interesting perspective on the matter. Not everyone takes laziness into account. Now that he has by making the minimum price of the game $1 for further experimentation, I guess we’ll find out in a few months. Since Proun has just been added to my “how the hell did I not hear of this?” list, I plan on being part of those sales figures. |
