Round 2: Q & A With Bobby King Answers

[ehansen24]

As far as pricing goes, I think the price is competitive. Don't forget, Pinball FX2 tables are priced at $2.50-$3 each. I just bought the Avengers 4-table pack for $10 bucks. If Farsight prices their tables at twice as their competition, sales are really going to suffer.

 

[Nik Barbour]

I think pricing is currently spot on for both mobile & console platforms.
They are currently equal to the competition, and pricing above this could seriously reduce sales.

 

[Fungi]

5 bucks for 2 tables is a good sweet spot.

 

[bavelb]

Agreed. Never make THE mistake of selling a mass consumption item for what people MIGHT pay for it, but what people WILL pay for it.

More sales will also provide higher rankings, causing more sales in itself, AND at 2,50 à table you can get away with the occasional bug.

 

[RetroBlast]

Who ever asks to pay more for a product as a consumer? My point is, these DLC packs are cheap, real cheap and we should all be happy with what we have gotten so far, bugs and all. But how does everyone feel about premium pricing for premium tables or cab tables? Are you willing to pay more for them?

 

[Nik Barbour]

This should probably be on its own thread - but to answer RetroBlast.

I'd obviously pay more for the heavily licensed tables (TZ, TAF, ST:TNG,) etc.
My personal limit would be $10 - $20 per table (if I hadn't contributed via kickstarter).
But I'd probably only buy for xbox, whereas normal dlc I'd buy for multiple platforms.

 

[Richard B]

Who ever asks to pay more for a product as a consumer? My point is, these DLC packs are cheap, real cheap and we should all be happy with what we have gotten so far, bugs and all. But how does everyone feel about premium pricing for premium tables or cab tables? Are you willing to pay more for them?

I agree the current prices are good. Charging more would be a mistake at this point, though I'd be willing to pay $5.00 for TZ (and other major licenses) alone, if they use the excess profits to fund more big licenses.

 

[Franky]

if farsight would charge 5 dollars for each table - EVERYONE would pay - even the "i-don't-pay" guys - for sure.

 

[laughing_lunatic]

1. they can sell each table made for 20 (or even for 50 dollars) as a special deluxe cabinet version (no other views included - just the plain cabinet table)

OK, someone is going to have to explain this to me. What is a "cabinet view" ?? If you're saying you'd pay $50 for one, it has to be something pretty special, like they'd rent you the actual machine for the weekend. I can't see in any way paying $50 for a table. I agree that $4.99 seems a little low, and because of the quality we're getting, I'd happily pay $10.

 

[JPelter]

I'd definitely personally pay $5 per table, and probably $10-$20 each for the premium license ones. I'm however not the main target market and I'm sure farsight has done some studies on where the sweet spot is for profit. I have no way of knowing, but it's entirely possible they would make less overall if the tables were $5 each.

 

[Tabe]

OK, someone is going to have to explain this to me. What is a "cabinet view" ??

Cabinet view is a top-down view of the playfield itself so that all you see is the playfield, not the sides of the cabinet, not the plunger outside the cabinet, etc. Imagine looking at a real pinball machine in real life, only the playfield is a TV. Then what you'd see on that TV is a "cabinet view" of a table.

Cabinet view is for people building Visual Pinball cabinets and playing their games on them, like this:

http://youtu.be/0u4RVdjK10k?t=50s

They are pretty darn awesome to see but also a lot of extra work for the developers.

Tabe

 

[Nik Barbour]

if farsight would charge 5 dollars for each table - EVERYONE would pay - even the "i-don't-pay" guys - for sure.

You might be right - but instead of paying for everything on multiple platforms, I would most likely become table selective and only buy for one platform.
And I'm a fanboy - non fans would most likely walk away.

 

[Fungi]

Y'know, FS hangs out in the forum. Please don't give 'em any ideas.

 

[dtown8532]

if farsight would charge 5 dollars for each table - EVERYONE would pay - even the "i-don't-pay" guys - for sure.

I don't think so. My brother is a huge fan of Medieval Madness. He's also a cheapskate. When MM wasn't the table of the month anymore he wouldn't pay the 3 or 4 bucks Farsight charges for it on the Android platform. This is a good representation of a lot of the casual gamers on mobile platforms. Just look at all the whining in the itunes store when TPA was game of the week. There's a lot of "thrifty" people out there that would pay five bucks for some fancy latte but for a game for their phone, tablet etc? EVERYONE would NOT pay five dollars for a table.

 

[mrhorseshoe]

From Jay:
“... Although the game Is not profitable for us yet, it’s doing well enough to pay its own way in terms of ongoing expenses (which is very gratifying). Also we’re very encouraged by the fact that for each of the past few months we’ve sold more tables than the month before, which means we’re reaching more people every month and introducing pinball to a whole new generation of people who might never have become pinball fans except for the Pinball Arcade. That makes us feel really good about what we’re doing.”

So the TPA hasn't been profitable... this is VERY disturbing. Mobile phone users are notorious cheapskates. I know many people who refuse to pay more than $0.99 for a game, no matter how good. I would happily pay $10 per table, even more for licensed tables.

 

[gjarnling]

So the TPA hasn't been profitable... this is VERY disturbing. Mobile phone users are notorious cheapskates. I know many people who refuse to pay more than $0.99 for a game, no matter how good. I would happily pay $10 per table, even more for licensed tables.

I agree, specially since FarSight has reported over 3m downloads for mobile devices...

 

[PiN WiZ]

Don't forget that developers have to recoup the development costs for the core game and each table they make before they can begin to turn a profit and since the game has only been out for five months (with a few platforms still awaiting releases), I wouldn't expect them to be turning a profit just yet. However, it is encouraging to know that the ongoing expenses are paying for themselves meaning that they are not adding onto the development costs and other expenses that they are currently trying to recoup. By the end of the year, The Pinball Arcade should be doing just fine for FarSight.

Maybe some of you missed my earlier post...most developers don't start turning a profit until they've recouped all the development costs and expenses incurred while developing the core game. Most people seem to forget that The Pinball Arcade has only been out for five months with DLC just starting to make its way to some platforms. There are even platforms that The Pinball Arcade still hasn't been released on. I would say, if FarSight isn't turning a profit by February 2013, then there's a problem.

 

[RetroDude]

Compare it to a car manufacturer coming up with a brand new design for a car...

Take all the design cost for all of the new components...
The cost for tooling and building any new factories needed to make the components and build the cars...
And then consider just how much (or little) actual profit is made for a particular car.

If all of the startup costs needed to be recovered in the first few months of production, a $20,000 car would cost $2,000,000 each.

Now... when the car is in production for several years between major redesigns, the development cost can be spread out over a longer time period.

It's the same for software development.
It can take a while to dig out of the financial hole of up-front development costs before a company can actually "make" their first dollar of profit.

 

[bavelb]

So the TPA hasn't been profitable... this is VERY disturbing. Mobile phone users are notorious cheapskates. I know many people who refuse to pay more than $0.99 for a game, no matter how good. I would happily pay $10 per table, even more for licensed tables.

Read mire closely. TPA IS profitable, its bringing in the same ir more than it is currently costing, it only hasnt made up for the initial costs yet, but it is paying for the forward development.

 

[night]

So the TPA hasn't been profitable... this is VERY disturbing. Mobile phone users are notorious cheapskates. I know many people who refuse to pay more than $0.99 for a game, no matter how good. I would happily pay $10 per table, even more for licensed tables.

I think the charm of the mobile platforms are that you can get an app or game for a low price. As a kid I remember an Atrai 2600 game was expensive to buy. I had to pay around one hundred for Donkey Kong and it had just three levels.. Keeping the prices reasonable and low also kills piracy, because who is going to hunt the internet to find a copy of a 3 euro game?