Quote:
Originally Posted by spleen1015
They're not going to lower the OOTP9 price before OOTP10 because they think the discounted OOTP9 will take sales away from OOTP10 preorders.
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Emphasis added.
I don't know if it's true that they think that or not (I suspect that Markus may be the type of business owner who's much more concerned with the quality of the product than actually maximizing revenue), but if they do think that then I think they're most likely wrong.
Further to that article about the increase in revenue (again, those were actual extra revenue $s, not units sold), any small business owner who pays a lot of attention to his sales numbers will probably tell you that:
1) (as already stated) discounts drive sales, substantially, and
2) if you sell a good product/service to someone, chances are they'll become a repeat customer, over and over again.
So are they really that out of touch with business theory (they do discount at times so they obviously do get it somewhat) or is it just that they're very much focused on the product and not so much on making as much money as possible? My bet is it's the latter. And I guess as a customer you can't really blame them if they're focus is making the game the best it can be, it's just too bad some sales and customers may be being lost.
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As for fantom's suggestion, I don't think it's a bad idea to have discounts for previous customers, but 2 things:
1) Pre-order discounts are good at convincing new customers to buy (if you just have the previous version at a discounted price, as in his suggestion, you might still get some of those prospect customers, but some will be put off and only buy 1 of the 2, if either), and
2) You raise the price by 10$ (the high to 50$ and the discounted to 40$) and you could very well have a severe backlash, especially in this economic environment where every $ matters for some people. I really don't think you'd want to do that.
That said, I can't help but wonder about the price elasticity of OOTP. It's obviously the best in it's niche, but how many of its customers wouldn't balk at a 5 or 10$ price hike (and a hike seems only fair, almost everything else inflates in price)? Many of those who really want the best baseball sim available wouldn't balk, but with how many entertainment options there are out there nowadays and how tight the economy is I have to think many others would. I'm curious how important OOTP is to most of its customers: is it just a game many buy and play a bit, but they could easily go without; or is it for most the game they play far more than any other game and therefore really wouldn't want to go without. I guess most of us forum regulars fall under the latter, but they say we're just a small % of total customers so who knows. Whatever it is, it's a difficult step to take because you never really know until you try it. Without actually looking at the numbers, which is admittedly a big condition, I think my suggestion likely has less risk and more reward for the simple fact that it turns people on instead of off. Yes, OOTP8 for free might turn on a lot of new people and maybe convince many of them to spring for the latest and greatest, but hiking the price under these conditions could very well kill sales.