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Jul. 14th, 2010 08:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
opusculusI suppose my first reaction on seeing that shouldn't be lolol.
You know, the sad part about it is that I can totally believe that they don't understand why their sales are disappointing. I genuinely don't think they meant to screw over the customers who bought the first half of Higurashi by jacking up the price of the second half to well over double. I just don't think they have the faintest clue about pricing, didn't sell enough on the first half (because seriously, does anyone think that $40+ on a download-only game is going to work? Especially when everyone knows that it's only half the series?), thought that they had to jack up the price on the second half to recoup their costs, and didn't put enough thought as to what kind of effect raising the price that much would do to the demand.
It doesn't change the fact that, when people buy the first half of a series, they expect that the second half will be priced similarly and that goes into their evaluation of the worth of buying the first half. Therefore, by raising the price of the second half that dramatically, you are screwing over the people who bought first half, and if they bought it that early, they're your most loyal customers most likely to spread your stuff by word of mouth. In bigger markets where people are uninvested, you can survive longer doing that. In a market as small and invested as visual novels? If you do that, you're fucking yourself over.
In my opinion, they'd've done best if they'd released the first game free (since it had been available for free legitimately for ages anyway due to the fact that it's been free in Japan for ages), charged, say, $20 for the second and third game (which I still think is too high, but let's go with a reasonable similarity to the way they actually priced things), then bundled the first four games into a package for $45 with the release of the fourth and released hard copies of it as well as downloads. Similarly, in the second half, they should've charged about the same for each game (even if they are longer - setting the price and then jacking it up midway through the series will never endear yourself to the customers) and charged around $65 for the entire second half, with hard copy again available.
Hell, I still think they'd actually improve sales if they'd link to the legitimate free download of the first game on their sales page. Starting off with a $40+ investment just to try a series is not how to do it. If anything, you have more success bundling the second half, because that's when customers are already invested and going to buy, but might get distracted midway through if they're buying one by one. But nope, they bundled the first half and just announced that they won't be bundling the second half at all. Oh MangaGamer, how you fail.
I also suspect that part of their pricing issues is that porn tends to be a lot more expensive for what you get than other forms of entertainment, and since Higurashi is their first real non-porn title, I don't think that they quite adjusted to the differing expectations of the market. All I know about porn pricing is when I've looked at porn DVD pricing and went "YEAH NO" though, so I could be completely wrong.
Also, I find the whole thing about "oh, we just can't afford to sell hard copies because baw baw what if we don't sell enough because you're all evil pirates" absurd. Dude, try a print on demand service. Hell, maybe consider trying 3 - in the US, Europe, and Australia, since those seem to be the biggest markets. They'll print it and ship it for you, and if they don't include a box, well, some people will be disappointed but honestly, that's something you can talk your way out of a lot easier than no hard copies period. I'd push the green aspects over the "well, this is all we could afford at that price", mostly because honestly, they're pushing that aspect awfully hard already. Even if it's true, frankly, I'm not inclined to go out of my way to support a start-up if they've demonstrated a lack of understanding really basic and necessary things about running a business, because without that they'll fail anyway. I can give them money; I can't give them competence.
On the other hand, I am happy that they didn't go out of business before they finished Higurashi. When they first announced the price change, I was three quarters convinced they'd go out of business before they finished the series, thus making my buying the first half even more pointless. I suppose I'll give them minor props for that. CONGRATULATIONS, MANGAGAMER. YOU DIDN'T ACTUALLY FUCK UP EVERYTHING POSSIBLE REGARDING HIGURASHI. Just almost everything.
You know, the sad part about it is that I can totally believe that they don't understand why their sales are disappointing. I genuinely don't think they meant to screw over the customers who bought the first half of Higurashi by jacking up the price of the second half to well over double. I just don't think they have the faintest clue about pricing, didn't sell enough on the first half (because seriously, does anyone think that $40+ on a download-only game is going to work? Especially when everyone knows that it's only half the series?), thought that they had to jack up the price on the second half to recoup their costs, and didn't put enough thought as to what kind of effect raising the price that much would do to the demand.
It doesn't change the fact that, when people buy the first half of a series, they expect that the second half will be priced similarly and that goes into their evaluation of the worth of buying the first half. Therefore, by raising the price of the second half that dramatically, you are screwing over the people who bought first half, and if they bought it that early, they're your most loyal customers most likely to spread your stuff by word of mouth. In bigger markets where people are uninvested, you can survive longer doing that. In a market as small and invested as visual novels? If you do that, you're fucking yourself over.
In my opinion, they'd've done best if they'd released the first game free (since it had been available for free legitimately for ages anyway due to the fact that it's been free in Japan for ages), charged, say, $20 for the second and third game (which I still think is too high, but let's go with a reasonable similarity to the way they actually priced things), then bundled the first four games into a package for $45 with the release of the fourth and released hard copies of it as well as downloads. Similarly, in the second half, they should've charged about the same for each game (even if they are longer - setting the price and then jacking it up midway through the series will never endear yourself to the customers) and charged around $65 for the entire second half, with hard copy again available.
Hell, I still think they'd actually improve sales if they'd link to the legitimate free download of the first game on their sales page. Starting off with a $40+ investment just to try a series is not how to do it. If anything, you have more success bundling the second half, because that's when customers are already invested and going to buy, but might get distracted midway through if they're buying one by one. But nope, they bundled the first half and just announced that they won't be bundling the second half at all. Oh MangaGamer, how you fail.
I also suspect that part of their pricing issues is that porn tends to be a lot more expensive for what you get than other forms of entertainment, and since Higurashi is their first real non-porn title, I don't think that they quite adjusted to the differing expectations of the market. All I know about porn pricing is when I've looked at porn DVD pricing and went "YEAH NO" though, so I could be completely wrong.
Also, I find the whole thing about "oh, we just can't afford to sell hard copies because baw baw what if we don't sell enough because you're all evil pirates" absurd. Dude, try a print on demand service. Hell, maybe consider trying 3 - in the US, Europe, and Australia, since those seem to be the biggest markets. They'll print it and ship it for you, and if they don't include a box, well, some people will be disappointed but honestly, that's something you can talk your way out of a lot easier than no hard copies period. I'd push the green aspects over the "well, this is all we could afford at that price", mostly because honestly, they're pushing that aspect awfully hard already. Even if it's true, frankly, I'm not inclined to go out of my way to support a start-up if they've demonstrated a lack of understanding really basic and necessary things about running a business, because without that they'll fail anyway. I can give them money; I can't give them competence.
On the other hand, I am happy that they didn't go out of business before they finished Higurashi. When they first announced the price change, I was three quarters convinced they'd go out of business before they finished the series, thus making my buying the first half even more pointless. I suppose I'll give them minor props for that. CONGRATULATIONS, MANGAGAMER. YOU DIDN'T ACTUALLY FUCK UP EVERYTHING POSSIBLE REGARDING HIGURASHI. Just almost everything.
