This is true. That said, Jeff said AV4 - one of his most linear titles - sold fantastically and really turned things around. Maybe he feels opening the door to a more casual audience gains more than he would lose from his traditional customer base. Dunno.
I think I may have come off too "hardcore" gung ho. Since I don't have any of the worries of actually owning an indie business I can't really know what it takes to keep one up and running. Jeff has got all those problems. I'm just the 'armchair developer'
In any event I hope he does actually start to make more money and sell more. His more popular ones are just fine by me as well. I would like him to keep them as challenging as his previous titles.
I just hope that what he says about people who play his games isn't true (I have a sinking suspicion it is) in that they want to be bad ass all the time. He would know better than I since I don't get emails from people who actually played his games. From my own experience that isn't that case. I buy a lot of independent games because they are the only ones that are making a more challenging game (though DA comes pretty darn close
)
I'd like to catch up with him again, so I may plan an interview and ask.
I would love to read that interview.
To be honest, even though I think his games are generally great, I think I'm paying overprice for his products - if you compare them to other titles produced by larger companies. And just to make it clear - I'm happy to do so, because I guess I'm a niche gamer and because I understand that he (probably) sells his games as cheaply as he possibly can while still supporting his business.
I've heard this said before and I don't get it. I buy a lot of indie games and I find his prices just about right for what you get. People forget that on top of the registration code, he sends you the cd and there is a lot of content within his games. More than most indie games. Let me give you a list of a few of the games I've purchased or plan to purchase relatively soon.
Kingdom Elemental - $19.95
Eschalon - $19.95
Eschalon II - $24.95
Eschalon II + CD - $34.95
Knights of the Chalice - $24.67
Aztaka - $14.95
Depths of Peril - $19.99
Fastcrawl - $19.95
Mount & Blade - $29.99
Armageddon Empires - $29.99
The Omega Syndrome - $14.95 (BTW, while searching for a price for this one I found
a place that sells it again)
Trine - $19.99
Dominions 3 - $54.95
Scallywag - $29.95
Empires & Dungeons - $19.95 + $3.95 extended download service (I hate those)
Devil Whiskey (box set) - $34.95
Demise Download - $24.95
Demise - Rise of Ku'Tan (box set) - $34.95
As you can see the prices vary a lot. The general price for an independent game is between $20 - $30. Some are more and some are less depending if you get the actual CD or not.
Jeff's games are normally $25 for the older ones and $28 for the newer ones. He also has bundled packs.
You can't compare his games prices to the other $5 casual games out there. Those last about 10 seconds. They are like junk food and I really wish those type of games would just go away and die. They are forcing indies into cutting their prices when they work 100X harder on the games than those crap casual games (not all of them are bad. I'm talking about the ones made in about 10 seconds and last just about that long)
And Kasper, I'm not personally attacking what you said. I know you said you have no problem with his prices. It's a little frustrating because I have read about this debate many times and I still don't see where people are getting that his prices are too high. Unless they are comparing his games to those idiotic $5 casual games, which is not even a fair comparison. The games I just listed are a fair comparison.