Square Enix Favors High Mobile Prices Over Free-to-Play

[Karloff]

Square Enix Favors High Mobile Prices Over Free-to-Play

Square Enix hasn't seen enough of a dip in demand to justify significant mobile pricing changes.

Square Enix's mobile general manager, Antony Douglas, claims that Square's high prices aren't necessarily a turn-off for Western customers. Though Douglas acknowledges that customer behaviour changes all the time, he claims that there hasn't been a negative sales response to Square's high prices.

Douglas points out that Square Enix's experience in Japan is very different. Speaking at Casual Connect, a social gaming convention held in Kiev, Ukraine, Douglas said that the $20 price point worked "very well in Japan," but added that Western customer feedback was lukewarm. Western buyers weren't as happy paying high prices for mobile games, when other titles had a much lower price point.

Douglas, using episodic title Final Fantasy Dimensions as an example, said that it did "a lot more revenue" than comparable free-to-play or advertising-based titles. Douglas also noted that revenue per unit was that much higher. "You've got to sell 12 times that in some cases," Douglas said, "to get [as much revenue as] one game on that £14.99/£20 model."

Though Douglas did admit that Square Enix was considering making changes to its pricing model to attract Western gamers, he went on to say that high mobile game prices "hasn't had the negative sales response that some people would think." Given that, it's unlikely that Square Enix mobile titles will drop significantly in price, at least for the moment.

Source: MCV [http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/square-enix-20-iphone-games-do-work/0105793]


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[mew4ever23]

That still seems way too high for me to consider buying on a smartphone. On a handheld gaming system like the 3DS or Vita, sure.

 

[FEichinger]

"You've got to sell 12 times that in some cases," Douglas said, "to get [as much revenue as] one game on that £14.99/£20 model."

And if you do sell twenty times as many units thanks to an actually good game with a lower price point, you have more revenue.
If you don't, you should seriously reconsider both marketing and quality of the games.

Seriously, I get the point that it's risky business going down on the price - absolutely understandable and valid - but I don't get that corporations flat-out assume they won't sell enough additional units and don't even consider that it might well be their own fault.

 

[gardian06]

Because as long as the Japanese are happy, everyone else can eat a dick.

we are talking about Squar Enix here the same company that will not allow the precious Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix out of Japan.

 

[cidbahamut]

Because as long as the Japanese are happy, everyone else can eat a dick.

Welcome to SE Customer Service 101.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

And I will continue to not purchase Square Enix games for mobile devices.
Maybe if they were to lower the prices, I might consider it.

 

[Matt Dellar]

You hear "if you don't like it, go make your own" a lot with games, but in this case, I think most of us actually could hop into RPG Maker and make a better game than Dimensions within RPG Maker's trial period.

 

[Reincarnatedwolfgod]

well as long the prices remain high i won't even consider buying one of there games on my itouch. so there high price is a turn off to me

 

[BooTsPs3]

Twewy. Worth $50 on DS apparently, but not worth $20 for an improved iphone/ipad version. Seriously. This is entitlement and nothing else. I got portal for free on steam and it's a great game. I don't ***** about how all PC games should be free.

I would rather pay $50 for one good game, than pay $50 for 50 shitty ones. Don't kid yourself. Most $1 games on the store suck. These games are still under half of what they would cost on 3ds or vita, with pretty much the same production values. Why should a game cost less just because it's on an iphone?

 

[lotanerve]

I still think they are trying to milk whatever price they can get out of the "nostalgia" purse strings. $15-$20 for a port of a 20 year old game is over-reaching. Even Gameloft knows better than to get that greedy.

 

[Ken Sapp]

Much as I love Square Enix and Final Fantasy, 15 USD is too high a price point for me for a port of ten+ year old games on my phone. I will survive not being able to get myFF fix while I am out and about.

 

[kaizen2468]

I'd rather pay a higher price for a game with everything in it and no advertisements. Just about every free to play game i've seen is littered with microtransactions that are way overpriced and covered with ads.

 

[Ukomba]

This could only work for very well known IP. If SE makes a fortion off the more retro style gaming, maybe it'll actualy get them to produce more of the good games rather than the crapy eye candy.

 

[GTwander]

Because as long as the Japanese are happy, everyone else can eat a dick.

we are talking about Squar Enix here the same company that will not allow the precious Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix out of Japan.

SE is run by a clique of Japanese Hipsters.

They would release it here, but the stupid westerners "just wouldn't get it".
Apparently the irony is too powerful for our pea-brains.

Capcha: laugh at me
>_> capcha knows when I'm trolling for comedic purposes.

 

[GAunderrated]

That pricing model must not have been as great as they think because there was no way in hell i'd pay 30 bucks for a mobile game. I think this game should be priced around 7.99 maybe 9.99 max. But for the level of content 30 bucks is way too much. Sad SE doesn't want my money.