Why Are Dating Sims/VNs for the iOS so expensive?

[Obscura]

Granted, a few of them are "free", but that's just for the prologue. Additional characters and character sets are about 7 bucks a pop. Typically a full VN will end up costing 8-18 dollars.

Does anyone know exactly why these apps are priced so much higher than many other games?

Thanks for any insight you may have.

[alexwhite]

it might be because when you buy from the app store, apple will take a cut so in order to make bank the the creators have to price it higher

[sciencewarrior]

Because content is %@#(* to produce. A very fast writer will take a month to write a short VN. Add art, music, and all that, then compare it with the amount of effort necessary for over-the-weekend "pop the bubble" games, and the price makes much more sense.

[Ziassan]

As said sciencewarrior, you have often more "original content" to produce for a VN than for another game. This content (art, music, etc.) costs a lot, and given the average number of buys a VN has in this market, I think that's not even a high price. I guess that a few games are really profit-making, some may loose money with this price.
I'm not used to this market but... Commercial VN for PC can be almost between 15 to 70$ to buy, and the cost of the assets doesn't really change when you make it for iOS (well, smaller pictures etc. maybe).
Maybe that's also because you have less people wanting to buy VN than others games, so that means, obviously, "higher" prices

[jack_norton]

Maybe that's also because you have less people wanting to buy VN than others games, so that means, obviously, "higher" prices

Yes basically is that. I tried several prices with vNovel for Flower Shop iOS, and we settled down with the one that brings more revenues. By this I mean that makes it worthwhile, not getting rich or being greedy
I'm still experimenting with Android to see if is different, but I think will eventually raise the prices even there to match the iOS ones.

[nyaatrap]

I don't know anything about apple market though, but Japanese VNs are released at over 100 usd in japan usually. Otherwise, those employees must get fired because of the payment.
In theory, less buyers then high priced.

[Obscura]

Thanks for everyone's responses! I guess I am pretty spoiled, particularly by stuff like "Game Dev Story", "Plants vs. Zombies", and "Kingdom Rush". I think each of those games cost me less than $5 a piece, but I ended up playing them for 30+ hours each.

I feel these games have a lot of replay value as well. There might not be a lot of original art as in a VN, but I figure coding and testing is still a significant endeavor.

But yep, I suppose about 100,000+ people bought each of these titles, so the companies were able to make a decent profit from their sales.

I feel like 4.99 has pretty much become my "price point" when it comes to buying iphone apps. I am willing to try out a lot of games for 2.99, and buy what might be duds for 4.99. Anything over that, I usually won't buy unless it's a productivity app. So I'm sad so many VNs fall beyond that price point, though I can understand why (I might be one of the few people playing them.)

For ipad my price point is about 8 bucks tops, maybe 9.

Does it seem VNs are caught in this unfortunate vicious cycle when it comes to the iphone/ipad? They can't get more popular because the prices are so high, and the casual player is unwilling to pay for them. But because the casual player is unwilling to pay for them, the prices remain high.

Jack_Norton, is it too proprietary to ask how did you do at the 4.99 price point, and how long that price lasted?

[papillon]

It's still terribly confusing to see someone calling that price 'high'... and people wonder why I have no interest in wasting time and money getting games onto those systems...

[Ziassan]

Well, that's the law of the app' market. You find some much things for nothing... really a competition hard to find _that merciless_ in others places.
Maybe it has some good points, but I hope the same thing will not happen to the PC games etc. (even if Windows would seem to go in this direction)

[jack_norton]

It's still terribly confusing to see someone calling that price 'high'... and people wonder why I have no interest in wasting time and money getting games onto those systems...

Haha, indeed I only ported Heileen and Bionic Heart. I could "port" Spirited Heart in 1 day, but I have no interest in devaluating my work. I could sell it on android at $14.99 though, so would be only $5 less

Obscura: it has been less than a week so is too early to draw conclusions, but at such low price it means it has to sell x4 the PC/Mac/Linux version and I DON'T see that happening anytime soon.

[LateWhiteRabbit]

I think the better question is why the hell are other games on iOS so cheap? The volume you have to move to make a profit in the $1-$5 range is ridiculous. Considering the fact that the BIG NAME VNs only move somewhere in the neighborhood of 8,000 - 15,000 copies and you can see the problem indie VN makers face. Keep in mind that games like Plants Vs. Zombie have already made their money on PC at $10-$15 a pop before moving to mobile platforms, where the pitifully low prices are just some icing on a cake made from other platforms.

Also, a lot of other games on iOS monetize the game in other ways with micro-content, something VNs don't generally do. I imagine most people would be pissed off at a dating sim that required real-time to pass between dates (so that the developer could charge money to shorten the time) or introduce girls or boys and not make them romanceable without an additional payment. Or make building up stats really long and grueling, allowing payments to be made for quick stat boosts. Or charging micro payments for a new sprite outfit instead of having them unlockable in the game. If they did all that, you might get your $5 VN, but to fully enjoy it you'd probably spend more than $20 on it anyway.

[papillon]

I imagine most people would be pissed off at a dating sim that required real-time to pass between dates (so that the developer could charge money to shorten the time) or introduce girls or boys and not make them romanceable without an additional payment.

Both of which are being done in the Japanese market. I've seen reviews of phone-games done in the first style, where they're free but you only get like two actions a day and have to wait 24 hours to play again.

The other is how the "Shall We Date" series and other things being translated into english is working, as mentioned in the OP. If you buy all the romanceable characters individually you end up spending about $15.

[LateWhiteRabbit]

I imagine most people would be pissed off at a dating sim that required real-time to pass between dates (so that the developer could charge money to shorten the time) or introduce girls or boys and not make them romanceable without an additional payment.

Both of which are being done in the Japanese market. I've seen reviews of phone-games done in the first style, where they're free but you only get like two actions a day and have to wait 24 hours to play again.

The other is how the "Shall We Date" series and other things being translated into english is working, as mentioned in the OP. If you buy all the romanceable characters individually you end up spending about $15.

Can't say I'm surprised. Even as I typed out my post I was thinking - "Wow. I could probably make a lot of money if I did all this. Damn my scruples." Stupid scruples keeping me poor . . . .

My unwillingness to screw people using Skinner techniques, Pavlovian conditioning, and exploiting human psychological weakness is probably why I get such poor use out of my business degree . . . .

[jack_norton]

Not everyone is happy of that free-to-play system but, at least on PC, is one of the most effective ways to prevent piracy. I admit I thought about using that method myself as well in the past...

[Obscura]

I think the better question is why the hell are other games on iOS so cheap?

I guess that's really the question I was asking. Thank you!

Personally, iOs gaming has really changed gaming for me, because the ease with which I can play, and it's introduced me to a ton of games I would never have played on my laptop or console.

So it's not like the ios diverted games to me, the consumer, that I would have otherwise ended up playing or paying more for on my computer. I don't think I'm alone in saying I never would have played those games in the first place. I played them because it is incredibly comfortable and convenient to whip out a device during a work break, commute, or in a line, and play. There is no way I would have ever bought Plants vs. Zombies for my laptop. I simply do not consider my laptop a gaming device, period. I'm pretty sure most people wouldn't have bought Angry Birds for their PC or console either...it's just a good game to pick up and play here and there on your device.

Moreover, I know people don't like all sorts of things about the ios model (many of which I agree with), but I would never, ever have known about the dating sim/vn market if it weren't for the fact I found one in the ios marketplace, tried it out, and loved it. If those publishers hadn't brought the vn port from Japan and put it on the ios, I would have kept playing the games I normally play, and never gotten interested in VNs at all. (And I should add, it's a miracle I even found a VN...the ios marketplace has HORRIBLE organization, and I am not what you call an anime, manga, or JRPG connoisseur.) The only thing that stops me from purchasing more ios VNs is, unfortunately, the price point. And also I can't help feeling a 2-4 hour VN is about $7 bucks and hour while another game might be 2.99 and last me 10-20 hours.

It's so exciting that RenPY games are now being made for Android. I'm still hoping one day they will port more easily to the ios and their popularity will increase enough to the point where a lower price point will make a respectable profit for the developer. It seems like it's a great platform for VNs, which are normally not very complicated nor resource-heavy. I guess I kept dreaming about it, huh? Maybe because I see that the popular ios dating sims for the Western market are so...eh...lacking. I won't mention any names, but the one I tried that I think over one hundred thousand people purchased is just really repetitive and boring. Surely this can't be the end all of western iOs dating sims!!!

As for PC gaming, the last commercial PC game I can remember playing was probably (ulp) Dungeon Siege, over 10 years ago. The fact is I don't play PC games just because I don't have my laptop with me. The only games I play now on the PC are these lovely vn's made by the developers on this board...just because right now it's the only access I have to them. I'll actually be looking for an android gaming tablet (maybe a Kindle Fire?) like others here, just so I can play VNs on the couch instead of on my laptop. I'm hoping to stop using my laptop for games as soon as possible.