Pay what you want model for VN, how good does it pay?

[sapiboonggames]

So, I notice that there has been this trend of "Pay what you want model" for downloadable content. It is often said that it can bump your revenue quite a lot (20%+).

Does this apply to VN too? I see some games in this forum selling using this model.
How good does it really pay compared to traditional method? (setting fixed price).

[Dragonstar89]

Haven't sold with a "pay what you want" but I'd have to assume the reason you gain greater revenue is because you get more sales. Whereas with a fixed price you guarantee yourself your revenue rate per sale, but you won't get a lot of them. Because if you're selling your game for like $25, not everyone has $25 sitting around on their credit/debit cards, PayPals, etc., where they do have a certain amount online they can pay with instantly. So someone with just a $1.40 can give you a sale, and someone with $14 can give you a sale. (Though that's a drastic gap in numbers, it would most likely end up being a lot of $1 to $4 sales)

[firecat]

it could apply to vn but i dont see how it would help the game. in japan (the most vn reader gender) they might price the nv by the amount of time and stuff it has, so in the usa (non-readers) they would think a vn has a book so the price for it will be almost $0-$10. i have never seen a vn gone more than $20 and the most expensive nv is Steins;Gate’s Double Pack Limited Edition Cost: ¥18,690 (app. $202). in my opinion having a 'pay what you want' drive in nv is not the way to go. many people will read/play through it then forget about it unless you can keep them playing but even then they will still finish. thats why the price for it must be fix so it wont ruin the games image like steins did.

[Dragonstar89]

it could apply to vn but i dont see how it would help the game. in japan (the most vn reader gender) they might price the nv by the amount of time and stuff it has, so in the usa (non-readers) they would think a vn has a book so the price for it will be almost $0-$10. i have never seen a vn gone more than $20 and the most expensive nv is Steins;Gate’s Double Pack Limited Edition Cost: ¥18,690 (app. $202). in my opinion having a 'pay what you want' drive in nv is not the way to go. many people will read/play through it then forget about it unless you can keep them playing but even then they will still finish. thats why the price for it must be fix so it wont ruin the games image like steins did.

The thing about the US audience is definitely not the case. Though it is story based, Visual Novels are still video games. And books don't sell for $0-$10 unless you're shopping at a used book store or flea market. A new book that is pretty big will easily go for around $17 to $25 new. I can see why a kinetic novel would be a low price or in the price range of a book because there isn't meant to be any choice or interactivity - it is just a story with art, graphics, sound, etc. A Visual Novel is a game to the core with interactivity and mini games, features, and more while the core idea is a choice-based story. They are made and sold just like video games. There are ton of VN's that get released at your standard new game price of $35-$49.

Plus, price and keeping people playing your game are two different things. I wouldn't stop playing a Pokemon game because I didn't get to pay what I want for it. Your context makes it seem like you're assuming most people go through a VN once and then delete it (which is not the case), however it could happen but that's an entirely different topic.

Pay what you want is a popular thing especially for indies starting out who want to earn money but don't want to infringe a possible fan base.

[Katy133]

Thinking about it from a business standpoint, both methods have their own pros and cons:

Pay-What-You-Want:
(meaning the game can be downloaded free, but people can pay money for it)
Pros:
- People are more willing to try your VN
- It's easier to gain an audience (see: above)
- You can still gain money from people who download the VN and choose to pay for it.
- Some sites that publicise freeware games also count Pay-what-you-want games/VNs as freeware.

Cons:
- You generally do not have access to the "fixed price" method's pros.
- Financial gain for the VN is hard to predict.

Fixed Price:
Pros:
- The people who do decide to buy the VN have to give the fixed amount of money.
- You can give free copies of the VN to Let's Players, reviewers, press, etc as a gift/review copy. This may lead to the person/press to publicly talk about your VN, helping to gain publicity.
- You can use Spring/Winter/Summer sale discounts to help gain publicity.
- A lot of video game-related online news outlets (eg. ) only publicise VNs that cost money.

Cons:
- Some potential players may not be willing to pay money for your game.
- If your name/brand/studio has only made a few games, it may be harder to gain willing customers (ever customer who pays money for a game from a new studio is taking a leap of faith)
Things to consider:
- If you put a price tag on your VN, reviewers and players tend to take that into consideration when they are criticising your VN (PC Gamer magazine often does this in their reviews).
- You must think carefully about what fixed price amount you place on your game.

It can often depend on the individual visual novel, so these points need to be taken into consideration.

How good does it really pay compared to traditional method? (setting fixed price).

This tweet mentions that roughly 8% of those who downloaded their (the tweeter's) game also left a tip. It is not mentioned how many times the game has been downloaded, nor the amount of the tips, so determining how much the Pay-what-you-want method "pays" on average is hard to determine.

[trooper6]

Perhaps comparing pay what you want with fixed price is not the way to go. For me, as a consumer, I put them in different mental categories.

Let me explain. I have, basically, two general game categories: Free and Pay. These categories have subcategories. Pay has a couple of price bands: under $5, $5-10, $10-25, $25-40, $40-100, $100+.
I'll buy under $5 dollar games with no thought. VNs over $5 I won't buy without serious connection (connection to the studio, connection to the reviewer, connection to the genre or something else specific to the game). I won't pay more than $25 for a VN at all. I will pay more for AAA games or fully animated games...but VNs top out at $25, and you have to be really, really special for me to pay that much. But most of the time, I'm playing free VNs and don't spend money on pay VNs.

But! Pay what you want games, for me, psychologically, are in the category of free games. So I'm very likely to download a pwyw game. But, I can't download a pay what you want game without paying something... I'd feel too guilty. So, I always pay something. Not $20, but usually at least $5. So, pwyw games are more likely to get my money than pay games, because I put them in the same category as free games.

[Morhighan]

I'll point you to this TED talk, which I find to be honest and educational. About the speaker--she might not be for everyone, but I genuinely believe she has a great message and good intentions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMj_P_6H69g

She is seen as a model of success for both Pay What you Want model and Kickstarting projects--by only asking backers to pay $1 for her album, she was wildly successful when only 24,883 backers surpassed her goal of $100,000 and instead gave her $1.2 million
She also puts all of her music online for free and advocates for pirating her music, but is still very successful. I think anyone who is interest in the PWYW model should look into her writing on her experiences with it.

Also check out her husband, Neil Gaiman, who has interesting things to say on the subject.

Anyway, it was this TED talk that made me decide that my games will be available through the Pay what you want model. I hope you find it to be helpful.

[trooper6]

Amanda Palmer did get into trouble with people, however, for raking in all that money from Kickstarter, and then asking musicians to work for her without compensation.

But I also think it is important to note that pay what you want (and Kickstarter) works differently for people like Palmer or Radiohead who already had wider recognition due to previous larger record label marketing efforts and someone who hadn't had that previous advantage. Similarly, Rob Thomas made a lot of money on Kickstarter to make the Veronica Mars movie...and Obsidian made a lot of money for their video game...but they also have the long tail residue of major company marketing dollars. It isn't quite the same for your small VN maker.

I certainly think it can work...but I do think comparing former Dresden Doll, wife of Neil Gaiman, former owner of a major label record deal Amanda Palmer with an indie not famous EVN maker is comparing apples and oranges. I mean, I find it unlikely that even Christine Love would get a million dollars for a VN Kickstarter.

[Morhighan]

I certainly think it can work...but I do think comparing former Dresden Doll, wife of Neil Gaiman, former owner of a major label record deal Amanda Palmer with an indie not famous EVN maker is comparing apples and oranges. I mean, I find it unlikely that even Christine Love would get a million dollars for a VN Kickstarter.

I agree, it's a totally different situation for indie devs and famous celebrities, however...

When did I say that they were comparable?
I do not think in any way that small indie devs are comparable or in similar situations. I do think, however, we can find inspiration from the success of others and the words of others.

As I said in my previous post:

I'll point you to this TED talk, which I find to be honest and educational.
. . .
Anyway, it was this TED talk that made me decide that my games will be available through the Pay what you want model. I hope you find it to be helpful.

My point was "Maybe you could be more successful than you think if you try" NOT "You can make a million dollars! 100% guaranteed."

I'm sure I could dig up lots of indie dev success stories with PWYW as well, but I don't really care to. This was just a reference to a success story of PWYW that came immediately to mind.

[sapiboonggames]

Thank you all for your answer!
I agree with all your answers and I think I'll stick around with this model.

[agentyoda]

I am curious as to whether Steam allows for a PWYW model; I don't think so. So if you plan to go Steam Greenlight to get your game a bigger market, you'll have to settle for either free entirely or a set price (though a good number of them are only a few dollars, and there are some free ones. Though I tend to assume the free ones are lesser quality because they're free).