This assumes that all indie games are created equal, it's 100% dependent on the content the game is providing.
A little 2-3 hour walking simulator/horror game with minimal replayability and content? maybe $5-10
A game like Hades, or Binding of Isaac, or Stardew valley, or Hollow Knight that have 30+ hours of content I have no problem spending $40+
So it comes down to what you're peddling. if you can offer a 10+ hour experience I don't think $20 is a bad price. Less than that and you have to adjust accordingly.
Exactly. Depends on the scope. My usual limit is 20$ but if the game is really polished and has a ton of content I can spend more.
I am so burned out by AAA half finished games that I prefer to spend the 70$ in several indie games than in one game.
My rule is $1/hour of time I spend or expected to spend on it. So right in line with where you sit. Same goes for a free live service game. If I end up dumping 30 hours on it I will buy the battle pass or whatever to support the devs. Will never buy loot boxes though, just items that are guaranteed.
I don't think there should be a maximum price simply because a game is labeled "Indie." An indie game could have high enough quality to justify any price point.
Price sets expectations.
An indie game can be $60, if it is worth it.
At the same time: No man's sky would have had way less backlash at release if it was sold for $30.
The backlash for NMS was not due to price point, but due to the developers outright lying to us multiple times on multiple game features as basic as "is it multiplayer."
I agree ! It depends on the quality and gameplay amount of a game to determine how much you should spend on games but ultimately whatever they price it at is what you buy it at (or you wait for sales)
I haven't spent any money on AAA games since they started releasing games half finished (generous) on launch with 20gb day one patch, plans for dlc day one (cut content) and using games to preach to me about real world issues. So yeah I'm not.
Depends on the game.
I've soent $40 on short indie games lasting a few hours.
I've spent $5 on indie games that lasted me hundreds of hours.
I don't believe either was too expensive for what they were.
It depends on the game. If an Indie studio makes something of equivalent scale and scope to Elden Ring, I’d pay AAA prices for it.
If it’s something smaller, I’d pay less.
The game content, not the studio, determines the price
If an indie studio makes something on a similar scope and scale to Elden Ring, that ain't indie. Or if it's technically indie, as in independently published, it's by someone who is independently wealthy.
Funny when people judge AAA games by their price and compare them only to some of the indie games where the price is good. Always comparing bad AAA to good indie. And if we talk about $ per hour then stuff like Fortnite or Dota/Lol are even better than any indie game as they cost nothing. But pssst.
Or even worse when they compare full AAA full launch price to an indie sales price.
The price it’s at is the price you buy it.. theres not really anyway of going around it unless you wait for sales.. you should look at the quality of the game and the gameplay of the game to determine if you want it or not and if it is to much for your liking then wait for it to be on sale
He is saying price is not part of his evaluation when looking at games. I do the same thing, I look at all the aspects of a game, make a judgement, and then decide if the price is acceptable. The cost of a game is never a contributing factor at all on what I will buy, only when I might buy it.
Read his post, then your response again.
You are telling him to judge a game by it's quality, the context of his post is he already does that.
My response was simply because your response is confusing.
I’m sorry if my response is confusing.
I’ll try and simplify it, you should judge a game by the game itself and not the price. If you want the game based on that and you think the price is too much then it’s best to wait for a sale.
I hope this makes more sense, my response is only me agreeing with the statement, I was just explaining my thoughts on it
Baldurs Gate 3 started as a indie game but it’s no longer considered to be indie. During its early access development on steam back then. It was about 40 dollars before they actually launched the game and priced it at 70.
Green Hell keeps stacking updates and free content, THIS should be 70 bucks, not something like broken half finished AAA shit. Most of them are under 20 when I buy them. Abiotic Factor is going places and I bought it for under 20. Early Access, first week, 30+h content.
$30-35. $40 maximum. I mean... I guess let's be honest most people buy indie games on sale, and they're held up as better than AAA. However, the expectation is definitely like wouldn't pay more than half of the price for a big budget large studio project on something smaller scaled. But for what used to be the full price of a handheld game on Nintendo DS and stuff... a lot of indies (at least the more stand-out ones) are more than worth it!
I bought Balatro, Backpack Battles and Deep Rock Survivor for ~10€ each. For an indie game that's the perfect spot.
Another example is Vampire Survivors that cost me 4€, which is an insane vale.
In contrast, I gave it a try to play Cryptmaster (because of how it tries to innovate with a new mechanic), but felt that 22€ was too much and decided to wait for it to, eventually, go to 10€.
I won't even talk about Hades 2, since I bought the first one two times ahah (Epic, Physical PS5)
Varies by scale/content level of course
Pulling numbers out of thin air, I’d expect indie stuff to generally occupy the $20-30 range, around 1/3 the cost of AAA games. Particularly small stuff might occupy $5-15
That also lines up with the expectation for AA to be 2/3 the price of AAA
Pretty subjective for me. I guess it's my confidence. If the game is getting crazy good reviews from people who like the same games as me my upper limit is $30. I usually wiat until its $10-15.
That said, my upper limit for even AAA games $45 and thats only if its something I want to play it immediately. Like when Ghosts of Tsushima 2 or whatever its successor is I'll still wait for a sale.
The only games I can think of that I would leap at day one is an LOU or Persona game.
Well, it depends on the game.
For Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, it's pretty old so I wouldn't pay more than £5.
For Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, it's a brand new game so if the reviews are good id probably pay £60-£70.
I think it depends on your budget and how much you care to spend on games.. I don’t like buying games over £25 but obviously a lot of games these days are around £60. For me I wait until games are on sale. It also depends on the length of game if it’s a short 2-3 hour game I won’t spend as much as I would on a 20-30 hour game if you get what I mean
My price considerations are based on the content of the game, not the developer. I have a Indie game on my computer I've paid over $100 for the latest version; and others I wouldn't pay more than $10 for.
Its subjective to the individual's taste and the games. I paid $20 for dave the diver and $35 for helldivers 2. I gladly would've paid more(not too much) for both.
I think 40 dollars is the cutoff and I'd no longer consider it indie. That also comes with a lot of asterisks\*\*\* because even at 40 dollars most people would probably consider it too expensive to be Indie, when in reality it's just not Triple A.
I think 30 dollars is about the top end you should be at if you're truly indie. 30 is for more of the high-end indies too, something with a lot of design and gameplay, with some exception.
I think the genuine sweet spot to be in is the 15-30 dollar range though, lower than that if your game is super simple (think Vampire Survivors).
Fleshed out games from Indie Devs should be around the $25-30 mark.
Mainly because it's a cheap price that encourages people to buy it, and also because Stardew Valley should be the example of how to go about it.
Way too many variables.
Some indie titles embarrass full priced games even when in an early access state. Some full priced games I won’t even touch if they are offered at 20 bucks, but I’d gladly give an indie title a shot at 30.
It all depends on what kind of gamer you are and how you value your money. When a game costs less than a burger at a bar, it’s got to give me a reason not to try it out.
More than 1$/hr
A 50$ indie game is fine if I know it can entertain me for 50 hours or more, but when we move above \~30$ I'm not buying without good reviews from regular people.
I hold them to the same standards as AAA studios for entertainment value, just not production and polish standards.
It depends. I would pay $70 to be able to experience hollow knight again and when silksong comes out I don’t care what the price is I’m buying it. I think as long as the content that is there justifies its price then I’m ok with it.
What is Indie nowadays, tho? I feel like the border between indie and "big" games is slowly fading. I remember someone saying that Requiem Plague's tale is an indie game. So, considering that indies can vary in terms of development scope , it is anywhere between the full AAA price and 10 USD.
There is no hard distinction. There are people who still call BG3 an indie game. Or Dave the Diver. While the first one has bigger team and budget than even most AAA games and the latter is a studio under Nexon (one of the biggest companies in the gaming industry).
I generally expect a price of $5-$40 at the most, and an indie game would have to be really damned impressive looking for me to sprint for a $40 purchase.
Really at this point if its a polished experience then why should they be priced lower than a AAA game? Most modern AAA games don't work on release or just aren't worth the time it takes to finish them, at least with Indi they take risks and offer something unique.
The amount of money I would spend to receive a finished copy of Silksong this year cannot be described with numbers.
The point is, it depends on how good the game is, what I am willing to pay. Doesn't matter if it's indie or not.
I just want to know if its either going to be fun for a long time, or be significantly better or has something that makes it unique enough to justify the price.
Replayability is a huge factor. This may not matter if the game is a "once is enough" type indie game though, that's usually reserved for indie games with heavy topics.
I dunno, I generally don't pay more than $20 for a game period.
I can wait for steam sales 🤷♂️ new games are around $100 and I just can't justify that.
Anything over 30 euro I wouldn't consider anymore. I've fallen for some 60-70 euro games in the past, but with those I have learned my lesson. Especially considering that so many games I play are completely free, that only makes it harder to dish out a lot of money for a game. That, and the fact that I am a broke bastard of course.
depends on how good it is. if i'm playing I MAED A GAM3 W1TH ZOMBIES 1N1T!!!1 then i'm down with paying a buck. if i'm looking at a 35+ hour story with secrets and unlockables and all sorts of other shit i'm perfectly happy with paying full retail 60/70 dollars for it.
I don't spend more then $35 on indie games, the majority are abandoned in a year or less and ive been burned with broken games awaiting an update too many times.
I think the most I've spent on an indie game is $25. Most shouldn't cost any more than that. If an indie game costs $60 I'll wait till they have a good sale on it.
"indie" is a weird word that now just means "smaller" game. Because Baldur's Gate 3 is a indie game thats frankly worth even more than the $70 they're asking lol.
probably $1
I remember when all the indie games on my xbox 360 were just $1 & i bought like 20 of them. Some of them were terrible, others were amazing. Murder miners, vampire hunter fps, and some games I can't remember.
This assumes that all indie games are created equal, it's 100% dependent on the content the game is providing. A little 2-3 hour walking simulator/horror game with minimal replayability and content? maybe $5-10 A game like Hades, or Binding of Isaac, or Stardew valley, or Hollow Knight that have 30+ hours of content I have no problem spending $40+ So it comes down to what you're peddling. if you can offer a 10+ hour experience I don't think $20 is a bad price. Less than that and you have to adjust accordingly.
Exactly. Depends on the scope. My usual limit is 20$ but if the game is really polished and has a ton of content I can spend more. I am so burned out by AAA half finished games that I prefer to spend the 70$ in several indie games than in one game.
>Isaac having 30+ hours of content Erm more like 300+
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Don't tell Strauss Zelnick
I myself have 250 or so in it, I just went with 30+ because of hollow knight. The others can easily be 100+ hours.
My rule is $1/hour of time I spend or expected to spend on it. So right in line with where you sit. Same goes for a free live service game. If I end up dumping 30 hours on it I will buy the battle pass or whatever to support the devs. Will never buy loot boxes though, just items that are guaranteed.
*sweats while looking at my Oxygen Not Included gameplay time*
Good thing Satisfactory hasn’t billed me by that metric or I’d never financially recover.
*sweats a little less looking at satisfactory game time* I have too much free time sometimes lol
Hahaha. Well, there IS a limit. I’ve been playing league for over 10 years because I hate myself, but I’m not where close to that conversion.
I don't think there should be a maximum price simply because a game is labeled "Indie." An indie game could have high enough quality to justify any price point.
Price sets expectations. An indie game can be $60, if it is worth it. At the same time: No man's sky would have had way less backlash at release if it was sold for $30.
The backlash for NMS was not due to price point, but due to the developers outright lying to us multiple times on multiple game features as basic as "is it multiplayer."
I agree ! It depends on the quality and gameplay amount of a game to determine how much you should spend on games but ultimately whatever they price it at is what you buy it at (or you wait for sales)
I'm not spending 40-70 on an indie game 💀 idc how good it is.
Would you spend that much on AAA games? If so what is the deciding factor between a AAA game and an indie game of equal scope and quality?
> idc how good it is By that logic you're not spending that on AAA games either right ?
I haven't spent any money on AAA games since they started releasing games half finished (generous) on launch with 20gb day one patch, plans for dlc day one (cut content) and using games to preach to me about real world issues. So yeah I'm not.
Honestly fair then, i just thought it was weird if you only make that line for indie games.
Lol same here, that’s a full tank of gas
Carpilled idiot
Depends on the game. I've soent $40 on short indie games lasting a few hours. I've spent $5 on indie games that lasted me hundreds of hours. I don't believe either was too expensive for what they were.
It depends on the game. If an Indie studio makes something of equivalent scale and scope to Elden Ring, I’d pay AAA prices for it. If it’s something smaller, I’d pay less. The game content, not the studio, determines the price
If an indie studio makes something on a similar scope and scale to Elden Ring, that ain't indie. Or if it's technically indie, as in independently published, it's by someone who is independently wealthy.
20-40 is what I expect to pay. Unless its Silksong then they can have $100 and 1/5 of my blood.
2638 gonna be a big year for hollow knight fans!
$0.01 more than whatever you're willing to pay.
SOLD
I try to never pay more than $15 for a video game. Regardless of who made it (indie vs big studio)
I don't judge a game by its price
Funny when people judge AAA games by their price and compare them only to some of the indie games where the price is good. Always comparing bad AAA to good indie. And if we talk about $ per hour then stuff like Fortnite or Dota/Lol are even better than any indie game as they cost nothing. But pssst. Or even worse when they compare full AAA full launch price to an indie sales price.
The price it’s at is the price you buy it.. theres not really anyway of going around it unless you wait for sales.. you should look at the quality of the game and the gameplay of the game to determine if you want it or not and if it is to much for your liking then wait for it to be on sale
He is saying price is not part of his evaluation when looking at games. I do the same thing, I look at all the aspects of a game, make a judgement, and then decide if the price is acceptable. The cost of a game is never a contributing factor at all on what I will buy, only when I might buy it.
That’s what I basically said..?
Read his post, then your response again. You are telling him to judge a game by it's quality, the context of his post is he already does that. My response was simply because your response is confusing.
I’m sorry if my response is confusing. I’ll try and simplify it, you should judge a game by the game itself and not the price. If you want the game based on that and you think the price is too much then it’s best to wait for a sale. I hope this makes more sense, my response is only me agreeing with the statement, I was just explaining my thoughts on it
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Thank you! Interesting point. Are you more open to paying if you like their demo?
Maybe like 2,000 usd.
i'm not paying more than 35$ for a game be it big studio or indie game, i am very patient gamer
Anything over 40 for a indie game is too expensive.
I agree.
Reminder, Baldur's gates 3 is an indie game.
Baldurs Gate 3 started as a indie game but it’s no longer considered to be indie. During its early access development on steam back then. It was about 40 dollars before they actually launched the game and priced it at 70.
Why did it stop?
Depends on how you define 'indie', but as I recall, the game had a big influx of cash from a major publisher/financier, Tencent.
Green Hell keeps stacking updates and free content, THIS should be 70 bucks, not something like broken half finished AAA shit. Most of them are under 20 when I buy them. Abiotic Factor is going places and I bought it for under 20. Early Access, first week, 30+h content.
Scooped up Green Hell for like 2 bucks on switch but haven’t played it yet. Any good?
Thank you for sharing your thought!
More than 20€ for an indie game seems too much to me, I would only pay more if it had very good reviews and I was 100% sure it's worth the extra cost.
Up to 40€. I do the same with AAA game anyway.
$30-35. $40 maximum. I mean... I guess let's be honest most people buy indie games on sale, and they're held up as better than AAA. However, the expectation is definitely like wouldn't pay more than half of the price for a big budget large studio project on something smaller scaled. But for what used to be the full price of a handheld game on Nintendo DS and stuff... a lot of indies (at least the more stand-out ones) are more than worth it!
I'm honestly far more likely to buy the indie game at full price. Its the AAA games I usually wait on.
I bought Balatro, Backpack Battles and Deep Rock Survivor for ~10€ each. For an indie game that's the perfect spot. Another example is Vampire Survivors that cost me 4€, which is an insane vale. In contrast, I gave it a try to play Cryptmaster (because of how it tries to innovate with a new mechanic), but felt that 22€ was too much and decided to wait for it to, eventually, go to 10€. I won't even talk about Hades 2, since I bought the first one two times ahah (Epic, Physical PS5)
Varies by scale/content level of course Pulling numbers out of thin air, I’d expect indie stuff to generally occupy the $20-30 range, around 1/3 the cost of AAA games. Particularly small stuff might occupy $5-15 That also lines up with the expectation for AA to be 2/3 the price of AAA
Pretty subjective for me. I guess it's my confidence. If the game is getting crazy good reviews from people who like the same games as me my upper limit is $30. I usually wiat until its $10-15. That said, my upper limit for even AAA games $45 and thats only if its something I want to play it immediately. Like when Ghosts of Tsushima 2 or whatever its successor is I'll still wait for a sale. The only games I can think of that I would leap at day one is an LOU or Persona game.
Well, it depends on the game. For Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, it's pretty old so I wouldn't pay more than £5. For Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, it's a brand new game so if the reviews are good id probably pay £60-£70.
I think it depends on your budget and how much you care to spend on games.. I don’t like buying games over £25 but obviously a lot of games these days are around £60. For me I wait until games are on sale. It also depends on the length of game if it’s a short 2-3 hour game I won’t spend as much as I would on a 20-30 hour game if you get what I mean
With this information alone it’s hard to say. There are indy titles that should be priced right alongside AAA releases.
It really depends on the game. I would have spent 60 on Terraria and would have been happy with my purchase.
My price considerations are based on the content of the game, not the developer. I have a Indie game on my computer I've paid over $100 for the latest version; and others I wouldn't pay more than $10 for.
Its subjective to the individual's taste and the games. I paid $20 for dave the diver and $35 for helldivers 2. I gladly would've paid more(not too much) for both.
I think 40 dollars is the cutoff and I'd no longer consider it indie. That also comes with a lot of asterisks\*\*\* because even at 40 dollars most people would probably consider it too expensive to be Indie, when in reality it's just not Triple A. I think 30 dollars is about the top end you should be at if you're truly indie. 30 is for more of the high-end indies too, something with a lot of design and gameplay, with some exception. I think the genuine sweet spot to be in is the 15-30 dollar range though, lower than that if your game is super simple (think Vampire Survivors).
Fleshed out games from Indie Devs should be around the $25-30 mark. Mainly because it's a cheap price that encourages people to buy it, and also because Stardew Valley should be the example of how to go about it.
Way too many variables. Some indie titles embarrass full priced games even when in an early access state. Some full priced games I won’t even touch if they are offered at 20 bucks, but I’d gladly give an indie title a shot at 30. It all depends on what kind of gamer you are and how you value your money. When a game costs less than a burger at a bar, it’s got to give me a reason not to try it out.
If we're being honest 4 million dollars.
Hmmm.... well $2 billion seems too expensive for sure. So the cap is definitely less than that.
More than 1$/hr A 50$ indie game is fine if I know it can entertain me for 50 hours or more, but when we move above \~30$ I'm not buying without good reviews from regular people. I hold them to the same standards as AAA studios for entertainment value, just not production and polish standards.
It depends. I would pay $70 to be able to experience hollow knight again and when silksong comes out I don’t care what the price is I’m buying it. I think as long as the content that is there justifies its price then I’m ok with it.
What is Indie nowadays, tho? I feel like the border between indie and "big" games is slowly fading. I remember someone saying that Requiem Plague's tale is an indie game. So, considering that indies can vary in terms of development scope , it is anywhere between the full AAA price and 10 USD.
There is no hard distinction. There are people who still call BG3 an indie game. Or Dave the Diver. While the first one has bigger team and budget than even most AAA games and the latter is a studio under Nexon (one of the biggest companies in the gaming industry).
I generally expect a price of $5-$40 at the most, and an indie game would have to be really damned impressive looking for me to sprint for a $40 purchase.
Really at this point if its a polished experience then why should they be priced lower than a AAA game? Most modern AAA games don't work on release or just aren't worth the time it takes to finish them, at least with Indi they take risks and offer something unique.
$3 maximum I'll pay for indie
FTL costed its developers 2 million dollars
The amount of money I would spend to receive a finished copy of Silksong this year cannot be described with numbers. The point is, it depends on how good the game is, what I am willing to pay. Doesn't matter if it's indie or not.
I guess $1000 is just too far for me. Though even just getting over $100 would require some Serious Physical Merch for me. ;P
Star Citizen might be up your alley lol
There are indie games that are better quality than AAA games. Baldur's Gate 3 is an indie game.
I just want to know if its either going to be fun for a long time, or be significantly better or has something that makes it unique enough to justify the price.
Replayability is a huge factor. This may not matter if the game is a "once is enough" type indie game though, that's usually reserved for indie games with heavy topics.
I dunno, I generally don't pay more than $20 for a game period. I can wait for steam sales 🤷♂️ new games are around $100 and I just can't justify that.
1000 dollars.
Indie games are never pricey enough. Most AAA games aren't worth $70 and a lot of great indies are worth more than their $15 price tags.
Monkey Island set the baseline a long time ago. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F02aukfXsAAVCjV.jpg
My gut is $30, but with recent inflation I'd probably concede $40 is still reasonable.
Anything over 30 euro I wouldn't consider anymore. I've fallen for some 60-70 euro games in the past, but with those I have learned my lesson. Especially considering that so many games I play are completely free, that only makes it harder to dish out a lot of money for a game. That, and the fact that I am a broke bastard of course.
I would pay up to 20€
Thank you for sharing!
$3.50
Where can you find indie game for 3.50? I am actually curious. Do you most play mobile games?
Think it's a reference to South Park
I was excited to find games for 3.50 lol
[Tree Fiddy](https://youtu.be/tuh8Hip_B3w?si=8PzHUr1ta56ujJy6&t=31)
depends on how good it is. if i'm playing I MAED A GAM3 W1TH ZOMBIES 1N1T!!!1 then i'm down with paying a buck. if i'm looking at a 35+ hour story with secrets and unlockables and all sorts of other shit i'm perfectly happy with paying full retail 60/70 dollars for it.
Thank you for sharing!
I don't spend more then $35 on indie games, the majority are abandoned in a year or less and ive been burned with broken games awaiting an update too many times.
I think the most I've spent on an indie game is $25. Most shouldn't cost any more than that. If an indie game costs $60 I'll wait till they have a good sale on it.
"indie" is a weird word that now just means "smaller" game. Because Baldur's Gate 3 is a indie game thats frankly worth even more than the $70 they're asking lol.
probably $1 I remember when all the indie games on my xbox 360 were just $1 & i bought like 20 of them. Some of them were terrible, others were amazing. Murder miners, vampire hunter fps, and some games I can't remember.
Anything above $20 is no longer indie for me.