Dear De, Please Remove The Plat Discount

[Busok]

This is exactly what it is and whether you believe it or not, it's fairly effective.

yep. worked on me.

[Mietz]

Plat prices are way to high,..

lower 50 %, and they will sell twice as much plat as they do currently,..

 

So what the F*** would be the point for them?

 

If they sell twice as much platinum at half the price they will get the same amount of money from it.

Jesus christ basic maths.

[Grilleds]

So what the F*** would be the point for them?

 

If they sell twice as much platinum at half the price they will get the same amount of money from it.

Jesus christ basic maths.

D3ST has it wrong. Due to impulse buying, if they lowered the price half as much, they would sell far more than twice the amount.

[Mercathin]

While yes, logically it would make sense that a lower stable price would improve sales, there is actually a recent action by a retailer that showed the opposite.

 

J.C. Penny lowered their prices and removed sales and discounts and found a drop in overall revenue. When it reverted to the old method, sales rose.

 

Discounts boost sales.

[Grilleds]

While yes, logically it would make sense that a lower stable price would improve sales, there is actually a recent action by a retailer that showed the opposite.

 

J.C. Penny lowered their prices and removed sales and discounts and found a drop in overall revenue. When it reverted to the old method, sales rose.

 

Discounts boost sales.

The J.C. Penny example isn't typical and had a number of other factors involved that don't carry well into digital distribution models, including some factors that weren't brought up in the Extra Credit's video because they didn't really have any relation to the argument being made in the video. Discounts do boost sales, but lowering prices all around does so as well.

The main reason why J.C. Penny's example failed was simply because the average J.C. Penny customer is a complete moron who doesn't actually know what things are worth, hence they can overprice an item, put it on sale for its regular price, and keep it on sale all year so dumb people think they are getting a huge discount on an item being sold at its regular price, hence there actually isn't a discount at all, its simply deceptive marketing. This doesn't carry well into digital distribution since people who buy things online, even things that have no material value, tend to have a better grasp of what an actual good deal is. Hence why websites like GoG manage to stay in business when almost their entire catalog is very cheap games.

Long story short, lower prices greatly improve sales online, or where there is a huge local competition.

Additionally, we are comparing J.C. Penny, a store where people buy things they actually need, to a FtP game that runs on microtransations, AKA impulse sales. The latter typically runs on sales of virtual items between 5-10 dollars at a time, due to them being mostly bought on impulse with a few clicks of the mouse. The sales models aren't similar enough to compare without considering the major differences in the types of customers for each.

Edited June 9, 2013 by Grilleds

[BlueCremeSoda]

Platinum prices are jacked without the discount. Are you mad? It costs 5$ for 75 platinum. That gets you a color pack or a starting warframe. Otherwise you're paying like 20$ just to get a weapon or a frame. I know people who put a lot of money in this game already and aren't even upset about the discount. It's not really cheating anyone. And people are more likely to purchase larger platinum bundles if they get a discount anyway.

 

 

While yes, logically it would make sense that a lower stable price would improve sales, there is actually a recent action by a retailer that showed the opposite.

 

J.C. Penny lowered their prices and removed sales and discounts and found a drop in overall revenue. When it reverted to the old method, sales rose.

 

Discounts boost sales.

 

This is just silly. You know why people buy more there? Because they give you MSRP (higher than what they would ever reasonably sell it for) and sell it to you for their "every day" sale/low price. Ever notice how nearly everything seems to be "on sale" or "discounted" there? That alone is just a psychological trick to make people feel like they're getting a better deal. Say it sells for 100 but I'll give you a deal and sell it to you for 50. Everyone feels like they win.

Edited June 10, 2013 by BlueCremeSoda

[Mediave]

First off, i'm not going to pretend i have a masters in economics or some crap.

 

I am just going to use my common sense and i know that i may be wrong , but this is my opinion on the plat discount.

 

It is bad for the devs

 

Why ? With the plat discount, players will now wait for the discount to show up in daily rewards before buying plat.

No discount = no plat purchase , because we will feel ''cheated'' of our money .

 

If they really want to have a plat discount , i would suggest either making it very easy to obtain or make it universal, i.e everyone gets the discount.

 

Otherwise, remove it , because it makes ppl who buy plat without the discount feel like S#&$ and they will be less likely to buy  it in the future without the discount.

 

Edit : I think they should give a once-off discount to everybody , so that those who would consider buying plat with the discount would be able to get it .

 

What you're saying is, stores should never have sales, either, right?

[neKroMancer]

To be frank, it's a fairly effective model to increase sales and encourage player to keep playing while allowing us to choose when to buy platinum. Player got better deal with bigger purchase, can choose when to buy platinum, doesn't have to waste the discount on a single item.

Really, I don't mind it at all.

[Aidith]

First off, i'm not going to pretend i have a masters in economics or some crap.

 

I am just going to use my common sense and i know that i may be wrong , but this is my opinion on the plat discount.

 

It is bad for the devs

 

Why ? With the plat discount, players will now wait for the discount to show up in daily rewards before buying plat.

No discount = no plat purchase , because we will feel ''cheated'' of our money .

 

If they really want to have a plat discount , i would suggest either making it very easy to obtain or make it universal, i.e everyone gets the discount.

 

Otherwise, remove it , because it makes ppl who buy plat without the discount feel like S#&$ and they will be less likely to buy  it in the future without the discount.

 

Edit : I think they should give a once-off discount to everybody , so that those who would consider buying plat with the discount would be able to get it .

Just think,if you shell out the money to actually help the developers, as I did, and become a grand master founder, you get a discount on platinum for life! Do that and you get permanent discounts for life and actually pay for a product you are using, everybody wins, yay!

[Tetsmeha]

The discount is a risky move by DE considering the permanent effects one can gain from plat purchases. Discounts are made to draw in potential buyers by giving them a reduced costs. However the backlash from discounts are from efficient buyers who will wait for those specific discounts before making a purchase in the first place.

Edited June 10, 2013 by Tetsmeha

[neKroMancer]

The discount is a risky move by DE considering the permanent effects one can gain from plat purchases. Discounts are made to draw in potential buyers by giving them a reduced costs. However the backlash from discounts are from efficient buyers who will wait for those specific discounts before making a purchase in the first place.

I see that as an intended effect. It encourages bulk purchase and player's smart decision making. In real life, you're waiting for price of specific item to be discounted on certain day of the year. As long as it increases sale from players who otherwise not going to buy, it's working as intended.

[Blatantfool]

I see that as an intended effect. It encourages bulk purchase and player's smart decision making. In real life, you're waiting for price of specific item to be discounted on certain day of the year. As long as it increases sale from players who otherwise not going to buy, it's working as intended.

 

 I find myself in agreement with neKro.

 

 There is a sizable chunk of the community - like with any F2P game - that has no intention of paying if prices are a certain way. I've spoken with a great many players who feel that Platinum is too expensive. They value their money more then they feel the set prices do.

 

 So what happens? They just never pay. They aren't just gonna go "Aww Shucks. I really like DE. Golly I'll just buy this Platinum, despite feeling it is overpriced."

 

 In comes the Coupon. Now 50$ is 25$ and 200$ is 100$. That same customer can get DOUBLE the return for their money.

 

 Many of those customers will take that opportunity to buy where otherwise they wouldn't have. This is profit for DE, not a loss. That customer wasn't likely to ever pay full price.

[liavalenth]

I do not like the coupon. I plan to spend more on higher levels of the Founders package, so if I do get the coupon as a daily reward it is a lot like an ammo pack, but even less useful. That said, I do think it will get sales for DE. So it should stay.

I do not think it should come from daily rewards, but otherwise I find it as a good idea. If they have nowhere else to put it, losing a daily reward isn't a big hit, as they have not been that great anyway.