Ah sorry thought was permanent low price, my bad. I heard short-term discount on Valve works pretty well, so it's fine BTW finally tried the game and I was surprised, I got really addicted! To those that say is too easy well... I liked it, to me was well balanced (in other words I'm getting old and I'm now an average joe casual gamer!).
Because that encourages people to go to a third party to buy your games. You make way more from a direct sale, and get the email address. If anything your game should be cheaper on your site, you shouldn't punish people for seeking out the developer and buying direct, that's mad.
Actually by having a lower price on only one site can mean that you will get more sales on that site than your own, and although you don't get 100% profit (say you get 50%, which steam gives you more than that) you could sell more than twice the games and get more than you would've by selling it for the full price. 50% deal for steam is actually a smart move considering that there are millions there and steam normally advertises like crazy for your game, so you'll reach a broader audience. Cheaper prices don't always mean less money, actually they most of the time mean more sales, which in turn make you more money in the long run. Say a $40 title had even a $10 discount...that just means that twice the people (or more) could buy from that site and you could make more money than you ever would have selling it for $40. As a matter of fact, I'm one that would buy on the Steam deal, so that's one more sale. There's plenty more where that came from.
I'm in full agreement if direct sales is your primary source of income, but for those who push the idea of affiliate, portal sales, etc, you should expect them to sell the game lower than going direct. Same with any retail item.
Traditional PopCaps audience is completely different from Steam audience. So, this deal is really likely to not affect at all PopCaps direct sales. I guess this is what they did notice with Peggles. They sold direct and with portals and later they had the Steam deal. Despite the Steam deal being way later than the original launch they sold a lot (well according to them). So, this is why I don't think it will hurt PopCaps direct sales. Because of the different audience, PopCaps is just getting more customer with Steams... not losing some, adding a lot customer than they would never reach before. JC
And you would not have paid that money if the situation was reversed and it was cheaper at popcaps site?
I think jcottier has hit the nail on the head. There probably isn't that many people who crossover. I bet there isn't that many people who hunt out the developer's site as opposed to buying it from the first site they find it on or their usual haunt.
Obviously a research based comment So much blind optimism laid out as fact that all I could bring myself to do was lazily highlight words for you. Back to the PvZ Steam deal, the $10 price looks like it was a part of the pre-order hype period as it seems to be back up to full price now.
@cliff: yes, but I normally do not buy from the retailers site to begin with. @mooktown: lol @ both of you: Actually, I'm gonna have to be the third 'yes-man' and agree with jcottier too. That's what I mean.
And now you can get Plants vs Zombies for the screaming deal of only $5.99 with Fun Pass at Gamehouse - buy now! http://www.gamehouse.com/download-games/plants-vs-zombies
Yeah its out on BFGs also but the Gamehouse $5.99 cheapest i've seen, what happened to Pop Cap Milking it at full price on there own site? I was VERY surprised to see it so soon on the major portals. Darren.
By leaving it at full price on their site - when you get it elsewhere you get the perceived value that you're getting a great deal. Suddenly you're paying $6 for something that you thought would cost $20, so it erases any hesitation of buying. Obviously they get their profits in sheer volume of sales. What I DON'T get, though, is how they rectify customer satisfaction for the people who DO pay $20 at their site and then find out everyone else got it cheaper. Maybe their games are so good people don't care about that. I got PvZ for $10 on steam, and it came with Heavy Weapons(?) for free. Amazing value for the dollar, but it sure makes all of us competing developers cringe huh.
As a PopCap fan I'm finding it puzzling for that reason. PopCap had a 10% discount for fans following their newsletter on development for the game through their site if you got it at release. I bought direct from them, partly to directly support PopCap but also because I wanted the Mac version and most discounts seemed to be for the PC only. I can sort of see why a game like Plants vs. Zombies might be useful to discount on other portals, as it's got some market segment crossover appeal that could convert more people to being PopCap fans. But for an existing PopCap fan (i.e. me!), hearing about mega-discounts so soon after release is starting to make me wonder whether it's better off to wait on PopCap purchases to see what other portals offer - which isn't really the sort of reaction I'd have thought PopCap wanted.
Too damn addictive - lovin' this game. Anyone got to the endless survival mode? My best run is 25 flags. -Steve Z.
Jeff Vogel's opinion on plants vs zombies Since it's relevant to the subject, here's Jeff Vogel's take on plants vs zombies, kinda an analysis / review from a developers point of view Thoughts On Plants vs Zombies
those discounts are sad news, I'm probably just naive but its too soon after release to throw this game into the bargain bin.. isn't it?
I wonder if the sales figures were disappointing and they needed to do something to hit their numbers? I noticed in this forum they said it would be at least one month before it was anywhere other than Popcap or Steam, that was about two weeks ago.
http://www.bigfishgames.com/download-games/5449/plants-vs-zombies/index.html How many years was this in development? Seems sort of sad.