Why Bundles and Steam Sales Aren't Good for Most Indies

Re:Why Bundles and Steam Sales Aren't Good for Most Indies by ido on Thursday November 24, 2011 @09:34AM (#3274411)

I'm the author of the above post.

I am in fact making a living off of making indie games, and I admit the market is now in fact better than it was ever before (in sheer size).

However, we keep seeing people gushing all over the various bundles and steam sales & with little to no discussion of the possible long term negatives.

EDIT: although you are right that there is a lot of competition making games, there isn't that much competent competition.

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Re:Why Bundles and Steam Sales Aren't Good for Most Indies by fennecfoxen on Thursday November 24, 2011 @11:48AM (#3274784)

You're still complaining that other people are pursuing a product marketing / sales strategy at your expense. Your objection to this perfectly normal state of affairs might lead one to infer that you're suggesting indie game developers had an informal agreement to set a minimum price for their products* or some nonsense like that... as if such a thing would even be achievable in the current indie game sales environment.

(* http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/15/1.html )

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Re:Why Bundles and Steam Sales Aren't Good for Most Indies by ido on Thursday November 24, 2011 @01:04PM (#3274977)

I'm not saying we should set up a minimum price or any such thing, nor that all bundles must be stopped.

The only thing I'm talking about is that amidst all the praise we should think about the possibly negative long-term effects of the race to the bottom[1].

I'm not presenting any grand scheme to solve it, only pointing out that there is a dynamic at hand that I think is not all good.

[1] see the situation at the app store for what a possible future might look like.

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