Paid vs free games
By John Beers on .
My creative endeavors have always been about making something I like first. If others enjoy it, great; if not, that’s fine too. I never pursued music, art, or games as a full-time job because I always felt that it would change my approach. We all know bands whose first album is raw, youthful, and passionate, but several albums into their career, they fall into that trap of external pressure and money becomes the goal instead of the benefit. Art has always been my catharsis and therefore not worth compromising. That philosophy has carried me through the decades that followed.
For over 30 years, I have shared my creative output, from cassettes to CDs to digital files. It hasn't always been free, but I tried to be as fair as possible. I used to sell demo cassettes for $2.00, which covered my costs: $1.00 for the tape itself and $1.00 for shipping. (Yeah, I miss those 1990s prices, too.) Why? Because, I was marketing something no one had ever heard, and I didn't figure anyone would shell out much money for it. By the way, I sold hundreds of demos this way so there must've been something to it. Later on, I got into embedding streaming RealAudio files and services like the old Mp3.com, but I digress.
Since learning Godot just last year, I've made several games and fragments of games. Sure, I made games in BASIC as a kid, but Godot let me take it further. Some creations exist solely on my hard drive. Some are open source and available on Codeberg. A few have been published on Itch.io. I started out with a free / pay-what-you-want model because I just hoped people would play them. 12-year-old me would be stoked that anyone played something I made. Hell, 49-year-old me feels the same way.
Around a month ago, I was bummed that I wasn't getting more visits on Itch.io and started reading articles on marketing. Some people suggested that free games came across as cheap and presented more like some sort of game jam rather than a real product. So, I added minimum pricing to a couple games with the hope that making them non-free would feed into the algorithm or that potential players might view them as more than throwaways. I wasn’t trying to cash in; I was just curious whether pricing affected visibility. However, nothing changed. Views stayed minimal, and no one bought anything compared to the few downloads I was getting before. It's certainly possible, that the games themselves or any marketing I did or didn't do was a factor as well.
However, at the end of the day, at least at this point, I just want people to be able to play my games. Money or the lack thereof should not prevent someone from enjoying them. Granted, a little sleuthing might have led someone to the binaries on Codeberg, since many of my games are open source, after all, but that's an additional step that players may not want to take. Path of least resistance, right?
Anyway, the point is simple: the games are free / PWYW again. Play them, enjoy them, share them. If you feel like tossing a buck my way afterward, awesome. If not, that’s fine too. A comment, a bit of feedback, or even a quick “hi” means just as much. Game on.
My released games / tools made with Godot: