So I have a philosophical gaming question for you.
Visual novels are admittedly pretty niche in the gaming market as a whole.
If they don’t sell well enough sequels don’t happen.
So, as a patient gamer, do I pay full price for these games to support further development even though that means buying less games.
Or do I wait till they go for deep discount like I have been and have therefore been able to spread my limited support around more.
If my end goal is making sure these games keep being made as much as possible, what’s my best option?
I am all for the patient gaming mentality and typically wait until games are 50%+ off before I think of purchasing.
Looking for opinions on my best course of action. Thanks!
It’s a dichotomy. You have to decide what’s more important. Showing support for a niche game maker, or saving money and getting a stable version of the game.
I mean, visual novel games are VERY hard to make them unstable. In the case of a visual novel, it will probably have the same stability whether you buy it at release or 20 years later (if its even still for sale). It might only get one or two updates that entire time, and probably to correct typos.
That’s a great point and I never looked at it as a dichotomy.
However, bugs aren’t something I typically run into due to the nature of the simplicity of VNs. It’s more of a question of do I give max support to my favorite developers or spread the support around in hopes of finding new projects from different developers besides my favorite.
The way you laid it out though helps me ask the question of which of those two is more important to me.
Asking the real questions!
Personally I am very willing to pay full price and even occasionally buy pointless extras I don’t care about if it helps reward their passion for a project I see as a valuable contribution. I’ll even pre-order or provide them some free advertising in some cases. Especially if its the sort of dev where it seems like their long-term survival might be in question.
I feel like you can usually tell when the dev needs money or doesn’t.
It’s quite easy, actually. I usually play everything years after release, however, if I’m really into a certain series, I’ll buy it right away. If I don’t care for the wait, I probably don’t care enough about whether or not a sequel is being made.
Of course that only works if you don’t get hyped easily. I play a lot of games, but usually only 1-2 per year are released within said year.
In general, it isn’t about waiting for prices to drop, though that’s definitely a part. It’s more about avoiding early adoption, imo. Waiting until there’s some degree of information about the game that isn’t marketing, then deciding.
The goal is to make sure the game is stable, that it’s something you actually want to play, and avoiding hype based playing. If the price drops, or there’s a sale, that’s icing on the cake.
In the case of visual novels, I don’t really think it applies. The only thing you’ll really avoid by waiting is any bugs that need fixing, and they aren’t prone to a lot of bugs that break the enjoyment of the story. It does happen, but it isn’t like the usual mobile game bugfest at launches.
That’s a great point and a very poignant reason for why patient gaming is important.
I think I was personally focusing on the saving money part!
I agree, this is why I consider myself a ‘patient gamer’… I don’t want to reward releasing half-done games, or trickling out DLC that should have been included in the original release.
I had to re-evaluate my stance on this when Baldur’s Gate 3 was released because I really wanted to play it, but was going to wait until it went on sale. Then the reviews starting coming in saying that it was a full game, no major issues, and no planned DLC. I immediately purchased it because **THAT **is the behavior I want to reward, and I’m very glad that I did.
I think for a visual novel, you’re probably better off buying it near release for full price. Maybe even get the more expensive version that comes with the soundtrack if you like the game.
For other types of games, especially more mass market games, they’re more complex and prone to bugs. Visual novels, not so much. So being patient in this particular case would certainly hurt the small creator making the game more than it will hurt your bank account. Visual novels aren’t usually $60.
The question is moot from both sides of the deal, but understanding why is important.
For something like a game, you will only ever pay approximately what you think a game is “worth”. How you determine that value is entirely up to you and should be based on your own opinions and beliefs. Therefore, if you derive value from supporting niche developers, that’s great for you and you should continue to do so as you wish. If you don’t value that quite as much, then wait for a sale price that does.
Your individual decisions will not affect the decisions of publishers and developers.
Their decisions will take into account the total profit that they think a game can provide over its lifetime. This is determined by the initial price and sales as well as future discount prices and sales. The way they estimate the potential profit of a new project is based on past data. If they see most of their sales at launch time, they will price the game accordingly. If they see more revenue over time from sales, then they will price the game accordingly. As long as they continue to hit those goals, then they will continue making products for those audiences.
Therefore, the best way to support the projects you like is to buy the game when the price justifies the value to you. That is buy it whenever you want. The only way to not support (I am purposefully avoiding the word hurt) the publisher and developer is to pirate the games.
Just to say that the question might not only concern niche games. Any game that you do not buy shortly after its release might have a negative impact on the franchise (because most sales happen in a few weeks, with rare exceptions of course).
Great point. Completely agree this applies to any niche games or even any niche market as a whole.
My personal connection and the reason I posed this is me considering whether or not to pay full price for the fate/stay remaster as well as the tsukihime release.
The question can be asked for most things in life really so just do both options. Generally I’m a “value for money” gamer now but If something catches my eye I will make an effort to support it.
Buying isn’t supporting. Capitalism is not a social support network.
Companies have spent millions and taken years to convince people that going shopping is a kind of activism.
If I suggested you donate money directly to a video game company, or volunteer your time to help them you’d see right away how fucking weird that whole concept is.
Patient gaming is a budgeting technique, not a strict law you must always adhere to.
I separate upcoming releases into two categories: games I’m so excited for that I would gladly pay full price at launch, and games I’m willing to wait on. Which games go in which category depend entirely on you and your budget.
I think that, if you have the resources to support that niche, which the savings from cheap offers hopefully allowed for, and you want to see it grow, it’s worth paying more.
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