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I'm using "Set a different price for this file" to set the price for my game. Will that cause my customers to pay multiple times?

A topic by mr-igame created Jul 27, 2024 Views: 353 Replies: 11

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Hey there,

In my game https://mr-igame.itch.io/the-secret-of-mom-and-me, I use the "Set a different price for this file" checkbox to set a different price for the latest version files that I want to charge for. I set a common price for these files and have no intention of changing the price.

But recently, one of my customers complained that doing so would cause them to pay for my game multiple times every time I release a new update. Is that true? And if so, how can I fix it so that the people who have purchased my game can download the later versions for free?

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hechelion139 days ago(+2)

What your client is telling you is NOT correct, in the "Set a different price for this file" mode, if he paid 10 for your game, he will always be able to download files that cost 10 or less.

This mode has its drawbacks. For example, you cannot do discount sales or bundles, because the files do not work normally, it is not enough to have "bought" your project, but it works based on Tier.

For example, if at Christmas you make a discount and you want to sell your game for 5 and someone pays you only 5, they will NOT be able to download the files that normally cost 10.

If tomorrow you decide to release an update with a different price, for example 12, you will have a big problem, because again, people who paid 10 can only download files that cost 10 or less and you cannot simply pay the difference (2), they would have to pay 12 again and surely this is your client's fear.

Unfortunately, many developers have used this method without understanding how it works and this has led to many customers being affected.

The official recommendation is that if you have 2 versions of your game, one free and one paid, you should create 2 pages, one free and one paid, that way you can make offers or change the price without affecting the people who have bought your game.

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redonihunter139 days ago

For example, if at Christmas you make a discount and you want to sell your game for 5 and someone pays you only 5, they will NOT be able to download the files that normally cost 10.

Is that confirmed? I always thought your payment would be divided by the discount to calculate your payment level. What sense is there else, for putting pay what you want games on sale?

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hechelion138 days ago(+2)

The official documentation doesn't say anything, so I can't confirm it. I seem to remember some posts where they talked about the problems with bundles and I seem to remember the same thing happening with sales.

It doesn't make any sense to me to put a free game on sale, but with so many developers, there are always people who will do what no one else expects.

In any case, remember that it is possible to put a preview per file on projects that are paid. For example, you sell the game for 10, but if someone pays 12, they could download the music or an art book, etc.

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redonihunter138 days ago(+1)

That is from the example. But this use case is not something I can imagine happening a lot. But my imagination is limited.

You would have to know before, what bonus items you would want. Sure, there are people buying the deluxe version of a game upfront. And you might use this as an incentive for people to overpay.

But the games I browsed practically never use it this way. And some even have several tiers of bonus content. They are the worst, but only because there is no way of increasing your level.

Itch should overhaul this system. At least with more clarifications at strategic places. While some do not like the term "dlc", this is what it does, this is what it is used for and this is what it should deliver. It does in some special cases, but fails in others.

Oh, and the reason why I assumed the tier is calculated with the discount is the message you can read when going to a purchased page. It remembers your paid price plus the discount. So the information would be there. So it would read for example like this: "Purchased for $4.99 1 year ago (50% off)". But it is just assumptions.

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Eldwood137 days ago(+1)

What? No, you should only create one project, set the price to the price of the paid version, and click the "This file is a demo and can be downloaded for free" checkbox for the free version of the game.

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redonihunter137 days ago(+1)

If your game is playable from start to finish, it is not a demo version. If you want to convince people to pay for your free game by giving them extras or deluxe game play, this does not make your "public" version a demo version.

The pricing options can be utilized this way, but it is misleading and confusing.

And more interestingly for the publisher, the game will not appear in the free games section and it always has that nasty price tag displayed. Even if you offer your public version as a "demo".

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hechelion137 days ago(+1)

What you are saying is technically a solution, which has the advantage of creating a single page, but has the major drawback that it is not good marketing.

When someone sees a paid game with a free demo, what they think is that they must pay to play the full game and that for free it will only be an incomplete version and normally much smaller than the final game.

A demo is like a free supermarket sample, just enough for you to feel the taste, but it will not fill you up in any way.

If you want to "eat" you must pay. That is what a paid game with a demo says .

In this other model, a free full game is usually offered, and you have a more advanced version that is paid. Normally, as development progresses, the most recent version becomes paid and the one that was previously paid becomes free.

The demo model does not fit well here and the price per file model is often used more, but the same administrator commented in a post that it is best to separate it into 2 pages.

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mr-igame139 days ago

Oh, I see, I understand now.

Let me ask one more thing: if I change my game to a paid game and set the price to less than or equal to $10, for example, $8, will those who have previously purchased individual files for $10 be considered to have purchased the game and be able to download any files I upload in the future?

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redonihunter139 days ago(+1)

If your game is pay what you want and you have those misleadingly named individually priced files or not, has no bearing on this. Your project is in the purchased library of anyone giving you more than 0 or having it claimed in a special sale with claiming enabled. If you change the project minimum to 1 or 100 does not matter. Any normal projects files will be downloadable.

The "individual file pricing" mechanic causes a lot of misunderstandings. It is meant for bonus items. But that would be dlc. And dlc is something I expect to buy on top after I have bought the game and was happy.

Anyone paying for your project is at a payment level. Any files below that level are downloadable. And the problem arises, when you have more than 1 level of bonus content. Like 0, 5 and 10. Someone bought level 5 and wants level 10. It is not possible to raise the level! Buying the game again will give you 2 keys with level 5.

It gets more complicated with sales and even more complicated with bundles. I am not sure how those are handled. Oh, and bundles can have a bundle discount on top. I assumed that discounts would be factored in to the individually prices files somehow. But I am far from sure, it could also be a an unmutable check of factual payment, instead of sale-adjusted payment.

Oh, and the name alone gets people confused, hence your customer that asked about paying again. English is not my native language. While I boast to be fluent, even I would actually assume that something named individually priced files would indicate that those files are not attached to the project and would be sold individually, like the name says. Maybe what the feature does was changed, but the name stayed. Or there is some context I miss.

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hechelion138 days ago(+2)

What I understand, but I can't officially confirm.

If someone donated money for your game while it's free, it doesn't matter how much it is, as long as it's above the minimum you selected, they are considered to have "bought" your game.

For example, if your minimum is 3, and someone donated 5, that person can't access individual files that cost 10, but Itch considers that person to have bought your game.

If you change from free to paid tomorrow, and remove the individual price per file, it doesn't matter what price you put on your game, that person is now considered to be the "owner" of the game and will be able to download the game.

If you create a second page, you can manually send keys to people who have only paid 10 or more.

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redonihunter138 days ago(+2)

Well, let the Itch faq confirm it for you ;-)

https://itch.io/docs/creators/pricing

If someone pays for a project, they are granted ownership to it. If they skip payment, they do not get ownership, and can only download the files. This is important to be aware of if you decide to convert your project to Paid at a later time.

Usually all this works fine, it is just something to remember when changinge prices. Upping the price of an individually priced file is a bad thing. Having lots of 2 $ donors and a 10 $ item, one might not want to give that item to the 2 $ donors, but maybe it is a work in progress and this is precisly what is intended to make it future proof and have one paid version and one free version of the game.

If someone has a problem with this, that person should view it this way: the early supporters got the game while it was on a sale. And in a way that is exactly what happened, if the page were converted that way. (To my understanding of the faq).

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