Pay-what-you-want promotion boosts World of Goo sales
57,000 copies sold at average of $2.03, as Steam and WiiWare sales also rise
2D Boy's pay-what-you-want promotion for World of Goo resulted in over 57,000 consumers buying the game during the promotional period.
The title sold on average $2.03, with the developer noting that sales on other services also rose. Steam sales climbed 40 per cent (following a 25 per cent rise the previous week), and sales over Nintendo's WiiWare also went up 9 per cent, which was "large enough to have not been entirely caused by normal fluctuations."
"This is just one data point about how this kind of pricing methodology can work, and we would need other developers to try it with different games and under different circumstances in order to be able to draw any real conclusions," wrote the developer.
2D Boy has made all data collected through the promotion available to all and extended the deal until October 25.
Early analysis suggests consumers paid what they could afford, not what they perceived as the value of the game, said 2D Boy.
"One thing that the survey data might suggests is that despite there being a lot discussion around what games are worth and the dollar value of an hour of play, few people chose their price based on the perceived value of the game."
"How much the person feels they can afford seems to play a much larger role in the decision than how much the game is worth."