On (perceived) value.

So as you you probably know if you've read any of posts lately, I've been thinking about Braid. A lot. And talking about it almost exclusively. And one thing that keeps popping up is that people say it's too expensive. They think, because Braid is 400 points, or 5 dollars, more than the average original XBLA game, that it's automatically too expensive. Let's dwell on this for a moment.

Braid is a game with a unique hand-painted visual style. It contains incredibly mind-bending puzzles that were hard to solve, let alone design. And artistically it is the most amibitious game that has come along since... probably forever, but most people probably don't care about that, because it isn't why they play video games, and that's fine. But even discounting that, Braid is simply an amazing game that will last you 5 to 6 hours. And that for 15 dollars.

Portal is being sold for 20 dollars separately on Steam, and while it is only around 3 hours long, most people won't complain about that. The average 60 dollar retail game will probably last you around 10-15 hours. If we were to deconstruct that, that is less game play per dollar than Braid delivers. Yet this 15 dollars is some massive stumbling block for people. Why is this?

I think primarily because people have become so used to paying 800 points for XBLA games, that anything more automatically seems as too much, without really thinking about what you're getting. The silliest comparison I've seen is likening Braid to Puzzle Quest. Both cost the same, yet Puzzle Quest gives you more 'bang for your buck', so the argument goes. Sure, but that's discounting the fact that Puzzle Quest is the same thing, over and over again, and it's only graphics are still sprites. How can you possibly compare that to a game as exquisitely crafted as Braid? Quality should determine value, not quantity. And even if quantity was the deciding factor, Braid would still be worth 15 dollars, assuming you've ever bought a game like Bioshock, or Portal, or any other single player retail game the last 5 years.

Oh yeah, here is what got the ball rolling on this blog post: