This may be an unpopular opinion, but I actually think that sims are significantly under priced and that because of that software developers are not motivated to develop content that many of us would like, but perhaps not millions of us.
This is a niche hobby and as you start to further segment the content and player base with very specific content like vintage cars, it becomes more niche. That shouldn’t matter as long as developers are able to correctly price their offerings. If AC sold a million copies at $60 and was profitable, then it should be possible to sell a GTL2 at a higher cost in the understanding that it would sell fewer copies. Everyone here understands basic economics I know, so I won’t labor the point.
But would people be willing to pay a higher price?
Firstly, we know that on the whole the sim racing community (or at least the hardcore) skews older and for the most part, that means wealthier too.
Secondly, people routinely spend two or three hundred dollars on Logitech setups and quite a few of us spend very much more than that on our rigs. This is a hobby that people ARE willing to spend money on. It seems like daylight robbery for Kunos to charge as little as $25 for the first release of ACC, a next gen sim title.
Even with this logic, it might be considered too risky to develop a niche vintage title with the intention of charging $100 or more for it. But we live in an age where you have marketing options surely? You could initially offer the game as a Kickstarter offering, reducing much of the risk. You could also have a paid DLC strategy, perhaps with different eras of cars bundled together. And if you look at how successful iRacing have been with their expensive subscription model, you can see that there’s potential for innovation in how sims are priced.
If we want a vibrant sim racing community and would like niche but top quality sims to play then we should accept that we should have to pay a premium for it. The alternative is that we either rely on mods or accept that premium titles will have to be crowd pleasers otherwise the financial risk is to great for devs and publishers to take. I would love an historic motor sports sim and I’d be willing to pay for it!
