Over the years I've seen a wide variety of prices being charged for a wide variety of games. I've seen some repros selling for $80-$85 shipped within the USA, upwards to $100+ worldwide. Then there are the homebrew / indie games, and Ive seen a wide range of prices there too, even on CIBs.

That brings up the question to me as to what price point people feel is fair/reasonable for these kinds of games (including shipping) , both for CIB and cart-only releases.

My limit would be 30 for cart only, 50 for CIB

I feel like $40 Cart only $45 with Manual and $60 CIB is pretty fair.
Lord knows that I've spent more than that (usually specific cases, or games I am extremely excited for), but this is pretty average from what I remember for most Kickstarters, or small releases.

Depends on the game.

On the repro front, I know I was willing to pay a lot more for Legend of Link back when it was released, owing to the need for MMC5 donors.
Though what I am willing to pay for the vast majority of other repros is practically zero $.

This was a rare exception for me, since it was a pretty unique gaming experience, and as much as I loved it, I didn't love it enough to KEEP it at the price someone else was willing to pay for my 2nd-hand copy.



But homebrewers tend to be more savvy with their hardware costs, since they want to be able to produce in quantity.
(the MMC5 usage above was an extreme conversion of the original game meant to test the limits of the system with the expectation that it would be played mostly on emulators)

Even for homebrew, I think much more than $40 can be a pretty big ask for games on the system, given the limitations, and CIB prices get pretty silly sometimes.

My feeling is that whatever someone who has taken the time to actually develop a game wants to sell it for is a fair price. Especially if it comes with physical carts, labels, boxes, manuals, etc. I've done a few book projects where I had to do everything myself, from typesetting the text blocks to designing the covers, layouting the physical dimensions of the book, choosing paper and ink and binding type, finding a printing service, running test prints, and so forth. The whole process easily took as long as producing the actual text, was expensive as hell, and I had to learn several new crafts along the way. My experience is that people are generally clueless about all the work it takes to manufacture something physical - never mind to make it look good - and I imagine it's the same for anyone who wants to put together a physical game release. I've got massive respect for the people who have the creativity and the drive to do it.

Battle Kid 2 costs $37. When I see much, much lesser homebrew games for like $60-100 I think it's pretty ridiculous. All of my favorite games were <$40 or free. Anything too much higher is just collector bait.

The Battle Kid games set a really high bar that I'd argue has yet to be hit in that specific genre, and that was years ago. The price point is extremely fair considering the games' quality. I agree overall, though I'll admit that like others here, I've spent > $50. Never again. I don't want to insult any brewers but we need a few more "rockstars" that really stand out from the crowd.

Without naming any specific members, and continuing the tired rant of IP ownership and the downright piracy these represent, these particular ones (which I believe you are referring to) make my blood boil.
 

$80+ for a freaking repro? Damn, that's scam, seriously.

The material cost for one is less than $20, the effort is 10 minute.

Personally, $20-$25 is perfectly fine for a repro cart, $30-$50 max if it's harder to make or requires special parts.
^ This goes for SNES repros (NES as well). Genesis/MD is $10-$20 only as it's very easy to make.

I'd love to get my hands on certain homebrews or newer releases but the prices are mostly absurd.
I do understand the work and effort behind those games but that doesn't justify the price most of the time imo.

I'll gladly pay more for a homebrew that I like, if for nothing else to support the dev to keep at it and make more.

As far as non-complicated repros go, I'm shocked at the prices people are apparently willing to pay.

At that price you're better off getting the equipment you need to make your own, especially if you plan on making several.

With Battlekid it's volume discount.  If you know you are going to sell more than 1000 copies, you can get major discounts in material prices. One off's and low volume runs are legitimately expensive to produce.

I could say the same about Action 53 Vol. 1 (Streemerz), Black Box Challenge, Legends of Owlia, Cowlitz 2nd Adventure, Alfonzo's Arctic Adventure, Spook o Tron. I believe all of these were around $40.

I get that people will charge $100+ for LEs and NESMaker games because they have novelty value and can make a buck off a few dozen people who will pay anything for them, but compared to all the great homebrew in the $40 range, it doesn't feel like a good value to me.

A constructive Dave thread!? GTFO!!!

It was productive until you rolled in  . I'm still waiting to finalize our terms on the customised fc hb carts btw  

lol I love our little dynamic. It never gets old! XD

To answer the threads original question, I -feel- like up to $45 for cart only and $60 CIB is fair (though $30/50 feels like more of a sweet spot) for a homebrew...

... also I've spent all sorts of stupid money on homebrews, so my opinion my be not. 

As for repros, if it's something I really want a physical copy of, about $20 would be my limit with a few minor exceptions, but I tend to stay away from them in general.

Depends on what it is and the quality of it. If more effort is put into the homebrew, I'm gonna pay more. If you want a number I'd say $35 cart only. For me the cardboard doesn't matter(gloves is probably foaming at the mouth for me saying that) so I have no input for that.

Some of it also depends on mappers. An MMC3 game is going to cost more to produce than NROM. I know there are cheaper mappers that offer more space, but sometimes a dev might need specific mapper functionality to fit their project, or they way want to use a standard mapper to ensure greater emulator compatibility with a ROM release. Even at that though, you're probably looking at a $10 price bump per cart tops, and it'll likely be a game that deserves it.

Are you comparing apples to apples? BK/BK2 was cart/manual only. Most of the $60-$100 games I've seen are CIB.

I dropped the prices of my games from $60 to $40 a couple years ago, as I definitely think it's more reasonable. On the flip side, I charged $60 for my latest game because I think it's good enough to warrant it. Judging from the sales, lots of people agreed, so I am defintely thrilled about that.

Who knows what the future holds. I think it definitely depends on the game in question though.

Its also the result of never raising prices on stuff from a decade ago.  At the time it was the top of the price range and if it came out today it would be far more.
 

Collude to raise prices! So long as good cheap shit is on the market, I will be comparing new games to to them when thinking of value. I don't think $60 for a big game is overpriced just because Battle Kid exists, but I wouldn't call most homebrew "big games" either though.

I do think $100+ for almost any brand new game is silly personally. You can get either real vintage collectibles or almost any playable game on any platform for that price. I'm also in the cart only gang, I usually just want the game. Buying repro boxes or paying extra for a box when I buy a brand new game just feels strange.

Boxes are a funny thing. I find that most people actually do opt for the box. I do myself actually. It just completes the package. I'd probably only sell boxed copies if it were totally up to me, but I know that some people don't really care all that much about the box, so I might as well offer them a discount if I can afford it.

My 0.02...until you've earned that homebrewer badge and/or released an actual game, you don't really have the right to bitch about cost. If you don't like it or think it's overpriced, don't buy it. Don't go around telling someone that the past year+ of their life they've spent on something isn't worth $X. Just Shhh and stay out of the discussion.

I would agree that it would be inappropriate to thread-crap in a thread about a specific game.

But there is nothing wrong with people discussing their view on how they value a category of games and their components, in the generic.
(and as this thread illustrates, many of us think the asking price for cart/manual tends to be at a pretty reasonable threshold, boxes+extras seems to be where people have less of an appreciation for how much it is adding to the cost of the game) 

Homebrewers should want to have a more accurate read on the public opinion of how people value what they're selling so they can plan accordingly, rather than take the discussion as some kind of insult.

 

careful MRN, this is arch's wheelhouse: arguing anyone has the right to argue (especially himself). 

the distinction here is the people complaining (or discussing) prices always seem to have this edge like they're being bamboozled by some evil corporation. the reality is, this is a hobby and I've always gotten the vibe that developers want to share their work and be recooped for their efforts. Yes, the people who put in the work are price gatekeepers and they earned that position-  thankfully this is capitalism (purely voluntary) and no purchase is required.

It'd be nice to buy products that directly plug into your hobby. If you don't agree with the price it'd be nice to either privately share your comments... but that'd be rude, right? Would you directly contact a dev and tell them their prouct is too expensive? At the very least it'd be nice to be supportive in anyone's creative endeavours and have the grace to keep your opinions to yourself unless prompted. 

The big caveat is it's okay to discuss anything, but be aware that you too will get blasted for gatekeeping, for snobbery, for interjecting when you're the last in the creation food chain. These homebrews, from BK to the last KickStart are all amazing contributions to a hobby, an aestetic, and help to further the legacy of retro games.