What are the factors that lead EA to determine the cost of a premium item?
Do they base it on the amount of visual tasks?
Size of building?
Quantity? (character and building)
Popularity of the character?
Apprearence?
Task list?
Location playability? (Springfield and Krustyland)
Voiced?
Payout of Building?
Or do they just slap on a random price that they think seems good?
EDIT:
How much they want the completionists to spend?
Multiplier amount?
They choose by the top score on a dart board - unfortunately they're good players. Either that or the amount of party pies a randomly selected programmer can swallow before they vomit. Unfortunately the fat guy was selected when they made the whale...
I think it's all based on how much you are willing to pay. Characters that are very high in demand are going to cost more. As for the whale, well, they wanted to see how much a true completionists would spend.
I spoke to an EA developer about this once. Mostly it is random, but characters that are popular on demand will always cost more. E.g. The more you aks about a character here, the more it will cost.
It's very simple - they raise the prices and see if people buy........if they do they raise them again......and repeat until they find the point where purchases decline.
As long as players keep buying, they'll keep increasing the price. Straight business economics......
Seriously, if Nobody bought any prem items for even a short while, we'd see the prices drop and drop. I'm not suggesting that's what we should do btw, I'm just stating a fact of business.
I spoke to an EA developer about this once. Mostly it is random, but characters that are popular on demand will always cost more. E.g. The more you aks about a character here, the more it will cost.
That explains the price of the whale. People had been asking about that forever.
Anyone want to guess how much Maggie will be when she becomes a playable character? Kind of scary when you think of the demand. Do you think they would make her free with her own level or will she be premium?
Well I enjoyed hamming it up & spewing out my litany of humor but since we're steering towards more level headed comments I'll just chime in w/ agreement of what Barry just said taking in mind outdoor tasks & audio, while I now play catch-up w/my newly obtained Elf Cave...
(...Although my equation may not have been far off )
Lol. Conducting several test purchases, Using your amazing formula, I determined that it was correct, except you left out the onion rings.
USA/UK Race To Throw Country Into Utter Chaos = TOO CLOSE TO CALL
They put the item in a gold box, along with the paychecks of all EA developers and programmers, who are placed in a room and monitored and recorded. The only way to get to the gold box is to find it inside a blue box, at .01 chance. The rest of the bue boxes have egg piles. The only way to get a blue box is to find it in a pink box, with the same odds but instead of egg piles there are land-guzzling Pepto-Bismol colored fountains.
The price of the item is determined at the moment the gold box is won, and is calculated by counting the number of occurrences of certain words. Every
"drat" or "darn" is 2 donuts.
"Well, crap" is 3 donuts.
The "S" word is 4 donuts.
The "F" word is 5 donuts.
"Well, (" S" word) another (Present participle form of "F" word) egg pile/fountain" would add 7 donuts
Violent threats against the CEO would be 10 donuts each.
Apparently it took a while to get the whale.
Post edited by Unknown User on
USA/UK Race To Throw Country Into Utter Chaos = TOO CLOSE TO CALL
I spoke to an EA developer about this once. Mostly it is random, but characters that are popular on demand will always cost more. E.g. The more you aks about a character here, the more it will cost.
Well then Sideshow Bob, Gil, and Maggie are going to cost 500 doughnuts each...
Anyone want to guess how much Maggie will be when she becomes a playable character? Kind of scary when you think of the demand. Do you think they would make her free with her own level or will she be premium?
Perhaps she will be "free" during the epic, soon to be released on a mobile device near you, level 50, OR, she will cost your very soul.
Difficult to say at this point. The demand for her is about a "meh and a half" right now, overall (before you Maggie loving freaks pour out of the woodwork, remember the cat lady.... everyone in the known universe wanted her and now she's hardly recommended, although she rocks), so I would not expect her to be outrageous.
There isn't a lot of thought put in to it. Trust me.
I think someone's got an inside scoop
Care to share some details?
joking!
No inside scoop for me... Not for this anyways. :P
Dr. Nick is worth the same as Blue Haired Lawyer. Who would choose the Blue Haired Lawyer first? Nobody. And yet EA made them worth the same. Thats all I really need to know about the thought put in to premium items.
Replies
As long as players keep buying, they'll keep increasing the price. Straight business economics......
Seriously, if Nobody bought any prem items for even a short while, we'd see the prices drop and drop. I'm not suggesting that's what we should do btw, I'm just stating a fact of business.
That explains the price of the whale. People had been asking about that forever.
Lol. Conducting several test purchases, Using your amazing formula, I determined that it was correct, except you left out the onion rings.
The price of the item is determined at the moment the gold box is won, and is calculated by counting the number of occurrences of certain words. Every
"drat" or "darn" is 2 donuts.
"Well, crap" is 3 donuts.
The "S" word is 4 donuts.
The "F" word is 5 donuts.
"Well, (" S" word) another (Present participle form of "F" word) egg pile/fountain" would add 7 donuts
Violent threats against the CEO would be 10 donuts each.
Apparently it took a while to get the whale.
Well then Sideshow Bob, Gil, and Maggie are going to cost 500 doughnuts each...
Manic Monday Golden Thread Award :P
...feel free to continue dishing out the splendid wisdom 8)
Lol, or like this:
Edit: sorry about the size
Perhaps she will be "free" during the epic, soon to be released on a mobile device near you, level 50, OR, she will cost your very soul.
Difficult to say at this point. The demand for her is about a "meh and a half" right now, overall (before you Maggie loving freaks pour out of the woodwork, remember the cat lady.... everyone in the known universe wanted her and now she's hardly recommended, although she rocks), so I would not expect her to be outrageous.
Dr. Nick is worth the same as Blue Haired Lawyer. Who would choose the Blue Haired Lawyer first? Nobody. And yet EA made them worth the same. Thats all I really need to know about the thought put in to premium items.