Today I received email notification of bundle deals on the Indie Gala site. I went to check it out and see if there was anything of interest. While I was there I noticed a very interesting phenomenon. All of the bundles are marketed in such a manner that if you just buy the one game you can get it for $0.99 (or some other similarly low price), but that if you "beat the average price" you get some additional titles as well. That is a common way that different sites put together bundle deals, but what is different on the Indie Gala website is that the so called "average price" for every single bundle is either $3.99 or $4.99 *exactly* and this number DOES NOT CHANGE over time.

Math just so happens to be my subject, although you don't need to be a mathematical genius to realize that the likelihood of several simultaneous deals like this all supposedly being an "average price" that people are paying all happening to be the exact same price is extremely mathematically unlikely. The fact that it is exactly $x.99 on every single deal and the price never changes further suggests that the price is just a pre-determined price that is fixed and set by the Indie Gala people and has nothing whatsoever to do with being any kind of "average price" that people are voluntarily paying as their marketing would suggest.

I like to support independent gamers, and the various Indie bundles out there, but now that this particular pricing practice has caught my eye and it appears to be intentionally deceptive and manipulative - I am rather hesitant to support the Indie Gala bundles in the future.

Now don't get me wrong, the $3.99 and $4.99 prices themselves seem reasonable for the games listed on the site. My bone to pick with them is not about the actual price, but about the marketing of it as being an "average price" when it is most certainly _not_ an average price because any kind of "average" price would:

1) Vary over time.
2) Almost certainly vary from one bundle to the next and not have the same price on all bundles simultaneously.

Indie Gala - you are lying to us. You might have a good price point, but I'm not inclined to support your efforts when I see this type of dishonesty in marketing. Just be straight out honest. Either remove the words "average price" and just say "fixed price" or whatever, or make it an actual average price that truly is the average that people are paying. How hard is that really?

Just be honest. Dishonesty only hurts the game developers in the end, and your own efforts as well.

Humm, I thought the fact that "BTA" doesn't necessarily refer to an actual average was common knowledge by now?

Personally, I don't really care if they call it "beat the average", "full bundle price", "warp threshold" or whatever. Either it's a good price (then I'll take it) or not (then I won't). The only difference is that in case I notice the average never changing, I then know that I don't need to waste time monitoring it for drops.

I agree that the labeling is deceptive, but it's easy to recognize and doesn't really affect me.

Also, the BTA price _did_ change for the Gala bundles that I bought - though I don't usually shop there, so I can't tell whether of why that's different for the bundles you looked at.

Agreed, but probably this is due to their "beta status", their site has some problems and has difficulties telling their customers what's up.
And you have to keep in mind that they probably get an "EFL = English as a foreign language" bonus for not knowing better.


In other words

It's not a feature, it's a bug! :-D

I call it the funk phenomenon!

I would hazard to say, it's a case of poor wording as opposed to dishonesty.

The bundles within the store are not the same as the bundle you would see from HIB, Groupees or any of the rest. They're more of a "bundled" set of games rather than an "indie bundle". I do agree that it should be referred to as ".99 cent purchase" and "$4.99 purchase" as that is more correct than average.

It's kinda funny that you'd make a fuss about this due to the fact that when IndieGala runs their actual bundles, it's quite obvious they fix the averages.

Well, I think the issue is that they are clearly being disingenuous by claiming it to be the average price when it really isn't. As has already been mentioned, if they changed the name of it, then there wouldn't be a problem.

This "phenomenon" isn't new. Indie Gala's "average" is never the "regular average" as the rest of the world know it... (:P)
They calling it "average" is truly misleading, because it isn't.

For Indie Gala, BTA means beat the arbitrary price...

Yeah, as long as what is being marketed is honest it doesn't matter to me, but "average" means something specific to me, and if someone is going to use that term they need to use it as it is meant mathematically or define their own usage somewhere that is easily locatable. That is important to me anyway. If it is incorrect and a mistake due to software failure or something, that's forgivable of course. I bought one of their bundles previously that had a changing price also. If they have broken software on the current bundling that's an entirely different problem that needs solving and a prominent "our system is having a problem but we're working on it" warning somewhere.

But when I see something that on the surface appears could be dishonest, I am very hesitant to hand over my credit card number to anyone. It'll be interesting if we find out the reasoning behind this. The price is one factor only, for me at least. I think the prices are just fine at $3.99 or $4.99, but I take issue with it being called an "average" price so as to suggest that the price might go up or down over time based on what other people are paying when it appears obvious that that is not the case. It is either a glitch in the system or dishonest marketing.

For me, it isn't about whether it is a good deal, it is about whether they are being honest and trustworthy. There are all too many dishonest businesses online, one has to be careful to a degree.

This is just my personal opinion, others of course need to judge these things for themselves and make their own decisions. There is really no right or wrong decision. Just different choices.

You are right. This is being dishonest. But this "ruse" is so stupid that I doubt anyone would actualy fall for that ;-)
And they probably don't use the word "full price" because they are afraid nobody would pay above it.

Glad someone else noticed!

I originally noticed this months ago and pointed it out to them on their facebook page. Their response was to delete the post and ban me (from the FB page). It was then I realised that this wasn't some mistake and that they were deliberately lying about this.

They are scumbags, plain and simple. This is not a case of a simple mistake or language difficulties, they are deliberately misleading people.

I think they have set prices for games and bundles, which is fair enough - it is the store, not the regular IndieGala bundle page. In the same way that Amazon bundles games, they set a base price for the package.

THEN you can use IndieGala points to reduce the cost to the lower level. Those points can only be earned from buying a bundle in their regular bundle page. At least this is how I've always read it. You can also apply points to certain games to get a discount - usually a dollar or two.

OR you can use IndieGala points to participate in their giveaway page. Users can create GA's, set a number of IndieGala points as the entrance fee and ostensibly a random person is chosen to win the game.

Frankly, I can understand peeps upset and frustration since it's apparent to me that they run, what is becoming commonly understood as a "BUNDLE", then give Gala points to use in their store and ALSO run specials in their store called "bundles".

At best, it is a kind of disingenuous marketing tactic. At worst, it is poorly explained anywhere in their store pages since they are hoping to cash in on the gold rush of the word "bundle".

I hope that made sense - need more coffee!

I think... you might have missed the OP's (and my) point...

They do have set prices, which is why calling them averages is disingenuous. I don't think anyone's complaining about the use of the term bundle.

Ok, I did see your point- they've taken all of the verbiage from so-called "bundles" and brought it over to their "store" in order to cash in on the bundle phenomenon. And including "BTA" is part of the expectation created by the bundle phenomenon...

Some people are not going to be fooled by it and are going to be upset by false or at best, disingenuous advertising. Some people will fall for it and be happy -"Gee look what a great deal I got."

I agree with your point. I'm just saying that it's a marketing tactic - perhaps disingenuous or perhaps devious - but a marketing tactic nonetheless.