Knapnok defends pricing of Affordable Space Adventures

A portion of a Nintendo Enthusiast interview with Knapnok...

Nintendo Enthusiast: I think that, personally, I would consider KnapNok Games to be one of the more “premium” indie developers on the Wii U. But, you have also taken a more “premium” approach to your game pricing, specifically in Affordable Space Adventures on the Wii U. That game is on the pricier side of the eShop, selling for $20. Do you feel like this higher price has had any negative affect on sales of the game? Or, do you feel that you hit an optimal price-point with the game?

Knapnok: “Of course the topic of the game’s pricing cannot be approached without the usual mention of “oh, but the game is not Affordable, ha ha”. Affordable stands for the in-game universe’s Uexplore travel company, which rents out cheap, affordable spaceships. Now that we’ve got that out of the way…

Yes, it’s true that Affordable Space Adventures is on the higher-priced end of the indie games spectrum. But users have to consider that this is a game that has taken well over a year of development to produce, and it’s sold exclusively on Wii U. We’re a small, relatively unknown studio for Nintendo fans, so we’re never going to sell the same number of copies as a title like Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Mario vs Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars or Pushmo. But, arguably, all of these have the same amount of work put into them as Affordable Space Adventures. So why should our game have a lower price point simply because it’s an indie game? In any case, I think the game’s positive critical reception has helped a lot and sales of the game have been positive so far, so it’s obvious that in the end people cared more about the quality of the title rather than the price.”