Eidos introduces Championship Manager 2010 "pay what you want" scheme

Eidos has come up with novel way to improve sales of its Championship Manager series. For the first time in the history of the franchise, gamers will be able to choose how much they want to pay for the football management simulation.

"The 'pay what you want' promotion will run until midnight on September 10 - from which point users will be able to download their game purchase directly from www.championshipmanager.co.uk," says Eidos.

"All fans need to pay is a £2.50 transaction fee plus any additional amount of their choice, starting from just a PENNY before the game will be available for full price from all good retailers."

The 'pay what you want' scheme is a first for the videogames industry, and while it's likely that Eidos won't make any money giving the game away at such a low price, it will be hoping to reinvigorate the series and gain some new fans along the way. Further down the line, it'll be hoping that the gamble pays off and Championship Manager gains a healthy fan base.

At £2.51, or whatever you want to pay, it's got to be worth a download.

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£1 :)

Bold move …

and fair play, i will buy this for sure …

worth a tenner i think! ill do that

I've paid a £5. Feeling a bit mean now though.

Personally, I'd be more likely to pay to not have to play it, but that merely reflects my opinion of football. For a different genre, my response would be different. If it was a game I really wanted, I might go to about £15, but I don't remember the last time I paid more than that for a game for the simple reason that there isn't a game I've seen in many years I wanted badly enough to pay more than that, and certainly not a game I want right now that would induce me to pay a whopping early-buyer premium. Instead, I'd rather wait until it drops in price.

So, in relation to me personally, this idea isn't likely to generate more income from me, but what it might well do is bring that revenue stream forward. In other words, they'll get my £10-£15 a year or two earlier than they otherwise might. Though actually, thinking about it, it might increase revenue from me. There have been a few games over the years that I've thought I'd probably buy when the price drops, and then forgotten about or just gone off the idea. With this type of idea, it might well catch that initial impulse and generate the £10-£15 that it won't get if I waited for a price drop and subsequently forgot about it.

As for the general idea, I approve ….. but as an experiment, my guess is it will fail. Still, it might nail the argument many people use to justify piracy, which is “it's too expensive, cut the price and I'll buy it”. Well, we'll see I guess. ;) :D

It's a trade-off, IMHO. Some people that would have paid premium prices will choose to pay a lot less, so revenue from those most lucrative buyers will drop. And I doubt many if any will pay more than they would have at full price. So …. will the revenue from people like me, that might now buy (in other genres of game, that is) when they previously wouldn't have, exceed the lost revenue from those that would have bought at full price and now choose to pay significantly less? My guess, based on a cynical view of individual actions and human nature is that it won't, and most people will take the short-term win and not see the long-term benefits of a scheme like this.

I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt we'll see a repeat of this. I sure won't be holding my breath for it.

Eidos introduces Championship Manager 2010 "pay what you want" scheme

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