unregulated market place pricing bad for Epic/UE4

Distribution UE Marketplace
106

There is indeed no guarantee. But that is true with every business. I ran a small business for several years before it collapsed due to the economic downturn in 08. When I started it, I was putting in a lot of time and money with absolutely no guarantee that I would make it back from the products I was selling. is why you need to be careful in ensuring you have a proper price point relative to the demand.

One of the problems I have noticed with the Marketplace is that Epic has not agreed to share analytics data on sales. means it becomes very difficult for content creators to more appropriately understand consumer demand.

107

Personally we fix it. Not everyone does though.

What I’m talking about specifically is the Unity community where you have tons of abandon ware because people don’t feel like they’ve made enough for their work and will abandon their users.

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/release-nuaj-the-3d-clouds-simulator.115825/page-10

For example there is Nuaj cloud system with unresolved issues going back to November. That can just as easily happen to any asset you buy here as well. The complaints are starting to arise in Unreal community as well due to assets that look far worse in-engine than in the marketplace examples and funky collision.

108

Not industry, but Unreal Marketplace. And please read Marketplace Business Terms FAQ
You must support your content sold on the Marketplace and ensure that it maintains compatibility with future engine updates.
I hope Epic will introduce rating system for content providers in Marketplace. will allow to remove a lot of bad ones (who doesn’t support their product, publish bad stuff, etc.).

109

It’s something on our roadmap for sure! We want to help surface all sorts of info in Marketplace. We’re not there yet, but on our way :slight_smile:

110

well, by that logic you should ask for a full monthly industry salary, because who knows, maybe you will only sell one single package on what might as well become the market place with the biggest user base in a few years…there is no guarantee.

I am really close to doing some landscapes myself. As said before, once the workflow from world machine to UE4 is set up, creating such a landscape is a matter of minutes.
You know what, I will spend some time now and then and set up the workflow. And then have it rain landscapes into UE4 and will sell some

**50 landscapes for $10. Textures and original world machine files included.
Full UE4 projects with lighting, post processing and all whistles and bells set up.
‘AAA’ quality **

(AAA quality is just pressing a button in WM anyway)

111

No. The burden of risk is obviously on the content creators. But that burden of risk is what sets the prices. Obviously you can sell hundreds of copies and come out ahead. But as you say there is no guarantee and that is what I mean by burden of risk. When we get hired to do work that burden of risk is absorbed by the client. In case we place that burden of risk into the asking price of our digital items that we have for sale.

As such I think I’ve made my point fully considering you’ve taken to attacking my work personally. If anyone wants to have a go at what is fair feel free to have at it. Good day ladies and gents.

112

You are selling more than 2000 of your physical versions per month? :eek:

113

If you feel as though these assets are not worth the asking price, you are entitled to not purchase them. If you feel you can do a better job, then by all means, the marketplace would benefit from healthy competition. To gripe and moan about current prices of assets devalues and insults the artists/developers. You can vote with your wallet here, just like any other market.

I will see that pricing more reasonably appears to be beneficial from a consumers stand point, but as an artist, I’ve found that charging more for my time and my work typically yields better results. I am not competing with the bargain bin, and I can provide fuller services to fewer clients, while maintaining a consistent income. There are both pros and cons to pricing your content, and the fact of the matter is, its up to the artist, and what they feel is reasonable for their time. You can provide your opinion without being inflammatory, or disrespectful.

In addition to that, provides a pretty kickass service, and hope that you continue to get business, as all of your assets I’ve seen have been pretty **** solid, especially for the price.

114

Not nearly that much but enough to not die on :stuck_out_tongue:

115

if only there wasn’t all the crosspost advertisement and ‘my package is better’ posts :wink:

116

That’s ok.
I just want to make sure my characters with full physics based adaptive walking AI and self balancing, all with smooth custom made lerping and full custom made IK and foot/hand placement, will explore and climb in beautiful landscapes during their expeditions.
And they will, because I will do the terrains myself. When I have done them, I will put them on the market place as well for a moderate price. But will not happen before summer, because right now I am only a few weeks away from having the Euphoria Engine replicated in UE4! Fully adaptable to any contraint actor+static meshes in UE4.
I am planning on getting rich with that. I will live the high life after selling it :slight_smile:

117

i don’t understand , the quality of the landscape looks very good , dev100000 please are you some fps screenshot for looking true quality ?

ok the price is cheated

118

Wow … come on moderators … seriously.

4e14613492ed6a552e1529766bba5655812223f1.jpeg

120

what? :slight_smile:
I just mentioned that I have:

  1. build a custom 360° camera in UE4 that can jump behind line-of sight objects, can take any actor as aim, adapts to character motion, moves smooth and very controllabe, has zoom steps
    and
  2. created a self balancing algorithm for any kind of ragdoll in UE4 and that I can drop my character on any physics object and he will react naturally. He balances on shaking physics-enabled tables and balances out medium size gravel when dropped on.
  3. created custom made inverse kinematics and hand/foot placement for every limb.
  4. That all muscle strengths etc. in the algorithm are variable to create to drunk ragdoll or the upright soldier ragdoll.

I do not understand… I am just mentioning :wink:

121

Everybody, Please stay on-topic!

The topic: “unregulated market place pricing bad for Epic/UE4”

If you’d like to discuss the pricing of the Marketplace, Here is the place to do it. Please take all other discussions to their own relevant threads (Or create a new one!)

Thanks!

122

Artists need to make money. If they feel their time and effort is worth the price then it is their decision. Personally i have seen some content and scratched my head as to why someone would buy something specific.

But im flat broke. So anything someone is willing to pay for is for me… mind bogling because i can hardly afford bread atm.

123

is what happens when you put indies and med-large size companies into one cesspool of a community. :stuck_out_tongue:

124

I’m sorry but is basically a pile of self serving waffle that is completely obscured from reality. I don’t want to come across as aggressive to you here, but all of your posts in thread are extremely subjective in their view point. You also have your economics back to front. Price is driven by supply and demand. Nothing more, nothing less. That factor then drives “hourly rates”, not the other way around. Your assertion that “everyone can do it” is also fundamentally flawed: it’s not a question of whether everyone can, but whether everyone wants to. Again, a very subjective point of view on your part.

I would like you to consider : I am an architect. I am also an expert archviz modeler. I have a workflow that involves several expensive pieces of software where I can design, create and then setout buildings and surrounding scenes in pretty short order to a very high quality. Now… I open marketplace and see some good-ish (to quote you from the first page of thread) quality mesh packs of buildings and small landscapes - the sort of thing I could churn out in my sleep. I don’t care if they are practically giving them away, they are still too expensive for me (the time it takes to make other people’s work fit your project is an oft forgotten cost consideration). Coming in here and then screaming blue murder about the cost of these items just because I a) can; and b) *want to *do work myself completely misses the point of having a marketplace in the first place. Not everyone can do what I can do. Not everyone wants to invest the time to do it either. Some - say, the sort of person who is a programmer first and artist a very distant second - will look at these packs as some sort of gift from God no matter how expensive they are. People will shop on the marketplace to address their weaknesses, not their strengths.

The real questions for any marketplace content developer are painfully obvious: Are enough people going to want to use my product? Can I sell it at a price point that will be both sustainable from a business perspective while at the same time dissuading my target audience from trying to figure it all out for themselves from scratch? Just because the questions are obvious, it doesn’t necessarily follow that the answers will be…

So, here is the crux of it dev100000: if you think there is no market for selling terrains at any price point, then you really shouldn’t give a **** that someone else is on a flawed business model. You can go about your business, these aren’t the droids you’re looking for… If, however, you think there is a market for stuff, and that you can do better - which has been your assertion throughout thread - and sell it for cheaper; then why don’t you put up or shut up, prove a point, and make some money out of it all at the same time?

125

OK, here’s my two cents on the, and the thinking behind my own marketplace in-progress content:

With the marketplace, you have A: people who make content and can charge whatever they want for it, and B: buyers. Competition. I saw that there were material packs in the marketplace, but they were all bulk items selling for $50 and $100. Ridiculously expensive. If an indie studio wanted a AAA quality material pack instead of outsourcing or making the textures themselves, they can get that, but many prefer a less expensive route, and they will most likely own software to be able to do things on their own/want to do things on their own. I saw there was a huge lack of cheaper options with a “DIY” vibe, so that’s where I wanted to step in.

Instead of just straight-up selling assets, I wanted to sell a “system” that artists could use in their own projects. Perfect Tile System: handles variation for anything with a grid and grout. Do it yourself: don’t like any of the 52 presets? You can play with them. Want to go beyond the basics and make your own stuff? Well, make your own stuff. It’s fun and easy: if it’s not easy, there’s a guide to explain how. I thought $15 for the system, like a software built within UE4, was a low enough entrance price that would get people interested in just playing with the system. is why I went through the extra effort to make a guide specifically to teach artists how to make their own stuff using system, and offered detailed explanations for every aspect of it. If you open up the shader, practically every single node is labeled so anyone can go into it and see what it’s doing (it’s a bit confusing because of all the options, but I seriously tried my best :frowning: ). Ultimately, whoever’s deciding to sell their content on the marketplace is still free to do so, but my system and assets will also stand alongside theirs, and if they want to charge $100 for materials, that’s fine. My stuff will be sold at a lower price.

Ultimately, if there is healthy competition like , then there’s no reason for the pricing to be regulated. Whoever is selling the content will be responsible for the sales or lack thereof due to their price. If there are not enough cheap options offered through the marketplace, then anybody who is willing to provide a cheaper option is still free to do so, and hopefully Epic will recognize that content of lower price and quality can sometimes have a tremendous value for indies. I recall someone saying they don’t want UE4 to end up like Unity’s marketplace, which contains a ton of AAA-quality assets with high prices, and claimed they will never be used in a AAA game anyways, and that product model shuts out indie devs, the group most likely to benefit from generic content, tremendously. In response, I made some mobile-friendly presets and some more novel stylistic designs that indies might find interesting.

The Marketplace is still a toddler: it needs some more time to grow and diversify. I’m seriously trying my best to make that happen, and I’m sure there are other users doing the same.

126

do you realize you basically just insulted everyone on the forum by calling the community a cesspool?