Monument Valley and the value of art
I previously wrote about the value of music in regards to Taylor Swift removing her catalog from Spotify, and in regards to Spotify CEO Daniel Ek responding to the situation from his company’s perspective. In both pieces I’ve mentioned that the real issue is value. An artist’s valuation of their own work, and the public’s value of music in the form of what they are willing to pay to listen. This issue stretches beyond music and touches upon another issue which is relative value.
Earlier this year, developers ustwo released the critically acclaimed iOS game Monument Valley. The game was released as a $3.99 paid download and is a beautiful puzzle game centered around perception and M.C. Escher visuals. The art style, music, and story come together for a magnificent play across 10 gorgeous levels. Apple even recognized Monument Valley at their annual developer’s conference with an Apple Design Award for 2014.
Yesterday afternoon, ustwo released an update to Monument Valley which includes support for iPad, and includes a $1.99 in-app purchase expansion pack called Forgotten Shores. For the added money, players receive 8 all-new levels on top of getting the iPad support for free in the update. A slew of one-star reviews flooded the app’s store listing in response to having to pay two fucking dollars to receive nearly double the original amount of content. Take a look at some of these outrageous reviews:
Was not a in-app purchase but it is now
I’m disappointed by the decision to charge for the additional levels when the entire time monument valley’s design team promised new levels but failed to mention they would charge for those levels. When this app was first purchase by me it was with the understanding I would get more levels and not have to pay more seeing how I purchased the original app and the game goes very quickly. It’s fun but very short. It was never mentioned in the App Store or in the game new levels will be a up-charge. Since it was never disclosed I feel like the makers of the app did a injustice and also tricked me into buying the original game. I intentionally do not buy games with in-app purchases and this game should have remained that way as well. It’s not right to charge for new levels on a short game when you never disclosed you expected to charge for it![quote source=”2 year old coloring queen” rating=”1″][/quote]
Wow, you’ve hit an all time low…
Well, to start off, I was skeptical about initially purchasing this game for $4. However, I knew once I opened it I had made the right choice. I’m sure I speak for many by saying we were ecstatic about getting new levels. But, now we have to pay for them? $2. That means I would have had to spend over $6 to play 18 levels. Yes, I’m sure the levels took some time to make, but the game originally had 10 levels. It is extremely outrageous and downright disappointing to be told to pay MORE money for a mere 8 levels which I’m sure would barely take more than 45 minutes to complete, as the whole game only took me that at its first version. What was a 5 star rating has been destroyed by the ridiculous prices smashed in the faces of the hopeful. I could buy Candy Crush, and pay nothing for the entire 500+ level saga. It enrages me to see how greedy, UStwo is, and I say this carefully, because I know they worked hard on these levels. Definitely not worthy of an extra $2. So please, spend your $6 on 6 other games that will get you 100’s of levels instead of investing your life savings in a sparse game. Beautiful and effortless at first became one of the most disgusting things I have ever experienced. An all time low was reached, and I’m sorry to say that Monument Valley has truly deserved it.[quote source=”Jared S. 29″ rating=”1″][/quote]
REALLY????
I got this game a while ago and it is very fun, but I beat it in 20 min. I thought it was too quick and not worth my $4 but too late for that … Then an update came out saying no new levels yet … Yet? So there’s going to be more I thought. Then this update came out with new levels! I was so excited! I updated the game and started it right when it finished, and I was still on level 10. I wondered why and I saw the flashing button at the top saying new levels. Found it! I click and it says 8 new levels. I press to play the new chapter and it says failed to purchase. Confused because I bought the game months ago, I pressed i again. I pressed it again and it popped up with some prompt. So I go to the App Store to see what happened and it says in-app purchases. In disbelief, I pressed it and sure enough, the new chapter was there. Now I am furious and refuse to buy anything related to this game or company again. DO NOT BUY THIS GAME!!! THEY ONLY WANT YOUR MONEY!!!!!![quote source=”Tank McSwaggins” rating=”1″][/quote]
Now everyone is allowed to determine personal value for a particular piece of media, but these negative reviews stem from the entitled expectation that additional levels should be free. This notion is no more prevalent than on the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store where people are spending their absolute most precious $0.99, $1.99, and $2.99. There is a subconscious expectation that if the app or game isn’t free that it better be above and beyond anything else available. In the case of Monument Valley, it was. It won an Apple Design Award. And just like that, it was slammed by users, who were previously happy with their $3.99 original purchase. Thankfully, the news of this spread across the internet and the reviews have since stabilized out to what they ought to be, but take a look at ustwo’s reaction when they discovered the terrible initial reviews:
Seems quite a few people have gone back and 1 star reviewed Monument Valley upon update because the expansion was paid. This makes us sad.
— ustwogames (@ustwogames) November 12, 2014
That's it, we're giving up the premium game. Next time we're just going to sell you 500 coins for $2 instead.
— ustwogames (@ustwogames) November 12, 2014
It’s pretty obvious that ustwo felt their work was worth $1.99, which is an extremely rational assumption. If you want to play along with the negative reviewer’s logic of comparing value, let’s take a look. For $1.99 you can download 2 songs, or buy half of a coffee, or get the Forgotten Shores expansion for Monument Valley and play through 8 beautiful levels which will provide hours of entertainment, or do nothing because you only have fucking pocket change.
What if this were happening in music? Could you imagine if an artist put out a 10 song album for $3.99 and then later that year decided to release 8 additional tracks, or even b-sides, for an additional $1.99? It would be the steal of the century.
Value vs. perceived value vs. relative value.
