Peak Dev Claims $8 Feels Like $5 for Game Purchases

How high can a game’s price go while still giving you that sweet feeling of only spending five bucks? According to Nick Kaman, co-creator of Peak, the magic number is $8 for a game that feels like a $5 purchase. In a chat, Kaman shared that the team had a running joke about game pricing that ended up shaping Peak’s pricing strategy. “We joked about how much a game really costs,” he said. “In a player’s mind, spending five bucks feels like just that—five bucks. But six bucks? That still feels like five bucks.” He added, “Four bucks is kind of five bucks too. Three bucks is like two bucks, and two bucks is practically free.”

Kaman explained their pricing tiers: “Twelve bucks? That’s ten bucks. Thirteen bucks feels like fifteen bucks. But we found that eight bucks still feels like five bucks. It doesn’t cross into ten bucks territory. Seven ninety-nine? That’s five bucks, right? So, eight bucks being perceived as five bucks is the sweet spot we discovered.” This “eight bucks is five bucks” concept came from discussions between developers at Landfall and Aggro Crab while they collaborated on Peak. Although Peak initially launched at a promotional price of $5, its standard price is set at $8, or more precisely $7.99, influenced by the pricing of Landfall’s indie horror title, Content Warning.

While Kaman’s pricing joke might seem a bit convoluted, the psychology behind pricing is a real factor in the industry, and it appears to have worked wonders for Peak. The quirky co-op climbing game became the third best-selling title on Steam during the holiday season, selling nearly 800,000 copies in just two weeks. Currently, Peak is available on Steam for $4.95—essentially $5—marking the lowest price since its launch in June.