E20: Game Inflation is Misunderstood

12/10/23 • 64 min

Inflation is a wild word, with everyone playing fast and loose with the definition of in-game economies. Eric isn't convinced inflation is the evil Friedman claims it is, while Chris defends the honor of game tokens from Phil's stablecoin inquisition. The crew debates the meaning of game inflation: in what units and for whom? The answer is not as clear as first thought.

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E19: Why Doesn't Apple or Steam Use Regional Pricing? (w/Bill Grosso)

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Price discrimination is the economist "duh," yet few firms engage in the *welfare* enhancing practice. What's with that? Dr. Bill Grosso, CEO of Game Data Pros, joins the crew to tell us that sometimes it's just about more columns in the database... We cover his efforts to build price personalization at scale, community pushback, the pricing power of brands, and the best things about game economists.
[1] A two-armed bandit theory of market pricing

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E21: Subs, Doms, Surprise, and Suspense

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Eric starts 2024 with a new paper on League of Legends published by leading researchers. Is there an optimal amount of excitement in matches, and if so, where is it? Chris returns from Italy, and holy cannoli, did he have a "time" while Phil laments subscription-based pricing as the antithesis of game monetization. The crew agrees to spend money on Magic The Gathering this year.

Game Economist Cast - E20: Game Inflation is Misunderstood

Transcript

Speaker 100:00:00.080

So I went to an Italian restaurant in my hometown and I like we're like sitting down with a bunch of people and this is like all kind of towny because it's like high school friends and stuff but the like owner , I'd never been to this place . The owner comes up to Me . He's like this old Italian guy and he's his name is Johnny or something like that . He's he like comes up