How to price your in-app purchases
By Jordan Blackman · Updated September 16, 2026
Price is one part of a purchase decision. The player also needs to understand what the item does, why it matters now and how it fits the game they want to play. Before changing a number in the shop, identify which of those questions your current offer leaves unanswered.
Start with the value, then the price.
Describe the purchase in terms of the experience it enables. A currency pack is a quantity; an opportunity to finish a collection or try a new strategy is a reason to care. Review what the player sees before the offer, what they can accomplish afterward and whether that value is easy to understand.
Comparable games can suggest starting points. They cannot tell you what your own audience values, and their visible prices do not reveal the tests or economics behind them. Use comparisons to generate hypotheses, then evaluate them against your product.
Separate the three decisions.
What is sold? Contents, quantity, duration, restrictions and the role of the purchase in progression.
When is it offered? The player’s context, eligibility and whether the presentation helps them make an informed choice.
What does it cost? The price and its relationship to other offers, including what a repeat customer will expect.
Changing all three at once may improve the outcome, but it makes the cause harder to interpret. Decide whether the immediate goal is to learn about price or to evaluate a complete new proposition.
A worked pricing comparison.
These numbers are invented to demonstrate the arithmetic. They are not benchmarks or a forecast.
Suppose each version reaches 10,000 comparable eligible players. At a $5 price, 200 purchases produce $1,000 in gross receipts. At $4, 240 purchases produce $960. Purchase conversion rises from 2% to 2.4%, yet gross receipts per eligible player fall from $0.10 to $0.096.
At $4, you need 250 purchases merely to match the original $1,000 in gross receipts. That is 25% more purchases. The comparison still excludes fees, taxes, refunds, costs, repeat behavior and effects on other offers.
The lesson is to define the outcome before choosing the price. Higher conversion alone does not settle the revenue question. A simple calculation also does not establish statistical confidence or the longer-term effect.
Evaluate the shop, not just the new item.
A successful-looking offer can take purchases from another pack or pull spending forward. Compare total net revenue per eligible player over a suitable period, then inspect purchase frequency, refunds, retained activity and the mix of purchases across the shop.
Keep a comparable control where feasible. Document eligibility, exposure, concurrent changes and the observation window before launch. With a small audience, be explicit about what the evidence can and cannot distinguish; avoid declaring a winner after a handful of purchases.
Make the offer easy to understand.
Show the contents and cost clearly. Make changed quantities or restrictions visible. Keep the comparison between options understandable, and explain what happens to time-limited benefits or unspent currency. Test the experience around the purchase as carefully as the transaction itself.
Before launch, write down the question, the proposed change, the expected mechanism, the measures and the conditions for expanding, revising or stopping. That brief gives the team a shared decision to make when results arrive.
See the offer and the test.
In my illustrative battle-pass-or-bundle example, you can inspect the player’s journey from a relevant moment to clear contents, purchase and delivery. The test brief shows how I would measure the effect on the whole shop.
Inspect the annotated offer flow · Read the test brief
Working through a pricing decision?
I can help you compare the options, design the offer and define a test your team can implement.
See how I work with your team · Tell me about your product
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