But if the consumer can't choose their price, then the market can't work. Usually you have choice between nearly-equivalent alternatives at different prices wit

But if the consumer can't choose their price, then the market can't work. Usually you have choice between nearly-equivalent alternatives at different prices with more or less bells-and-whistles. But with art, a nearly-equivalent alternative violates copyright, so you can't choose a cheaper alternative, because there isn't one. Because everybody else is banned from selling one. The answer can't be anarchy obviously, but it also can't be installing spyware on every device to stop copying. The larger public has shown that they're absolutely willing to throw every single artist under the bus in order to free themselves from the shackles of copyright. The intersection of art and business is somewhat really weird. You're making something whose entire reason for existing is making people feel nice in some way, but it's never an actual physical product like a bar of chocolate. It's an experience. Depending on who you ask, that is either the most important product of civilization, or some useless baggage tying up useful hands. You need to make the former group pay you money. Fortunately, people understand that things cost money and should be willing to pay you a reasonable price. Unfortunately, most middle-class and above people fall in the latter camp, so most of your fans will be poor and for them a reasonable price might be less than what you want to get. Personally, I have never paid more than twenty bucks for a game.