In general, I kind of clump games, price-wise, into either "payed" or "free". When I look for something free, I look for something accessible and easy to pass some minutes with. But when I look for a premium game, I'm looking for a premium experience that provides something to sink my teeth into. So for myself, when I make the conscious decision to look for a premium game, I find that whether it's a $5 game or 99-cent game, I kind of expect the experience to be the same. It doesn't really matter what price it is, because in the end I'm just looking for something that's not a "free" game. For me, the difference between a 99-cent game and a $5 game isn't as significant as the difference between a premium game and "free" game. So my question is, does anybody else feel like this occasionally? That the pricing of a premium game doesn't matter as much as the fact that it's not a "free" -style game?
Can't see myself buying a game with a price tag higher than 5. Many games might actually be worth much more than that but i'ts just seems like a too much of a risk.
I don't really care if I'm getting the same amount of gameplay from a game that's $0.99 or $30 dollars. If something interests me, I'll buy it regardless of price.
I've taken note of my attitude and it seems to me: 9.99 is my limit for a developer I've never heard of. The sky is the limit for games / devs I'm a fan of.
This discussion won't even be necessary within a couple of years. Premium games cannot survive in the the world that Apple has created. It's not fiscally smart for large companies to keep up with the ever changing OS upgraded that are becoming more and more of a requirement for some games. How can we ask a small team of indie devs to keep their games functional during the inevitable OS 10 upgrade in 2 years when giants like Square and Konami don't see it as worthwhile. I guess the better question at that time will be how much are you willing to spend on micro transactions... I'm onery at the whole MHFU and Bioshock debacle, and it will continue to happen. 2k has made good on it for now, but at any time Apple can and will break another game(s) with an update. I blame my negativity on 5 straight days of rain
$5 is my limit, but that is only for a game that is really special. I think the last time I went that high was forgo Oceanhorn - and that was money well spent. For the most part I don't go above $3
I only play premium games and I am willing to pay what a game is worth in other words if I want it, I buy it. if sivad is right pretty soon us premium only gamers are screwed.
For me the price matters. The higher the price the better the game needs to be. Many times I can get excellent games for free.
In my earlier years into iOS, I used think "jackpot!" when I AppShopper notified me that a game that costed $$ is now free. I snagged it up. Some of them were premium games that went on sale (for the review presumably). Others turned out to have gone freemium. Amongst those that have gone freemium, I either played them for a few days or a week, or deleted them sooner than later b/c they just weren't "fun". Unbeknownst to me, I actually was there as many games went to freemium! Nowadays, I have such a backlog of games that it has to be something fun, with many proverbial ducks lined up in a row. For example I have a card game called Ascension: Chronicle Of The Godslayer which is the digital version of a physical card game, a deck building game. The IAP are A-OK since that's how they charge for expansions, which have been insta-buys. For Another game, I was first introduced to Castlestorm for Wii U (as a download) at a convention. I was made aware that this was multi-platform. Debated on getting this for iOS vs. Steam/PC. I ended up getting both. The iOS version (called Castlestorm: Free To Siege) had some unique features NOT in the Steam/PC version. It was also free, sans a 1-time $3 fee for VIP Gamer purchase that doubles XP and gets you weekly bonus of gold and gems. The Steam/PC version costs not $10, but $15 b/c I also got the 2 extra campaigns as DLC. Here, having a nice, large screen, keyboard + mouse, and not having to dabble in premium currency (like gems, and even Pearls) made that price worth it. I only have slight regrets when the whole shebang went on sale for $3.
Developer pleas/suggestions to Apple have included doing away with the top 100 lists, and allowing devs to charge for updates. Otherwise, the current model does encourage devs to make it a numbers game, and develop as many cheap apps as possible without regards to quality or maintenance.
I never had a price treshold before and I have still no treshold today, for good software. I just don't trust premium games anymore. I don't trust Apple or the developers anymore. So many premium apps - that I've gladly bought - which got pulled or are broken and the developer refuse to fix it, I can't convince myself to buy premium games like I always did, at the moment. I don't wanna start blaming Apple or the devs for pulling/not updating again, I am just pretty disappointed. I have dozens of games on Steam, some since 5 or 6 years, that I can still download and play. No problem at all. I never experienced one game disappearing from my Steam library. But on the App Store, games like MHFU don't last even ONE bloody year anymore - and that's a game that is designed for longevity. Until something will change, I have to say: sorry devs, sorry Apple, but my monthly spending habits on the App Store from around 10-15€ (cheap month) up to 50-60 € per month (in months with lots of big releases) will stop for now. I am a regular customer since 6 years and I still support small indie devs and buy a cheap game like Lifeline 2 once in a while, but that's it. And as far as I can tell, I see many like-minded people lately in the forum and the article comment sections. All can say is that imho, the situation for premium games will become worse again.
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite? That's still in the AppStore. Has it not been updated? If not, what about it specifically didn't last a year?
