Use that refund and grab a drm free version of Legend of Grimrock at GoG for $7.49. I don't really have a problem with IAPs in Gameloft games etc.. but I think people don't realize that 'big' indie games on PCs and Consoles don't go for much either(They go on sale or get packed into dirt cheap bundles often too)...yet they usually pack a helluva more content than their ios counterparts with the same development time, budget and bigger franchises/titles to compete against.(not to mention larger piracy problems)
I got a refund once for accidentally getting the wrong version of Blade Runner from iTunes (got the Director's Cut instead of Final Cut, oops!). Their customer service was really nice about it (not surprising since Apple's CS consistently gets top spot among consumers in surveys...). I imagine they would also be nice about an app refund as long as you had a good reason (as in the app is broken, etc.). I have been "burned" before by awful unfinished games (barely considered even alpha) on Steam before. Should have asked for a refund. This unfortunately is a problem with most digital distribution methods. I don't care if I spend 0.99 on an iOS app that isn't that great. Anything more than $5 and I start to care - not that I can't afford $5, but there's a psychological effect of feeling cheated after a certain threshold. I think this is probably the main reason why people are saying they wouldn't buy a $40 iOS game - anyone who feels this way is not imagining the potential for an iOS game that is actually worth that amount of money. Of course any game currently sold for 0.99 would never sell for 39.99 - if any of you think that you are missing the point. There's no good reason why you couldn't fit 60-80 hours of enjoyable gameplay in an iOS title. No, a 2GB size limit is not a good reason. I would pay $40 for Pizza Boy World. Legend of Grimlock is amazing! Anyway, I generally agree with what you are saying, but let's look at one example. Spelunky on XBLA is freaking amazing. If there's one game I dearly want on my iPad, it's Spelunky. This is one game that feels great to play. The character movement is excellent and the gameplay is smooth and basically perfect. To be honest I haven't played a platformer with that much polish on iOS except for Pizza Boy. I own all of the aforementioned platformers in this thread but most developers don't understand the need to excel in some key areas to make a good platformer: the feel of the character movement, different AI for each enemy type, sound design & music (no, grabbing free sounds from the net does not count), and level design (Spelunky might be procedural, but it's not completely random - the level generation is finely tuned to make enjoyable levels). Spelunky was in development for years. I think a main issue with iOS developers is they are not sure what audience to cater to. Some developers try to make enormous and complex games and sell to the Angry Birds crowd, which is stupid. Then we have developers who know they are making a niche game, and then don't spend the amount of time needed to really make it polished since they assume they won't sell many copies anyway so they rush it out the door. Also stupid. Didn't like Paper Monsters (aesthetically, it was great. gameplay felt a little flat and hated the character movement). Chop Chop Caveman was OK, but not amazing. If you were to say Nintendo was bad, your credibility as a fan of platformers would immediately have to be put into question . The reason why I would pay Nintendo lots of money for one of their platformers is because I know they are capable of making an engrossing platforming experience. Not a single-serving experience where you will see everything you need to see in the first 5 minutes. Nintendo completely redefined platformers multiple times throughout gaming history - this is why I would be willing to pay them lots of money for a game. I know not only would it be a great and lengthy experience, but I would feel something while playing it. They are able to evoke certain emotions just through gameplay. Lord knows it's not their ability to tell a story (this just in, princess peach abducted, more at 11). Oh, I think I would also pay $40 for a Simogo or Rocketcat game if it warranted that much money from the amount of content. They know what's up. They know how to make a game feel great. I'd also pay that much for a port of the upcoming XCOM, Civ 5, or Civ 4.
you don't like gameloft anymore? why, their pricing model is good. I've no problem with nova 3 or TDKR, the bad model is gamevil and com2us. Jetpack in NOVA 3 is a thing inbalance the multipalyer mode, but I find out that jetpack in many maps and game modes works not that good. and you can always earn in game cash by play more to get your own jetpack. they even give us a new map and 2 new game mode for free recently. at this point, gameloft does a much better job than some so called console game maker.
Interesting topic. I cannot imagine going beyond the $20 mark because I think the technical constraints are too great. That said, I have spent £16 on Anki, and around £6-£12 on Pleco. In terms of games, I had no problem spending £7 on Avadon, or spending that amount on any Spiderweb Software game. Autumn Dynasty was a steal at £2.99 or whatever it was. I do not intend to play any SE title because I dislike their attitude in providing lazy ass ports and demanding a LOT of money. If developers did invest in AAA titles (not just graphics, but gameplay) that incorporated touch from the ground-up, I'd have no trouble paying a premium price. SE are getting there, but it is more their established FF fanbase. I don't know what the figure is but I doubt it is $40 and it sure ain't $0.99. Plenty of room to play in between. As a rule, I generally avoid the $0.99 products and/or freemium supported by IAP.
Legend of Grimrock is supposed to be on iOS eventually, so you should save your money. I'd pay $40 for a game that I know is really good already, like Lunar or FFT or the upcoming Baldur's Gate remake. But not for some random unknown. The market is way too hit-or-miss right now (and I imagine most consumers shop as such).
If I spend $8 for a game it better not have any IAP unless it is for future content can take time to produce (Like IAP in Galaxy On Fire 2, Jet Car Stunts, etc). Sometime though IAP to grind is not really something that is necessarily bad. I have been playing Age of Myth HD for about 2 weeks off and on now as an example(Edit... looks like it went free a few days ago). The game is interesting enough and the leveling in the game is not so time consuming that it makes the game feel like grinding. If you want to spend $ though you can do that to go over the top with power (for those with short attention spans and cash to burn too I assume). Another example is Spice Bandits which the IAP does not distract from gameplay. There are actually some games that I wish they had IAP. There is another castle defense game (dont remember the name) that was basically black and white (with red thrown in) but the game was so hard I eventually got to the point that I could not get past the last several levels. I wish they had an IAP for a few dollars that would allow me to finish the game (even though I wasn't good enough at it to do it without *cheating*). As long as the leaderboards would not record victories after doing that it wouldn't cause any problems and would give me a sense of completion for that game.
Yes I would Without a doubt I would be happy to pay $40 as long as the experience makes it worth it. Like with Flower on PSN or Journey on PSN as well. Something that has substance beyond the screen I would pay for. Plus im super addicted to music games in particular DJ Max. With DJ Max Ray on iOS I would happily pay $60 in in-app purchases of songs if they would release them lol.
HELL NO. NEVER. I won't even pay $40 for a Vita or 3DS game, and they offer far superior controls and overall gaming experiences. $15 is probably the most I'd ever consider for an iOS game, and it would have to be a freaking amazing game to warrant that much.
Maybe when developers start to take this platform seriously. There are lots of bargain sub $10-15 indie games that are vastly superior in quality on other platforms but..meh..we get stuff like Horn which has a distinct mobile game feel to it: horribly paced and super padded just to needlessly prolong a game which could have been condensed into a 1 hour one. or..perhaps Drakerider or chaos rings? lol. Fade to empty black screen flashbacks/cut scenes? check. Lack of towns/cities? check. No real exploration? check...it is really terrible in Drakerider! It perpetually feels like you are being forced to walk around drab and poorly designed boring areas just so the game can throw random encounters at you. At least the chaos rings games have pretty decent plots and voice acting. Luckily there are many ports of great games and some really innovative original offerings in the app store. Would I pay 500 grand for a solar powered Sedan? Or 39.99 for a 'console quality' iOS game[totally hate this phrase]? Perhaps I might..but as of now ..they don't exist..so meh.
I wouldn't in the app stores current state, reasoning being: The fidelity isn't there yet, it will be but not quite yet Not enough regulations on what a dev can and can't do to a game post release, too many games go freemium Games disappear for no good reason and aren't always available If those things were sorted then I'd consider it for a good title
I might be willing to- it all depends on how good and well put together the game is. But I'm not that into the idea, because iOS games are digital, and it's harder to get deals on them because of it. I buy most of my console games when there are good deals on them- which is very easy. A lot of console titles have deals on them during launch week or a few weeks after. iOS titles, not so much. I have bought a few iOS games around the $20 mark and thought it was a good value for what I spent, though all of those games came from Square-Enix. It would have to be a pretty good freaking game though, and have a decent amount of content.
Not really. The high range for apps, at least currently is around 8$. That's the most i'm usually comfortable spending on a really good game from the app store. I think once you break that double-digits barrier in cost, you don't have much of a chance.
The only exception would be a sequel for world of goo. Nothing else would tempt me.. Because even if it's a port of my most favorite childhood game in the world.. I'd probably rather just buy the console and game physically for $40 than to buy a virtual download.
only if it's a create your own adventure with 40+ hours, epic gameplay/story/cut scenes and Game Center achievements/leaderboards
Only if I know quality match the price I actually bought a game called Steins;Gate ($34.99) from AppStore because I played PC version before and absolutely loved it. From consumer's view point, I probably won't spend more than few dollars to an iOS game that have not proven to be worth the price. From developer's view point, smartphone game sells are simply considered VERY unpredictable. Some really great game fade away without getting real attention. On the other hand, some not-so-exciting games somehow became ridiculously popular and made multimillion dollars. Some may argue that there are actually reasons behind this behavior. Maybe true. The point is, because of this unpredictability, large and well-known game studio are reluctant to join party. Investment is high and return is just uncertain. With above being said, neither developers nor customers are willing to take the risk to bring smartphone game to next stage.
NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no way in hell. my max price is $3 to free! i have enough games for and better on 360, pc, ps3, wii etc. along with having bundles of cheap STEAM pc games ranging in price from $0.09 to $10 max (many from indie bundle sales)! Seeing you can get PC Steam downloadable games like; Left 4 Dead 2 $3.75, Borderland GOTY $5.62, Plants Vs Zombies GOTY $2, BioShock 2 $3.75, Psychonauts $0.25, Limbo $0.25, Torchlight $0.25, Spaz $0.25, Dead Hoard $0.85, and Syberia II $0.85 during many sales! so my ipad/iphone is for my bored cheap gaming/apps needs. mainly since im not going to use it much when at home, mostly when on the road, vacation, waiting in car/somewhere etc.
Hard to when you got STEAM PC/Mac online downloads of many great games selling from $2 to $5 and many other games found in indie bundle average out to $0.09 to $1 per game!
I would if it was like a full assassins creed 3 or NBA 2k13. Depends on the depth and the game for me
