Lite version or IAP upgrade?

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by POLYGAMe, May 11, 2013.

  1. POLYGAMe

    POLYGAMe Well-Known Member

    Jul 3, 2010
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    Game Developer (iOS, Mega Drive, C64)
    Auckland, New Zealand
    Just wondering what the best way to upswell my upcoming racing game would be... To launch a lite version, or release the game for free, though somewhat limited until the user unlocks the full version via IAP?

    Anyone with experience with both, would be great to hear from you!
     
  2. Silvanis

    Silvanis Well-Known Member

    Nov 2, 2012
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    co-owner of Silver Moonfire
    If you're asking whether you should release a version that points to a paid version or if it should have IAP for unlocks, I'd say unlocks. That way the player can keep whatever progress they have instead of starting over.

    As far as I can tell, a "Lite" version on the app store usually refers to a demo version that either has IAP unlocks or an in-game link to a premium version. A "free" version is usually ad supported. Neither come with a price tag, so if you're asking if you should have a paid "lite" version or a free with IAP version, then I think you're crazy for wanting to charge for something you consider "lite" :)
     
  3. POLYGAMe

    POLYGAMe Well-Known Member

    Jul 3, 2010
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    Game Developer (iOS, Mega Drive, C64)
    Auckland, New Zealand
    No, I mean a lite version for free, with a link inside to the paid game (separate app) or a free version that has the full game mode unlocked via IAP. This way I wouldn't have to release two apps... but the word "lite" probably stops people from downloading, but then again, so do the words "offers in app purchasing". lol.

    Just wondering which of the two methods are more successful... I could get around it by releasing two versions and avoiding the word "lite" but I'm not sure if the conversion rate from free version to full version via weblink would be as high as it would be if the full version was simply offered via IAP... hence asking... I haven't done either before. :p
     
  4. Blackharon

    Blackharon Well-Known Member

    Mar 15, 2010
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    Game Designer for Ludia
    Canada
    It depends. For Pickpawcket we created 10 unique levels for the light version, so players wouldn't feel like they were losing any progress. It also gave players a reason to download both apps helping the rank a tiny amount.

    If you've got progress to save, go free with an IAP to unlock. Don't call the app lite since it's really the full game.
     
  5. POLYGAMe

    POLYGAMe Well-Known Member

    Jul 3, 2010
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    Game Developer (iOS, Mega Drive, C64)
    Auckland, New Zealand
    Good point about save progress, I hadn't thought of that. Looks like IAP is the way to go. Now I just need to work out exactly how much I should give away free... And how to incorporate IAP within Unity... Shouldn't be too tough.

    Thanks :D
     
  6. AlienSpace

    AlienSpace Well-Known Member

    May 28, 2010
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    Independent developer
    One benefit of having a single app w/ IAP unlock is that you only have 1 app to support, instead of 2. This might not seem like a big deal, but it's 2x the work everytime you need to update/bug fix/whatever. And, when you get more apps in the store it quickly becomes too much to support all those apps.
     
  7. iPadisGreat

    iPadisGreat Well-Known Member

    Dec 10, 2012
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    As a player, I would prefer to have only a paid version available.

    As a marketing guy, all three versions, lite, paid and freemium.

    As a developer, the obvious choice is lite with IAP to unlock as that will get you decent revenue with the least amount of work...
     
  8. Rainier

    Rainier Well-Known Member

    Apr 16, 2012
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    In my opinion, it was helpful to have a paid version and a free version. If you're already free, you can't GO free and get the added bump in downloads from people hearing about your app going free. As an example, our paid version when it went free for one week, got over 5x the number of downloads our free version got over the past half year. You have some added flexibility having two to work with, but like another mentioned, it does take extra time fixing bugs and adding improvements since it needs to be done twice.
     
  9. iPadisGreat

    iPadisGreat Well-Known Member

    Dec 10, 2012
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    Why not just use conditional compilation?
     
  10. AlienSpace

    AlienSpace Well-Known Member

    May 28, 2010
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    Independent developer
    The issue with 2 apps is not about having two codebases, although it could be about that if you somehow have separate code for the 2 apps. The point is that even with 1 codebase and conditional compilation, you still have 2 different apps with 2 different executables... that each needs to be compiled, tested, submitted, etc. If you make even a small change in the code, you now have to run all of your tests, play through levels, and do all of that for TWO games instead of one. Sure... you could assume that if you tested some parts of the game in one version that it'll be ok in the other, and you might be right... or you might not.
     
  11. I think you have it here. Ultimately there's quite a few issues with free to IAP.

    1. You better make sure the IAP upgrade is clear and works perfectly as we had issues with both of those problems. The Gasketball guys spoke very candidly about their upgrade system having issues with confused purchase paths as well so it's not just us.

    2. You don't get promo codes with IAP. While most blogs will tell you that they don't need it I bet some smaller ones would be much more apt to try you if they were just giving the code some poor college kid who happens to be a reviewer. I honestly think it helps even with the bigger guys. You can use TestFlight to sort of remedy this but there's more overhead there and that doesn't help with promo code giveaways either, which is sort of a decent way to get blogs to mention you as well.

    3. No easy way to promotion. You can go free with the full game but you probably had many of your downloads already plus converting the free version to "really" free is cumbersome all around.

    We went with the IAP unlock model with The Secret Castle and while it helped the download number our conversion rate was still pretty weak, and that's on top of a small promotion from Apple. Foursaken, which has a handful of huge apps in the charts now, called out most of these points to me he deserves credit but for us most of these issues have been true.

    4. People will complain it's not free. While it may not be many, you will get some poor reviews from people who look at your free listing as disingenuous. It's just a question on whether it's enough to hurt your overall score. Even a professional review harped on the whole free/not free issue which bummed us out.

    I wish the App Store had a better system to manage trial/lite versions but it doesn't. I don't think it's worse than the norm though as we were looking to port our game to Kinect and Xbox 360 and they don't have a system that support any large term promo code version which would be critical for a kickstarter to even fund the port.
     
  12. iPadisGreat

    iPadisGreat Well-Known Member

    Dec 10, 2012
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    Great points #2 and #3.

    To get word out, you need review sites to cover your game. Having them pay for your game is ideal, but unlikely, given the huge number released daily.

    Also, it seems very hard to get a sale on IAPs for reasons unknown to me. Gamers who use App Shopper will also not be notified about your IAP sale, so it will just be stuck in their wish list forever...
     
  13. DropDKeith

    DropDKeith Well-Known Member

    With our games, we have both. A free version with IAP to turn off ads and buy additional features, and a PRO version that includes all the features with no ads.

    In our experience, we make a lot more money on PRO sales than we do with IAP (for the same feature set). I couldn't tell you why, but it has been the case for us for 3 years now.

    We started with only a free + IAP model because we assumed that made the most sense. We later (several months later) released our first PRO practically on a whim. The success of it surprised us, and continues to surprise us.
     
  14. GameHopping

    GameHopping Active Member

    Interesting discussion. And very relevant to me.
    I'm polishing up a huge major redo of my RPG (Retina added, reskin, tons of changes) and I am going to update the Paid and Free versions (free gets more content as well) which are iphone/itouch versions.
    I am also planning on a iPad version with major interface changes (due to screen space) and was planning on a free with unlock for that one. Never did that before, so I will have to research that.
     
  15. iPadisGreat

    iPadisGreat Well-Known Member

    Dec 10, 2012
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    #15 iPadisGreat, May 14, 2013
    Last edited: May 14, 2013
    Maybe because paying customers, like myself, prefer to get a full featured binary (Pro) instead of one that needs activation (lite with IAP unlock)?

    I only buy lite with IAP unlock if pro is unavailable, but then, you have to tempt me first, and my usual habit in the App Store is to scroll down and if the IAP line is present, I would tend to skip that game, unless it was one that I already knew lots about and really wanted...

    On flipside, if your game looks and sounds interesting and is priced between 99¢ to $2.99, I would still just download the pro version for shit and giggles. Even downloading 10 of such apps on impulse monthly would amount to only $29.90, much less than the cost of a console game.

    But what happens if I notice you have a lite version? Ah ha! Then you would have lost your sale as I would download your lite to try out instead of your pro to try out. Then unless your gameplay is super compelling, your lite would end up being deleted after one play, like all the other lits, but the difference being that at least if you had the pro, my money would be in your pocket already. :)
     
  16. GameHopping

    GameHopping Active Member

    I think it goes without saying that you don't put out a lite version unless you believe that it will hook customers.
     
  17. iPadisGreat

    iPadisGreat Well-Known Member

    Dec 10, 2012
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    #17 iPadisGreat, May 14, 2013
    Last edited: May 14, 2013
    That isn't what I am saying actually. I was suggesting that a game app priced at 99¢ to $2.99 would be an impulse purchase. The gamer just wants to try your game. You lose sales just by having your lite version there for him to try and change his mind about buying.

    With just a 99¢ to $2.99 full version available, the gamer would go, what the heck, it's just 99¢ and buy it for fun.

    Any price above $2.99 makes me sit up, take notice and reconsider downloading, which is not what you want in retail...

    You must be evil and think like a salesman, not as a programmer/artist. The value of what you are selling is what your customer perceives it to be. Maybe you could hang out more with the sleazy sales types like myself. :)
     
  18. dancj

    dancj Well-Known Member

    Jan 25, 2011
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    As a user if always vote for a free version and a paid version as separate apps.

    Unlike the above poster I take care even with 69p purchases and there are plenty of games I've bought because I liked the free version - and I'm sure there are plenty I would have bought if there was a free version - but haven't.

    I make extensive use of AppShopper - so sales on IAP upgrades are invisible to me. I nearly missed out on Magic 2013 because they went that route.

    As for the losing your progress, some games like Bobbing and Trainyard go the route of having separate levels, which is good, but personally I prefer the games that can actually transfer the progress across - that way I don't wind up keeping two games on my device. I don't know how that works (not being an iOS developer) but Wimp: Who Stole My Pants manages it. I'm guessing it uses iCloud.
     
  19. ruka

    ruka Active Member

    Apr 12, 2013
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    Programmer
    Internet
    Whoa, great discussion. Internally, we always debate about this when we start the development process.

    - Sometimes when we're not sure, we went with only paid version route. Impulse buy is definitely a thing and a lot of people didn't mind spending $0.99 to try the apps.

    - Free with IAP to unlock ads and features doesn't do really good. Not my experience personally, but I imagine most people will only unlock for supporting the dev among other things. It depends on the game though.

    - True, lite and full version separately is kinda a gamble. If it's fun, people will definitely buy the full one. On the other hand, we lost sales from the impulse-type people. The good thing is, there will be less people who feel dissapointed because the game is not up to the expectation (because they already play the lite).
     

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