I wouldn't agree with "the same content roughly". iOS has a long way to go for me to consider it a fully viable gaming platform; and to be honest I doubt I ever will, tablets perhaps, but iOS, probably never. Past that though, I suspect premium titles are on the rise.
What? I mentioned that I was getting bored of so many Flappy Birds games, and you said said I downloaded one. Thought that meant that we should appreciate the good Flappy Bird Clones.
I actually think Flappy Bird creator, Dong, was right. Ads seem to be the only reasonable way to make mobile games both profitable and fair. Games can be totally playable, just with permanent banner ads. Want a premium experience? $5-10 Ads Disable IAP.
Monument Valley, Sometimes You Die, and FTL are tearing up the charts. No ads, no iap, pure premium games
I understand why so many are going that way but I really really dislike removing ads via iap, I'd much rather just pay the money at the start as I understand should a game be removed from the AppStore the purchase won't be restorable if I ever needed to reinstall? It might be a rare thing to happen but it's happened with two games I've bought I've bought in the last few months. I'm not saying I won't play games with ads, just that I'd much prefer to buy a game outright rather than disabling ads.
I'll second that... and games being pulled from the App Store, or only available through the App Store, is what I think holds iOS gaming back. I still regularly play games from 30 years ago, how is that supposed to work with iOS? Just one of the major problems with digital distribution. *In interviews with Seth Robinson, the one existing interview anyway, he expresses concerns over a lack of premium game sales on iOS; enough so that he choose not to port to other mobile platforms where the user base is smaller. iOS being such a closed platform is terrible, for everyone, and we have to hope that Android can pick-up pace but it won't as long as developers overlook the platform in favor of Apple and they'll continue to do so until users make the switch. This isn't the 80's, business in the industry is here to stay, and I doubt that developers will port to other platforms for reasons of creativity. Simple put, this is what the world looks like when a closed-platform is the standard and I don't see Apple becoming a less terrible company anytime ever.
Yes, cloudpuff has a good point. There are too many pulled games nowadays or freemium bait and switches. I too fully support inexpensive premium games versus games with in game banner ad use.
A game that has a lot of content is xcom enemy unknown. I looked on the internet and people estimate that it has roughly 20-25 hours of gameplay, depending on what you do, and that's just the first playthrough. Some videogames i played have the same amount of hours of gameplay or less.
That is very true but one game does not make a valid case. Xcom is a well-known exception, as would be the Baldurs Gate games; and it's worth noting that these are ALL ports. As a personal note 25hr. is not what I would regard as "a lot of content" but that's mostly besides the point as it's not the average length of offerings but the overall range of offerings which matters, something iOS is doing mostly well on. The problems with iOS as a serious gaming platform, at least for actual enthusiasts, isn't the titles on offer but the marketplace itself. Apple is the problem here.
I haven't used it but unfortunately that doesn't make Apple any better. I'd argue that any proprietary marketplace is bad for the end user. The PC market would be left just as non-viable if I was forced to buy, and run, everything through steam. Thankfully there's still physical copies, gog, direct from the developer, etc... you can "demo" any title before you buy and returns are an actual option in many of those cases. It's an open market where I can back-up games if I so choose and play anything released from a 30+ year backlog on whatever hardware I so choose. It's a viable market, I'd like to see iOS, or mobile, develop along those same lines.
Then really your issue is with digital distribution, which despite it's issues, I feel the App Store is definitely one of the better implementations out there. Interestingly enough, it's the only digital store I've been successful at getting a refund on.
It the use of digital distribution as DRM that I don't like. I prefere gog.com and downloading direct from developers; sources that let me back-up my purchases and install them on as many devices as I choose, over and over, year after year. I just don't like not having control over what I've purchased. So, I wouldn't say that I hate the App Store but I do hate Apples proprietary nonsense and but I wonder what'll happen to all these titles in ten years. How will I play them then? Or next week, on the off-chance Apples pulls one that I like tomorrow, it certainly happens, MS pulled that stunt on me a few times. Nice that you got a refund, I've heard some horror stories.
I could agree with you that apple is the problem, but they may be ports, but its a very bright outlook for more games like that to come out.
problem is (talking of experience), im all in for niche games, buuut.. they get lost in appstore, so players that might have bougt and enjoyed might never hear of it. it needs some attention from someone in the first place. appstore is a place a developer either makes or breakes it, there is no middle ground.
