I don't disagree with you, it's certainly hard for it to work (as hard as it is for a paid app to work!) My comment was in reference to 'word of mouth being necessary to get the big numbers', which lends itself best to something that has the least amount of barriers to entry as possible. Free, Casual, and Not-Time-Consuming are 3 less 'barriers of entry' Dragonvale/Clash of Clans doesn't have compared to paid, hardcore action games are. I agree Punch Quest is Freemium that didn't work. I'd argue the retro art direction isn't casual enough (and thus is a "barrier to entry"), the fantasy theme isn't broad enough (orcs goblins and ghosts? Not going to be a big hit with the younger kids and casual ladies. Another barrier). It could be something I'm completely missing and it's easy to play armchair game dev, so I'll stop now but that's my guess on why it's not working as well as they hoped. (By the way, I loved everything about the game except the randomness of the ultra hats... which they fixed later!)
Exactly. People bitch about it but also don't use logic when it comes to talking about IAP but can through 50 bucks into dragonvale for that "special dragon"
haha yes 150$ is pretty ridiculous for a laser (even if its a shark with a freakin laser) or whatever the IAP is. I guess there is a line that shouldn't be crossed by the developer when coming up with a pricing plan to not be greedy. It just chaps my ass when I see ratings/reviews from consumers who complain about the app "actually isnt free" when they are prompted for IAP.
Yea I mean the saying is that freemeium means its free and to get the most out of it you have to pay but slowly that saying is going away because small games that are free are making iap less heavy. But also I ran across a game called fantasy adventure its free but no iaps unless you want to buy coins but I don't even see that option (unless I missed it) but how would that app make money?
I should point out that our war games have "genuine" iap's for map packs etc. As to freemium, I think it gets a lot of bad press because many developers and publishers take the piss with it. Angry customers seem to react against the business model instead of the developer in question. If someone is bilking you for $150 to get a sword for example, then it's the dev doing that, not the biz model. Our next game is going the freemium route, but we're trying to do things a little differently. You can buy virtual currency for cash but you won't need to spend tons and we're offering other "non cash" options such as watching adverts, liking us on facebook and etc. I guess time will tell if we pull it off.
On a side not when is that game coming would like to try it I remember its suppose to be a RPG. And yea your iap is what I like its perfect for GBWG Are you going to do tap joy? Battle nations is a freemeium and other then high priced items that is a pretty decent game dealing with iap.
Interesting. Probably not organized very well. However I look at a game like temple run, which is obviously killing it, never forces you to purchase their coins. You have the option to buy coins to spend on power ups but I could have played the game for free getting sufficient coins to buy the power ups. Fantasy Adventure's strategy might just be that their hoping you like the game (or have no patience) and want to purchase more coins? Or Ads?
We're looking into as many non-wallet items as possible, tapjoy are due a phone call at some point, yes. There's a link in my sig to an occasionally updated blog about the game. Due another post soon.
Nice cant wait sounds like its starting to shape up great. Well ill still get iap with the game to support the game and the crew. Sucks I just got GBWG this late its defentinly an amazing game.
Forget what I said earlier fantasy adventure does have iap but just for coins but heck you don't need iap.
It's working now. I'm not sure if the theme was actually a barrier. If there was any sort of barrier, it's probably just the hidden complexities of the fighting system. If the game didn't have that depth and was maybe one button, it maybe would have done better? The problem is I really don't want to work on games like that. But yeah that wasn't the problem with it making money, it turns out.
haha interesting, well I commend their decision to allow users an opportunity to beat the game for free!
You are probably right. But for some reason, traditional adventure games like the stuff Big Fish makes seem to go for a "premium" of two or three dollars. I also look at Hector Badge of Carnage which continues to sell for 4 whole bucks long after release. Who knows...
There's no "still", we have more and more people signing up each day - just went over 200,000 online games played. The open games list never seems busy because of the ratings system and the fact that games start pretty quickly. But don't let that fool you, there's usually 4000 odd games in play at any one time! http://www.rubicondev.com/gbwg/onlinestats.php
