Launch game as paid and then set to free?

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by Bleau, Nov 15, 2013.

  1. Bleau

    Bleau Well-Known Member

    Sep 27, 2013
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    One half of MoWOW Studios, an mobile indie game st
    Koblenz, Germany
    I was just wondering if the following strategy is valuable for freemium games (not exactly the ugly nasty F2P games, but still has IAP's or ads):


    1. launch the game as paid for 0.99
    2. Get some reviews for the game
    2. Leave it for 2 weeks
    3. Set it to free and leave it at free


    I ask this because at the first launch:
    - small chance of being featured by Apple. If you do get featured, even better. Then you can either leave it at 0.99 for a while or set it to free as a promotion.
    - No one really knows of the game/app, especially if no marketing has been done.
    - A lot of devs have mentioned impressive numbers when setting a paid game to free.

    I am just trying to grasp if leaving it paid on launch is worth it. After all, when you set it to free you get quite a lot of downloads and you basically pay only with time.

    What do you think?
     
  2. iosoftware

    iosoftware Well-Known Member

    May 13, 2009
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    Game Developer
    Varna
    it depends on your monetization model, that's all. Paid games get nothing by being in the free section (only a lot of bad reviews), and freemium games will get nothing but rage in the paid section.
     
  3. iosoftware

    iosoftware Well-Known Member

    May 13, 2009
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    Game Developer
    Varna
    If you have a paid game, however, I suggest launching it at 1.99, to be able to drop price to 0,99 later for extra downloads.
     
  4. Bleau

    Bleau Well-Known Member

    Sep 27, 2013
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    One half of MoWOW Studios, an mobile indie game st
    Koblenz, Germany
    I understand the normal way if you have a paid or a freemium app. What I was asking is if it would be worth releasing a freemium app for 0.99 cents just to set it to free in 2 weeks and get the exposure from being indexed by discovery apps (like free app a day or others).

    Is it worth setting it initially to paid (even if the game is freemium/F2p) and then putting it to free, or does your game get indexed anyway when you launch?

    From previous experiences so far, games/apps that don't have reviews yet don't get featured as much on free app agregators.
     
  5. iosoftware

    iosoftware Well-Known Member

    May 13, 2009
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    Game Developer
    Varna
    is it possible to see the app somehow?
     
  6. Bleau

    Bleau Well-Known Member

    Sep 27, 2013
    274
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    One half of MoWOW Studios, an mobile indie game st
    Koblenz, Germany
    The app is still in the making. As an example, take any free game. Would it be more advantageous to put it to 0.99, leave it for two weeks and then set it to free so it gets indexed by free game sites or should you just release the game?
     
  7. iosoftware

    iosoftware Well-Known Member

    May 13, 2009
    453
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    Game Developer
    Varna
    I think it's better to launch it natively where it belongs. The launch boost is much better than discount websites indexing.
     
  8. Destined

    Destined Well-Known Member

    Aug 11, 2013
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    But then you would miss all the downloads you would get from the boost apple gives you at the point of release.
     
  9. Bleau

    Bleau Well-Known Member

    Sep 27, 2013
    274
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    One half of MoWOW Studios, an mobile indie game st
    Koblenz, Germany
    Got it. Thank you both for the feedback :)
     
  10. WildSnake

    WildSnake Well-Known Member

    May 16, 2011
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    WildSnake Software - Co-Owner, Co-Game Designer, C
    The main problem here that you can't totally change the version promptly - you need to wait for Apple (in iOS case) review before releasing an update.

    In our case we just received a lot of blaming angry comments for attempt to follow by player's complaints when we droped the price down to 0 and still had iAPs remaining in the games.

    So I wouldn't recommend such marketing model as plan A. ;)
    But everything depends from specific situation.
     
  11. Bleau

    Bleau Well-Known Member

    Sep 27, 2013
    274
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    One half of MoWOW Studios, an mobile indie game st
    Koblenz, Germany
    Thanks for the info and sharing the personal experience. Already scratched it. Was curious though :)
     
  12. appdownme

    appdownme Member

    Nov 3, 2013
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    I think it's not a bad strategy. As you said you are doing no marketing and won't probably get featured by Apple. By being paid first you'll see how is the game doing and at least have a backup plan (by changing it to free). I also think that having a paid game is an advantage these days full of crappy high-IAP ripoffs. Some players still prefer it..

    But when you decide to switch to free it's essential to use an App Discovery service. We are actually such a service and we offer the promotion completely free of charge (but hurry up - only limited amount of spots!) So don't hesitate to contact me! Please check https://appdown.me/front/developers
     

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