IAP open letter

Discussion in 'General Game Discussion and Questions' started by grits, Nov 1, 2012.

  1. Echoseven

    Echoseven Moderator
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    Jul 19, 2011
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    The red Skittle
    I'm pretty sure with that we'd never see games like 10000000 anywhere near the App Store.
     
  2. 99c_gamer

    99c_gamer Well-Known Member

    Mar 23, 2009
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    They should split it up like Microsft do on live into indie games and full scale games. Then people wouldnt expect everything to be $99c
     
  3. Jazzpha

    Jazzpha Well-Known Member

    Apr 26, 2012
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    If the minimum price was set to a point where developer sustainability wasn't in jeopardy in the long-term, it would not only remove the "Wait for a 1$ sale" impulse, but it would also allow indies and giants like Square/MediaVision to coexist.

    Really, it's the "Why should I pay for this now when I can work through my back-catalog for a month and snag it for cheaper/free?" line of thinking that's putting the App Store into a downward spiral. Get rid of that, and yeah, immediate profits might sink sharply, but in the long-term I think the market would be better for it.
     
  4. Bool Zero

    Bool Zero Well-Known Member

    Dec 14, 2010
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    I kind of like that idea as well. Make the license fee a little more restrictive so that not every and any joe can throw together an app and make a cash grab at folks money. Thinks like the Pokemon incident wouldn't happen, or would happen far less if the license fee reflected it relegating it to developers who are actually serious about developing for the iOS platform.
     
  5. september

    september Well-Known Member

    Sep 14, 2012
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    Then along comes EA to get it raised to $300,000 - you know, to get rid of the riff raff.

    Terrible idea, block out small start ups so other devs can get a bigger portion? While I agree the prices of games are too low, I also know developers came into the market knowing that. Some go for low volume, higher price. Others go for volume with lower price. Money can be made otherwise you wouldn't have developers signing up at all.

    Yes it is getting harder, but I don't think shutting out innovation is the solution.
     
  6. Nobunaga

    Nobunaga Well-Known Member

    Jun 2, 2012
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    As much as I hate to say this, one of the only ways people are making lots of cash on the AppStore is by selling smurf berries. Going the social gaming route and playing off people's competitiveness and other social motivators seems to be the most sure fire way to make cash.
    Developers seem to be seeing this and thinking they can make a good game and compensate for under pricing or lackluster sales by the inclusion of IAPs. I may be wrong but the idea seems flawed. Lacking any social motivation people probably won't be as inclined to pour money into the experience.
    Don't get me wrong, I don't believe the inclusion of IAPs ruins a game, period. Depending on how it's done it has an ability to though.
    I just hope that developers can find a way to make a living wage off making quality games without needing to resort to selling consumable currency to people.
    I had hoped rocketcat had been doing that. They may not have been givin the new F2P release. I'd like to hear their take on this discussion actually.
    I just hope the good indie developers on iOS ( rocketcat, rubicon, raptisoft, venan, etc ) can make a living without alienating the "core" gamers out there.
     
  7. 99c_gamer

    99c_gamer Well-Known Member

    Mar 23, 2009
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    #67 99c_gamer, Nov 5, 2012
    Last edited: Nov 5, 2012
    Rogue Miner is probably the best game Ive played all week. You cant just say that that game shouldn't be on the app store because someone didn't spend thousands of dollars making it. How would that fix anything?

    I dont think too many cheap and free games is the problem. Thats no different from the PC which is why I think if devs just charge what the game really costs and stick to their price they'd do just fine.
     
  8. juls363

    juls363 Well-Known Member

    Mar 13, 2012
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    Honestly, idgaf about iap. It really isn't a big deal. If a said game does have a pay wall (which I think is the only bad thing about IAP) then delete it and play something else. It gets really annoying when people turn down the game and automatically think the idea that it game is bad cus it has iap. Ever get the idea that yea, maybe it does include iap but you don't have to buy it to continue to play the game?? For example; punch quest , Mage gauntlet .
     
  9. psj3809

    psj3809 Moderator

    Jan 13, 2011
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    Totally agree, with so many games out there i just tend to delete and then move onto the next one if they have a crazy pay wall as you say.

    Some people will instantly dismiss a game due to IAP's, i mean not all of them (As you say Mage Gauntlet, Punch Quest, Bullet Time) are 'evil'. I've played some of those mentioned a lot and i've never been 'forced' to buy anything. But as they have IAP's some people cant stand them or give them a chance which is a shame.

    Not all IAP's are evil, about half are ! But the other half are just add-ons if you want to 'fast forward' in the game.
     
  10. Ndemic Creations

    Ndemic Creations Well-Known Member

    Don't agree with this as it will cut out a lot of smaller developers. I probably wouldn't have made Plague Inc. if this had been around.

    Maybe make it $99 per app instead of per year - this would reduce some of the lower quality stuff that gets churned out fast
     
  11. undead.exe

    undead.exe Well-Known Member

    Jun 20, 2012
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    Forgive me if this is completely offtopic, but would anyone be able to confirm or reject the notion that an increase of games with IAP-brickwall features may result in a greater demographic of the AppStore gamers walking the jailbroken/pirated games path?

    That's the first impression that comes to mind for me -- if all the "good" games in the market are switching over to IAP models which consumers aren't liking, I imagine there's going to come a point where vast majorities of consumers are simply going to jailbreak so they can IAP-crack the games so they can avoid paying what they perceive to be high prices. This would be under the assumption that there's a threshold where the general demographic will find it much too hard to locate a popular game with what's perceived to be a reasonable, defined price on its gaming experience.

    Again, the above is pure speculation -- if anyone has information or statistics to support or disprove that idea, please share.

    If I were to be frank about my own stance, I can't say I'm usually too willing to spend on games either, because money is valuable -- there's a rather strong impulse to use the apps which track when apps will have a price drop, because I'm not at all keen for paying for an app, and then watching it go on sale and feeling "ripped off" because I paid more for the same thing that other people are getting for cheaper (that's merely the consumer's sentiment, I imagine there are plenty of counter-stances to that).

    That being said, as a direct response to those who say that it's natural for consumers to want to look out for their own interests and pursue the best price (which is "free", in this case)...would it not be a fair argument to say that failure to compensate the developers who have given you a good gaming experience will contribute to their eventual downfall? I've traditionally used IAPs to pay developers as thanks if I've picked up the game for free (yes, I read about the "eat burger for free/pay for it later" analogy, and I can see the problem with making everything run like that), but the argument to the consumers would be that if you expect everything to come for free, don't expect good quality stuff to last for very long -- they take more time and money to output than the less polished pieces of work.

    I saw Rubicon advocating a minimum price of $3 for all apps to prevent the extreme levels of cost-leadership strategies being used in the AppStore. Would enforcing an IAP unlock for the full version of apps across everything have any merit? (While I imagine the demo-unlock idea working fairly well for games, I'm not sure I could say the same if it were applied to utility-style apps, e.g. scanners or photo-editors)
     
  12. september

    september Well-Known Member

    Sep 14, 2012
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    The trial thing is something Apple currently lacks but will hopefully change in time, as previously mentioned Google do it for Android in a limited timed way plus most games on the Windows Phone have a buy or try option (demo basically) built into the store. Allows people to take the plunge based on knowledge than a dive in the dark often on the App Store.

    I think devs need to get together in some fashion as well, a lot of what is expected by customers has been set by developers themselves. Actually lately some seem to be trying their hardest to get people not to buy their games on release, instead teaching them that they should wait for the price drop to $0.99 (or free) within a couple of days or weeks.
     
  13. MidianGTX

    MidianGTX Well-Known Member

    Jun 16, 2009
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    That really jumped out at me. I wouldn't spend money on antiques 'cause it's valuable, but more to the point... I don't like antiques. Presumably you enjoy gaming, but you still don't want to spend money on it? You know that's generally how hobbies work, right?
     
  14. LKR

    LKR Well-Known Member

    Nov 7, 2009
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    Even more so, that's the way money itself works: if you don't spend it on something, it becomes worthless.
     
  15. undead.exe

    undead.exe Well-Known Member

    Jun 20, 2012
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    I'm saying that if I can get something for a lower price (free, in some cases of iOS games), my initial impulse is to get it for free so I can spend the money on other things. That should be understandable enough. If I didn't make it clear, however, I also believe that sort of behavior undermines the efforts of people producing the games. I may be tempted to do one thing, but my principles suggest to do another if I want a good developer to keep making games.
     
  16. Rubicon

    Rubicon Well-Known Member

    Feb 22, 2011
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    But that's exactly where FTP comes in.

    If it's done right and doesn't have a massive "pay or leave" wall after 10 minutes, you can demo for free, and then make an informed decision once you know what you're looking at on whether the game is going to be worth some of your coin later on.

    I understand there's a lot of ire out there, but I still think it's misdirected. Anger should not automatically aim itself at FTP, but at greedy developers abusing FTP.
     
  17. september

    september Well-Known Member

    Sep 14, 2012
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    There is a fully workable concept in free to play but sadly everyone's definition of what's fair is different.

    I myself prefer a cap, largely due to not liking not knowing what's around the corner. I think any FTP that's open to allowing whales is not going to be my thing, as it shows an abusive system.
     
  18. Greyskull

    Greyskull Well-Known Member

    Dec 13, 2009
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    Impulse control and the lack of it.
     
  19. 99c_gamer

    99c_gamer Well-Known Member

    Mar 23, 2009
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    I used to not care about IAP but Its starting to bug me more and more now.
    Now I just 100% delete anything with IAP as soon as I see it. No budging for me anymore. I might miss some games but it's ok because there are plenty of games without IaP.
     
  20. Rubicon

    Rubicon Well-Known Member

    Feb 22, 2011
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    Using "I will pirate" to try and win a point is never going to work out. I wouldn't repeat it as it might get you banned by the mods.

    But since you brought it up, or rather who you were following did, the excessive amount of piracy going on is another large factor in the move to FTP. You have to try fairly hard to pirate iOS games, but over on Android and PC you just pretty much copy a file from one place to another at leisure, which means it's rampant.

    This is one of the main reasons why we're considering going to FTP from now on - you have no idea how costly (and insulting) it is to see a couple of bucks app being blatantly pirated. With FTP those thieves and freeloaders only get to the free experience level of game and if they want the better bits (whatever that means per game) they will have to pay like everyone else.
     

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