Currently have one premium game in the market. No ads, no in-app-purchases. As a company we believe that is the best for the customer to be able to make one purchase and own it forever. However, the model has proven a challenge to getting the game more widely distributed. We are considering having a free version of the game that has ads (not intruding on gamespace) and then allowing the players to purchase the premium version that would contain no ads. What do you think? Which method would you go with? Are there any major drawbacks to moving from a pure premium to a combo? Are there any studies I can dig into on considering advertisements? Is there any data on the use of advertisements in game? I know I've seen this method used on some games that have been successful like Trivia crack and Scrabble(ScrabbleFree and Scrabble for 9.99$)
My experience is a little than 1% have purchased the premium with no ads. I basically did it to keep any loud vocal complainers about ad's away. I think as an indie without a good way to market (brand or something like that) generally you need to be exceptional to have success as a paid app. Free with ads at least lets you see if it is popular and drive a bit of revenue however if you want to make a living you will need millions of downloads.
