So, we all know pricing and iap will always be a major discussion and stir the pot when it comes to ios gaming. i realized something today, and I wanted to know if a developer (or anyone else really), could shed some light on this. I remember in the earlier days of the AppStore, tons of games featured a "lite" version of the game. It was basically a short demo of the game you could download for free, and if you liked it after you tried it, you could buy it. This was a popular method devs used before the huge freemium trend set it iirc, and while there are still a few games that have lite versions, its no where near as prevalent as it once was. When exactly did this die out, and was there a specific reason? I.e. did it cost more to release a demo, was it just not effective, etc. I was just scrolling through my old iTunes account and realized how many "lites" I had from when I got my first ipodtouch, and the number was amazing. I rarely use my laptop these days (which is what that account was on) so I had pretty much forgotten they existed.
Our Parachutist lite version of 10 free levels got rejected 2 weeks ago. Parachutist lite had 10 free levels (a lite version of Parachutist). It is clear that developers might not have the choice now so freemium games are "in".
Apple started rejecting some lite version a while back. They don't want what they vaguely refer to as "crippled" lites on the AppStore or some such nonsense.
Yea, I noticed that too. So they're being phased out then? I remember buying most games after first trying the lites. Still do in fact if a lite is offered. It was a nice concept for what it was.
I think now a days it's more in app purchases vs lite version. Why release and maintain two builds on a game when you can just do it all in one?
Personally, I'd prefer one app with a full game unlock anyway. I wish all games would do this -- the try before you buy type thing -- and the devs wouldn't have two apps to maintain (although, really, unless there's a bug, lite versions usually aren't touched because you don't add new content to them).
I miss lite versions as well, mostly because a lot of people flip out when a game addresses the same issue by putting a full unlock in the game rather than using an up-front price.
Sounds like there's a lot of people here that would prefer lite and premium versions rather than a single free version that unlocks to full. What is it about the free version that unlocks to full version that you guys don't like?
The thing is, devs that have tried to do it in the past, always seem to inflate inapp prices for everything, and make it freemium based anyway (timers, ads, etc). I think we need a new term for games. Free to Try, where it is a premium buck app, but free to try, and will unlock with a simple buck inapp. And say so in the app descritions that that is that. Free to Try would be the new generation of games, a merge of lite and premium games. Of course this could be higher priced games too, but there needs to be an inexpensive option too cause many people buy games when they are a buck. I know the term Free to Play is out there, but yeah, basically they mostly just seem freemium anyway with huge inapps and stuff.
For me, it's if a game disappears from the App Store you won't be able to reinstall and restore the full version unlock so that game would be gone. Whereas purchasing the full version direct allows me to reinstall even if the title disappears from the App Store. It's a rare chance of it happening but if this was the main method of purchasing then it would happen more. Hope I made sense lol.
Makes perfect sense and my reasoning as well. As an example I like hidden object games and some have two versions, only one is free to try then pay to unlock through iap whereas the other can be bought outright and get the full version (without iap). I'll even go so far as to play the free version (with iap) only to get a taste but will only buy the full version without the iap if its available. I don't play them right away at times and prefer the game still be intact even if its taken out of the store.
That's a good point. I think there's a large number of gamers who don't like freemium games and there is a lot of similarity between a freemium and a game that unlocks to the full version. Especially if the developer blurs the lines by creating some hybrid of the two.
For me it's partly the fear that I might lose the game unlock - and it's partly that AppShopper doesn't send you alerts when IAPs drop in price so I wouldn't know about any sales.
