Freemium gaining ground on the App Store

Before everyone starts thinking of jumping into the freemium space, the guys at the top of the list spend a lot of money advertising as well. You have to have some money to really push yourself up the list and then keep it there; it's not cheap. I don't want to start a flame war by posting estimates, but it's usually out of the range of a typical indie dev.

With that said, you can make a living doing Freemium/IAP even if you don't show up on the list. Noel has posted about this as well as hosted a session at 360 iDev. Brian Robbins also had a session with some numbers at the last 360 iDev.

 

Cool thanks for the link MrBlue, I'll check it out. You are right about how much companies like ngmoco pour into advertising and marketing. It'll be interesting to see if any of us indies can manage to make it in this market.

We're stoked to be entering the free to play market as well with our first game, though our marketing budget is many times smaller than what ngmoco puts out. Trying to avoid the whole "designer drug" feel and go a different route.

 

WOOT! I am totally impressed by your list! Which I take as a warning list.

Just let me add some note of mine:

I really despise games with the F-word. It breaths wrongness for nearly everything it represents from a consumer point and I also feel destroys a lot of the trust relationship between consumer and company.

Esp. when games are just about shoving it into your face that they are ONLY about making money.
Well on the other side most if you fall for that you don´t deserve any better. And parents leaving their children with an iPod and an open online account don´t deserve better either, essentially. But I still care since the iTunes store is still not perfect and has still a lot of room for improvements.

Most of the DLC /IAP problem is when you uninstall a game and the developer withdraws that game from the appstore. You cannot restore a DLC dependent game since you cannot redownload the content anymore.

This is totally diametrical to the notion of BUYING, even if it´s only a license to use. If you have a licensed copy you can still run older games whose publisher doesn´t exist anymore.
But with Subscriptions and DLC otherwise and in the AppStore, the game usage licensing model shifts from unlimited after buying to limited rental.

And I don´t like that at all.

I also don´t have problems with game subscriptions, like World of Warcraft etc. It´s ok to pay for dedicated server time, if it´s worth to you. As long as you are aware that the purchase you made is dependent on the existence of specific service (e.g. Blizzard, Steam, etc.)
Maybe, with big and healthy standing companies like Steam or Blizzard it is less likely that these services suddenly stop. But it is far more likely that small independent companies drop out of business.

And personally I really would pay higher prices if the developer chose not to use DLC. People complaining about $2 is too expensive for a game. That simply cannot be. What in the real world can you get for $2? Not very much.

As a result we need a lot more awareness for the consequences of DLC and IAP on BOTH, the developer side and the consumer side, to understand what we are doing and where this is heading to.

 

You are right about that, it's a big issue. What happens if you drop $99 on that big bucket o' gold and your iphone crashes? Kind of a big deal!

We are going to be exploring this issue very soon. I'd imagine it's as simple as storing all user data in a database on a server so that when they log in from any device they can access their stash of goods. However, we haven't reached that point in the development yet, so I can't say for sure.

It could work though right? Servers are cheap enough these days... $50 a month gets you a pretty well outfitted VPS, the cost shouldn't be an issue at all.

 

What are the three iap for need for speed hp?

 

For me it´s really less about the money I spent. It´about being able to play the game like 3 years from know. I play games that are 20 old because I love them not because they were expensive or not back then.

Or taking you first sentence as a metaphor, yes it´s the drop of poison that spoils the well.

 

Very interesting

Thanks for breaking up the list like this. We plan to release our next game with ads and possibly the ability to buy in-game currency as well. I know a lot of people on the forums hate freemium style games but there is obviously a large group of people who enjoy them, and don't mind the in-app purchases.

Personally, I think that as long as it isn't destructive to the gameplay it's fine, not everyone has as much time to devote to grinding for gold and would rather just spend an extra dollar or two.

With that said, I can't believe that $99 in-app purchase. That seems crazy to me.

 

Yes, it´s a BIG difference if IAP makes the game just easier, like coins yu can always grind for, otherwise, or if it RELIES on IAP to complete the game or significantly chances the experience.

And $99 of IAP with now real value in return, like with Realworld Navigational Maps for GPS/Traffic Computers etc. these morals are highly questionable.

 

You want to play ios games from yesterday in 3 years? Wow!

People dont play games they bought last week. This market is all about playing now, in tiny doses of an mc donalds meal. Pay, play, forget, rinse and repeat.

I hardly doubt you will be able to play most of ios games in 3 years. The ios platform is not meant to be backwards compatible, so better hold on to your "old" ios devices if you wish to play todays games in a couple years.

As for freemium, thats the trend of earning money. Just because a few people dont like it doest mean it will not be the premiere income quite soon.
Thats the way the roads leads too.

The pay for play is actualy pretty fair. If i buy acretail game for 50$ i'm stuck with it..no one cares if i play it 5 hours or 500.. But thats unfair to the mayority who play only a little bit.. So freemium comes along, try free, pay later as long as you wish.. Dont like it stop playing it and you only paid what you consumed.

If you are an old guy playing ancient games you should know how arcades work.. And freemium is nothing different. And if someone spends 99$ on an iap he will usualy spend alot more time with title x than the average joe.

Maybee the 99$ iap is the first in the list making it look like .99$ to scam people into buying the expensive one hehe who knows.. And no i have had such ideas never ever.. 99, 199, 299 etc hehe who knows how many customer wont notice the little dot missing 8]

 

This whole aversion to IAP just makes no sense to me.

Imo if the IAPs are just for a bunch of extras, whats the big whoop? For me it boils down simply to "is the IAP cool and worth it?" If it is, then good, go ahead and buy it. If not? Doesn't matter, won't buy it and I can go along enjoying the game as is. Its not like by having EXTRA stuff in the form of IAPs, it REMOVES anything from the initial game.

I mean, just think if you bought an awesome, fully featured game for $1.99, complete with many levels, etc. Then 3 months later the devs build a bunch of extra levels, new abilities, etc and charge $.99 for an "expansion pack." What is so wrong about that? If you don't want the extra content, then you don't have to buy it... its really as simple as that. Its frustrating to see people who say that automatically boycott games with IAP in it, no matter what the scenario. Jet Car Stunts is a good example of this... if you enjoy the fully featured game when you first buy it and want more, its nice to have that IAP in there to fulfill those players who love the game and want more.

 

I guess people feel that if IAP didn't exist they'd be getting that expansion pack for free instead of having to pay $.99 cents for it. Plus looking at how DLC on console games turned out, there's certainly reason to be worried. Whether those fears prove unfounded or not, is still too early to tell (though $100 IAP in kid games certainly can't be helpful in building goodwill toward the system).

 

whats wrong with DLC on consoles? works pretty flawless..

at the end there are quite different things one can do with IAP.. most freemium games who are designed as free to play, don't give you any new levels or maps, cars whatever for the money you spent.. they give you time..
the money you spend saves you time in the game and lets you progress faster.

and a 100$ is just an offer.. makes no difference if you buy the 1$ iap 100x or once the 100$ one.. except usualy the later is a better deal.

 

I was talking about how kids buy them without realizing, since they don't even require a password. So $100 for one DOES make a huge difference for the parent. It's a borderline scam.

As for DLC on consoles I wouldn't exactly call it flawless from a consumer point of view.

 

well havent heart in ages about mayor dlc issues with any of the big platform..
so i don't know what you mean about consumer point of view.

as for iap, they always need verification.. if you give your kids your itunes passwort you can hand them your credit card directly.. and if your careless how you interact with the appstore thats your own fault too.. you can restrict pretty much everything on your kids ipod touch.. or at least log yourself off itunes if you are uncertain if the auto logoff is in effect..

you don't leave the locker to your your gun open and wonder when youd kid shot themself.. there is this thing called parenting.. this applies to pretty much everything.. you have to take care that the stuff you hand your kids is safe.. if you don't well don't point the finger to someone else to blame.. ridiculous..

 

You have a point that parents should be more cautious, but companies know full well that most parents aren't tech savvy enough to enable those parenting controls. And the point I was making is that you CAN buy the $100 IAP WITHOUT the need to enter a password. So yeah, you might wanna get your facts straight before you defend the practice.

As for console DLC I hope you're happy paying 5-10 bucks for a couple of maps that you'll never get to play online because not everyone has them so they never enter the regular rotations anyway. And I'm not even bringing up
the DLC that's already on the disc, but they charge you to unlock it all the same. (That's what I mean by consumer POV).

 

call me old fashioned but I get nervous at the idea of a game charging me real money while I play it.

That's my main knock against IAP. So I never download any game thats "freemium".

 

I was reading an article a bit ago about how the iPhone sometimes does mess up and not force the player to enter a password to get DLC, even after the 15 minute timer is up. This leads to kids racking up obscene iTunes bills sometimes. Thankfully, parents can disable in app purchasing all together now, so when they learn about that hopefully they will use it!

As far as DLC for levels that aren't in the regular rotation of online play, this would only apply to multiplayer online games, not necessarily further levels in a single player game. However, it is an issue you are right.

RoboArena is going to be a multiplayer online game though, so it is an issue that we have been thinking about. Especially since we plan on releasing new multiplayer level packs. I think the trick is making it attractive enough and cheap enough that everybody wants it.

Pocket Legends is an example of a game that does a great job selling level packs that every player buys and eagerly awaits. In fact, Pocket Legends is the best example of a working and profitable F2P system that I know of on the App store. It's how we plan to build our business plan.

I wrote a blog post on our site about how we plan to do our In App Purchases, take a look at it if you want and let me know how it sounds (or if it makes sense...): http://www.bravadowaffle.com/2010/12/roboarena-in-app-purchases/