Someone mentioned the vocal minority and I believe the disdain for IAP is down to these people. More specifically I believe it's down to younger contributors. Generally when a new free + IAP (or even paid with IAP to supplement) game is released, the release thread will he hounded with a) Erratic nonsensical angry rants about the developer, the game and the IAP usually peppered with pretty bad spelling/grammatical errors, and b) Check their devices - mostly all iPod touches, probably bought for Birthdays and Christmas. Now I'm aware I'm making a pretty wide generalisation and I'm sure some 14 year old with every iPhone since release is going to come and rather eloquently argue my point, however I don't think the facts like this can be ignored. Another point, someone mentiond AppShoppr? Something we've all seen for a long time is the culture of getting something for free or almost free in the App Store becoming more and more prevalent. People will say why should I pay x amount for this, when I can get Dead Space or Nova 2 for 69p? These are the kinds of people who don't understand how much work goes into even the simplest application. You're always going to have an uphill struggle against people like this in an environment such as the App Store. People wait for these sales, I'd go as far as to say a lot of people rely on them, and there's nothing wrong with that but because it's harder to see a free + IAP game go on sale, people will generally overlook them. In fact as a I type this I can't remember seeing a free + IAP game go on sale. My final point to make, free + IAP games presumably chart best on the top grossing chart, and who ever looks there?
I stay clear from IAP as you never feel like you own the purchase then. What if the app is removed, can you restore purchases, and can you do it across formats. This is not about psychological aspects or people not liking the taster etc, but more about feeling unsure about keeping/being able to restore the content you paid for. Shantae is a good example. I brought the game via unlock. THEN a full version was released LATER. Give me the option straight away or don´t ever offer IAP if you decide to change it. Or at least make sure that you can always and forever restore the purchases across all your devices with little to no hassle.
If the item is permanent (like a game unlock it) you can restore it if you delete the app. The only items you cannot restore are consumables like coins or powerups.
New England Gamer had given an insightful reply to this very point regarding IAPs in the Terra Noctis thread: The solution to this issue on Apple's part is so obvious, hosting purchased IAPs on their own servers permanently as they already do for main apps, that to not do so right now seems mischievous to me.
Sounds like the discussion here is being split between those talking about Freemium games and those talking about a trial game with full game unlock IAP. I'm not too fussed about the latter, but the former is generally applied to either repetitve games that fail to hold my interest or games which are going to continually try to nickel and dime me. A select few manage get Freemium just right, but on the whole it's almost turned into an entirely new genre of game, and it's one that appeals more to your casual gamer (just look at Facebook games) than the seasoned gamer.
I wonder if your expectations of customers aren't equally unrealistic. Presumably, your "real" customers would be a loyal cadre of discriminating app buyers who recognize developers' struggles and circumstances and seek to reward them for their efforts out of a sense of solidarity or pity. I can't say that those latter customers don't exist, but they're pretty rare birds, and I bet a large percentage of them are developers themselves. I ought to be one of those customers, because I do know what goes into developing a software product and I'm willing and able to spend money on higher-ticket games. However, I don't actually behave that way, mostly because the market shapes my behavior. I already own enough games to keep me busy for years; these days, the only reason I buy anything is because it goes on sale. It's not that I need more games or want to play them right now. It's that the sale introduces time pressure that is otherwise absent. For example, I own both the games you mention (Dead Space and N.O.V.A. 2), and I bought them for 99c each. But I've spent a total of less than 10 minutes playing them. 95% of games eventually go on sale. I never get the chance to grapple with the "should I just go ahead and pay full price" question because sales happen so frequently. By the time a game rises to the top of my mental queue, it's already been on sale and I've bought it at the sale price. The only recent holdout I can think of is Another World. I'm perfectly willing to pay $5 for it, but for that to happen, it's going to have to wait for me to catch up with it. If it goes on sale, I'll buy it at the sale price - not out of hostility to the developers but because I know I want it and hey, it's on sale! Would you reasonably expect me to do otherwise? When I really like an app or game, I often gift it to a couple of other people, as long as it's cheap. I guess a part of that is motivated by gratitude to the developer, but more directly, I just want friends to have the same enjoyment from the app that I have. I guess that's another downside to IAP, since as far as I know you can't gift IAPs unless the developer makes some sort of special provision for this. Part of the problem is that as an app buyer, you often don't know which of those worlds you're entering when you take on an IAP-based game. You can often get a vague idea from the game description, but even if you know the continent, you don't necessarily know the city. Is it a game that requires repeated IAP injections to keep going? Is it a game in which IAPs are entirely optional? If I unlock, do I really get the whole thing? Good points.
I didn't use the word 'real' to describe these people but I'd say with almost 100% certainty that most people that buy apps from the App Store are real. To answer your points, discriminating? Yes. Discriminating against poor content. It's shameful I know. You use the term loyalty as if it's a bad thing - haven't you ever heard an announcement of a new game/film/book/song/whatever and thought, "Hmmn well I liked their last one, I'd be keen to support their efforts..." ? Rewarding a developer? Well it's a funny way of saying it, but yes, purchasing one's wares is a way of rewarding them for their work, so again yes. It's rarely pity that makes me hit the buy button though, self-pity if anything.
Really, I think the reason has something to do with pulling an unexpected IAP on players just as soon as they get settled in to the game. For me, that leaves an bad taste in my mouth.
I'm working in the video game industry but I'm also a big app store purchaser...the last games I downloaded that were obligating me to buy upgrades in the shop, I just deleted them right away. Here's an example of a typical upgrade shop: 1$ for 10 ruby, 5$ for 100 ruby, 50$ for 100 000 ruby...are you kidding me? Is it like a bad joke? And obviously, you don't earn enough money in the game to buy the big guns and the big ship... So personally, these kind of IAP, I really don't like.
Thanks for sharing all your thoughts and experiences, folks, very insightful. I was considering to go with free + IAP to unlock extra levels, now I'm not so sure anymore. I'm almost inclined to start with a single free app, to see if people like it. If they don't, that's that. If it picks up a little steam I could create extra content, update the app and raise the price to $ 0.99. That way, early adopters seemingly get rewarded for their interest and loyalty. Right?
After our first IAP + Unlock experience in our app Froggies, we would not go that route again. I'd recommend ads in a fully playable free version (if they can be placed in an unobtrusive place) as they can have surprising revenue and a separate paid version with something a little bit extra. That's probably the route we will go next.
Well said, opened up my eyes a little and I am open minded as it is. I may have to qoute in a Paper I am writing, if ya dont mind... Pure, simple, a real touch of reality.
There's a world of people out there who live on free. Just look at Craigslist. Do not disrupt this ecosystem.
Well, the next few weeks are going to be interesting for us! We have released RoboHero today for Free + IAP to unlock. Here's the iTunes link for anybody interested in seeing how we implemented it. Love to hear your thoughts... http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/robohero/id494449491?mt=8 It would be awesome if you'd rate and review the game while you are at it!
We are living in the "entitled" generation (I can only speak for the U.S.), where people think they should get something for nothing, where even losers get a trophy. Where everybody is special and everyone is "treated equal". Ya, just wait til little Timmy gets out in the real world. I visited a pirate site that offered up my game for free. The attitude of these people in the forum is incredible. "Intellectual Property should be free!" "Why should I help XXX company get rich?" It was obvious that most of these commenters were kids or young adults. These attitudes belong to people that haven't had to work for a living yet and don't know the value of a dollar. No, not all young people are like that, but a LOT of them are. So of course it happens in the App Store too. How often do you see a review that says, "Ripoff at $.99...if it was free then maybe it would be okay" What??? Dude, I payed $7 four years ago for a poker game on my MetroPCS flip phone with a whopping 200 x 300 resolution. And people complain about a buck? It's not just in the App Store. We're living in a generation where people feel they are owed something. It's going to get worse.
all you say is true - things are tough - BUT there's a bit of a flip side to this coin. At least, so far as I am expecting things-- If you look at "the REAL game world," people will bend over backwards (pre-orders, expensive collector editions etc) to support the names and brands they trust. Ookay, apples and oranges a bit (a multi-million dollar game production for PS3 has a bit of a different "perceived value" than your bog-standard iOS app) - and sure, while you still get plenty of people who will AHHHR bioshock or COD or whatnot, there's more than enough people falling over themselves to fork over the money as quickly as humanely possible. Again, it might not mean much on our side of the fence, it does mean that people understand that "some" (err, traditional) digital entertainment is still worth a buttload of money and it is important for them to have it is quickly as possible, and in a way that might make them feel special at that (getting it first, getting a little action figure, etc). One callout I can make in iOS-land is Sword and Sworcery, though that game wasn't necessarily "cheap" to make, they did go an extra mile and package a soundtrack that could be bought alongside the game. Hell they even made a goddamned expensive vinyl album. They sold a TON of them too. In the meantime, overall it's going to just be a long waiting game for the mobile developers/brands to build any real lasting cachet to the point where most people could expect to try such things. You might see a little now - honestly if Halfbrick or Rovio put out a special edition version of one of their games, they could get away with charging $10 or whatever for it and sell very well (there'd be endless angry pissants on the forum threads, but these devs'd still be able to maintain their dominance in spite of it). I don't expect this will happen very much though.
I know this thread it's old, but I was wondering this same stuff, And i'd like to know if things changed since 2012.
