I don't know how hard this would be, or if Apple would allow it, but why not have 2 versions of some games? I would love to buy that RCT game, but I don't buy IAP. But I would pay $10 for it if the ratings were good. Why can't there just be 2 versions? Since I don't do IAP, they can't make money from me, or the thousands or millions of people who won't do IAP. Seems like they are leaving money on the table to me.
I think the number of people who do buy IAP is so much more than those who don't, that something like this would just be a waste for a lot of developers. Having to maintain and update two versions of the same game, etc. That said, there are developers who already do this. Release a paid version and a free ad-supported version where you can pay to remove ads The two I can think of off the top of my head are Polara and 1001 Attempts
Game design can be deeply rooted around a freemium model if done properly rather than tacked on, having two versions would be quite a task for smaller developers to bring to release and maintain. There have been a few paid titles go free with IAP purchases but they're not true freemium titles in that they're not going to monetise very well and are typically a last ditch effort at salvaging profit.
Not this old chestnut ! Firstly not all freemium IAP games are evil. Take a look at Dungeon Quest at the moment which is superb, no paywalls, doesnt push you to buy stuff, if anything i've bought a couple of items as i'm loving the game, had tons of gameplay from it and i want the devs to get some money. Granted there are some games which have paywalls, are a nightmare. Those sorts of ones i just wait to listen to users reviews on threads. But simply saying i refuse to play any freemium game which has IAP's is totally ridiculous as like i say there are games out there which are fine freemium games. Again perhaps if we simply bought games at launch instead of reading so many people begging for promo codes/star bucks codes or waiting for price drops then 'perhaps' we wont have so many freemium titles in the first place If a game released as a premium price and sold by the bucketload as we all bought it then i doubt it'll ever go freemium. If too many people sit on the fence, dither about and wait for a price drop or a promo code then no wonder devs go the freemium route as that makes money.
I don't think that's the case. I think in reality there are a relatively small number of people who buy IAPs, but some of those will spend such ridiculously huge amounts of money that it offsets it.