Not that this should come to a surprise for anyone, but Rolando 3 has been officially cancelled http://wireless.ign.com/articles/106/1069968p1.html The bad news is that it seems as though ngmoco is planning to continue in the path that we (maybe I, if I an only speaking for myself) do not like, meaning the whole "pay-to-play" pricing model that (arguably) ruined Eliminate. Rolando 2 still remains one of my favorite iPhone games to date and I for one am very sad to see this news.
Just wanna say that I called this a month before it came out. And then I was threatened to be banned. ...Still dunno why...
Dissapointing to hear, I now have lost all faith in ngmoco. I believe they have sealed their own fate through this "freemium" BS and I do not see We Rule and GodFinger raking in big profits
Yeah, I'd rather have a full experience at a set price than an empty experience where you need to pay constantly to get the full experience.
Pay to play pisses me off. It's not an arcade.... Seriously, this is really dumb. They cancel the one series of games that was actually decent from them.
I don't know. They're making themselves into the Zynga of the App Store, and Zynga seems to be doing rather well. Fremium, unfortunately, works.
I'm getting tired of ngmoco. Their first few games were really good, and now this whole free app + DLC pay sucks. It seems like they abandoned the extra DLC levels for Star Defense and now Rolando 3. I guess it's more about the money, they're probably earning more than they usually did.. I did like the idea of Rolando 2 first chapter set, then pay for extra levels if you want to play on. It works well this way rather than paying for extra energy cells/food. EDIT: Rolando was once pulled from the app store for the release of Rolando 2.... remember that..
ngmoco was once my favourite developer/publisher on the App Store. I loved all their early titles, and right up to Eliminate (the only game which suits this method) I loved all their apps. Rolando 3 needs to happen, and Handcircus should do it by themselves. Rolando 2 didn't do well because it wasn't marketed well enough to make it up the charts. I was overseas when it came out, and I went in to an internet cafe with below dial-up speed and waited for it to download. Freemium is the wrong way to go. You may get profits, but you lose fans, and you lose integrity. I want a full experience. I would have paid NZ$13.99 for TouchPets, but I haven't spent a dollar on it. The cross-promotions, and the games like Epic Pet Wars, which I loath with a passion, have all degraded the company. Plus+ is the only high quality, polished and reliable service from ngmoco now. Any employees watching these forums, please listen. This is where your market should be. Freemium must go for games that do not suit it, and high quality titles must come back.
nah, I still believe in donut games, IUGO (thought it had sales, they care about their games and customers), Gamevil, anyway, I still have hope
Everyone who is complaining about this should have bought Rolando 2. If it had sold well none of this would have happened. I'm not a huge fan of the payment scheme either, but I can't blame them for going where the money is.
Though I hate the freemium method, this argument saying it doesn't work is rather annoying. Freemium does work, and NGmoco is making a good deal of money out of it. Don't you realize that the whole "integrity to fans" and "losing valued customers" is false? The long time fans of NGmoco and hardcore fans of the Iphone see right from wrong, but unfortunately, the people with self control are few. The majority of the IPhone users will continue to buy their games, so saying this model is terrible and a failure due to your personal opinion is ridiculous. I have lost no respect of NGmoco for them using a method that WORKS, I don't expect them to go accomodate the minority of fans, when their current method is more profitable. I still see it as long as NGmoco doesn't sacrifice quality, I won't lose respect for them.
Okay, forget the whole integrity thing. My point is that everyone was happy with their first games, and now their money-focused method that has got rid of Rolando 3 has people angry. Both methods are good, but freemiumin moderation.
I remember the good old days when a game would come out with a paid version for people who want to buy it, and a lite version for the people that are unsure. Anyone else remember that?