Hey guys, Been a long time lurker in the forums and finally decided to partake in the fun you guys all have here...especially since we are working on our game just like many of you... Anyway, I was reading some info on how people will initially launch a game free, wait until a decent number of people download it, and then switch it over to a paid app. The thought being that their download numbers will seem much more impressive than others and thereby giving them a higher ranking in the app store...my question is did Apple close this loop-hole or not or does it not even work at all? Seems like it could be pretty unfair. Thanks!
Did this ever work? Firstly, total downloads is almost meaningless - they use a sliding window. If Apple used total downloads, the top games would probably be locked in their spots forever. Secondly, Apple already penalizes free games - they give an artificial boost to pay games when computing relative popularity. Card Shark Deluxe is listed as being "more popular" than the free version, despite the free version getting 10 times the downloads on a daily basis (as one would expect).
As far as review go, be aware that a free game will have an overall lower review score, as people download the game, play for 10 seconds and then delete it and rate it 1 star. I saw about a half point drop in the averages from my games when I made them free. Free games will also attract reviews saying stuff like "This game is ok for free", which may have a negative impact on sales when you start charging.
It did work around 7 months ago, you can look up Fuzzle (there was an article about it a long time ago, I don't know if it is still online) Back then if you switched from free to paid your download count was not reset, so if you got 10,000 free downloads yesterday then switched to paid it looks like you got 10,000 paid downloads. They have changed it now so when you switch your download window count is reset.
Thanks for the great info guys (that's why I like this forum)... So it sounds like the biggest way Apple shut down this artificial boost trick was by reseting your download count once you make the switch from free to paid. But the number of reviews carries over (though you might get dinged from lower ratings by virtue of being a free game).
When I sort your games by "Most Popular" in US iTunes. It show the free version 1st, Deluxe, then Karate Fighter Lite.
I'm not seeing that here. Card Shark Deluxe shows up with the popularity almost twice as full as Card Shark Lite. Karate Fighter (full) as of this morning shows up just barely ahead of Karate Fighter Lite. The ratio of Card Shark Deluxe to Card Shark Lite downloads is higher than the ratio of Karate Fighter to Karate Fighter Lite downloads, but in both cases, the actual daily download numbers are much higher for the free versions of the respective game. Popularity is definitely inflated for pay apps. Phil
Full? Not sure how accurate that is. This link should have all your apps. Then you sort by the Top right corner. http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtist?id=293405662
