Just something I'm curious about. Clearly free to play is, in general, better then premium to make money so I want to know how much? I don't want X dollars, percentages is better but if your game is... Say $3, but changed to free to play with in app purchases (expansions and or micro transactions) how much more do you make? I apologize if this is too broad, but I do think this is a good question. And please, don't be a douche about it with your 'free to play is killin mobile' for some of you. This isn't about that, it's about cold hard money and facts. Or, you don't need to say percentages, just say if it's 'a lot' or 'some' or 'a little' or 'far more' or maybe even 'far less' etc etc.
This thread idea. I like it. Maybe it's less intial moneda but as time goes on the freemium starts selling inapps while the premium goes with a rise, peak then severe drop off?
I do think it's a better idea then another topic on 'why does freemium/f2p suck and why is it so popular'? Yeah exactly. Or how does it affect games that were premium but went free to play? I don't know if Devs themselves will answer the question but any data people can find would be great.
Daredevil Dave 2 was initially released as "premium" (are we calling dollar games premium?). Sales sucked so I released a free version. It did not help, in fact I made a little less money. I removed the free version and sales went back up. I guess Dave 2 isn't what people want, based on the free sales conversions. Then again, making it free with IAP was a thrown together "thing". I didn't plan out which levels to offer for free or anything like that. I did what I could with an already completed game. You either nail it or you don't, and I didn't. For me, Daredevil Dave #1 was popular so I figured I would get visibility in the Paid area, since Dave 1 was still ranking there after 5 years. It took me waaaaay too long to release though. For pricing, I was afraid my game would get lost in the ocean of free games. If you don't have marketing or name recognition, that is probably what will happen. Or you'll get lucky. The iTunes App Store is terrible for indie devs. If you're not in the top ranks people will never see your game in iTunes unless they are looking for it. iTunes is form over function, like many things Apple does. For Daredevil Dave, as poorly as it's selling (it is selling a little every day), Paid was the way to go. Price doesn't matter. I make the same money no matter the price. I'm probably not offering any new info here, but that's my experience. Last word - there is no way in hell I would put a lot of time into making another game for the iPhone as an indie dev. Dave #1 was released during the "golden age" for indy developers. I'm halfway done with another game but I don't know that I'll finish it.
Great info, I enjoyed Dave 1 & 2. I always wondered how Dave 2 performed since the App Store changed so much between your releases. I have tried paid and F2P and I can't say I have had much success with either. It is just really hard to stand out in the App Store, once you are buried there is no coming back.
That's really good info, thank you for that. Yeah it seems to me that Apple doesn't really care about improving the App Store and just does very minimal effort. But if your game gets lucky and popular, Apple will throw it allllll over the App Store in promotions and stuff. If not though, your well kinda ####ed. There's just so so so much coming through, how can you even find what's good? It's just kinda shitty
