Imagine a world where all games are free all the time and you never had to pay for a digital game ever. Wouldn't that be great? Unfortunately developers have to eat, and food costs money. I'm curious about which monetization scheme people feel is the best and why. For example: Would you like to be able to try a game and if you like it buy it for a one time price? Would you like a game to be free but very difficult unless you pay for certain items? These are just a few example of monetization schemes used in mobile games. What do you feel is the most humane way for developers to make money on their game and for the player to feel like they are getting their monies worth in entertainment?
Only free!!! Jk I myself would rather an app just paid from the start but I'm not sure that's the best way to make money. I guess the most fair way would be free with iap for full version. I honestly have no problem with iap as long as they don't affect game play in online competitive games. Things like buying gold are a no but things like custom colors ect are fine.
Personally, I would like to be able to demo a game for a short while and then buy it for around five to ten dollars if I like it. I'm not a fan of the current trend when you have to keep putting small amounts of money into a game in order to keep enjoying it. An example of this would be Juggernaut. This is a great game that I would have happily bought for fifteen dollars and played frequently. Unfortunately, it was free with in app equipment purchases that were necessary if you wanted to keep progressing. This scheme made me feel like it was a huge money grab and left a sour taste in my mouth. I stopped playing and didn't give the Devs any money even though it was a great turn-based rpg with interesting mechanics and a decent story. To sum it up, I would have preferred to buy it outright so that I could enjoy it without in-app purchases hanging over my head and spoiling my fun.
I agree completely. Iap is fine so long as I can pay for the game once and enjoy it, and then buy cosmetics later.
I was using the term in the way it is used in the gaming industry. Specifically referring to the monetization of mobile games. The term is used commonly in the free to play market. I would love to hear your opinion on the op.
lol! Okay guys, let's not feed the troll. What are your thoughts on how money is currently made from mobile games?
It ultimately depends. I like the freemium with premium upgrades the best. I was refering to the guy who defined monetization. He had links in his posts in the words. Clever, but still spam.
So, if a game could be downloaded and demoed for free and then the full version bought in app... wouldn't that be better?
That's the model Paper 53 uses and it's a very successful App. Another advantage to this approach is that no one tracks in-app price drops. So you don't have to raise and lower the prices of your App to stay competitive.
Thanks for the info! We really just want to make games for the love of it and are not necessarily looking for the most efficient way to make money off of them. Any other games you felt good about giving money to?
The ability is there, but for some reason devs don't use it, they seem more content on releasing as premium, doing a freemium convert, a bait and switch. The other option is a lite and paid model, but again, devs don't seem to want to do it cause they gotta do 2 builds. Free to try with an inapp to unlock seems the way to go cause one won't lose purchases like on bait and switches, but the focus always seems on $100 cars, or $100 in coins, not for a buck to unlock a game. Why do devs seem hesistant to go with a model like this? Still would make for cheap games, and free to try, so a huge base of potential customers. But it is not used. It is strange.
How would you feel about a company releasing their core game for free and then having expansion content released on a later date cost five to ten dollars?
Hmmm, honestly I have to say I'm turned off by that. I'm not big on buying expansion packs for apps, especially if I am given the whole game for free. Getting the whole game for free puts me in a mindset that the rest should be free, because I'm so used to getting into a big premium game, Infinity Blade for example, and getting those quality expansions for free. Trust me, ik its illogical but its just the way the AppStore has bred me. I am much more open to getting a snippet of the game for free then being able to purchase the whole thing at its premium price point (ala trial versions of games on XBLA).
That's kinda what we are planning to do with Shifts. We would give you the original game for free and then charge a small amount ($2-5) for the expansion. This allows us to get a large player base and hopefully capitalize on it while still maintaining good will. How would you feel about that?
I want to pay for content. I don't want games to be free and then try to trick money out of me or my kids. In fact, if a game is free I usually skip it. As a general policy I don't let my kids download any free games, only paid apps. (Unless it's free because of Apple's special promotion.) I guess I'm alright with the idea of paying an additional fee for additional content. If I like the game enough to pay extra to get more of it, then that's great.
I'm also struggling with this issues as we finish up our Glorkian Warrior iOS game. I think I want to release the core game for $1.99 and then if it does well enough to be worth the effort add additional content later for another 99 cents. I know a lot of people won't download the game at all if it's not free, though.