I have to agree on how upsetting constant IAPs are. To be honest I have played a lot of freemium titles but would rather pay to enjoy a game just for the simple reason that I want to enjoy what I payed for. Constant ads are also a pain. I don't know much about how the freemium model, IAPs and gaming price model but this thread has made me interested to go deeper on how these things actually work.
What awp said. Both Kotor and X-COM succeeded on iOS and had tons of customers so far. In Germany, both games had top spots in the charts, for weeks. Final Fantasy. Another example of good selling apps. And The World Ends With You was a big success at 15-20 bucks, maybe even outnumbering X-Com or Kotor. People are willing to pay prices in the range of 10-20 bucks without any doubt, as far as quality and content are given. I guess that FTL will hit the same vein, maybe not selling as much copies as the games mentioned before, yet it will still be satisfying for the devs. And if S/E manage to release FF7 or 8 on iOS, I expect Apple's server to be overloaded on release day. I am watching the iOS game scene since 2009. I saw many promising games fail terribly. But as soon as it comes to a game that's considered either a legend or a classic hit, the devs can already start counting the heaps of money. iOS gaming has a wide acceptance today - not only in terms of cool games for quick gaming fixes, but also as a medium for console quality stuff. Then the iPad appeared and things even got better for iOS gaming. TWEWY was around 40-50 bucks when it arrived on DS. S/E port to iOS was absolutely good. Looking at this, people have no problem to put money on the counter for a game that fits on their phone and is only at 40% of the original price while being able to compete with the console version. In the end it is the flexibilty of the Appstore - containing a fantastic mix of games of all genres and pricings - which made iOS gaming such a success. And between all free or low-priced games at a buck, or three, or five, there's always a spot for a high-priced game - as long as it has the neccessary quality to find its audience. A last look at iOS original games tells us that games like Infinity Blade or others at a higher pricing are also able to find a spot in the charts, as long as they give gamers a quailty experience. This also applies to games from Slitherine. But it's also sad to see that thousands of devs not even rake in the money for the development costs of their apps (I advice to google and read the blog if the Butterscotch Shenanigans ( or for the lazy ones, here: http://www.butterscotch-shenanigans.com/2014/02/in-defense-of-freemium.html?m=1 )) and are forced to quit iOS development after 2-3 games. Hundreds (or a thousand?) of devs already left iOS. Btw, Sam from the Butterscotchies was diagnosed stage 4 lymphoma last year and currently fights his cancer ( http://www.androidrundown.com/blog/butterscotch-shenanigans-sam-coster-fighting-lymphoma-making-games/ and http://www.butterscotch-shenanigans.com/2014/01/the-last-game-i-make-before-i-die.html?m=1 ). But he seems to recover and they're back into development, AND I CAN'T wait what they have for us next. (Wish you all the best, Sam!) To get back to the thread's initial topic: yes, some things are just insane. But if you want to do yourself a favor: lean back, relax, and enjoy good iOS gaming while ignoring those price trolls. Don't waste your time complaining about them, use your time better: go out with your love, meet your buddies or play some effin' cool games instead. Sometimes, it is just not worth talking, because the people you're talking to simply don't listen.
I see it like this, iOS as a gaming platform hasn't found its feet yet. It hasn't stabilized with the birth of the AppStore and the sudden explosion in mobile gaming. Anything can happen in these current times, all devs are scrambling to find a sweet spot and see what customers habits are. We have a lot to learn yet from mobile gaming and it'd strategy to sell at a stable rate. Right now... An app can explode or fail, there's no middle ground. Even the price structure is unstable. Right now it is a mess.
Lol, good point, but there's only one thing I doubt. I expect that the Appstore won't lose its chaotic nature. At least as long as Apple doesn't intend to get rid of it.
I think it would help developers if Apple would extend the top charts to 1000 in each category. Top 200 is ridiculous when there are over 1,000,000 apps.
Agree. After 6 years I think Apple is quite comfortable with the chaos. In fact they might not even think anything is wrong and all is normal assuming I've never heard Apple saying otherwise.
