Does a lite version still make economical sense?

The paid version of my game (Animal Lost) was no success. It was released May 5th 2011 and after one week it was getting about 10 downloads a day. At the same time I released Lite version which had about 1/3 of the content. Downloads of the paid version immediately quadrupled. Three weeks later the paid version was still getting about 20 downloads a day. My numbers are low, but I hope it helps. The effect of Lite version probably depends a lot on the game.

 

Lite version got 1000 downloads during the first day. After that, downloads decreased really fast. Now after 3 months the Lite has been downloaded 4 times as much as the paid version.

 

i think in the case of screen invader i doubt a lite would make much of a difference to your sales

 

It's a way to get a little exposure, but it's not going to make a huge dent unless you have a really captivating hook. It can even be detrimental if you don't have one. Your lite version will eat potential sales. But if your full version isn't getting sales now it's worth a shot.

 

The lite version is a fine line. You can't give too much content, or else they won't buy the full.

 

Mr. Ugly had a great suggestion a while ago about making the lite version be unique content that adds to your game rather than just a watered down version of the actual game. Like a short prequel or something. That way even your current fans would download it and enjoy it, and there's no worries about giving away too much of your premium content for free.

I always liked that idea.

 

LITE version always helps, but you need massive lite dl number to push some real purchases on your full version. Sometimes lite version doesn't even do as good as the paid version (it happens).

i'd strongly suggest update full version, leave some room to put some decent IAPs in it and let it go free when it is not doing so good. when a paid app goes free, it will get much bigger dl numbers than the originaly lite version itself, always.

example, our last game Cosmic Birds did around 8000 dls world wide on paid version, we released the lite version after that, it only got like around 3000 dls so far, didn't anything good at all.

 

That's a really great idea... anyone know of an example that does this?

 

TrainYard Express

 

Also Star Defense and Star Defense Prelude from ngmoco. Back when Star Defense was paid, anyway.

 

Well - in the PC world, it has been prominently used by Valve Software, their demo for the original Half-Life was called Half-Life Uplink and it featured a unused part from the full game.

If you are going this way, remember to mention in the paid version, that the "Lite" version has additional content which is not in the paid version (maybe with different wording, this way it doesn't sound that good^^), so that all those skipping the lite version, directly buying the full game, don't miss it.

 

Has anyone here tried option #3?

Having a free only app, that contains

• In app purchase for full version
• In app purchases for items such as in game currency or something similar
• Both?

It would be interesting to know how these different options compare to the original, free/full game divide.

 

Is it possible to have 'free' in app purchases? I'm thinking of releasing a paid app early with a single game mode, then adding extra modes with IAP, and making the app free (along with the initial game mode).

My only problem with this is it's a bit of a 'screw you' to the initial purchasers, I'm thinking I could release the first IAP for free for a couple of weeks to allow initial players to get it before making the app free and then charging for the IAP.

Does that make sense, thoughts?

 

Why not just have two different versions? A paid one that gets the additional content as updates, and a free one that gets additional content as IAP. It would require some extra work, but hey this is a job after all right?

 

A lite version doesn't make sense anymore, at all. Luke's solution is better:

- Free with iAP to unlock full game.
There is only advantages and no inconvenients to do that.

Also, it's possible to have free iAP.

Lazer's suggestion is interesting, but for me it's not a "lite" version, it's a premium version and a freemium version.

 

independant of the games quality, not every game suits for a proper demo..

sometimes games are too simple or don't have enough content to properly offer an lite..

an good example of an very successfull game not having an lite for quite some time is flight control..

for a long stretch the game had only one level.. so it would be actualy hard to make a lite version out of it without butchering the gameplay.. for example with a limited timer or something along that line..

so they created a lite a long time after they updated the normal version with alot more levels & content.. and offered basically the vanilla flight control as the lite..

so only judging by the screenshots.. (which i could be completly wrong since its based only on caps) i assume there is not enough "meat" to make a proper demo version..

key point of the demo version is to attract people to buy your full game based on the amazing fun they had with the lite..

and if you don't want to waste your time creating and managing a lite version id rather make a proper one if possible or leave it be..

chances are you might have more sales without a lite than with a lite.. because know you might get the one or the other to snatch it on tier1
who may or may not like it afterwards but its a sale..

if you lite is not good you will actualy loose the interest of that single customers and have one sale less..


as for making the demo unique.. i am always a fan of such ones.. 10 years ago when we created the demo for diggles we've created tons of unique content for the demo which was a mix between the tutorial section of the game and some additional content but with a big twist that it was all set up like the game was an unfinished movie set for the full game..
and in general it was great because you saw the love and passion people put into a product and making even the demo something special.. a complete easteregg if you may say so..with totaly silly ideas that just extended the sillyness of the stuff in the full game..

i'm always into such things, because it shows passion.. not that there is much space for such stuff in tight shedules nowerdays except of course in the indie dev scene