Why convert premium into f2p?

Discussion in 'General Game Discussion and Questions' started by coolpepper43, Apr 15, 2015.

  1. coolpepper43

    coolpepper43 👮 Spam Police 🚓

    Aug 31, 2012
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    i don't fully understand why developers are constantly turning premium games into f2p games. If they need more revenue why not just make a separate free version of the game. I don't think it would cost anymore for development so I do not understand the advantage of this. Plus this would keep the paying customers happy.
     
  2. psj3809

    psj3809 Moderator

    Jan 13, 2011
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    Its quite common. Happened to Table Top Racing.

    They need to generate money and updates arent cheap. Some people expect updates to their games forever for free (despite the app being just a few dollars).

    If the devs dont make enough money then they fold, go under, the game will never be updated and thats one more dev gone from iOS development.

    Its not great when a paid game has ad's but the reasons are often genuine.
     
  3. coolpepper43

    coolpepper43 👮 Spam Police 🚓

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    But that doesn't answer why not make a separate app with ads while keeping the premium version.
     
  4. psj3809

    psj3809 Moderator

    Jan 13, 2011
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    Two apps to update all the time. Sure it'll cost time and money. I 'presume' they went with the ads as they perhaps didnt make enough money and need to cover costs.

    Having to update two apps constantly must be a pain
     
  5. Exact-Psience

    Exact-Psience Well-Known Member

    Jan 12, 2012
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    Doesnt each app you put up on the app store has an upkeep to stay listed? That coukd be another reason that devs cant have 2 versions of the game up.
     
  6. Elsa

    Elsa Well-Known Member

    Apr 7, 2015
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    Of course not. All you need is a one-time-(per year) payment of 99$ for the developer status and then you can submit as many apps as you want. Apple gets a nice cut from every sale that your app makes, so it'd be pretty stupid to limit developers with how much they can upload. And if that was the case you would see apps pulled way more frequently.
     
  7. CrazedJava

    CrazedJava Well-Known Member

    Jan 29, 2015
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    You hit the nail on the head. I currently work in the technology field and so software development. My current role is more of a designer but I did use to code quite a bit.

    The problem with 2 apps is that no matter how similar the codebase there will still be some differences. The upside is that you can probably use the same team to do patches but you are still doubling effort.

    Not just in terms of coding, but also testing. For smaller development shops that is a lot of effort and all that effort equals money they have to pay someone to code, test, release, etc.

    I don't think people realize how much effort goes into some of these games. Even a minor release can take a big effort to get it out the door.
     
  8. blahdo

    blahdo Well-Known Member

    Dec 28, 2013
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    You also lose your ratings/reviews and App Store rankings if you release a new app.
     
  9. kmacleod

    kmacleod Well-Known Member
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    Well you see, sometimes developers have absolutely no respect for their customers, and they want to share that lack of respect with the world.

    Think of it as a public service announcement: they're telling all of us that they don't deserve our money, and that we should spend it on more reputable developers. It's a form of charity!
     
  10. coolpepper43

    coolpepper43 👮 Spam Police 🚓

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    Lol, that's what I thought!
     
  11. TheOutlander

    TheOutlander Well-Known Member

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    Because why limiting yourself to 3 dollars max per user when you can hunt some 'whales' to get 100's?
     
  12. tunawrap

    tunawrap Well-Known Member

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    Quoting CrazedJava because there seem to be plenty of people in this thread completely ignoring it completely.
     
  13. HarryWarden

    HarryWarden Well-Known Member

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    Look at how much King has made from Candy Crush. That's why f2p is so popular, despite how much most TA members hate it. I hate it but understand why they do it.
     
  14. kmacleod

    kmacleod Well-Known Member
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    I don't hate free-to-play. It has it's place. If you're a developer, you want to get your game out to as many people as possible, and what could be better for that than giving your game away for free?

    The problem is when you take money from people under false pretenses. If you take money in exchange for providing a game without timers and ads, then after the buzz dies down, instert timers and ads into the game that you collected money from... you're screwing over the very people who supported you the most. It's immoral.

    That's my opinion. If you do this sort of bait and switch garbage to your biggest supporters, I consider you to be a bad person.
     

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