FAAD Lately!

on fire!

Trenches
Tilt to Live
Skull Pogo
Freaking Inkies
Boostball
iBlast Moki
Hell Kid
NY Zombies

Amazing!

Yes - this FAAD website, as well as the other free app sites - are hurting more and more indie devs harder than anyone can imagine yet.

Someone should stop this craziness.

I'm not gonna lie. FAAD has been making me a bit mad right now. I'm starting to see games that I paid money for go free and the developers get bashed in the reviews. Although I sometimes get some cool free apps, I am aware that the developers are kinda being hurt.

For example:
Tilt to Live (was 4.5 star rating or higher since release) is now 3.5 stars. I can't stand to see One Man Left get bashed by a bunch of random 1 star reviews saying that one of the best apps in the app store sucks or is a waste of time.
HellKid (was 4.5 star rating or higher since release) is now 3.5 stars. Same thing here, people complain that a great game is too hard or is repetitive or just type a bunch of random letters and give it 1 star.
iBlast Moki now only has 3 stars. Are you kidding me.......

And, I can kinda feel the pain of the indie developers out there now. I've defened FAAD before on how they can help, but in iTunes at least, the "help" they're giving developers who try their system isn't really showing up. It's hard to find a single app that has been featured by FAAD in the past month that has more than 3 stars now, and all of the apps were above 3 stars when they were featured.The FAAD motto should be, "give us money so we can make your ratings fall"

Today, Freaking Inkies is free. A unique and fun game, it has 4 stars right now. Watch the ratings fall....thanks to FAAD

Dropped to 3 stars.

ive also noticed this trend, its a shame. Maybe these games are losing money in the long run?? They should just put out an update when the price goes back up and the reviews will be more reflective

Well I'm sure the devs were aware that their ratings would go down as a result of FAAD... they must have a plan already.

I've always been sceptical about the whole 'free app a day' concept. I'm glad I'm not even considering this

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Last edited by Crescent Flare; 06-20-2010 at 02:40 AM.

And this will hurt you most, if you're unlucky.

Please let me explain you why the downward spiral for the indie devs already begun moving:

lately, I heard in 2 social groups I am a member in, that more and more people are stopping to buy indie games. Not only there - read the threads of the games that went free because of FAAD's promotional website (as well as the other sites). Some are happy, but all the early buyers - and therefore: supporters - are getting more and more pissed because the games are going free faster and faster.
Meanwhile, there are not only medium quality games - no, more and more high-class titles are going free. Look at the list and you're astonished. Sure, there will be games that will never go free and sell like hell (like Super QuickHook, for example), but most games are going to be free weeks - or even days! - after their release. FAAD has hundredthousand users or more meanwhile... and they only need to wish for a game to get it free eventually (indie devs, that is. Some people are wishing for major comp games, like from Gameloft - but that's just silly). Furthermore, more and more people noticing FAAD because of the sudden huge download numbers of some games and their "free"-status.
Today - there are even games like PUZZLE QUEST and TILT TO LIVE or Freaking Inkies that are going free!

So, what will be happening?

Today, an indie dev releases a game. There are some die hards and first day customers, for sure - but there are also a lot of people knowing FAAD and the other pages - and these people had stopped buying most of the indie titles.
Now the indie devs are wondering because they only get minor sales. But they need their product to be visible in the AppStore - high ranked, to get more and more sales.
Outcome: they go to FAAD and letting them promote their game for free to get huge download numbers and become visible in the AppStore, not knowing, that FAAD is responsible for their minor sale numbers.
The users know today: go to FAAD and wish for an app - and it is only a matter of time until they can have it for free.

So, devs who aren't promoting their game on FAAD will have a hard time in the AppStore.

I guess that ICS Mobile is not only knowing this - this is a nice plan indeed to tie the devs to their promotional services.
More and more and faster each day, the downward spiral will turn and the indie devs will get hurt more and more by this.
And even more: why should people buy games when they can get 4 free titles (or more) every day? After a few weeks, you have games you can play for months to come.

Well, this is just a theory - but with a big grain of truth.
Just look at the sale numbers of new releases. 6 -8 months ago, the first day sales were bigger than today. Just look at the frustrated first day customers and indie supporters.
And the last point: a big bunch of games get lower ratings after having an appearance on FAAD.

I don't know where this will end - but I don't see a good ending yet.

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Last edited by Vovin; 06-20-2010 at 08:05 AM.

freeappaday is in effect a downwards spiral.
the appventcalendar was a fun and cool experience, as it seemed like a once in a long time experience, but if it does come around this year, i wont really be bothered for it. i havent payed much attention to freeappaday tbh.

What Vovin says is very agreeable, everyday I feel more and more paranoid about buying indie games because of this movement, and stick to higher up publishers like Activision and Gameloft.