You're not the only one, I won't be blindly supporting them the in the next round so in this case they've done damage to themselves.
That's a good question, but one I don't think anyone can legitimately answer without doing enough market research to see. The compulsion of buying a "new" game on "sale" versus a limited launch sale price and an eventual hike? Getting featured by Apple also kind of throws a monkey wrench into the question because either way they got a lot of promotion on the appstore itself. The sad reality is, I think it probably made them more money doing it this way. The fanbase MAY be upset but there are always those that feel like the games are such a bargain that they'll still be early adopters next time around. They burn a small number of early adopters, but gaining a large crowd of those that only buy stuff on "sale".... though IMO the sale was pre-planned.
Yeah, you're probably right. I don't know, no matter how you cut it, it just feels devious and underhanded. It reminds me of a local gym that was selling memberships (prepaid, for a year) up until the very day they locked their doors and put "out of business" up on the door. Obviously, not quite the same thing, but it takes a certain kind of moral ambiguity to knowingly sell a product at full price when mere minutes/hours/days later, you know full well it will be the SAME product, at HALF the cost. If devs really want people to jump onboard from the get-go - they need to offer more incentive than just "pay full price and you get to play this game immediately rather than waiting X number of days to play at half price" A token gesture would be enough to reaffirm faith in early adoption - give them an IAP as a bonus? Free credit doubler in the first 72 hours of release! You know, SOMETHING to make it a little easier to swallow when an inevitable sale hits? I'm just spitballing, but I don't think I'm being completely unreasonable here.
We all do take advantage of sales, or we wouldn't be in this section of the forums. I bought Epoch 2 day one. I knew there would be sales... Not this soon mind you. I've only played 1 level of Epoch 2(Stealth Inc is too good to put down). I'm not feeling ripped off. I'd have rather the sale was at launch and I saved the couple bucks. Like the post I quoted though, I feel like it all evens out. Truthfully I'll probably enjoy this enough to justify what I paid. If I didn't think that I wouldn't have bought it. No high morales about supporting the Dev, etc. I believe i got a decent value for my money. Besides, no crying about spilt milk or something like that, right?
Hi folks, we wanted to comment on the price drop. In short, we screwed up. Weeks ago, we had talked about launching with a 50% sale price, but as launch came near we convinced ourselves that we had made a game that was worth the full $6.00 price tag - we put a lot of work in to make sure that EPOCH 2 is more than twice as good as EPOCH 1, so why not launch at full price? As you can tell, it turns out that the market didn't agree with us. We only get one shot at the promotion of our game as Editor's Choice, so we had to act now to maximise our sales during this period. We're sorry if we've offended anyone, and if you feel strongly enough about this, please do pursue a refund with Apple. Ed
For angry customer who demanded a refund or price adjustment, now you have it. I think the developer have a lot of guts to admit they screw up and offer the way out. For all the angry mob and (new) haters of this developer, I think you should re-evaluate your decision not to support them again. They are not the cash grab type and probably really need your support. They probably earn this trust from you by excellent customer support with update of Epoch 1 a few years after release and offer a refund to those who are offended by the sales. Hope everyone is happy now It is very difficult to sell a premium game (console quality) for $5.99, which is a definite steal at this price, since most of the mobile gamers are casual gamers (and tend to go for the free and $0.99 price tag). So, $5.99 price tag is doom to failure since the beginning. I just pray that they don't go freemium for the next Epoch, if they could still afford to release one. Again, a great game. A developer is not an economist or a market analyst who can calculate the price to maximise their profit and so on.....So, that is why we see a lot of these unexpected sales that anger early adopters.
Except Apple is under no obligation whatsoever to offer a refund and from the literature I have read in the terms of agreement, no refunds will be given. Unless of course this is up to the discretion of the developer and they have given Apple the "go-ahead" to issue refunds to all those who feel slighted by the sale? this is a first for me, so I'm not really sure on the viability of contacting Apple about such a situation
Well, it seems like you got they go ahead message. Just drop the developer an email (if you really need the refund), but I thought you are trying to get your message across (Ideological not Monetary? or Are you aiming for another way around?).
Yet again, as always, Ed reminds us of two things: 1.) He's (they're) human. 2.) He's (they're) all class. That should just about wrap this up, right guys? DBC
Haha...... just wait until the next high profile pop-up and we will see more posts fuming and raging customer . I bet if Oceanhorn go on sale (hope that never happens or not in the first few months anyway), people will go totally berserk. Poor Future777 will have even more people bugging him than before the launch date of Oceanhorn is announced lol.
Just trying to help here: You should contact the developer first before contacting Apple, since they can assist you better. I have demanded refund a truly rip-off dictionary app before and Apple is quite unresponsive with their customer service in this domain (Again, it depends on the region of the appstore you are using as well - sometimes). Good luck!
Then why didn't you make a better game!!! Jkjk. I bought this in the US at 11:00pm on the dot. No regrets. Any chance we'll be able to have a graphical slider? This game annihilates my brand new 5S's battery life. I'm talkin 10-15% a mission. And I feel it burning my hands through my flippin Otterbox case.
I do feel a bit cheated that this game dropped so fast. On the other hand, I also didn't hesitate in buying this game at full price when it was released, also I did buy the coin doubler as soon as I could after only playing one stage because I found this game so damn good. So well, I guess I don't regret paying a premium after reading your justification, since I do agree with you guys that the game is worth 7.99 (with the doubler). I actually haven't played Oceanhorn yet because of your game and I wish the best of luck to you guys.
Is it Apple's decision or the developers to issue refunds? I have to think it's more on Apple's side.
Yes, it is more on the Apple's side, but sometimes the developer could work something out with Apple (or find another form of refund not through Apple).
I might not word it so... Umm... Strongly? I'm inclined to agree though. Apple issues refunds (and has to me once) for software that does not perform it's function. Not so someone can save a few bucks. You paid what you thought it was worth. Why complain? You should be playing it right now to justify your massive expenditure.
