How the App Store became the Greed Store

I just can keep repeating it:

gamer are stupid. Buying an iPad for $700 and play crappy freemium games instead of fantastic $3-$10 games.

Imho, there has to be a minimum level of cash for the developers.
The cheapest iOS game should cost no less than $3, or $4.

Damn, people spend 10 bucks for 2 hours of cinema enjoyment but start complaining at a game for 2-3 dollars that gives them entertainment for 5, 10, 20 hours.

The App Store is beyond relation.

 

That point is really the one I was getting at with my post. "If" the end product is the same, you say. In many cases it probably is, but I also feel it becomes too apparent when a game is nothing more than a lazy cash-in. Whether it's a big company like EA tainting their sequels with micro-transactions or App Store games with ridiculous pay walls. I don't think any developer who truly loves his work would be happy to spoil it in that way.

 

Adding IAPs for "cheats" sounds all well and good but guess what we had for cheats a few years ago? Cheat codes. It was just part of the fun, now it's a way to grub extra money on top of $60 + DLC in the case of games like Dead Space 3.

I'm not even referring to iOS games here, I believe the platform and consumer is very different from console/PC patrons. But it's certainly worth noting, and it's a trend that I'm quite dismayed to hear becoming more and more prevalent among $60 AAA video games. This microtransaction crap is running off into the console/PC market and this perhaps is the more concerning thing to me.

 

iOS is a fascinating place, like Rubicon said, he makes his game hard.

Again you cant win, if a games too easy then people moan their 99c game only lasted 2 days (still good value !), make it too difficult and they moan.

Again (get out the violin) back in my day in the 80's games were very very tricky. Plus as you spent 6 minutes loading the game up from tape you would have a good go of the game whatever and wouldnt simply load up another game as you waited 6 minutes !

Value for money is exceptional on the app store, i can see why devs hate seeing kids moan about some game and asking 'when will the price drop' or 'i'll wait for this 99c game to be free'. Yes moneys tight but damn, games were SO expensive in the 80's, on iOS games are so cheap, i cant believe even kids need to wait for games to be free.

It must be so frustrating for a dev to hear 'some' of the feedback. Games too difficult/games too easy, games 2 dollars, games free with a 99c unlock , lots of moans moans moans !

My gripes are mostly to do with not having auto-rotate (come on !!) or strange control schemes, granted the dev might like it but often the mass of players wont. Bit like selling your house and painting all the rooms green, not good if you want to sell. Go for mass appeal

 

Rubicon with the headshot. Congrats on the heavy BB10 featuring btw.

 

Rubicon,

All of us developers thank you for your awesome post!

 

Kudos, Rubicon. Finally a devs raises his voice.
It was about time that someone said that. You nailed it... bullseye.

 

Does this mean that everybody - no matter if baker, police officer, cook, goldsmith, carpenter or farmer - who isn't totally in love and devotion to his job doesn't deserve to earn money?

For a lot of Square/Enix employees, who are just hammering lines of code into their keyboards every day, making games is a job to earn money in the first place. Square/Enix produced some of the greatest classics among all games.

 

What a gem.

It's not because an app has IAP that a dev is greedy or engineered his game around consumables.

And even if he did well it's your choice to play or it or not, there's plenty of great games that aren't balanced around consumables.

In the mean time my son again just asked me to buy him a $0.99 gold scratch ticket or something like that for a chance at donuts..

 

I actually hope it goes to the console market, so the issue will be more noticed and discussed. And inapps will be fine tuned and more polished. And some abuses like abusing children inapp purchases or bait and switch become frowned on.

Then, ironically, some console gamers may go to ios, and more premium games will go to ios. I look forward to the day that my ipad will be a console, and consoles themselves may go semi extinct.

 

It's not that gamers are stupid, or that developers are stupid, it's just the nature of the system. In a sense we're all stuck in a version of the Prisoners Dilema. The optimal outcome in the situation is for gamers and developers to "cooperate"... the developers price games at a reasonable level where they can make money to continue working, and gamers pay higher amounts for good games willingly. But, unfortunately, the best apparent course of action for each individual negates this overall better strategy. So, each individual does what's best for him or her and the whole thing collapses down into the "race to the bottom" that we're familiar with.

Gamers and developers cant do anything about this, only Apple could have done something at the beginning. They set up the system, and they could as easily have set up one that encouraged good games and higher prices for good games. There's no point in gamers and developers pointing fingers and accusing the others of making this current state of affairs. Look to the real source. Look to Apple.

 

This was a point I consistently made when the RR3 was made and can consistently be made for the entire app store

The original quote was something like "This game was not made for you, it was made for the people who want to race every now and again"

Probably about 10-15% of people who own iDevices are hardcore gamers, who want to have these deep, rich experiences. If you look at that in perspective, then it's pretty easy to realise that games will quickly turn into a negative profit....also reputation is a big deal...if people start making bad games, people might not want to get their games in the future, so less people will buy their games, so they need to use iAp's to get more money from the people who like their future games

Basically, iAps need to be constantly used to get the developers a profit in the game just to stay afloat...it's not the developers being greedy, it's just the developers trying to make a profit

Heres some examples:
Games like Angry Birds and Temple Run consistently make profits due to the fact that they are guided for the casual gamer market, who like to flick open it every now and again. Since they don't pay $7 for deep experiences, they are happy to throw cash at the devs, hence they appear heavily in top grossing

EA has gotten a bad reputation over the years due to iAps. The thing is there constant sales, so many people will hold out on purchases just to save $4 or $6, so they end up losing profit from all of that, so they need to put iAps in just to get in the positive...this is the same deal with Gameloft

I remember getting a bit of heat over in the Minigore 2 upcoming thread just because I said I'd prefer waiting for a sale for MC4 instead of buying it at launch (even though I said I didn't have enough money to get it and it wasn't a game I really wanted). That also shows gamers preference and cash inflow also affect the profits a gamer make - if there isn't a paying audience, then there needs to be freemiums

Finally, lets have a look at Nimblebit. I wasn't in iOS gaming until late 2011, but how well know were they when Sky Burger or Scoops originally released? These games were paid when they launch, but when Pocket Frogs ended up being released, they kind of blew up, then getting a massive reputation with Tiny Tower and Pocket Frogs...these were freemiums, and there were wait-timers in them, so they appealed to the busy casual crowd, and they became popular with the hardcore crowd. These games also made a lot of money through iApps, so they are a pretty big iOS developer



Pretty much, iAps are essential to the app store so developers can actually make proftis with a game...we aren't the main crowd on iOS, the causual gamers are the main crowd...lots of people should learn that

 

A huge factor for why IAPs are now here and very successful - is the fact, that companies like Apple have millions of credit info already stored. All the user has to do is enter their password.

So naturally this lead to free games, then spending inside the game. It is very much like a shareware/demo that you can then unlock inside, without the extra step of having to download a new app (the full version).
Mostly, however, this turned into mutations, where there is no longer a "full version" to unlock one time, but a more profitable continuous monetization option.

That is all obvious and you guys already know it, but it's good to look at those factors.

I'm fairly confident, that even though IAPs are here to stay for the forseeable future, there will still be room for "unlock-once" games. Especially as download-speed improves and giant free "demos" where you unlock the full game inside, are less and less a problem for mobile phones.

 

For me, if the App is good, I'll get it. The IAP's I get if they are worth getting. I can play and enjoy freemium even with their special currency as long as it doesn't completely rely on it. Glu Games is a perfect example of what not to do. Maybe the only game that I ever truly enjoyed was Eternity warriors from them. In general, I dislike IAP's, but don't hate them. It all lies in the choice of the gamer and developer. Sure Apple could've done something, but didn't.

 

ermm that makes no sense.. so your saying an indie has no chance at all (your either) to make an roi?

of course with a f2p game you need a bigger audience to earn something from a low conversion rate, but offering a quality game for free will get you alot more downloads than pricing it at a "premium" 2,99 (how ridiculous that is in the first place)

having no iap means all you get is the initial purchase and thats it.. because even if an indie hits he will drop off the charts alot faster than the big long time tweddlers up there..

so if he has not made his roi at that point where the long tail is a few dollars a day thats more or less game over, except you can push it up with new content , updates whatever..

haveng iap and best consumables means that even after the initial rush of new users are over you can earn money with your current userbase in theory for as long as they keep playing your games..

of course this still is no gurantee for success but chances are higher to earn more in the long run.

of course devs should keep in mind that creating a properly working f2p economy into your game is a big task and nothing trivial. Analyzing the top grossing charts games to see how they sell successfully is of vital importance if you step into unknown territories.

there are some good articles all over the place who scratch on the surface of things. which should help to get started..

hehe actually everything the opposite of the ops pledge

this is so very true.. i like this place, but alot of community members do not realize that this community does not represent the mass out there. Aunt Jessy who spends 50$ a month on hayday does not come here to complain about 2,99 premium games.

 

I'm curious for anyone that knows. Is RR3 a huge success moneywise? It had the potential to be one of the best games on ios. It's been out now, is there anyway to know if they made a huge profit on it? Or whether it would have been better a premium?

I think a lot of developers and publishers alike are looking at it gage their interest in freemiums, expensive inapps, and wait timers.

Curious how RR3 is really doing now. Hear a lot of hate talk, but what is the real bottom line, is it a huge success?

 

Real Racing hovers between 7 and 25 in the top grossing US overall since launch.

The current top grossing premium app with no IAP is Whatsapp Messenger at rank 44.

So yeah they made the good call I'd say.

 

connector you might want to head over to appannie and also check out the chart positions of real racing 2 in comparision..

the only weird thing is that there is no data for usa on appanie for rr3.. looks like a glitch..

anyway.. the highest rank rr2 had at 9,99 was #4 and declined to #84 which was recouped by a 50% sale.. which then again followed by a downwards trend..

worth checking out the old nannie ;D