If having it at .99 cents is the best way to get recognition, then why not start the app at that price and then raise it? Don't get me wrong dude, I'm not coming down on you or your decision to drop the price. It sounds like a jungle on the App Store and you have to do what you feel is best. My only point is that, as a consumer, the App Store is one giant perpetual sale just waiting to happen and if you don't play by these rules, you'll end up spending double or triple the amount you would if you just wait for a sale. Eli said in the Real Racing 3 thread that it is the cheap customers who only want to spend very little on these games that is making these prices so low. While I guess in the bigger picture that may be true, I was never one of those customers. When I first came on to the App Store, I was shocked as to how low the prices were for games. And to this day, I feel that if more developers went against the grain and didn't ever have a sale, the customers like myself wouldn't be so wary of this trend.
Partly because I think setting the regular price above the minimum shows a developer has confidence in his or her game, and I feel that people are getting a good value at $1.99. Kind of the wine bottle theory. The main reason though is that starting at minimum price means I have no levers to pull. I can't have a sale, no one tweets that the price has dropped, the new price isn't mentioned on any sites, and no one creates a thread like this. The game needs attention to stay alive, and a sale is one of the few ways to get it. If I were releasing a port of a Square-Enix game that already had a huge following, there wouldn't be a need for the sale, but most developers just can't generate that kind of buzz. You're right that it's a cycle. Sales create the expectation of sales which necessitate earlier sales. It's a cycle that's way bigger than me though, and letting the game go underwater because I don't like when the tide is coming in seems like a bad option. Anyway, if you start waiting for sales before buying games, I certainly wouldn't blame you. The developers have to game the system, so it makes sense for customers to do it too. Still, if the release price is reasonable and I want to play the game, I don't mind getting it right away. In the worst case I've just voted with my money that more games like that one should be made.
Hmmm. Good response. So, you will eventually bump the price back up to 1.99 and then drop to .99 and then back up, so with each sale you are generating buzz? I guess you are giving the game continual kick starts to keep it in the flow. However, wouldn't it generate a larger buzz if the game stayed at the premium price for a longer period and then dropped? What are the other ways a developer can generate buzz without a sale? I guess from the developer's perspective, there is so much competition on the App Store that you have to do what you can to get recognized, like it's a race to drop the price to get noticed. I just know that, from my perspective, the entire concept of early adopter is rendered null with the predictable nature of these sales, and supporting a developer right off the bat, whether I would like to or not, largely becomes moot when you feel guilty for not being a smarter consumer, throwing everything on AppShopper and waiting it out. You got my two dollars and I don't regret it at all, because I knew it would be good and the game is easily worth it, if not more. But do the economics of the situation make me wish I had waited three days more for the sale just out of sheer principle? Of course, because I am now conditioned to think that way. Logic vs. Heart, by SumoSplash, chapter 1.
One of the best, most thought out responses from a developer I've seen on this site. I fully understand that to make money in the AppStore you have to do things that will offend some people. You have to do what's in your best interest. I've seen a lot of games go free / freemium, add advertisements in game, adjust game balance to push IAP's. in the scope of what goes on in the AppStore, an early sale's not so bad. I said before in this thread I'm not a huge fan of shmups on the iPhone. This is a great little game though. Well worth it for the buck or the original two. And at the tiny size it's a game you can always keep on your device and jump into whenever you have the urge to blow up some stuff.
It's funny how much dancing around players and developers have to do, when their goals are totally compatible. I just want to sell a good game at a price that lets me afford to make more games, while also making people satisfied so that they're happy to buy the next game I make. It seems so simple! In game ads and IAPs are my line in the sand though. I won't do either even if it's the better business decision.
Alright... I really was not planning on getting this one, but that right there just got you a sale... Actually, I think I'm gonna wait and buy it when it goes back up in price
In theory, assuming a decent level of sales to begin with but: A) it is listed as New and Noteworthy as already mentioned, and there was a desire to capitalize on that B) if you let sales drop through the floor, then what good is a sales boost?
Just wanted to post that I really appreciate the devs stance on IAP and ads. I finished the 80 levels, also got 8th on hardcore mode. Really the key to this is the highscore charts and trying to finish the game with one life. Question, the hardcore mode, what happens after level 80? Does it loop? Just wondering since the description says "endless levels". All in all the game is solid. It's worth a buck or two, no question. 4125 people on GC have posted scores. I hope that the majority of them are paying customers.
Glad to hear it, try tilt mode if it's too easy for you! Royce is right, through Sunday. It loops, and enemy speed health and aggressiveness is increased. I don't think many people will get to experience that though. From the numbers I have, paying folks see to be a small percentage of the scoreboards. No worries though, I just wish I could give them a negative score multiplier and be sure it wouldn't affect anyone else.
Oh, I am very, VERY worried. I am really, REALLY getting tired of reading this exact sentence, from how many countless developers? I don't know what the answer is, but there certainly has GOT to be a way to get you guys more protection within the iOS marketplace... DBC
Yeah, I don't understand it either and that's one of many reasons freemium has taken hold since I guess it is harder to pirate IAPs. I admire devs who haven't given into freemium though. What's scary is that now that I also have an Android device, I've searched for sites to find decent reviews of games, etc., and realized how incredibly EASY it would be to download a pirated game. As bad as it is on iOS, it's much more prevalent on Android. Of course, I never partake, but it's just plain sad. On Android, quite a few of our "paid" $.99 games are free with ad-support. Guess that's the best way to make money without going IAP route. Some of the games don't even offer IAPs to get rid of the ads. Very interesting to see the differences in the two markets. Anyway, don't understand with as cheap as games are on both systems why there's so many people who think it's okay to steal a dev's work. Down with the pirates!!
Paid the $2 and happy to support the dev. Good app and good communication with future plans and all. Very happy help fund this app and any future ones.
No IAP? Small file size? Developer with great posts? I bought it even though I'm not a huge fan of the genre and have a dozen under played similar games.
The easy way would be for GC to authenticate a second time to itunes before it let you play a game with GC services. That would at least cut out a lot of the pirating because then bans could be issued, UiD's collected and so on. The problem with GC too is legit users could have a different GC than iTunes account. My kids for instance. But a second iTunes authentication would be fine there as well. Especially with ios 6 since as long as they are linked to my iTunes account they can download anything I have licenses for without my password. The same could be true for a second authorization for GC. Whatever the case they could do something and probably push it to all versions of ios through GC. IAP is EASIER to pirate in most cases because anyone can do it without needing to jailbreak. In some ways this is a good thing because eventually devs will realize IAP isn't a viable solution to combat pirates.
