What were your thoughts on the pricing model? I'm developing a game myself now and the way it seems things are going is freemium with IAP purchases. Why did you choose the 0.99/2.99? It's a tough choice to make
Not the author but I thought I should chime in here. The app store is a difficult beast these days... being free means you get a lot more downloads, but you need 100's of thousands (if not millions) of users to make any decent amount of money. And you have to be very careful with your freemium plan. You don't want to end up like http://www.penny-arcade.com/report/article/going-broke-with-...
If you're a paid game, you're going to have a very hard time getting sales, because you can't acquire users. The 99 cent 'race to the bottom' also means you need a lot of sales, but it's tough to achieve that today without a brand or big-name. Even Apple featuring you doesn't add up to as much as it used to.
So, you might have noticed a pattern amongst the more successful freemium titles. Lots of wait timers, short gameplay bursts, unlimited purchasables, etc... what hardcore gamers deem as evil, is actually what these companies have determined is the most optimal way to make money. I'm not trying to be depressing here lol, but before you make the decision to go free, make sure you understand what you're up against. I personally hope we can head to a more League of Legends type model where you make $5 on a lot of people rather than the Farmville route of making $5000 on a few 'whales'. I personally much prefer a great game that lets me pay when I'm ready to invest, than a game that is trying to milk me the whole time.
Just an FYI, me and a friend built Stratosphere: Multiplayer Defense for iPad and have gone through much of this dilemma lol. Good luck!
We had a similar thought process. The games that make money through IAPs (Candy Crush is the obvious example) tend to be play-forevers with complex in-game economies of bonuses and powerups, plus all those timers and limits to get you to pay up, etc.
The more traditional games — games with more genuine depth behind them, from the point of view of the "hardcore gamers" you mention — when they make money, they tend to be pay-up-front. They're charging more for a significantly more personal and higher-quality engagement, and can partially make up for lower quantity that way.
But even then it's been really hard to know how to approach these questions. My advice is to release something small quickly, because being in the situation is the only way to learn what works and what doesn't. That's not exactly what we did here, and though I'm really happy with how the game has turned out, we sometimes felt like we were fumbling in the dark on the way to this point.
That's really helpful (and a little depressing, reading the 0.67% conv rating for Gasketball), thanks. I was thinking of going freemium and wanted to offer IAP just for skipping ahead, or unlocking bonus features, nothing that's needed for the actual 'normal' gameplay, but seems like not the way to go to stand a chance of making decent sales. Will try and balance it I suppose.
And I'm downloading Stratosphere now! Always looking for good on screen two player games
I am planning to release my 1st ios title in December. There are no IAP and it is not a side-scroller :-) Do you have any advice for new apps on initial pricing, how to determine it, etc?
cclogg|12 years ago
If you're a paid game, you're going to have a very hard time getting sales, because you can't acquire users. The 99 cent 'race to the bottom' also means you need a lot of sales, but it's tough to achieve that today without a brand or big-name. Even Apple featuring you doesn't add up to as much as it used to.
So, you might have noticed a pattern amongst the more successful freemium titles. Lots of wait timers, short gameplay bursts, unlimited purchasables, etc... what hardcore gamers deem as evil, is actually what these companies have determined is the most optimal way to make money. I'm not trying to be depressing here lol, but before you make the decision to go free, make sure you understand what you're up against. I personally hope we can head to a more League of Legends type model where you make $5 on a lot of people rather than the Farmville route of making $5000 on a few 'whales'. I personally much prefer a great game that lets me pay when I'm ready to invest, than a game that is trying to milk me the whole time.
Just an FYI, me and a friend built Stratosphere: Multiplayer Defense for iPad and have gone through much of this dilemma lol. Good luck!
dcre|12 years ago
The more traditional games — games with more genuine depth behind them, from the point of view of the "hardcore gamers" you mention — when they make money, they tend to be pay-up-front. They're charging more for a significantly more personal and higher-quality engagement, and can partially make up for lower quantity that way.
But even then it's been really hard to know how to approach these questions. My advice is to release something small quickly, because being in the situation is the only way to learn what works and what doesn't. That's not exactly what we did here, and though I'm really happy with how the game has turned out, we sometimes felt like we were fumbling in the dark on the way to this point.
petesamrogers|12 years ago
And I'm downloading Stratosphere now! Always looking for good on screen two player games
jason_slack|12 years ago
dcre|12 years ago