Making Money with Free Apps.

Benjamight

I'm very new to the app. creation industry, but very motivated. I know there are a lot of free apps. that get loaded on the stores, and I was just curious... do people make money somehow with free apps., or are they primarily to get your name out there?

Thanks,
Benjamight

Braydon_SFX

They earn money from free apps, yes. Mostly through In-App Purchases and possibly iAds (Depends on the game)

Both of these features are available if you purchase GameSalad Pro.

Hope this helps.

maxbeaumont

Hello,

So for my game Project Boom, I made it completely free with no ads or in app purchases, for primarily branding purposes. If your looking to make money off an app, iAds and in app purchases will help. The other option is to get a 3rd party advertiser to see if they'll pay you more for putting there ad in the game.

Cheers
Max

Chakku

@Benjamight

If I were you, I would go with Lite Version and Paid Version for your first app, rather than getting GameSalad Pro to monetize free apps.

@GSHelper 's method of branding is a risk, and you may end up working hard on a 100%-free app that doesent sell well. His game was EXTREMELY high-quality, and made by some of GameSalad's very best (it won the GameSalad game of the month, too). So unless your very confident that your app is going to be really successsful, don't monetize with free apps.

Just make sure you have a good game, then make the Lite version good enough that people get hooked on the game, but small enough that it doesen't give them a desire/need to pay for the Paid version.

And as @uptimistik said, you do need a large amount of downloads before ads make money. So if you expect your free app to get say 1000 downloads, you will make little to no money.

Unless your truly planning on making this a professional game, I would not advise getting Pro to monetize on free apps.

Hope this makes sense,
Chakku

Elfizm

During the year the top 200 grossing apps are free, this is because they use free to play but buy later method.

I for one, prefer the idea of having one app, make it free with options to buy more if want. This way all traffic is done through one game.

You can include iAds and Iaps to it but the more important thing is that it doesn't limit anyone to download it.

However to earn money, large amount of downloads ate required and if you feel this may not be the case, having paid might give you more, not much but some.

I personally no longer buy paid games, unless they are ones I have been waiting for or it's a GS game to show my support, as there are hundreds of games that are free that I like to play.

So it's your choice depending on how well you think your app goes, without letting your imagination go wild

Cheers
Elfizm

Chakku

@Elfizm @Benjamight

Yes, it's true that the Top Grossing are free apps, but they are run by big-name companies with a ton of people.

If your app is at that level of quality, then definitely go for the more profitable free-to-play method. But most Indies make simpler games, as they are usually only one person/small group vs huge company.

But as Elfizm said, you will need a lot of downloads for iAds to bring in any money.

Also Lite/Paid method is pretty straightforward, while Free-to-play is more profitable, but a lot more risky.

In the end, it all comes down to the quality/type of your game, and your personal preference.

Hope this helps.

pinkio75

Hi,
I think that monetizing games is a great resource to us that we must use as much as possible.
I get good results with iAd, inApp and especially with PlayHaven.
instead I get a very poor results with paid games in App Store.
I don't think that just a great game is enough to get great paid result download today.
If we look at the top ten games there are always big companies that invest many money in advertising to make a great paid result.

What i can say here:
"for me" advertising my Apps is fundamental process to make a good earn results, and I hope that GS introduce other methods of monetization to help and support small developers like me.
Bye.

Benjamight

Wow, thanks for all the feedback everyone, that is very helpful. If you don't mind me asking a follow up question... what exactly is the "Lite/Paid" versions? I thought that GameSalad only had the software for free, and if you wanted to publish, then you had to pay $300 for the Pro version. Also, just to make sure I'm not confused... the only difference between the Pro & Non-Pro version, is the publishing ability...right? Final question... is the Windows version publishable and monetizable, even though it's still in Beta?

This communitiy is amazing, and you're all extremly helpful... thanks again for your time and input!

Benjamight

Chakku

@Benjamight

NO, major misconception. You can still publish to iPhone/iPad for free with GameSalad. PRO is for monetization and Android.

Benjamight

Ohhhhh!! Thanks for clearing that up, wow, I was totally off!

Ok, so if I just want to publish free apps to Apple products, without any try at making money, I don't need to the Pro, but if I want Android to have availability too and try to make some money, that's what the Pro gets me?

Thanks Chakku,
Benjamight

Braydon_SFX

You can see a list of everything Pro gets you here: http://gamesalad.com/creator/pricing

Chakku

@Benjamight

NO, another major misconception! Ok, I will tell you exactly what you can and cannot do:

Free Version of GameSalad-

-iPhone publishing (you can publish both free AND money apps)

-iPad publishing (you can publish both free AND money apps)

-Mac Publishing (you can publish both free AND money apps to 's Mac App Store, as well as anywhere else you want to sell it)

-HTML5 publishing (you can publish to any website, and your game is perfectly playable on Mac, Windows, and anything else) (the Mac export is an actual application on the computer, while HTML5 is online)


Pro Version of GameSalad-

-Android (you can publish both free AND money apps to any of the Android marketplaces, including Amazon Android Appstore, and Google Play [that means it's playable on all Android devices, including the Kindle Fire/ Kindle Fire HD

-WINDOWS SUPPORT!- This is a new feature, and is really good! http://gamesalad.com/creator/windows-8

-External Links (you get a behavior that allows you to send a player to any website on the web, which you give the link for)

-iAds and In-App Purchases (this is the biggest reason why I want/hopefully will get Pro soon) (these are the monetization options currrently available; they used to have Kiip but removed it, and they also say more options are coming soon, including for Android, but no AdMob ads will ever come)

GameCenter support- Support for 's GameCenter network

Twitter support- ability for users to tweet in the game

***Upcoming Native Engine Release***

Only for Pro members, and improves the current bad loading times 8x-10x better

MANY features that they will add soon:


Mac Creator

iPhone 5 and iOS 6 Support
Aspect ratio independence
iPad Mini Support
Kindle Fire HD Support
Nook Support
Project Mint*
Universal Binaries
New Mac UI
Playhaven for Android
Auto Saving**
Multi-Select**
Scene Editor Zooming**
Hot Keys**
Full Screen Mode**
iOS 6 Social Framework**
Monetization options**
iOS 6 GameCenter Support**
Native Code Engine
Android In-App-Purchase
Layers – Locking/Unlocking, Hiding/Showing**
Navigation via Hand Tool**
Snap-to-Grid**
Attribute Editing/Organizing (Folders) **
Project Hops*
Copy/Paste between Projects**
Tile Painting Tool***
Custom Fonts***
Searchable Tables***
Joints***
Polygon Collisions***
Asynchronous Multiplayer**

* These projects merit their own post and detailed explanation. I’ll follow up separately to address each one in a new post.
** New Mac UI dependency
*** Native Code Engine dependency

Windows Creator
Multi-Select
Alignment Tools
Zoom
Hotkeys
Monetization Options
iOS Publishing Solution
Android In-App-Purchase
Layers
Custom Fonts
Searchable Tables

* Note that some of the features listed in the Mac Creator roadmap also apply to Windows Creator.

Web Support

Updated Portfolio Page
Improved Web Publishing Flow
Updated HTML5 Arcade

Windows Store Features
Share Charm
Advanced Live Tile Tools
Custom Snap-to-Scene
In-App Purchase
MS Surface Support

Although all of these are not Pro-only, many-most of them will be. Most things with 2*'s are for everybody, while everything with 3*'s are Pro-only. Projects are yet to be revealed surprises!

I know this is long, but I hope you have read it, and that it answers the any questions you have.

Hope this helps.

Benjamight

Wow Chakku, I can't ask for it to be any easier than that right there! Thanks so much, that gives me all my answers.

Benjamight

jamie_c

@givenyouvalue, this post is 3 years old....

neoman

@jamie_c said:
givenyouvalue, this post is 3 years old....

It's spam @jamie_c. It is a shameful plug for an app builder. The link goes to a drag and drop app builder web site. Sneaky spam.

Summation

@neoman said:
It's spam @jamie_c. It is a shameful plug for an app builder. The link goes to a drag and drop app builder web site. Sneaky spam.

@tatiang I flagged the post by @givenyouvalue as spam. I believe it warrants a removal, if not an abuse report at clickbank.

https://accounts.clickbank.com/network_abuse.html

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jamie_c

@neoman, sneaky basta#!s!

Lovejoy

@neoman said:

I was the 5th flag, i forgot to get the link before doing so. Can you send me a pm with the link he posted please. I want to send him a few gifts.

neoman

@Lovejoy so your are the one who sent the post to a forum black hole to never be seen again ... Anyway I PMed you the link to where the original link redirected to. Enjoy!

jigglybean

Making money in/from apps needs a clever thought process today. Simple games seem to be popular right now (think flappy bird tap games) but also, something like Crossy Road showed that you can monetise your app by offering reward videos.