Which one is better?

williamt2706williamt2706 Member, PRO Posts: 85
in iPhone and Android Publishing
Which one is better?
Game with 2 version, free and full (paid) or a single title with IAP to unlock the rest of the game?

Comments

  • KevinCrossKevinCross London, UKMember Posts: 1,894
    This is just my opinion... one title with IAP.

    You want to make it easy for them to continue playing, and having a second app to download isn't making it easy for them. You risk losing them completely when you tell them to leave your app and go download another one.
  • BoomshackBarryBoomshackBarry Member Posts: 712
    There's no right or wrong but a positive of having one version with iap is that the App Store ratings won't be split amongst two different apps, possibly helping your game to rank higher.
    Warning There was an error rendering this rich post.
  • mataruamatarua Auckland, New ZealandMember Posts: 854
    Interesting question - I think Apple would rather you do it free and have an IAP - otherwise it clutters the app store up with duplicates. But in saying that there's stuff going on that I really don't like in the free app market.

    Sure you make your game free - but you make it incompletable without spending money. Jewel Mania is a good example of that. It's a great Bejeweled style game that lets you progress even up to level 65 - then it gets really hard and you have to buy things that you can not already earn. A lot of people don't mind this - but a lot of people are rebelling against games that are free and demand you pay - not 99 cents or $1.99 for the app - but 20x 99 cent or $1.99 or $4.99 IAPs.

    Plants vs Zombies is a good example of a game that used to be totally playable - cost money to get - had some non essential IAP - just a few. Now it's like walking in to a store playing the new version - so many things to buy. They have to play a fine fiddle when tuning the balance difficulty and sales overload. I personally would now rather pay for a game than have a full on banking system behind a free charade.

    But I have pretty much built that in to my game - so I am stuck with the same question as you really. I could make the paid for game a lot easier to reach goals perhaps? In my game there is nothing you can not get if you play it for long enough - that I think is fair. So if you want to get the top of the line IAP you have to play it many many times.

    I don't have anything in the app store yet so I am sure there are some other people who would know more about this through experience than I do. I have read a bit of material on the matter but that is a little old now at 2011.

    I would also be keen to hear from some people who have done both and what the results were :)

    Cheers, M@
  • williamt2706williamt2706 Member, PRO Posts: 85
    @KevinCross
    You have a point, tq

    @matarua
    Agree, there's some free game with IAP i don't really like too. Specially incompleteable when it's still in early game and made me too lazy to play, and some of them have a ridiculous IAP price. But some are still progressable without force us to buy IAP. But look at how market going on these days, free game with IAP more popular for dev choice i think.
  • ClockClock Member Posts: 308
    there's a thread about Mobclix payment issue.
    http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/59570/has-anybody-had-a-mobclix-payment-yet#latest

    IAP with iAd(remove ad) would be a best choice?
  • VolontaArtsVolontaArts Member Posts: 510
    it all depends on how good the game is. and how bad people would want to purchase the rest if its addicting
  • mataruamatarua Auckland, New ZealandMember Posts: 854
    @williamt2706 at the start of my project I was freemium 110%. Now I am freemium 50%. There has been an avalanche of freemium and I have seen so many people say they will not go near freemium apps or games. Freemium has turned in to greedium for some devs - a lot of players don't like that. You used to be able to pay $0.99c and get the game and go for it. Then a few IAP came in to it - OK that's understandable for such an upgrade. Then people said well, "hey, I can make my game free - that beats all the fools making people pay and I can have IAP that they must buy once they are hooked". Onto a winner there. The freemium wave starts and everybody is riding it.

    Then you have the one in a million success stories like Super Hexagon which charges $3.99 (yeah? Sorry from NZ and doing conversion) - and there is no free version. But it is viral - so it can be like that.

    Viral is a sickness. So you have to make your game so sick it gets transmitted from person to person like a global raging infection.

    Badland did that.

  • skottskott Member Posts: 172
    We have two games, DiftClubRacer and DriftClubRacer2, The first one is a $1 game 3 years old, the follow up is free with inApp 6 month old.

    We are still selling the first one, and made alot more money on the first one. Not sure why, we think it's a big mystery, because the follow up is such a better game, and we only charge $1 inApp to unlock everything. So really no difference price wise. We also think we build the inApp pretty smart, and made it clear that 1 buck unlocks all..

    On the first one we had a free trial out, and it also got alot more downloads than the new "free" does.

    We done exactly the same marketing + more on the new game, but still, a big disapointment.

    I my self thought it would be a big success going the inApp way, until 6 months ago.. I'm leaning more and more towards paying for the full game model.

    Like matarua says:
    "There has been an avalanche of freemium and I have seen so many people say they will not go near freemium apps or games." <- I've also seen alot of talk like that.

    It might work for some games.. :)

    DriftClubRacer: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/drift-club-racer/id372594783?mt=8

    DriftClubRacer2:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/drift-club-racer-2/id600073657?mt=8
  • DuesDues Member Posts: 1,159
    I think that one of the problems with having your game free with IAP is that you got to have a game that is very well designed for it. I think that many developers think that people will spend money on IAP just because they are IAPs.
    In the beginning when almost every game was $0.99 people downloaded it and actually gave it a good go since they already spent their hard earned money on it. Today when you can download a game for free and try it out, I think many people do so, but they also delete it if they dont find it fun/good enough in a very short time.

    Just some thoughts.. :)
  • skottskott Member Posts: 172
    I think that one of the problems with having your game free with IAP is that you got to have a game that is very well designed for it. I think that many developers think that people will spend money on IAP just because they are IAPs.
    I think your right.

    I also have a feeling that the players won't really pay for extra levels, rather than paying for upgrades and customisation. It seems to me that IAP work the best with those games where you at a certain point have to upgrade some stuff, expand your farm with a new silo, upgrade the blacksmith to be a smithing god - making you better weapons, upgrade you engine for faster car :)

    Also, there always seem to be both coins, and diamonds in IAP games.. They must be there for a reason <- making more money
  • mataruamatarua Auckland, New ZealandMember Posts: 854
    @skott @Dues also don't forget how people value something you get for free. It's a throwaway commodity like you say. It has zero value. A game that's $3 or $4 is not a throwaway item - it's premium. It has to be good enough to charge that too. :ar!
  • mataruamatarua Auckland, New ZealandMember Posts: 854
    FIGHTING THE ‘PAY TO WIN’ OF FREE-TO-PLAY GAMES: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH NWAY GAMES...

    http://www.ghostvolta.com/fighting-the-pay-to-win-of-free-to-play-games-exclusive-interview-with-nway-games/#/vanilla/discussion/embed/?vanilla_discussion_id=0

    This story discusses this theme from a big developer standpoint.
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