Do you prefer (free and paid) or (free with IAP)?
Monkey Archive Forums/Digital Discussion/Do you prefer (free and paid) or (free with IAP)?
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| When shopping for apps, what's your preference? 1) Two separate versions in the store - one free (limited) version, and a paid (full) version OR 2) a single version in the store that's free, then you use IAP to unlock the full version As an end user I prefer #2, mostly because I'm lazy, and it's less work than downloading two versions. However, as a developer I lean towards #1 so that I don't have to deal with the complexities of implementing IAP. I'd be most interested in your opinions and experiences from both sides of the experience! |
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| I'd go with the 2nd as well. Although before installing anything, if it has IAP's that are a rip off I won't install the app. |
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| You're right, Kevin, there's a lot of rip-offs out there, especially the endless runner type games where you pay for extra lives and time! I guess I just like the old "shareware" model where people get to try the game before parting with cash :). In the case of my game I imagine the upgrade will be very cheap - like $1 - and it's a once-off payment :) |
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| I think as a user I have little preference. #2 is more convenient and is sure to handle my saved games etc, but I can trust #1 to be less obtrusive. As a developer it's much harder: In favour of #1: no apis, put the same two versions in multiple stores In favour of #2: pretty sure it can sell more |
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| Lindsay, shareware is the perfect model, it's a shame that we now have to label it as IAP and risk having it tarnished along with the rip offs. |
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| I would rather have it free and paid, I would challenge anyone to show more more than a handful of games with IAP that are either not pay to win or a total rip off, its actually a joke in the industry. I'm not sure who's more to blame, the gamer who starts a game then spends over a thousand pounds to fast track and boost his account to get to the top of the leader board in the shortest possible time or the developers who actually enable it to happen. I look at games like Clash of Clans which is exploding right now, and is inherently pay to win so much so that there are tons of videos all over the net of people showing how high they can get up the ranking just by blowing thousands of pounds on in game currency.. its maddening. |
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| Free and paid, I wont even install an IAP game anymore. I would probably accept a one off IAP to unlock the full game but any game that allows/needs the player to pay for the game to be playable wont get onto my systems. |
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| It comes down to how much money you would like to make... I've tried a free and paid versions, even with cross-promotion... the free version has 50,000 - 100,000 installs, the paid has 1,000 - 5,000 installs. The mast mobile gamer population will install games with IAP and you will be stupid not to do the same with your games, you dont have to do it the same way as EA or any of the other "big" players, you can do it fairly and still create a good game. Also remember some IAP are to unlock the full game or even to remove the ads in games. |
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| Interesting! It's crazy how much people are wiling to spend just to be the "best" at something, especially something as ephemeral as a video game. Having slept on it I really think IAP is the way to go for me, as my IAP is a once-off unlock, but -- does Monkey support IAP for the Windows phone store? Not that I'm massively concerned about WP, having seen what their market share is! |
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| IIRC people are quoting good numbers for actual sales on Windows Phone. Maybe it is the new Mac! |
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| Not for me. My games on WP8 are just there... very few sales, very few downloads. And I would worry of having a #1 version - there are loads of sites with pirated games (both for iOS an Android) - specially on Android people tend to expect everything for free. As for #2, IAP is exactly the problem: you need to have an SDK implemented for every store out there, which will limit your audience... ...that's why I still prefer to use ads :( |
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| @Lindsay: Windows Phone IAP works out of the box with Monkey. Piracy IS a problem almost only on Android, where IAP is a solution to work around this. But I still prefer the good old Lite/Full Version which is easier for me to do. Plus I often get positive feedback when the full version doesn't need any permissions at all! One of my next games will be a freemium one, just to check it out. :D |
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| To all who are getting games out there -- and are using MonkeyX to do it are you promoting that in credits with your game It would be nice to help out the promotion of this awesome tool. |
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I do! (at the bottom!) |
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| Nice... |
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| I've been thinking about this topic too recently and up until now had planned to release a 1 level free version of my game and a 99p version of the full 5 level game. But since there's mention of the games being heavily pirated, it might perhaps be better to do the full game unlock as IAP. I've been trying to avoid IAP in reality as I'm not sure exactly of the cross platform difficulties within it. Saying that though, since many of you have already been through these growing pains, it might not be so hard once I've trawled through the forum and asked my questions... |
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