A lot of people who grabbed the game have grabbed an extra character at the very least and possibly the expansion. All of sudden you're looking at around $9 per customer which ain't too shabby. Given the massive amount of potential expansions this could continue to linger in the top paid for a while. By simply existing in the top paid section Rodeo are constantly exposed to new customers. As you said it will be really interesting to see where this in a couple months. If its still up there than a solid argument could be made for premium with expansive IAP.
Yeah, that's not a bad reason either. Hey, that would be as nice loaded topic - who's opinions do you trust the most on TA? (Don't worry, you'd be on my list ).
I'm not a hardcore fan of Warhammer anything. I just like polished turn based strategy I think you're overgeneralizing. Because those who rant about prices are the most vocal, they seem to be the majority. But I want quality and polish, not just a quick fix. I've spent almost $200 on games and while some are 0.99, many range from 2.99 to 6.99.
One reason is that most people have a couple apps installed and that's it. Buying a cheap iap isn't a big deal if you rarely spend money in the appstore, period.
I curse the day Apple built in-app purchases into ios. If you wanted to buy content or "energy" i.e. Eliminate, you took the risk that the 3rd party was to be trusted. Apple's support of iaps seems to come with no strings attached, including when it can be added to an existing app, even if it removes features that were once part of the original product. Eventually the "once burned, twice shy" mindset will kick in amongst more and more consumers. At least I hope so, though I fear the purchasing power of younger people who never lived in a time when digital content was widely seen as being something you owned.
agree don't think it'll go free, major title/license (knock on nothing) but never played the warhammer series (just not interested) or that of the figure fantasy battle game. but 1 long time friend was into it years ago painting and selling his figures along with playing the figure game on a large scale at some shop + all the pc games. i was given all the pc games DoW 40k (still dusty) & watched the figure battle once, but it didn't spark anything. yes agree, but some big name companies already make filthy money with the big titles (not includes ios titles). if a titles hot the kiddies will spend all there cash anyways, so they make enough money from them and still clean up from the sideline $1 users a few mo to year later. some have the patients and see where the market has went to wait for the price drops, plus already have a bulk 1,000 games around the house. along with mabe being in the market from the coin arcade era to the older pong + odyssey game systems where money means more NOW and games is just a time waster then hobby/addiction. yes perfectly said! agree but you (1 or 1000's) can't save something that's already in a downward spiral as the market gets flooded with more new devs, (APPLE makes a killing in every way) more crap games, more iap based, more frees, no one ever can hold a price point, a new flop rush break the bank pricey Nintendo system, Sony system, microsoft system along with any new handhelds, steam pc/mac online price dumps, indie bundle $1 sales etc. all you can say is good luck to who makes the best family afforded product. remember 1 friend owning a neogeo back in the day paying $150 to $400 (unsure if that was used or new game prices) thought it was alright for gaming quality but there were still lower budget graphic system games that had better gameplay. along with that another friend back when bought an Atari Jaguar system, i felt bad that i couldn't stop laughing seeing + playing each game. agree i bought only a very few iaps(playdek) etc. would rather buy if an iap was a separate addon that would install like on a pc/mac (be savable). because i personally backup and own all the rights to all my games. since the iaps don't follow u. yes still have my old hand me down pong system, odyssey system to my amiga etc. fun to see your kids dabble and replay what u did as a kid. then the pc emulators was a plus vs dragging out the other nes/snes classics.
I buy games ASAP as I want sequels or companies to release more. Eg GTA III. If that flopped and sales were poor as everyone waited for a price drop I doubt we would have got GTA Vice City If the new Star Wars game flopped at 10 dollars I'm sure the devs would think 'not worth releasing games on iOS....' and move on If these games are successful (thanks to everyone who buys them£ we get more and more premier games If we all waited for games to go free or 99c then the App Store would eventually die a death. Again games were far more expensive in the 80s but we bought lots. Here games are a few dollars. Kids get more pocket money but STILL they wait for games to go free! I'm the 80s you had 8 bit computers. Tons of games. Kids then moved up to 16 bit computers and obviously the 8 bit market dried up and died. Then kids moved to consoles and the 16 bit market dried up and died and so on We need the App Store to remain super healthy so it attracts tons of great games and devs. If we all wait for huge price drops then you think it's bad with freemium now. It'll get far worse It's all about money. If companies don't make enough then it's freemium or they'll move on. I want to do my 'little bit' and buy lots of games at full price
yes of course its just the market is already in that direction and don't think it'll get any better before it gets really bad. would be funny to see a rush of video game systems and then 5 years later another push for an advanced vg system. adding in the mix if apple starts pushing out new products every 3-6mo because there greedy and pumping out gadgets faster from Taiwon then they'll have to pay the people less $ but increase the suicide nets again!
It's entirely possible that companies are struggling to break even precisely because the prices a so high. If they halved their prices they might wind up with a greater profit than they have now. With digital distribution the old philosophy of charging more for higher quality doesn't really apply any more and you have to weigh in how many people are likely to buy it at each price. Some games manage to make a huge amount of profit now by selling at $1 a copy - just because the quantity they sell is so high. IMO the problem at the moment is not the low prices. It is that the App Store is massively over-saturated. If the low prices and freebies drive a few companies out of business then the over-saturation will gradually reduce and things will even out.
I still think this is bogus tbh, at least when used as a pricing model argument. Having a big and respected brand behind you means that a shitload of customers are going to actively seek out the game. Still more might not be that proactive but will buy it when they see it (which your charting part backs up) knowing that it's a respected brand and bound to be good. But for 99.99% of the indie developers out there, they are an unknown developer with an unknown IP and benefit from none of those things. If Warhammer does stick in the charts, and I really don't think it will, then all it proves is that well branded stuff can sell for more than unbranded. I'm sure that won't come as a surprise to many! Don't forget I'm in this camp, our stuff is premium with iap for genuinely extra additional content. (And we're lucky enough to be just about in that earning bracket also. However I know tons of developers with good quality stuff that should be but are not.)
This is very true. It's probably true for at least a hundred games. (I know firsthand how much a top 50 and top 100 game makes). Take a look at this link and ask yourself if you would you stake your job and maybe your home on being the next one to make that top 100 and stick there among the 130 new games per day being released. Or even top 200, we don't need to make "huge" profits. There are over 100+ games coming out daily and TA covers how many, about 5? So you have only a 1 in 20 chance of getting spotted by a dedicated iOS gaming website with not that many daily browsers in the wide scheme of things. Your chances of app-store visibility in the wider world are almost nil, statistically irrelevant noise. And of the tiny band of people who might see your game, you take 70 cents? Does this really sound like a good business plan to anybody? http://148apps.biz/app-store-metrics/
I don't really see how digital distribution changes much. When you're bulk buying materials like that, each disc probably costs no more than a couple of cents and the same goes for the cases. Even with shipping in mind, it's nothing compared to the actual creation of the game; that's where the millions are being spent. Research, equipment, staff, actors, rent, energy bills... none of that gets cheaper just because you choose Steam over Gamestop.
That just backs up my point that the app sto is massively over-saturated. I wouldn't stake my job or my home on an app at any price. There's just way too much competition for that at the moment.
Because with digital distribution it's just a set percentage that you give to the distributor (in the App Store at least) so selling twice as many copies at half the price makes the same profit. With physical copies you have to cover the costs of producing the product, storing it, transporting it and the shopkeeper will want a bigger cut just for giving up their shelf space for the game. But you are right, it's not the same as it is for purely physical objects like food and cars etc...
I don't think there is a one true way or a sure fire way to success. You have evangelists for both freemium and premium, both are bloated, both have the same risks. You have consumers with polarised preferences, it's all down to who and how you market to and where you position yourself. There's no wrong or right really, it's about how successfully you deliver to your chosen demographic. There's no coverall.
True. My own personal sweet spot is games which give me a nice 5-10 hour campaign for a cheap price, but if there's a market out there for higher price more in-depth games then that's great. What I can't agree with is all of the people on these boards who complain about free and $1 apps and about people who wait for the sales. I really don't feel anyone is under any obligation to buy games when they are at a higher price to support developers.
