Hmmmmmm, so you think that people who are use to paying 99cc for a game will suddenly have an epiphany and spend more than what they are use to with this 'freemium' model?
Hi, Interesting post here. I have only been an owner of an Idevice for a little over a year and have a different perspective than you present here. First, I see a lot of Developers/Publishers panic when they do not hit the top of various lists and or make thousands of dollars right out of the gate. These same Developers/Publishers need to show some patience and stick to their original price structure. The fact they did not do this back in the day sent the message to customers that no matter the app or game, wait long enough and it will be $0.99. To blame customers for the fact that Developers/Publishers got impatient for the quick buck with little regard to long term staying power, especially in these tight economic times is misplaced. The Developers/Publishers are the ones who set in motion the $0.99 syndrome that has infected the appstore today. They are the ones who set the price and if customers had wanted their product, they would have paid the asking price. They are the ones who have devalued their product by the quick march to $0.99 so many apps and games take on to get noticed today. Some developers/Publishers have stayed to their price point and have done quite well by doing this, so it can be done. The blame you place on customers for the freemuim price structure here is misplaced and should be placed at the feet of impatient Developers/Publishers. Bottom line is, it looks to be here and there are a lot of customers on both sides of this dilemma. David
You'll notice I used the ambiguous noun "people" in my post. There's no single party to blame for App Store pricing.
Hi, Hodapp, I did catch that but also caught this part. This is the part that was telling in your post that I replied to above. David
Hodapp, I asked you before but didn't get a reply, so, again, because I don't like jumping to conclusions. Genuine question: are ngmoco supporting this site financially? Whether through advertising, sponsorship, or in any other manner?
Nope, the last time they advertised with us was when Rolando 2 launched in... June or July of last year. Now that their games are free, they don't have much reason to advertise at all anymore.
This is a perfect example of this situation. Let's use this little anecdotes: "Big Albie is the coolest hobo in town. However, being a hobo, he has no moniez. Anywho, Albie here -remember that he's poor- has no money for bananas, but he wants one so bad. Then, this new company -let's call them ZBDoko- is giving out free bananas with an added "banana life extender" which extends the life of your banana for about 30 min. Now, Albie here is already happy that he gets a free banana, so why would he pay money if the banana will only last 30 minutes longer? All he needs to do is wait, say, two hours and fourty-five minutes? and he get's a new banana!"
But Albie wouldn't have bought a $9.99 banana either, so no loss to ZBDoko. What about "Eli" who has some disposable income but doesn't regularly buy bananas. He gets the free banana since hey it's free and really enjoys it. He enjoys it so much that he pays for banana extender from time to time. ----- Now, before we get into a crazy spiral of analogies. I feel like there are two distinct argumenets, which we should distinguish. 1) People who don't like freemium for various reasons. That's fine. No real debate required. I respect that. There's no right and wrong. 2) People who insist that freemium isn't or can't be profitable. Which is what is suggested by Brazillian Rider's analogy above. I think we should just be clear that there is a right and wrong here. Freemium can be ridiculously profitable. We'll see if Ngmoco can make it profitable on the iPhone, but Zynga has proven the model works. So, let's stop trying to convice people that Freemium is a fundamentally flawed system (from a money-making perspective). It's possible to make tons of money on freemium. Period. Whether or not you like it or not is a separate argument. Zynga Pushing Nine Figures In Revenues Thanks To Micro-Transactions arn
finally but i feel Zynga is a little different? there models were, buy once, use once, never come back. which is what Eliminate ISNT. but the other games are that way...
Sorry but there is a third argument: that what ngmoco is doing is morally reprehensible, as well as largely detrimental to future success and well being of iphone gaming.
I'm sorry, my anecdote was incorrect. Albie gets a never-ending-supply of bananas for free, with the only downside being he can eat only four every two hours and forty minutes. Why would he pay a dollar or more just to eat an extra banana or two if he already has a renewed supply for free?
