Its not irresponsible from the devs to apply a business tactic that they think will give them more exposure, iap sales or whatever. Even if it enrages the hell out of anyone it doesnt change the fact that sales/freebies seem to be an effective way for devs to increase their income and exposure. Saying that these practices are shady or unjust is actually a very one sided way of view things, I mean this games are dirt cheap so they need tons of downloads/iap sales and whatnot to break even o make a profit. This is the reality of the appstore, but it isnt that difficult to use appshopper so anyone who doesnt like this can/should wait on every release and get the game discounted or free. On topic: excellent game! Everyone should check this out for free or paid!
Agree +1 Devs have to do what they can to gain more exposure. Going free is definitely one of the best ways to get it. I know it sucks, but if consumers don't learn to deal with volatile price changes then every dev might as well go freemium, since more and more people will just be waiting for a game to go free.
Personally, I am not sayin that at all. I am just saying these practices are (partially) responsible for running the app store into the ground. Being responsible means taking the long term view, not only thinking about what will fill your pocket the most in the short term. Thinking of what is best for your peers and not only for yourself. Everybody has the inherent responsibility to do that; consumers and developers alike. These practices are reprehensible because they are irresponsible, and for no other reason, and I'm sick of seeing developers such as this one continually be given a free pass, and a pat on the head to boot.
Well it's this kind of crazy quick sales that makes me glad for app shoppers wish list feature. Everything seems to go free quicker and quicker lately.
I agree. This freebie turnaround bullcrap is getting pointless. And Gabrien has a point, even if he's maybe taking a bit of a harsh angle at saying it. I do disagree with something though, the app store is a joke when it comes to devs who aren't pushing incredibly well known IPs (Carcassonne, World of Goo), or have a killer hook (Sword and Sworcery). It's basically impossible to make money. Developers Invest thousands upon thousands upon thousands in these games. They kill themselves in creating some brilliant games to only get kicked in the face when their app hits the store and disintegrates under fart apps, stupid lock screen apps, talking tomcats, fat face makers, ugly face makers, old face makers, battery magic apps... But then apps hit the market that have stupidly great potential, but are completely and totally destroyed by making the game hinged on consumable IAP garbage. It started on consoles, made its way to the app store where it became an uncontrollably beast and has made good games terrible. Do IAP fairly (Nimblebit) and I'm fine, I'll support you. Screw us over (where do I even start?) and you make a terrible name for the app store in general. As for this app, I'm upset as I haven't so much as OPENED the damn game, but I am guessing the app store was unkind and it's falling, crashing to the bottom of the sales charts. Since there is a way to make money in the game, they have the ability to drop the price, in hopes that the game will catch on. Sure it's unfair to those that have purchased, but if there's any chance that the developer can actually recoup their costs at the very least, they have to do that. These people put their heart and soul into making a game they believed in, that they prayed people would find and play and love only to see their game disappear. Maybe I'm feeling sympathy and compassion after watching Indie Game: The Movie. I hope the Dev succeeds. I hope this is what it takes. this is a game that is fun and well made, and from what it seems the IAP is optional. So guess what, I accept it. I accept that maybe this is the way it has to go. That unless they do this, we will never see ANY games on the app store, and we will be left with fart apps, fat, old, ugly, stupid face apps and talking, moronic things that take over anything good. That said, I looked at the top 200 apps in app shopper and I see: Plague Inc Plants vs Zombies Adventure Time Scribblenauts Cut the rope Among others. So I think as bad as it might be, is it THAT bad? Do we need to suck up losing a dollar for trying to ensure games like this stick around?
The only reason games like this come with a price tag in the first place is to lure the moral suckers into paying for it. Once that dries up they need to put Plan A into action. Dev's seem to think that in this day and age the only way to make money in the long run is to have their games priced at free and then hope that enough people will feel 'guilty' and buy some IAPs. I'm not opposed to anyone making money for the work they do, it's just an interesting trend that's becoming more apparent and this particular sub-forum stands as testament to that.
Hey, I lust for fat, old, smelly, ugly chicks, so I resent those remarks! Haha But I always respect Gabrien's frank and honest comments no matter how grumpy they may sound. No need to call him names for expressing his views. Anyway, wish the developer well, I feel lucky to get lots of apps for free and for cheap, so all is good.
Wow this got free really fast. Even though I expected it to go free one day I wasn't expecting it to happen so fast, maybe in about 4 months or so after its release yes but not now. I feel kinda betrayed.. But! As Gabrien and others said the developers do whatever they can to gain profit no matter how it hurts some people and the appstore is in a state where such moves are considered natural/logical. Also games with IAP are destined to either have massive price drops or eventually go free because that's how it is with such games. If that's good or bad anyone can decide and judge for themselves and that's the only truth about this. I just simply fear the day the appstore will degenarate so much that only freemium games that try more or less to "mine" money from us will exist in it and real games will come out once or twice a year, only from bigger and more well known companies, their release being so rare that it will be celebrated like a warm fire in a chilling winter day.. @the people who don't have the game: Get it! It's a very good game and more than worth for free.
This game is NOT IAP-centric. NCSoft did not pull a Triniti trick here, whatever the reason for this going free is.
Me too, I feel kind of betrayed They didn't even wait a MONTH! Not even 12 days! For Gem Keeper they waited A LOT longer! My thoughts on the game: meh.. Get it now that it's free and see if you like it, but in retrospect I wouldn't have bought it.
Not really, no, considering that his argument is, and has always been, a fundamentally dishonest and biased one based on the false premise that developers make decisions in a vacuum, and that these have nothing to do with the customer base and sales environment. Every single post Gabrien makes on the subject is solely about developers being greedy and engaging in "dubious/unethical business practices"; his acknowledgement of the fact that their decisions come about as a direct response to a customer base that throws a tantrum nearly every time an app dares go above $1, and that the best way for most developers to actually make money now is to charge a low entry fee and then offer the option of additional purchases in game, is conspicuously absent. I already see far too many TA regulars (who should know better) every week complaining about $2-$4 games being "too expensive", and saying that they'll wait for the game to go on sale, or "go free". If you're going to come up with that nonsense, you have absolutely no grounds to complain when a developer takes a path that means they actually have a chance at making back some of the money they invested in making the game in the first place. It's even worse when you see these members hanging around in the game's main thread, making suggestions/requests/demands of the developer, and then some time later you see them in the promo code or price drop forum proudly announcing that they've just grabbed the game for free, and didn't even bother to actually financially support the developer who just spent more time and money responding to/implementing those requests. To be precise, developers don't make their games free to hurt you, they're mostly making their games free because you're hurting them. As for this game specifically, the sheer ignorance and knee-jerk "IAP bad!" bandwagon-hopping in this thread alone is both ridiculous and disheartening. The IAP in this game is so far from mandatory, or even actively pushed, that for a developer to hope that they would gain more from the unnecessary and entirely optional IAP than they did the guaranteed sale price would be a pretty severe miscalculation; the suggestions that this is all they're doing are about as intelligent, and are a gross abuse of logic. Do I think "mandatory" IAPs are a good thing? Not at all. Do I personally spend money on consumable IAPs? Nope. Do I recognise that the inclusion of entirely optional IAP has proven to be more successful than both a high price tag with no IAP, and a low price tag with no IAP, and that this is also a direct result of, and response to, the behaviour and mindset of a mostly unreasonable customer base? Certainly. The thing about that particular statement is that the company you just mentioned has, in the past, been one of the most blatant in terms of entirely soulless IAP (I haven't had a look at Pocket Planes yet). Tiny Tower had all the gameplay depth of an invisible teatowel, and existed solely as a shallow, repetitive moneymaking venture (beyond the obvious nature of any product created for sale).
That's why my I chose to buy Battle for Eustrath yesterday...when you buy a game that hasn't crossed below 3 bucks in a year or two, chances are you'll have to pay to play.
I just downloaded this game and I must say it would have been much better as an infinite runner with the current missions tagged on as an optional way to upgrade the character.
Nothing like being crapped on for being an early adopter. Only a dollar, yes, but when it happens 50 times it's time to start waiting for everything to go free. Or go play a substantial video game on a system with physical buttons.
