You would be surprised on how much money some little facebook games make with IAP. If I was making that with my games there would be a big smile on my face.
tenrdrmerMember, Sous Chef, Senior Sous-ChefPosts: 9,934
BlackbirdStudios said: Awww man, I didn't want it merged. I was just going to see if there was any response.
The Title is "All Things In-App Purchase" Please keep your comments, Questions, likes, dislikes, Hopes, and Dreams, Regarding this feature here. There is no need for numerous threads spread around the Forum on the same thing.
NesesitaGames said: Do In-App Purchases work on Mac App Store games?
Apple Has no option for Mac App Store In-App Purchase. I would expect it to come in the future though considering how much money they have made off the iOS IAP.
tenrdrmer said: The Title is "All Things In-App Purchase" Please keep your comments, Questions, likes, dislikes, Hopes, and Dreams, Regarding this feature here. There is no need for numerous threads spread around the Forum on the same thing.
I am curious how much people here spend on In-App-Purchases? Especially the really excited people in this thread?
Just curious. I personally have never bought anything with IAP, nor has anybody that I know.
I can't see myself buying Smurfberries or anything like that. Same with extra outfits for the player.
Buying weapons and powerups seems like a scam.
Buying additional levels or locked content seems like a jerk move, especially with how many other games give you so much content for free. Charging for 75% of the game and making people pay again for the final 25% seems like a terrible idea to me. Why not just charge 1.99$ in the first place if you think your game is worth it. Do you really think people would be fooled by that?
I can understand the LITE/full argument, but I don't usually download LITE versions. I find it just clutters up my phone. I will usually just buy the full version if somebody recommends it.
I know IAP are supposed to be what everybody is spending all this money on, but who are these people? I have never met a single one.
Anyway, I just wanted to know how much each of you have spent on IAP.
tenrdrmer said: The Title is "All Things In-App Purchase" Please keep your comments, Questions, likes, dislikes, Hopes, and Dreams, Regarding this feature here. There is no need for numerous threads spread around the Forum on the same thing.
I knew about this thread, wanted to start a new one. Oh well… And don't act like there aren't multiple posts on other topics in these forums.
firemaplegames said: Anyway, I just wanted to know how much each of you have spent on IAP.
I try to spend as little as possible. Unless its a really great game, and an IAP will make it even better. ________________________________________________________________________
tenrdrmerMember, Sous Chef, Senior Sous-ChefPosts: 9,934
FMG I personally have never in my life Spent a single penny on an IAP. I personally don't even download a free gave if the listing shows IAP rankings on it.
@Blackbirdstudios, Yes there are tons of multiple threads on every subject under the sun. The difference is we have a sticky so I can find it and merge all others to it. Hopefully when we get a new forum it will be easier to locate older threads to merge the duplicates to. But for now this is the topic i'm starting with.
Corona's had IAP for a while now, but I'm pretty sure nobody has made any money with it.
I've read all the stories about how IAP is making tons of money, but I have to assume that most of that comes from the Mighty Eagle in Angry Birds and 99$ buckets of SmurfBerries, which would certainly skew the data. And again, I have never talked to anybody in real life who have ever bought something.
Games where you can buy virtual currency seems like the game would actually be less fun if you bought it. It would make the game too easy.
It's a lot, I know, but about two thirds of that number are from the Atari Greatest Hits app and the Galaga 30th Anniversary edition app.
Also, I've bought the popular ZX Spectrum and C64 emus that are available, and purchased full games from within those apps too.
The thing to notice here is:
The unlocks in these examples give you full games. The Atari collection comes free, with Pong included, and you can pay for extra individual games, or a smaller amount for all of them.
Galaga comes free with Galaxian. You can then buy the other games from within the app. Full games, mind. You can't buy power ups for it with IAP - they're purchased by using a coin system within the game (i.e. you spend no money).
The Spectrum and C64 stuff is the same. In the case of the Spectrum games, you can buy 'sets' of them (usually 3 or 4 related games) with one IAP.
IAP works well for me in this way. Because these are all games by large, successful companies whose games I have loved for DECADES. They're not some unknown quantity, in effect.
Buying additional levels or locked content seems like a jerk move, especially with how many other games give you so much content for free. Charging for 75% of the game and making people pay again for the final 25% seems like a terrible idea to me. Why not just charge 1.99$ in the first place if you think your game is worth it. Do you really think people would be fooled by that?
I think that games truly are now worth only $.99 to consumers, so selling at $1.99 is probably out for most.
You have a great point about other games giving so much content for the initial price. Jetpack Joyride is a good example. $.99 and plenty of content/replay value. It's such an awesome game, and I don't have to pay a penny extra for *anything*.
It's sold about 400,000 copies as well.
I've said it before, but we already have a way to monetize our games. It's called "Selling them on the app store".
If you're not selling like that, the harsh reality is that IAP are not the silver bullet you're looking for.
firemaplegames said: I can understand the LITE/full argument, but I don't usually download LITE versions. I find it just clutters up my phone. I will usually just buy the full version if somebody recommends it.
I'm the same. In fact, I'll go one further and say that the amount of space a game will take up on my phone is also an issue. I saw Asphalt 6 by GameLoft the other day for free. I went to download it and found it was over 500MB big.
No thanks!
Unless it's something I *truly* want (like something by CAVE, for example) then I will not download it if it's over 40MB. Usually I like to stick to around 20MB as a limit.
Space is at a premium on my iOS devices!
Also, as Tendrmer says, "I personally don't even download a free gave if the listing shows IAP rankings on it."
firemaplegames said: I know IAP are supposed to be what everybody is spending all this money on, but who are these people? I have never met a single one.
You've met me!
But other than me (and my reasoning is in the first paragraph) I don't know of anyone that spends money on IAP either.
It's a lot, I know, but about two thirds of that number are from the Atari Greatest Hits app and the Galaga 30th Anniversary edition app.
Also, I've bought the popular ZX Spectrum and C64 emus that are available, and purchased full games from within those apps too.
The thing to notice here is:
The unlocks in these examples give you full games. The Atari collection comes free, with Pong included, and you can pay for extra individual games, or a smaller amount for all of them.
Galaga comes free with Galaxian. You can then buy the other games from within the app. Full games, mind. You can't buy power ups for it with IAP - they're purchased by using a coin system within the game (i.e. you spend no money).
The Spectrum and C64 stuff is the same. In the case of the Spectrum games, you can buy 'sets' of them (usually 3 or 4 related games) with one IAP.
IAP works well for me in this way. Because these are all games by large, successful companies whose games I have loved for DECADES. They're not some unknown quantity, in effect.
I think that games truly are now worth only $.99 to consumers, so selling at $1.99 is probably out for most.
You have a great point about other games giving so much content for the initial price. Jetpack Joyride is a good example. $.99 and plenty of content/replay value. It's such an awesome game, and I don't have to pay a penny extra for *anything*.
It's sold about 400,000 copies as well.
I've said it before, but we already have a way to monetize our games. It's called "Selling them on the app store".
If you're not selling like that, the harsh reality is that IAP are not the silver bullet you're looking for.
I'm the same. In fact, I'll go one further and say that the amount of space a game will take up on my phone is also an issue. I saw Asphalt 6 by GameLoft the other day for free. I went to download it and found it was over 500MB big.
No thanks!
Unless it's something I *truly* want (like something by CAVE, for example) then I will not download it if it's over 40MB. Usually I like to stick to around 20MB as a limit.
Space is at a premium on my iOS devices!
Also, as Tendrmer says, "I personally don't even download a free gave if the listing shows IAP rankings on it."
You've met me!
But other than me (and my reasoning is in the first paragraph) I don't know of anyone that spends money on IAP either.
Cheers,
QS
EDIT - in the interest of fairness, I should note that our stories are purely anecdotal - and that the figures show people *do* spend money on IAP.
EDIT - oh, ok - just saw your other post with the figures possibly being skewed - carry on!
@Blackbirdstudios, Yes there are tons of multiple threads on every subject under the sun. The difference is we have a sticky so I can find it and merge all others to it. Hopefully when we get a new forum it will be easier to locate older threads to merge the duplicates to. But for now this is the topic i'm starting with.
Good, its good to see you guys keeping things nice and tidy. BTW, I saw that we will be getting a new version of Vanilla Forum software. I hope that helps in the sous' efforts to keep the place neat and tidy.
@Firemaple: I've bought in app purchases here and there, but like QS, they're usually big brand apps like Namco's games, or old Turbo Grafx games that have individual games available for iAP. I even bought a few educational apps that had light, trial versions, and purchased the full one inside the app.
From what I hear, if someone gets to play, say a trial version of an app for free, they're more likely to buy the full version, than hit the purchase button on a paid only version of an app they know nothing about (unless by word of mouth).
What I could never understand is how companies, especially those marketed towards the kids and *tween* population get off on selling smurfberries, and virtual currency to give them a leg up in the game...
Of course there's really no way to monitor this stuff, except good parenting. But when I think of companies doing this, it reminds me of the old cigarette ads, like the Camel cartoon attempting to attract kids into smoking... it just doesn't seem right.
My plan for iAP is simple. I'm going to make all my games "FREE" and add iAP to unlock the entire game for no more than $1.99. Do I think it will help sales? I think it may give a little boost, but my expectations for it are low.
To put iAP into perspective. From what I hear, you could have thousands of downloads of your free version, be in the top 200 games, and still only pull in $50 a day. (I think people's expectations are much higher for it) But the transfer rate from free to paid, I hear is around 1-2%.
Comments
I some questions for the GS team .
I was thinking a bolean attribute.
So when .InAppPurchase = true.
Change attribute game.Money to +5000 $) for example. Will it be as easy as this?
PL
I THINK it should be that easy, but hope to get an official answer about this.
Cheers.
We want answers!
Every time I hear the words "In app purchase" I start to salivate just a little bit.
September is halfway over, I cannot wait for it to come out.
Send and Receive Data using your own Server Tutorial! | Vote for A Long Way Home on Steam Greenlight! | Ten Years Left
http://www.tuaw.com/2011/09/12/360idev-how-to-make-money-from-a-free-app/
btw. did you get my pm?
@SingleSparq. If it makes you feel better I opened that link from your earlier thread but had to leave so I never got to read it.
Just curious. I personally have never bought anything with IAP, nor has anybody that I know.
I can't see myself buying Smurfberries or anything like that. Same with extra outfits for the player.
Buying weapons and powerups seems like a scam.
Buying additional levels or locked content seems like a jerk move, especially with how many other games give you so much content for free. Charging for 75% of the game and making people pay again for the final 25% seems like a terrible idea to me. Why not just charge 1.99$ in the first place if you think your game is worth it. Do you really think people would be fooled by that?
I can understand the LITE/full argument, but I don't usually download LITE versions. I find it just clutters up my phone. I will usually just buy the full version if somebody recommends it.
I know IAP are supposed to be what everybody is spending all this money on, but who are these people? I have never met a single one.
Anyway, I just wanted to know how much each of you have spent on IAP.
And don't act like there aren't multiple posts on other topics in these forums. I try to spend as little as possible. Unless its a really great game, and an IAP will make it even better.
________________________________________________________________________
LIKE our NEW Facebook to see what we're up to! : Blackbird Studios Facebook Page
@Blackbirdstudios, Yes there are tons of multiple threads on every subject under the sun. The difference is we have a sticky so I can find it and merge all others to it. Hopefully when we get a new forum it will be easier to locate older threads to merge the duplicates to. But for now this is the topic i'm starting with.
I've read all the stories about how IAP is making tons of money, but I have to assume that most of that comes from the Mighty Eagle in Angry Birds and 99$ buckets of SmurfBerries, which would certainly skew the data. And again, I have never talked to anybody in real life who have ever bought something.
Games where you can buy virtual currency seems like the game would actually be less fun if you bought it. It would make the game too easy.
Personally, I've spent about $30 on IAP.
It's a lot, I know, but about two thirds of that number are from the Atari Greatest Hits app and the Galaga 30th Anniversary edition app.
Also, I've bought the popular ZX Spectrum and C64 emus that are available, and purchased full games from within those apps too.
The thing to notice here is:
The unlocks in these examples give you full games. The Atari collection comes free, with Pong included, and you can pay for extra individual games, or a smaller amount for all of them.
Galaga comes free with Galaxian. You can then buy the other games from within the app. Full games, mind. You can't buy power ups for it with IAP - they're purchased by using a coin system within the game (i.e. you spend no money).
The Spectrum and C64 stuff is the same. In the case of the Spectrum games, you can buy 'sets' of them (usually 3 or 4 related games) with one IAP.
IAP works well for me in this way. Because these are all games by large, successful companies whose games I have loved for DECADES. They're not some unknown quantity, in effect. I think that games truly are now worth only $.99 to consumers, so selling at $1.99 is probably out for most.
You have a great point about other games giving so much content for the initial price. Jetpack Joyride is a good example. $.99 and plenty of content/replay value. It's such an awesome game, and I don't have to pay a penny extra for *anything*.
It's sold about 400,000 copies as well.
I've said it before, but we already have a way to monetize our games. It's called "Selling them on the app store".
If you're not selling like that, the harsh reality is that IAP are not the silver bullet you're looking for. I'm the same. In fact, I'll go one further and say that the amount of space a game will take up on my phone is also an issue. I saw Asphalt 6 by GameLoft the other day for free. I went to download it and found it was over 500MB big.
No thanks!
Unless it's something I *truly* want (like something by CAVE, for example) then I will not download it if it's over 40MB. Usually I like to stick to around 20MB as a limit.
Space is at a premium on my iOS devices!
Also, as Tendrmer says, "I personally don't even download a free gave if the listing shows IAP rankings on it." You've met me!
But other than me (and my reasoning is in the first paragraph) I don't know of anyone that spends money on IAP either.
Cheers,
QS
Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home...
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Quantum_Sheep
Web: https://quantumsheep.itch.io
EDIT - oh, ok - just saw your other post with the figures possibly being skewed - carry on!
Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home...
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Quantum_Sheep
Web: https://quantumsheep.itch.io
________________________________________________________________________
LIKE us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter! :
Blackbird Studios Facebook Page
Blackbird Studios Twitter
From what I hear, if someone gets to play, say a trial version of an app for free, they're more likely to buy the full version, than hit the purchase button on a paid only version of an app they know nothing about (unless by word of mouth).
What I could never understand is how companies, especially those marketed towards the kids and *tween* population get off on selling smurfberries, and virtual currency to give them a leg up in the game...
Of course there's really no way to monitor this stuff, except good parenting. But when I think of companies doing this, it reminds me of the old cigarette ads, like the Camel cartoon attempting to attract kids into smoking... it just doesn't seem right.
My plan for iAP is simple. I'm going to make all my games "FREE" and add iAP to unlock the entire game for no more than $1.99.
Do I think it will help sales? I think it may give a little boost, but my expectations for it are low.
To put iAP into perspective. From what I hear, you could have thousands of downloads of your free version, be in the top 200 games, and still only pull in $50 a day. (I think people's expectations are much higher for it) But the transfer rate from free to paid, I hear is around 1-2%.