Should I make my game free?

guilleface

Hi all, in two days I got only 24 sales at $.99 but I also 7 IAP of $1, my game is like the 100 floors or doors, but for 1$ iap they can unlock the WALKTHROUGH, as we know when a game is free there are more downloads but I wonder if I will keep the 30% rate of iap, should I wait more days or make it free?

rhinokey

tough call i'm workin on my first game now. and i want ot make a proffit. no idea if i should go free with iaps.. tough call

patapple

if you have in app maybe you can try to turn it free for a while and see what happens

Barking_Apps

yeah i would try risking it and putting it for free, and then simply rely on in-apps but make an update so the user would almost have to purchase one in-app. So make some really hard levels and have a limited amount of hints,and you can purchase in-apps for more hints...

just a thought, good luck with futre downloads

BarkingApps :o3

guilleface

thanks thats a good idea, also the iPad version was approved this morning, if i do a search i can find it but is not on the new release puzzle category, is this normal? will it appear later on? and also on my iPad version the iap was approved too but i can't see it in left side on the apple store.

jigglybean

Ive been looking into this with great detail, as I work on my game. Personally, I will be doing a free version with adverts and a paid version with more levels and no adverts.

But if you DO place adverts, be sure they dont get in the way of your game, or people will get angry.

I would also reach out to some of the bloggers. Send them a paragraph or two detailing your game - the two options(if you offer a free version and a paid one) and give them 4 free codes so they can try it.

nick98

I would only go free if you are confident users need the IAP's.

creativeapps

If your game is FREE with IAP and downloads are 5-10k per day. That does mean you got lot with IAP. IAP is trick and smart way to push customer for purchasing IAP. Check Glu Games they are master in IAP all games are FREE and lots of game are in Top Grossing because of IAP. So there is very connection between IAP and your game play what you are providing in IAP is really helpful to user or not. You have to make documents for that. Big companies are doing like this.

PBEmpire

but iap is not available in many countries. so its like a game with no ads in these countries. try your method for a week to find out result

Pennez-Games

well what i was gona do when i release my app would be to make the first week free, then make it a dollor, and whats your app called?

GuaveMedia

Free with IAP is not bad but you have to have many downloads to earn money with it. And 5-10k (k=thousand or?) is really a lot, also for a FREE game. I always think about money in the end because I think when you only have the aim to make money you won't make money at all. The games were I never thought about money did best, hope the new one does it also

SlickZero

What is the game like? Is it made well enough to stand on it's own without any monetization practices? I personally would be upset if I got a game, and if I wanted to see the instructions on how to play it, I had to fork over a dollar. @jigglybean makes some good points.

Free to play with IAP is the norm now for a lot of games. I wouldn't charge for instructions or tips about the game, those should be included. Maybe charge for more levels, or some kind of in game items.

@soundwavninja - I don't know how you are doing your game, but if it's going to be $.99 I would not set it to free the first week. During the first week is when you will get most of your sales, and most apps are usually dead after a week. It depends on the quality of your game.

guilleface

my game is like solving a puzzle to open a door, similar to 100 floors and doors, so far i have the game with 30 levels, and hopefully i can add 20 more this week, and the IAP is for a game walkthrough, the only problem i see making it free, is that if i get many downloads probably someone will make a walkthrough and posted in the web, anyways here are some promo codes, please download it with iTunes and if you like the game please leave a review, if is possible. also in the store the iap name is only displaying "unlock game" but the full name is "unlock game walkthrough", this could make user think the IAP is for unlocking the full game, in iTunes connect i change to "walkthrough" only but is still displaying "unlock game walkthrough" how can i fix this?

iphone
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/escape-through-elevator/id543641297?mt=8XR9KEKAE7LMN

39P3RTE97LA4
EKYYRK733NRE
7TF4RT4PK9KY
WJ339NR79LJM
77ELHPNPH9Y3
JE63J9NHRFYW
KAAHY6E96YK7
3X7EWTHMWYLF
NNRY7K7AEPFH

ipad
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/escape-through-elevator-hd/id543659309?mt=8THRTAJRNEM9J

MEKJAJAXL49K
NLRRR49KLY4P
F4TX44Y4AFWA
LJF3N4TMJ9EE
T4EE7ARJ6XTR
YXTLWLX6NJYN
7WM9PE6374HH
3JK4T4TLYXYT
96ELRL64J96X

Braydon_SFX

Just to put some light on the subject of IAP :

I have 2 apps with IAP : Penguin Pounce Lite and Frozen Finder.

Frozen Finder has been out for about 2 months and it's free. It's a word game and gets about 10 downloads a day now(Since it's been out for two months, the download rate has dropped). It has IAP for removing the ads, and 3 IAP for potions which add time to your clock per round. Only 1 person has taken the bait...The game has just shy of 1,000 downloads.

Penguin Pounce Lite has been out since January and gets about 30 downloads a day. It's a puzzle game. Now, it has 1 IAP - that IAP gives the user the full game. Penguin Pounce, the full version, sells about 1 or 2 a day...I won't go into numbers, but Penguin Pounce Lite is catching up with the full version sales.

So as you can see, it's kind of a risk either way...But I would probably go the IAP route if I thought that the game would get 6k-12k downloads a day.

Just my two cents.