I don't really see how this can be answered. Do you mean 'best' from a buyer or seller perspective? And how do you quantify 'best price'? Best for profit margins, or best to entice people to buy?...
@FryingBaconStudios thats true. But there are many games that are doing very well paid. And does the Free to play model apply to the iPad. I know it's common with kids games but what about other games?
@BoomshackBarry I mean best for the developer. I qualify best price as best margins yet most downloads. In other words, which price will make the most money.
@poisenden aah gottit In honesty you'll probably get various different answers and none will be the right one. After all even the biggest studios in the worlds have their games split between free and various different levels of pay. If there was a de facto best answer then they'd all be selling at that price and nothing else.
Although I do agree with @FryingBaconStudios, FTP with ads and iaps is emerging as the winner so I'd say that's the most likely to earn revenue and downloads. Soon after releasing Real Racing 3 as FTP, EA stated that revenue-wise it was definitely the right choice for them financially compared to Real Racing 1 and 2's paid download model.
@FryingBaconStudios Not at all. The companies that have huge advertising budgets are already doing free to play. I'm talking about doodle jump, cut the rope, angry birds, tiny wings, etc. Companies that started with no advertising budgets.
Yeah and you're talking about games that had an established presence before the change in marketing parametors. You really don't understand marketing cycles do you.
@poisenden I agree... Free (right now) is more for big players with huge marketing machine... If you look at the most popular indie games of last 4 years these were all paid from the beginning... and believe me not 0.99 but much more.
I really don't like free games and IAPs and I know that there are many people like me who prefer to buy apps.
tenrdrmerMember, Sous Chef, Senior Sous-ChefPosts: 9,934
You forgot to add
"It varied based on the app quality, genre, market, etc...."
I hate free to play. Personally but I do see the possibility for certain game types working very well with it.
I do understand marketing cycles. But paid does work today. You just have to use it efficiently. In my past experience, paid has worked better than in-app purchases.
Free to play may suck (I hate adds and I dislike free to play ideology too), but when major players are offering gaming experiences that will blow indies who are selling their games for 99 cents to 5 bucks out of the water, you gotta rethink you stratagy. How is your app going to get onto more devices? People like free and many more will at least try it since they don't have to drop cash to try it. If you have a good method to introduce IAP additional content to essentially "unlock" your game's potential, then you have a good formula. Even if the game IAP is not selling as much, but still gets lots of plays, adds will help generate revenue (additionaly, you can have them pay to turn them off).
Gotta face it. The industry strategy is choking out the a lot of the indie competition with this model. Sure some indie titles will sell for thier asking price, but not all indie games are going to get the press, word of mouth, features etc. that big studios can muster.
@RP I can't agree... free games (free to play, freemium or pay to win) it's only one form of sale. For some app it works well and doesn't affect gameplay - PuzzleCraft - for other works really bad - Real Racing.
And really there wasn't any succesfull free indie game in the last few years. And I'm mean real indie not small game made by big developer.
But anyway everyone will choose their own way. I hope your will work for you as mine works for me
@DanielDoe. You are assuming I only use this freemium model. Meanwhile industry news rings with freemium as being a model that is becoming a trend. Like I mentioned above it has to work with the type of game you make/offer. Not all games are suitable for this.
The main thing is don't kid yourself by trying to sell an app for more money just because it's on the iPad. You guys are suggesting price points without any knowledge of the game or quality. How an you make a determination on that? It's silly.
No, poisenden is asking what is the best price (obviously he's trying to determine a pricing model). Not what your best price point is. You are offering a suggestion as to what @poisenden should charge for an iPad app without knowing the game or quality. Seems pretty illogical to me.
@poisenden Right on man. After we see it and hear about the features, we can give a fair estimate of what you should go for.
tenrdrmerMember, Sous Chef, Senior Sous-ChefPosts: 9,934
@danieldoe actually real racing is exactly where freemium works perfect. You can play that entire game without ever spending a penny (like me) but if your the kinda person that can't handle earning your wins fair and square you can throw money at the game and its like buying cheat codes. You can unlock all the cars and all the upgrades out of your pocketbook. They don't restrict anything from the real gamer but offer an avenue for today's generation of lazy gamers.
Team6Labs
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Guru Video Channel | Lost Oasis Games | FRYING BACON STUDIOS
And does the Free to play model apply to the iPad. I know it's common with kids games but what about other games?
Guru Video Channel | Lost Oasis Games | FRYING BACON STUDIOS
Although I do agree with @FryingBaconStudios, FTP with ads and iaps is emerging as the winner so I'd say that's the most likely to earn revenue and downloads. Soon after releasing Real Racing 3 as FTP, EA stated that revenue-wise it was definitely the right choice for them financially compared to Real Racing 1 and 2's paid download model.
Guru Video Channel | Lost Oasis Games | FRYING BACON STUDIOS
I really don't like free games and IAPs and I know that there are many people like me who prefer to buy apps.
"It varied based on the app quality, genre, market, etc...."
I hate free to play. Personally but I do see the possibility for certain game types working very well with it.
Gotta face it. The industry strategy is choking out the a lot of the indie competition with this model. Sure some indie titles will sell for thier asking price, but not all indie games are going to get the press, word of mouth, features etc. that big studios can muster.
And really there wasn't any succesfull free indie game in the last few years. And I'm mean real indie not small game made by big developer.
But anyway everyone will choose their own way. I hope your will work for you as mine works for me
The main thing is don't kid yourself by trying to sell an app for more money just because it's on the iPad. You guys are suggesting price points without any knowledge of the game or quality. How an you make a determination on that? It's silly.
Actually my opinion is not "Free with Ads/In-App Purchases" but rather "Free with In-App Purchases".
- Thomas
P.S. For me, I think the freemium or paid decision is also heavily based on the type and quality of the game.