Is anyone really making money with "free" games?

chaley

It seems insane to me that the majority of games in the App Store are free these days. While the big developers can handle the hit of a few titles being free... It seems as though the indie developers would be much better off with the "immediate" sale than with the "if the user feels like buying add-ons later" sort of sale.

Is anyone having any luck with monetizing free games?

DanielDoe

For me paid apps work much better. Also as a player I always prefer and choose paid apps. I don't like free apps with ads or iAP, but as market shows good implementation of iAP can make a game very profitable (e.x. PuzzleCraft).

lycettebros

Yes.

HalfBakedProductions

I actually make more money on a daily basis with my free apps than paid app. Although my one free app generally only makes $1 to $5, that is still significantly better than making no money at all.

chaley

Yea... It's a tough thing to spend all that time on a game & just give it away. Something about that just feels wrong. I'm going to go paid on my next release, but am seriously considering the "free" angle. We'll see I guess.

KevinCross

Brace yourselves!

I made $1.80 in a whole month with my free game from iAds.

DepressedPanda

Brace yourselves!

I made $1.80 in a whole month with my free game from iAds.

Not really fair to compare individual results as no offense (I haven't played it), your game may not be of quality that gets people wanting to play it more than a single time.

As with anything in game development, your results may vary.

KevinCross

Not really fair to compare individual results as no offense (I haven't played it), your game may not be of quality that gets people wanting to play it more than a single time.

As with anything in game development, your results may vary.

No offense taken! The question was "is anyone?", and as I fall into the 'anyone' band I felt like answering.

FallingBoxStudios

The best way to earn money from free games is by creating a free game with ads and much less content - and also create a pro version of the game without ads and the full complete game, if the free version is good enough, fans will buy the pro version

AfterBurnett

Well, I certainly make no money from my paid games... lol. And even if my free ones had IAP, the amount of downloads wouldn't amount to a heap of cash, even with a good conversion rate. I think at the end of the day, you just need an amazing game... even then, so easy to get overlooked... I'm sticking with paid for now as I don't see myself getting hundreds of thousands of downloads a week on any of my titles... which I'd need to make any cash.

onlydanwilliams

My free app bird tap got over 800 downloads in two week with no $, I have a paid version I've racked up about £300 since august 17th, my next app will be free with iAP, it seems to be the smarter thing to do.

Asobu_Games

I've had 1 free app which has made over $1000 so far from IAP (after Apple's cut) from 40,000 or so free downloads. This is a lot better than my previous paid apps which hardly made anything. You might only revenue from 1 in every 50 or 100 people, but you will get WAY more downloads, so yeah it's a gamble. It really depends on lots of things like the quality of game, your monetization strategy etc.

tenrdrmer

I have not had any luck with the free with IAP upgrade or free with ads platform. I see most friends and family dropping their money on in game currency type purchases. I personally hate those types of games but I guess I should be looking that direction. It seems these days I'm in the minority of people who actually want to earn their win. Tons of people are lazy and would rather just drop some money to advance to the next part of the game. But hey I hate using cheat codes to. Well at least until I have beat a game fair and square. Then ill dabble with them.

Gamepenciler

This topic confuses my decision if I'm releasing my game for free with iAds or paid tier 1. I haven't started yet but reading the topic makes me wonder.

lebiscuit

i'm wondering th same question, free + in app purchase, or iad, and what to do with android ?

jamie_c

@tenrdrmer, I feel the same way about bout IAP and cheat codes but I know that is because I'm so old school. I think i'm going to try some IAP in my next game and see if that earns any additional income, we'll see how it goes.

jigglybean

IAPs work well if they are done correctly. King apparently has been making $420k a DAY from Candy Crush IAPs and those are simple boosts. Todays market is tough, with pirating and people simply wanting something for nothing

The_Gamesalad_Guru

Candy crush was created using the same psychology uses in Casios. It's designed to facilitate the same rush as gambling. Lots of money was spent on this type of research. Candy crush wasn't just thrown together. It's a calculated exploit of human nature. If you want to recreate candy crush study psychology not game design.

tenrdrmer

Candy crush was created using the same psychology uses in Casios. It's designed to facilitate the same rush as gambling. Lots of money was spent on this type of research. Candy crush wasn't just thrown together. It's a calculated exploit of human nature. If you want to recreate candy crush study psychology not game design.

hehe well I must have some serious will power because I'm not affected by their pycho warfare.

To be honest blasting my iPhone with a machine gun sounds like a much more rewarding experience. but then I would be out an iPhone and have to buy a new one. Hmm I guess I need to develop candy crush and make millions then blast away iPhones with a machine gun

Gamepenciler

Yeah candy crush serves as good inspiration for free games. From my observation it depends on the game, it's will just depend on your marketing choice and the features of your game. Some paid games stand out because the development was good and addictive enough that people will really buy it. Some free games stands out as well with the same logic but good thing apple found a way like in-app and iAds. Whether release paid or free it's up to you..

eatfishy

I've created a bunch of free apps (non gaming) and the ad revenue per app is not great. When combining ad revenue from all my apps, the revenue is about 1K - 2K per month without doing much update. It's really not much, but better than nothing.

Gamepenciler

So are you guys saying that paid app is better?

The_Gamesalad_Guru

Yes the mighty tenrdrmer is immune but read all the stories about the people who have spent thousands on that game they call them whales. This is a standard approach with these kinds of games do a search for candy crush and addiction and whales. It's interesting stuff. There is always more than meets the eye with this kind of stuff.

OscarsCoding

In app purchases are the way to go!

BigDave

free games only

Chartboost. $10'000 over 6 months.
IAP $1100 after cuts of apple and google over 12 months
iAds $1800 over 12 months

rough values

ant_lad

Like game salad guru said, study psychology.

Or, you could figure out how to get your apps in front of more eyes.

Or, think about what gets you to open your wallet.

All this info is out there for free, many, many, many groups have studied this stuff and release it. Go to the Indie site associated with Gamasutra and start reading and following links and reading more.

Like most projects, a game should be planned before starting, and all this stuff should be thought through at the beginning