In-Game Store/In-App Purchase

sebmat86

So, I´m struggling with the whole business model thing. What direction I should go and so forth. I´ve been working with GS for sometime now, and have yet to publish a game. So I´m still learning. But I plan to make a simple game and publish it to see which model works and which doesn´t.

But the market moves to some kind of F2P, at least mobile gaming has that almost as a standard, which almost forces me to think F2P when building my game. But I got one idea the other day that I´d like to know if it would be possible to have.

So here goes. If I make a F2P game, is it possible to have an obvious "donation" button in it? Like "If you like this game, please donate...". Would there really be any problem with it? Why don´t I see that ever in games, at least not THAT obvious. So anyone out there that might know if this is possible or not, give me a shout. If yes, then thats awesome! And if not, then why? It might be a stupid question, but you never know with all the rules and whatnot, at least Apple has, when publishing games, yeah?

Cheers,
/Seb

LyboTech

No, Apple rejects all donation iAP within an app. The closest you can get is re-directing the player to a website that allows you to donate. Hope this helps you, good luck

sebmat86

@LyboTech said:
No, Apple rejects all donation iAP within an app. The closest you can get is re-directing the player to a website that allows you to donate. Hope this helps you, good luck

Ah... Bugger... Oh well. Hmm. But thank you very much for clearing that up. But is it possible to re-direct the player to another site, with Gamesalad? Do you know why they reject it, btw? Do you, or anyone else, know if the same goes for Google Play? I´m working on iOS, but might try out Android in the future.

Thanks again, LyboTech!

/Seb

Hopscotch

@sebmat86, why not make a free version and a premium version with some small incentive (a special ending for example).

Then promote the premium version inside of the free version: "If you like this game, consider upgrading to the premium version to support future development." Supplying a button that links the user to the paid version on the appstore.

Apple obviously has a problem with developers who try to bypass their 30% cut by doing donation schemes.

Even if they allowed it as IAP it would create too much grey territory.

Most importantly, donations have specific tax implications which the app store does not cover. That is why it may not be implied as a donation.

sebmat86

@Hopscotch said:
sebmat86, why not make a free version and a premium version with some small incentive (a special ending for example).

Then promote the premium version inside of the free version: "If you like this game, consider upgrading to the premium version to support future development." Supplying a button that links the user to the paid version on the appstore.

Apple obviously has a problem with developers who try to bypass their 30% cut by doing donation schemes.

Even if they allowed it as IAP it would create too much grey territory.

Most importantly, donations have specific tax implications which the app store does not cover. That is why it may not be implied as a donation.

Ah, thanks for explaining the problem with donations via IAP. Didn't think about different tax implications. Good to know. I´ll think about the freemium, premium versions.

Thanks again!