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Where have all the iOS games gone?

minotaurproject.co.uk

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Re: Where have all the iOS games gone?

#81

Post by st3v3r »

Blaaguuu wrote: post #53
eridius wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They also show on every single app whether or not it has IAP (and you can see what the IAP is with a tap), so you can do your own filtering when looking at the new games list if that's an important criteria.

But you often have to play the game for half an hour before you start running into really gross IAPs, though. If you want to find games that don't have those predatory game loops and IAPs, the only way seems to be to go outside of the app stores and find review sites - but no site can keep up with reviewing every game that gets released.

I dunno, if you look at the list of IAPs offered, and see that most are for "gems" or "coins" or something like that, you can be pretty sure that they've got something up their sleeve.

Re: Where have all the iOS games gone?

#82

Post by [deleted] »

sago wrote: post #50
fnayr wrote: post #14

I hear this myth perpetuated incessantly. (That there's no more middle ground in the app store, only the Clash of Clans and Candy Crushes and the rest with no downloads). People paint the picture that it's the top 0.1% and everyone else with an unsustainable business. The truth is there's plenty of us in the middle still. My two person iOS dev studio has pulled in 6 figures a year for the past 4 years. The problem is…

Which myth? Did we read the same article? > That there's no more middle ground in the app store, only the Clash of Clans and Candy Crushes and the rest with no downloads Did he say anything like that? In the version I read he said that his games weren't making enough money to be viable, though he expected the market to be big enough to support their work. No mention of middles, Clash of Clans or anything. FWIW: I als…

[deleted]

Re: Where have all the iOS games gone?

#83

Post by spikengineer »

jpeg_hero wrote: post #78

Apple needs to move the "standard price" from 0.99 one time download -> 0.99 per year Delete app to unsubscribe Remove 0.99 one time pricing $5.00 minimum one time download price

Apple and Android should instead take a Valve/Steam like approach and create a good community around the store that includes curators, flash sales etc.

Re: Where have all the iOS games gone?

#84

Post by billyjobob »

I feel it's worth pointing out this isn't just some blog by any old indie development studio. This is a blog by Jeff Minter. The man practically invented home computer gaming. I was buying his games with my allowance 35 years ago, because they were great. And I still buy them today, because they are still great. If Jeff Minter can't make the App Store work then no-one can. (Although he probably could have done if he had been willing to make crappy games with in app purchase rather than make good games. )

Re: Where have all the iOS games gone?

#85

Post by phjesusthatguy3 »

projectramo wrote: post #44

Wait a second: " the first non-iOS game I did after spending two years on iOS, released on a Sony handheld that many describe as being “obscure”, generated literally thousands of times more income for us than two years and ten games on iOS with its potential billions of users." What was the platform? I wonder if there is a strategy to be carved out making games for Windows 10, Linux mobile, etc.

Other replies have mentioned it's the Vita, but I have to mention the game is called TxK. It's the third version of Tempest 2000 I've played over the years and it's an amazing piece of work. I can hardly believe I've been playing this guy's games for almost 30 years now.

Re: Where have all the iOS games gone?

#86

Post by andybak »

archagon wrote: post #25
fnayr wrote: post #14

I hear this myth perpetuated incessantly. (That there's no more middle ground in the app store, only the Clash of Clans and Candy Crushes and the rest with no downloads). People paint the picture that it's the top 0.1% and everyone else with an unsustainable business. The truth is there's plenty of us in the middle still. My two person iOS dev studio has pulled in 6 figures a year for the past 4 years. The problem is…

The context is that this is Jeff Minter's blog. His iOS games have received high acclaim over the years, especially early on in the App Store.

Yep. I hope a few people reading this know who the hell Jeff Minter is and why he's worth listening to.

(PS Jeff - if you're listening to. A new take on Llamatron would make me a very happy man)

Re: Where have all the iOS games gone?

#87

Post by k-mcgrady »

Lerc wrote: post #40
monocasa wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, there's free and there's 'free'.

Indeed, this is the "Top Grossing 200" I wonder what percentage could be classified as abusive software. If that's the path I have to take to make money on iOS, I'll take a path on a different platform.

>> "If that's the path I have to take to make money on iOS, I'll take a path on a different platform."

I think this is about much more than iOS. Anything that can be delivered online (software, music, movies etc.) is something that consumers think should be free. Strangely they are willing to get milked after download through things like in-app purchase.

Re: Where have all the iOS games gone?

#88

Post by coralreef »

kbenson wrote: post #77
coralreef wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I understand your position. The iOS platform has probably made more indie dev millionaires than any other platform in history. And countless others making a living, or make a few bucks off side projects. Or are employed by app companies. So yeah, the amount of money attracts a lot of competition, and no, its not easy figuring out marketing and distribution. Most of us fail, but that's really just the nat…

> I'm not sure I understand your position. The iOS platform has probably made more indie dev millionaires than any other platform in history. I think the assertion is something along the lines of that being possible because more indie devs are on that platform than ever existed before. Sure, there's a lot that made it big, but so many are in the pool that it's still a relatively minuscule chance.

I suppose that makes logical sense. But I don't know of any platforms or markets where the proportion of risk to reward is much better. And if that opportunity was much better, economics dictates that it eventually would draw in more competition until risk-reward became par with any other market. No free lunches out there.

Re: Where have all the iOS games gone?

#89

Post by nostrademons »

bhandziuk wrote: post #55
nostrademons wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usually it takes one turn or so of the technology cycle. Basically the market is poisoned as long as it's too competitive for customers to really differentiate between alternatives. Developers realize this, and stop paying attention to the market. Adjacent technologies (eg. iOS platform libraries, hardware capabilities, backend systems, market penetration) continue to improve, but nobody notices their improvement bec…

When do you think those 3-4 years started for this bubble?

For iOS, probably last year (2015). Assuming Apple doesn't massively lose consumer marketshare (certainly a possibility in hardware, just ask Motorola), indie development on macOS/iOS/watchOS/tvOS will likely become viable again between 2018-2020.

This is an interesting time in computing history, though, because there are multiple overlapping tech cycles and multiple big companies driving them. During the web interregnum, the dominant tech company was Microsoft, and Microsoft basically completely controlled the channel to the customer. So we just weren't getting fundamental innovations in the browser - there was XmlHttpRequest and hidden iframes that sparked a lot of Web 2.0, and there was Flash from Adobe, but that was largely it. Today, we have innovation in cloud computing from Amazon and Google; we have innovation in programming languages from Mozilla, Jetbrains, and Apple; we have innovation in big-data tools from the Apache foundation and others; we have innovation in machine-learning from Google and a number of startups; and we have innovation in computing devices from Apple, Google, Pebble, Oculus, and a large number of other companies. So while the Apple ecosystem itself may face a dot-com bust, there could easily be a killer app brewing in technologies outside of the pure iOS ecosystem that uses an iOS app to deliver its service to the customer.

Re: Where have all the iOS games gone?

#90

Post by Lerc »

k-mcgrady wrote: post #87
Lerc wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, this is the "Top Grossing 200" I wonder what percentage could be classified as abusive software. If that's the path I have to take to make money on iOS, I'll take a path on a different platform.

>> "If that's the path I have to take to make money on iOS, I'll take a path on a different platform." I think this is about much more than iOS. Anything that can be delivered online (software, music, movies etc.) is something that consumers think should be free. Strangely they are willing to get milked after download through things like in-app purchase.

>Strangely they are willing to get milked after download through things like in-app purchase.

I don't think that is true. I doubt many pay at all. I think there are a small number of people who are massively exploited to generate the revenue for these apps.

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