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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?

#101

Post by panic »

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.

I think they should have developers choose a monthly limit for their games. This limits the abuse and prevents addicted "whales" from spending all their money on the game. And if the limit is too high ("free (up to $1000/month!)") people might think twice about buying it.

Re: Where have all the iOS games gone?

#102

Post by onion2k »

Steko wrote: post #98
billyjobob wrote: post #84

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…

> If Jeff Minter can't make the App Store work then no-one can. As a counterpoint I grew up on no small amount of Jeff Minter games, lost more hours to Tempest 2000 on the godawful Jaguar than one should admit to in polite company, and have downloaded almost all of Llamasoft's iOS games due mostly to the fawning reviews in Toucharcade and played them for not all that long because -- frankly -- they are simply not ver…

So the reality is that even if you're a semi-famous developer who has a practically guaranteed revenue and media coverage from your fans, it still isn't enough. You need to make a game that competes on quality with the studios that spend $millions on their apps.

Thats not a very promising proposition to anyone considering making a game.

Re: Where have all the iOS games gone?

#103

Post by Lerc »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #100
Lerc wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

I'm curious if you feel that WoW at $180/yr is an exploitation. And if not, why would you consider someone paying the same amount of money for bonuses on Candy Crush to be exploited?

I cannot speak with much authority on either game because I have played neither of them.

At the start of the year was the player aware how much a years worth of play would cost them? The key to whether or not something is exploitative in this respect is whether or not the player is spending more than they were prepared to.

Does either game disguise the cost and bring in extras incrementally to promote a sunk-cost fallacy? Do they force the decision to spend at points of particular tension in the game? Some games certainly do.

This is quite a good read.

http://insertcredit.com/2011/09/22/who-killed-videogames-a-g...

Re: Where have all the iOS games gone?

#104

Post by asd »

emsy wrote: post #62
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…

Care to share a link to your games?

Search his username on github and it will tell you his dev studio name. You can then google his dev studio and find out his niche.

Re: Where have all the iOS games gone?

#106

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: Where have all the iOS games gone?

#107

Post by jarjoura »

How is it that Sony PS4/Vita stores can sell these same indie games for $20 a pop? Sony pushes these games hard and gives every one of them a fair amount of free marketing. They also celebrate their game developers by writing about them on their blogs and press-releases.

The Apple App store in its current iteration is just mentally exhausting. Everytime I open it up I'm presented with a new grid of app icons and no context to why I should care.

To further detriment, Apple has trained the market to stay away from 3rd party curation of iOS apps in any kind of useful way. So we're left only with a gateway of lists. That's nice, but not worth my time.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but ultimately an indie game has limited replay value because they're just so small in scope, but they're usually a lot of fun. So a one time upfront payment to enjoy for a few weeks is a great business strategy I think.

Edit: Not to sound like I'm bashing Apple here, as I don't think the Google Play store does it any better.

Re: Where have all the iOS games gone?

#108

Post by chris_wot »

fnayr wrote: post #63
sago wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Sure, and to be fair to author, my point wasn't made to combat his article. I was more responding to the headline which reminded me of the "indieapocalypse" articles that make news all the time. Sorry to hear it didn't work out for you. If you found more viable platforms of course that makes sense to pursue. I think that's what more developers who complain about the meager app store sales ought to do (explore alterna…

I think it's more interesting that to keep maintaining the games he was forced to keep purchasing an Apple developer license, and that it was cheaper for him to pull the games than to risk reputation all damage with crashing apps, even if they are free.

This genuinely sounds like a problem for Apple. Without a healthy App Store ecosystem there is little reason to purchase an iPad!

Re: Where have all the iOS games gone?

#109

Post by nxzero »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #100
Lerc wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

I'm curious if you feel that WoW at $180/yr is an exploitation. And if not, why would you consider someone paying the same amount of money for bonuses on Candy Crush to be exploited?

Given the average WoW player likely plays 500+ hours a year, sounds cheap cost wise, but expensive time wise.

Re: Where have all the iOS games gone?

#110

Post by grmarcil »

emsy wrote: post #62
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…

Care to share a link to your games?

http://www.bmcm.co/
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