Do you ever pay for games?

[Mac Morrison]

interesting comments.
obviously some people are paying (in large amounts) for in app purchases as on all the app stores the highest grossing apps are free games with in app purchase.
it just feels a bit wrong to me.

anyway try my game - its free so you wont have to pay a penny/cent!

PENKU | Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (United Kingdom)

 

[genuine555]

No.

Since I only play a game on the phone once in a while, I find this not to be worth the money for me, since allmost any kind of game has some free alternatives...


Apps, that's another story.

I like that PENKU game...it's a refreshing tetris kind of variant...the UI looks very stale though, and could use some brighter colors.

 

[Patrik WP]

I'm going to try your game later.
I never pay for games, sometimes I want to but than after sometime I realise I don't need it that much.
I think making "Donate versions" of apps is good.

 

[Mac Morrison]

No.
I like that PENKU game...it's a refreshing tetris kind of variant...the UI looks very stale though, and could use some brighter colors.

ah well some of the colour schemes are brighter - theres one that's CYMK in your face.
but basically its meant to be a faded, paper like subtle colour palette - I guess that's not everyones cup of tea.
I did think about releasing an identical version with some bright cartoony graphuics, jewels or sweets or hearts etc. to see which got the most downloads!!

the initial sketch of that version attached - but I never developed it beyond this first rough.

 

[Keith Wallace]

I will only pay for Xbox games. I feel like they earn the money with the effort put into the certification process and offering an added level of depth (Achievements, which I can track on my profile).

There are just too many Xbox LIVe-enabled games worth playing to spend money on non-Xbox games, which are often of lower quality or generally boring. I'll gladly download a free indie game and try it out, leave a review, and make a forum post, if the developer is looking for feedback. However, I can't bring myself to spend money on a game from someone I know nothing about (in terms of previous game quality).

Of course, you then have an instance like GameLoft's...I'll never make a purchase from them again. They had a GREAT deal in Asphalt 7, which was Xbox LIVE-enabled and only $0.99. They released the non-Xbox Asphalt 8 for the same $0.99, then jacked Asphalt 7 up to $4.99 a few weeks later. I gave them a pass for being a company who just copied the competition for EVERYTHING, but they're getting ridiculous.

 

[guidorobben]

I have no problems with paying for a game. But the price doesn't has to be high. Unless I get the feeling its worth my money. But I rather pay a small amount instead of those horrible ads.

 

[icthusman1]

I will pay for good games. I hate games that try and nickel and dime you with in-app purchases. I would rather pay a small amount up front for a satisfying game.

If you are going to charge for your games, then having a trial version is very important.

 

[Isadora Moustata]

I rarely pay for games because I am usually disappointed with them. They either seem too complicated, too boring, or they don't engage my attention for more than a few minuets. Even at 99 cents, I will think long and hard about purchasing a game.

 

[mrCh3p3]

I started to pay for Mobile Games until I get my Lumia 900, I already have 8 games with Xbox Live and 2 Indies purchased (Dark Lands at the beggining and Angry Birds). I'm a Xbox User, so I try to keep playing with games that has Xbox integration. I'll get soon my own Surface and I'll get games from the Xbox Line-up, I like to get achievements for my profile.

For example I'll get GTA: SA until Rockstar decides to include Xbox Live integration.

 

[Ashish Kakade05]

I would not like to pay for games...cause after sometimes it get free if not I have a droid device in which games get eventually free.....wp should learn something from droid and ios how to make games free.....

 

[NickMon68]

Hi Mac

Let me be honest here.

Yes I pay for games, what do i think is far ? anything from 69p-?6.00 (so I guess thats $9.00)

BUT

It has to make use the the WP platform and to me that means XBL support in particular achievements. This is what makes the platform different to Ios and Android, and god knows why MS are not making a bigger deal of this.

If its not XBL and achievments then im sorry I dont even look at it.

I dont mean to offen, I'm being honest here.

To me and a lot of people I know (try all those on www.trueachievements.com) the selling point of the phone is achievements on the go.

NickMon68

 

[nitt_attaboy]

I hardly pay for apps but i have bought around ?7-8 of games in the past 4 months, though I like IAPs for indie games & hate ads in games but I am fine with ads in apps. Paying for indie games depends on store reviews.

 

[gravage]

I'll gladly pay for a game if it means no in-app purchases. I would much rather pay $5 and play the game the way it's supposed to be played than download one for free (or cheap) and be forced to pay $1 every time I want to start a new level or progress further. The current state of mobile gaming is sad, with EA leading the way.

I refuse to download "free" games, because I know they're actually "freemium". So, if your game is "free", you will never get a download from me. Price it at $2-5 with no ads and no in-app purchases and if it's a game that interests me, I have no issue paying the price. I'd even pay $10 for a good game.

 

[allos autos]

I have been on the WP platform since day one. I am both a PC gamer and a console gamer (GASP!). I don't download games for my WP on a very regular basis, but when I do I am more than willing to pay for them. I loathe the F2P model, although I do make a one-time purchase of a cheap coin/energy/bux/whatever pack in order to "pay" for the game if I find that I genuinely like the game (which is very rare). That said, I am extremely hesitant to buy games from indie developers due to being burned a few times on WP and Steam. Typically I'd need to see the game showcased on a site I trust (like this one) and have a trial before I spend money. Even if it's only $1 or $2, I worry about a broken game never getting updates. I have been burned less on this account by Xbox-enabled games, so I am more willing to spend money on those.

 

[typhon62_1]

Hate to say it, but I've never paid for a game on Android or WP.
I just don't play games all that much and don't spend money on them.

 

[tribexx]

Hello,

I pay for "good" games. Most, if I can play a demo first.

 

[GlennEdwards]

Hmmmm difficult one.

As a developer and publisher of apps for Windows Phone I had to make the same decision.

"Paid for" does indeed result in fewer downloads, and sometimes your app won't even be found, as some users only play free games, so never ever look in the "Paid" section. Even if you offer a trial mode, that's no help as your app / game is still listed in the "Paid" section, so a huge amount of users will never find it.

Making a game free is of course going to result in many more downloads, but to make some money you'll have to annoy your users with ads. In my own app, because of the way the app is structured, I actually have around 10 ad banners in the app, at strategic locations e.g. on each page of a pivot.

Problem is ad revenue is limited. I can speak from personal experience. If you have a killer app, like Wordament, or Angry Birds, then that's different, but a lesser app isn't going to generate a lot of ad revenue.

For my own app I decided to make the best of both worlds. I put out a paid for, and free app. The paid for app is fully featured, whilst the free ap is 99% fully featured with ads. If the user playing the ad supported version wants to remove the very few limitations they are directed to buy the full app.

I have to say that my paid for revenue far outstrips my ad revenue by a massive order of magnitude.

Now there's a flip side. As a "user", I do pay for some apps, depending on their usefulness, but games, I hardly ever buy an indie game. I pretty much exclusively only ever buy xbox live enabled games on Windows Phone. Why? Because I'm part of the xbox live ecosystem. I have an box 360 and Xbox One, my mtes have an Xbox, and we compete for points and achievements. I try and get achievements wherever I can. I'd rather buy an xbox live enabled phone game for 79p or even ?3.99 for the achievements than spend 79p on an indie game.

Unfortunately Xbox Live games on Windows Phones do attract the lions share of users for those very reasons. Though admittedly Xbox Live games on Windows Phone is becoming a rarer occurrence these days. Microsoft need to adopt the same Xbox Live policy they've adopted for Xbox One. i.e. approve studios / developers for Xbox Live, don't charge for the XDK, nor publishing, no updates, and instead just take a cut of the download revenue.

Microsoft reduced the costs of Xbox Live to developers on the 360, have pretty much wiped it out on Xbox One, but on Windows Phone I believe approved developers still have to pay huge amounts to get the XDK, pay to publish, and even worse pay to update their games!!

Regards,

Glenn

 

[Brian Holmgren]

I have paid for many games, both for Windows Phone and Windows 8, but all are Xbox games.

 

[NickMon68]

Yes I have same views on XBL games.

 

[CyclingGuyNola]

I have no problem paying for apps. IAP wouldn't be that bad but devs tend to trick you with absurd prices for things. Personally, as a Developer, I think the way to go is Free with IAP to remove ad. Gives people the opportunity to play it, without you having to offer a trial version, and if they like it they can pay to remove ads and if not then uninstall it or keep the ads.

One of the most successful features that I have used for about 5 yrs is actually a donate option. My apps are all free but donations from them have been well enough to keep me working creating more apps.