Well if it is like when I went to China several times, I am afraid sales might be quite low. As it was relatively easy to get any Movies, Games, or any kind of Software in some shops. Not the legit one of course, but copies! I guess most of iDevices owner will go to those kind of sites and get their stuff for free as they are use too :-(. At least for me I wont need to pay for the translation, as my wife is native Chinese so it wont need to much effort (well Ill have to do house work, prepare meals, but that's ok with me ).
Well, this is why I think the business model that Eliminate is adopting will end up being extremely successful if implemented properly. There are countless examples of people willing to pay money for virtual goods, whether it's gold in WoW, or sweet potato seeds in Farmville. If the core gameplay is solid (and addictive...it needs to be the type of game where players are striving for a goal, usually one that involves making their character better in some way), you will make more money by making your app free (and thereby having a larger userbase) and charging for virtual goods. There are several variables to consider of course, like what items to offer for free and what items to charge for etc, but the business model itself has proven to be quite successful. A good case study on its potential would be the D&D online story...they went from a paid subscription based mmorpg to a free to play one....and are actually making more money now. Whether this same strategy will work on the iDevice remains to be seen, but I have a feeling that if Eliminate pulls it off, we will see a huge surge in these type of games. I hope for their sake that they learned from the mistakes made by other companies (having enough servers to handle the initial rush of people flocking to try out the game, proper balance between free and paid items, performance issues...and this will be tricky because they have to worry not only about the usual server/internet connection issues...they also have to deal with carrier specific problems as well, etc.). Having a large sample size to gather data from is usually important for this kind of thing, which is why the pc games usually have an open beta along with closed beta before an official release. I have a feeling that the first few weeks of Eliminate's release will be exactly that, since there's no possible way they could gather enough data from internal testing alone. Sorry, I got a little sidetracked here. Basically what I was trying to say was that in countries where piracy is a big concern, games that are free to download and play with optional paid DLC, might actually have a better chance than the average paid game.
As of recently, all games available in the US App Store are also available in the China App Store. Indeed, piracy is an issue that needs to be carefully considered. It is already hurting sales in the US, and Chinese consumers are particularly averse to the idea that non-tangible objects like music and software should be paid for (especially when there is no physical media involved). However, the App Store does have something going for it, and that is the relatively low cost of apps. Never in history has quality software been available for such a low cost. As a result, piracy is no longer driven by actual economic barriers, and any app under $10 is easily within the reach of Chinese iPhone or iPod Touch owners. In addition, the roughly 2 million grey-market iPhones being used in China at present have, without exception, been both jailbroken and unlocked. These users are predisposed to partake in piracy. The less technically proficient users often visit their original iPhone retailers in order to procure pirated apps. However, with the recent official entrance of the iPhone into China via China Unicom, future iPhone users will no longer need to take the often hazardous and troublesome steps of jailbreaking and unlocking their devices. These new users will be more inclined to take advantage of the convenience and security offered by the App Store. Finally, pharmx makes an excellent point. Downloadable content seems like it has the potential to both increase sales and discourage piracy, especially in markets like China. When feasible, I highly recommend adopting a DLC revenue strategy. Andrew Seid
