I don't think so. When you are looking at the AppStore and have to choose between one of three games you really like to have - would you give your money to the game with four or three or the game with two stars? Anyway (and I think I pointed out quite a few times that I didn't have anything against indie developers as well as the big companies), I think that GameLoft or EA are very happy about a site like FAAD. Making the people save 5-6 bucks because of free indie games and giving these bucks to the major developers for high priced titles instead will be absolutely liked by them. Remember, the gift card bucks have to go somewhere...
I agree that for most people the star ratings are important but personally and I dont think I'm alone, whenever I consider buying a game I always look for reviews at good websites and the forums here as I get a better idea of the game and peoples thoughts about it.
That is praiseworthy - but that's you, a TA user. But there are a lot of people who trust the AppStore ratings or don't even care about reviewing sites.
I'm guessing that the majority of FAAD users are kids who don't have their own money. And the majority of them are petty, fickle, and spoiled. ...Mostly whiners who don't think twice about slamming a game with a one-star review if it's not their favorite thing in the world. Heck, just read their comments section and you'll see posters who are honestly pissed off that they're getting a three-dollar game for free instead of the ten-dollar game that they want. The only apps that I could see getting some benefit from going on FAAD are online games that are trying to build a community (where size begets more size) and that offer DLC. In that situation a larger user base means more income. In most cases, though, building a larger user base by going free just means getting a lot of people who aren't paying for your game. And maybe that's okay if you have a sequel coming out, but then -- again -- you're going to get whiners who slam the game because it's NOT the sequel. It's a dicey situation, to be sure.
Wow, I would have never believed that so much people share my opinions... I was guessing that I will get a big bashing by posting statements versus free app sites.
I sort of feel bad for the devs though, like TTL had mostly 5 star ratings but after it became free the 1 star rose up to 128 some of them were because the customers felt "ripped off" since they paid 3 dollars for it and Kijib(Gave 1 Star lol) saying, "Add more game modes". FAAD's rules are also sort of messed up like don't post anything bad about the apps etc. This just makes them look better so more devs will come and get 1 star reviews. Let's say that LASW went free(great game btw) I bet the 1 star ratings will jump to around 50% of the 5 star ratings; which is a trend with all FAAD apps(that I've seen). The stupid thing is that they made Plushed(their own app) free and their "success" wasn't great at all 693:608 ratio? excluding the 4-2 stars? and their way of (sort of)"solving it was" writing,"... over 400,000 Plushed Players can't be wrong... ..." I do admit that I got some good apps like Shift but it didn't really benefit the devs at all, can you find a dev that says that FAAD gave him/her HUGE successes? Not even their own app had a success besides the # of downloads.
I mean seriously Vovin, seriously what you are saying is essentially that all developers who used faad are ignorant, that they have no idea what they are getting into, and that they don't know how to make long term analysis and planning, because you are the "expert" in this field..that is just beautiful. You've been bashing me for so long, it's just unbelievable! FAAD has help countless developers and what have you done for developers lately? The app store will soon have 300k apps what is your solution to help the best developers out there get noticed in this environment? How about you help them and I promise I'll back you 110% if you discover any other solution to help developers, even better I'll fund you directly if you find other effective solutions and I mean it! Criticizing without finding alternative solution is just a waste of bandwidth. Creamy Ice had ~4 stars when they came in left with 3 stars and ended up at #27 total paid apps for instance. Let me give you one clue here, there's another data that dev can use that is just as or more valuable than the ratings to generate sales, just figure it out for yourself if you can or actually don't because it just makes me laugh to see you being clueless with what's going on...
Yes, we are not the average app store shoppers. I'd guess most people download something on the basis that it is cheap and has appealing screenshots. Impulse purchases. Of course everyone is involved in competing in the quagmire that the appstore has become--if you don't get a link in the "what's hot" or "top x" list, then you won't have much of an opportunity to catch the eye of the average impulse buyer, and that's where these free app sites come in. I think that in theory it makes some sense. However, in practice we see it lowers ratings which is counterproductive, and pretty soon if the app isn't very good it'll simply disappear once again, but without certain prospective buyers wanting to pay for it after all. With a good, underappreciated app it's probably more valid, although in our circles it's not going to help...and I wonder if that money isn't better spent advertising on sites like TA. But then I don't know what the costs for that are. Sum total, however, I do think the trend is hurting the indie scene. I believe that it's simple economics--if you give away your product in a limited market, it's just devaluing your product, and this applies in a broad sense as you're all talking about here. If people expect things will go free all the time, and if impulse buyers and occasional gamers always have free games to pick up, why would they pay for any products? And as I'm sure everyone is aware, with a falling standard for financial restitution less production time and developer resources will be put into new releases. Slowly, the quality of indie games will decrease, or at least stagnate. Without strong competition from indies, the majors will set the bar lower as well. So yeah, I think that in moderation it can help quality apps to go free, but overall I don't think the trend is good for devs or gamers.
Jak said it about the appvent calendar - that was fun, in the holiday spirit, something to look forward to and knew that only a set number of apps were going to be free - a present to us. Now? Whiny kids like someone said load their free games, delete them after two minutes with an eh, that pesky "do you want to rate this app" screen comes up when they are deleting it and they punch 1 star. I also can't see the correlation between a free app doing well, then climbing the sales charts. A smart consumer will look at a free app, if they go to buy it and it now charges money will say - hmm it was free once, I bet it will be free again - then don't buy. ICS Mobile - I bet you have only a couple of success stories that you can point out because by and large any app that was tracked in appshopper as free is going to get snubbed until it goes free again. Unless of course people are more ignorant then I give them credit for and think the free version must be a lite or something - and that I would consider trickery. Overall, sure I got some free games but a lot of days I got mad because I had just purchased a game. I would never be spiteful and rate a game based on my anger though, but others do as you can see. And yes, I think twice about new releases if the developer has been known to participate in free app a day because I have been burned before. I don't think it's an "honor" to be voted as a free app a day app. I think it's your downfall because it shows how stingy people are. I have even seen people on this forum lobby for votes for a game they want to be free on this promotion. That is supposed to help the dev? People need to be in business and ICS Mobile has found one so for their creativity I applaud them, but for the devs that believe that the one or two success stories will be theirs I feel badly for. It's such a hard place to climb the app store charts and devs are willing to risk anything for a promise. Sadly the fulfillment doesn't come for many. SO many people have said that dropping prices is the downfall of the app store to begin with, so to have a program that systematically drops apps to free is just going to fill the store with even more crapps. With more platforms available for developers to publish these same games available now or soon, if I was a developer I would go where people weren't so entitled and the market is stable. This is a huge longstanding debate, one that won't get solved, but I just wanted to make these comments.
Hey ICS...give me one app featured by FAAD that improved in ratings after being featured. In half a year of free apps, there surely has to be at least 1 right?
There are now more publishers than there were apps a year and a 1/2 ago. http://148apps.biz/app-store-metrics/ Unique App Publishers: 42,939 Some games that were free that are in the Top 200 Games now: Arcade Hoops Crush The Castle Fling! Mega Jump Monkey Flight NY Zombies Rat on the Run :Shift: Spinzizzle Sunday Lawn Tap Tap Revenge Classic http://appshopper.com/bestsellers/games/paid/?device=iphone
i think that the developers would care more about sales (which increase significantly after FAAD) than some superficial ratings. edit: consider that the majority of ratings are not from reviews, but rather from the rating that you are asked for when you delete an app. Who deletes apps? People who don't like the product.
But some of those games were in the top 200 before they went free too and so I think if a dev believed in their product they would stand by it.
First: I am not bashing you. I am just a critic. Second: I don't like and use your system. I am criticizing it - and I have the right to do when I feel that something is wrong. Have you read the whole thread? There are many more thinking like me - in fact, no one had a different opinion.
Yeah, I never saw Trenches go free. TA would of said something about going free since it's a popular game. I think it was typo...
A few isolated cases doesn't comprise a "scene." But whatever, semantics and statistics...there's little truth to be had until we see how things turn out in the future. If a vibrant and formidable gaming development trend on iOS emerges and benefits from sites like FAAD then there will be no argument against it, and as these sites appear here to stay, I certainly hope that you are right and things do turn out positive as a result of the freebie trend. As I said, I do think that it makes some sense when certain underappreciated games go free. I'm largely skeptical about how it will all work out in the end the majority of the time, but as NEG said, this is a longstanding debate that we're not going to solve in this thread, and certainly not with a few cherry-picked examples. Time will tell.
hell kid seems to be doing good going free. so must work for some.. granted its a fun game tho. chris.
