Yes they do outnumber us massively, which is why, understandably, developers want to appeal to them. I dont think we can criticise developers for wanting to appeal to 95% of gamers instead of the 5% that 'understand' quality. It's a shame, but certainly not 'greediness' from developers.
Agreed, however does casual gamers look at games as an art, or just something for kids? No maturity, on the App Store if it wasn't for ports.
Dont get me wrong i see where you are coming from. I've just recently bought a book called 'Push - Start' (http://www.funstock.co.uk/push-start-the-art-of-video-games-book) which is all about the art of many classic video games. For me seeing screenshots/zoomed in parts of iconic games from the last 30 years is great. I'm sure in years to come some people might talk of some classic iOS games in the same way iOS is a platform with so many different players, there are the ones who want something quick and easy and free who sadly take up the mass. Then you have older games who have seen so many different eras and like the variety of games coming to iOS etc. Still personally dont think many iOS games will go down in history and in 30 years time there'll be books of graphics from these games when theres so many iconic franchises/games from the 80's and 90's etc.
Just because they need to please the casual gamers doesn't mean they have to shove aggressive IAP in everyone's face.
Right, I always wonder why gamers are fixated about the goodwill of game developers since they are supposed to be for profit entities creating commercial products. It's not necessarily about wanting to support the mass market at large though - it's really what your company feels comfortable doing and what market you support. Like I said in another post, the fact we see games catering to the 95% of 'non gamers' of the world is just a sign that the medium is maturing and diversifying and that games catering to people outside of us (i.e. people who generally don't play games as we appreciate them) are being created. Ultimately, the ideal situation is simply that everyone in the world has products that cater to their wants and needs and specific likes... and we are heading down that path. So why bother objecting to games that simply don't meet our needs? I disagree wholeheartedly. There are gems of games on mobile being created everyday, even if you're a traditional core gamer. Games like Oceanhorn or Monument Valley or Leo's Fortune or Republique etc are all mobile first experiences that are undoubtedly high quality games. And what of ports? Why does that matter? In an age where fewer and fewer games are platform exclusive or new franchises, why is this a big deal? The fact we get some great stuff that also comes out on PC or consoles like X-Com, FTL or Hearthstone can't be a knock on mobile any more than criticizing 80% of the PS4/Xbox One library. Besides, there's a ton of core games that are interesting games that frequently get overlooked simply because they don't have the development budget on par with AAA. The presence of games for kids and quick, casual games is not mutually exclusive with also having quality games. This really seems like a popular sentiment that I really don't understand. No on is shoving anything in anyone's face. Games and developers can only shove things in everyone's face if we believe: a) that all consumers only consumer whatever is put in front of them b) consumers have limited to no choice in what products we have access to c) all products for all audiences have the same flaws d) all developers are creating games that cater to everyone at all times But none of these are true. We as game players and consumers are blessed to live in a time where we are almost spoiled by choice. IAP heavy games are frequently free and released alongside many other games. At this point in time, I literally have more games on more platforms than I could possibly ever play. I have so much say, as a consumer, that I am free to try, pick and choose and play (and spend my time and money) between at least several dozen competing products at any given time. If any game has IAP practices I don't agree with, I just don't play them and play something else. Let's face it - casual gamers (and some core gamers) like the free to play approach. They don't like upfront cost and value their time and effort more than their money. Grinding, timers, and aggressive monetization are not an issue compared to having pay upfront for a game. Whether we believe this or not really sets us up as a potential customer or this being a product type that's not for us. So what is the issue here? Those people have products catering to them now (finally!) but maybe those people are not us. As gamers are we really so entitled that every product must cater to our needs as we want them?
Totally agree with you. Lots of young gamers dont realise that many of these new games they think are 'original' have been done before, just not on iOS. Over the years i've seen many games similar to Oceanhorn and even Monument Valley, just on different platforms. As for ports i'm a huge fan of them, it helps iOS as a whole having all these ports as it attracts other types of gamers Again i dont think some users realise how lucky they are. Over the last 30 years i've seen all types of different games and systems. All these years later i can have one device which has some of the best most iconic games of the last 30 years (Space Invaders, Pac Man, Super Mario Land, Sonic, Doom) on one device. I can use emulators to play classic Gameboy games or historic arcade games from the 80's via Gridlee. Its not just ports theres tons of games for me to play from so many great devs SO cheap. (Again games back in the 80's were mostly £7.95 EACH not 99c !). Plus i can read books/comics on my device, download films, listen to music or podcasts. An iphone is the best bit of tech i've had/seen in the last 30 years. I want iOS to carry on doing well so i'll buy apps from devs on release as i want them to get the most of the lowly 1.99 or 99c sale. (or more)
I appreciate all of the sentiments shared in this thread. There are lots and lots of free-to-try/freemium titles in the store, ranging from the humble $5 full-unlock to the $endless, quite deliberately designed to extract the maximum amount of cash from as many whales as possible. There are games which sit on the fence, try a premium price, and then fall back to freemium. Then there's the rare gem that says "hey I'm a good game and you're gonna have to trust some reviewer's word or take a leap of faith", charges some amount of money up front, and is a complete game which is actually worth it. I'm a fan of the latter, as I imagine many here are as well. yet, the market gets what it wants, and deserves what it gets. We got outnumbered. Everybody and their mother got these phones, including kids and people who can't otherwise afford to pay for decent games (however they got the phone doesn't matter, a gift, a 2-year ball and chain, taking a mortgage out on their house, whatever). The masses demanded free games. Free updates. Endless hours of content. This sea of gimme-everything-for-nothing drowned the comfy little pool we were swimming in. The App Store is built for the masses. I think it's on us to help each other identify those rare gems, as well as sort out the pay-to-play titles into piles of "subtle" to "fun" to "egregious", for people who like to play them. I often come to TouchArcade to hunt for great gaming experiences for my new iPhone or iPad, as every advancement in the performance kinda blows my mind and I want to see what shows it off the best or becomes a whole new experience with new technology. Almost every time I visit, I find a thread like this, and it makes me kinda sad. So much time and electrons spent rehashing the same old issues we've already known for quite some time. Instead of lamenting about the bad games, let's find the good games, both new and old. It would be neat to have some sort of database somewhere that shows apps updated to take advantage of the latest and greatest tech, or expanded with new content, so I know which ones to redownload, and which ones to think of buying next. For example, I know that AfterPad is a great place for info on the controllers and controller enabled games, but there's so much more than just controller support that I'm interested in (metal, iPhone 6/6+ resolution, iPad Air 2 enhancements, TV out support, local multiplayer, etc).
