http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=42484 Ok guys this isn't speculation anymore. we are now serious! when I get the website done I will be posting a thread with a contact email and a link to the site. ICS all I can say is your trying to justify risking 1200$ in getting sales. anyways guys please contact me or sunrise moon if your interested in more info. I will not be making a new thread till we have everything half setup. http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=42484
I don't see any problem here. Pay for advertising? It's not a news. It might be expensive, but if I can't afford advertising I simply don't do it.
I really don't think any more can be said that hasn't already been covered. It isn't a scam, and ICS was unintentionally misleading but has apologized and is working on improving transparency and explaining what his service is about. It'll work for some and not for others, pretty much like any method of publicity. Me? I wouldn't use it, but that sort of thing simply isn't in my gameplan. For others, it is, and some have said it's been working. Others, not so much. But at the end of the day it's a service like any other and it costs money to use like most others. Whether it's overpriced isn't really relevant to the question of its legitimacy, only to those considering whether or not to use it.
Can FreeAppADay really take credit for all those downloads? What would the download rate have been if they just made it free without any involvement for FreeAppADay? Can TouchArcade take credit for all the sales of GTA: Chinatown since we reviewed it on/near launch day? arn
No! it's just a precursor after that you need to account for the viral spread + what I call the multiplier effect, which occurs roughly every 25 spots (75-50-25) since your visibility is increased in the device and a bunch of other factors....
Whew! Read through the entire thread and had a more solid grasp of the topic at hand. Like most devs, I also emailed FAAD to ask how I can have my app included in their promotions. I felt I have a great app that would become a hit if given the proper exposure. When they replied and mentioned that there's a fee to join ($1,200), I decided not to (even if they said that my app has potential) because money is my number 1 concern why I'm joining anyway. My only issue is that their press release is somewhat vague. "Helping" developers, in my own opinion doesn't translate to charging them a steep price (at least from where I live, when converted). Let's face it guys, the AppStore isn't just the AppStore. A whole lot of other businesses can be formed around it--blogs charging to expedite reviews, review sites asking you to place an ad in order for them to review your apps, Twitter Marketers asking for a fee for them to tweet about your app, etc. The bottomline is, accept these facts and move on. Having said this, how about we just make a "developer" friendly site that would offer the same business model but will be entirely FREE for small developers? Anyone interested?
Rating-wise, is it a good move to participate in freeappaday? You know, many games get lower ratings once they're set to free.
I don't see the point of paying $600 to $1200 to list your game. Most of the games on the calendar are utter crap or have much better alternatives in the same genre. If I miss one of the games there is no way in hell I'd go and pay for it the next day to just to waste a few bucks on low level crap. There are many better games that don't need the calendar. Crap games need the calendar.
Well, there is a pretty low barrier to entry into this field. Spend $10 on "BetterFreeAppADay.com", $50 on some site design kit, charge $60 per app, and post like crazy about it on TA. You will be helping a bunch of developers, making a bit of cash, and sticking it to those freeappaday guys at the same time. Michael
Or how about freeAppCalendar.com, which is registered and coming to a website near you soon. Exact guidelines are still being decided on, but it will definitely be FREE for indie developers.
Currently on my launch break so only read te OP so far, this is ridiculous though and I won't be downloading any more gamesfrom freeappaday. I though this was a win/win/win situation, now I realize it's a horrible scheme to steal from indies.
Nobody's forcing anyone or tricking anyone. These are intelligent, independent adults making informed business decisions of their own free choice. If you want to help the developers, boycotting the site that they paid to be on isn't a great way to do it. ...Just a thought. Maybe you should purchase all the games at full price the day after they're on the calendar. That might help those naive and helpless little bunny rabbits who are trying to promote their games.
If say, they had to host these apps, and dishout the bandwidth for a possible 100,000 downloads at 10-75mb a piece, these outreageous prices would quickly become understandable. But comeon, this is a cash getting scheme IMO. I could understand $60-120, but thier prices are outreageous. I'm sure the reason the devs participating are even participating is good 'ole supply and demand giving them no other option. With big budget compaines this would be fine, but I was under the assumption this was meant to help indie devs, and I just don't see that anymore. Games like Charmed which are very easily a well polished and deserving title, shouldn't be left our because the dev hasnt made it big on the AppStore yet. Most the games on FAaD are older titles often with sequels. Makes it seem more like this site is for reliving golden oldies, for supporting devs who have already had thier success on the AppStore. Not for devs who are producing high quality apps and lack the capital for high priced marketing campains. That being said, I am much more intrested in upcoming similar sites that would feature games that are really good unknown titles I might never heard of.
Me too, especially since it's funded by the same guy who started this thread. Just a little snark. This is what competition is all about, after all. Very interesting marketing practices.
600$ or 1200$ for the priviledge of giving your game away for free on their site is just ridiculous. Most iphone games will never make 600$ over their entire lifetime. Also, I hoped the race to the bottom had stopped at $1! Guess not
