Yep, it's just a sale, as mentioned in the app description: "Download the @FreeAppADay.com Store App and wish for more top rated paid apps like Gene Effect to become FREE for a day!"
Yeah, sure...this'll probably get Gene Effect some attention, but it also leaves a permanent mark on the app's history in AppShopper. When this sale is over, how are people going to pay $3.99 ($4.99 when I got it) in their right mind for an app that has gone free just a couple of months after release? A drop to $0.99 would've done so much better for this than going free, but whatever. *leaves topic*
I'm sorry to say this but I think the guys at Gene Effect suck. I bought it not that long ago based on SyntheticVoids glowing praise for it but never got the chance to play and now it goes free? B@stards
I thought appshopper used to display that and their ranking, gross sales, etc. Where does one find that?
The weird thing is, I don't see it listed on FAAD's site. Maybe they dropped it early and it's tomorrow's free game.
Yeah, no, saw that. I was referring more to what Metalcasket just posted under you, about trends. I wish I didn't, but I have to agree with him that the damage might already be done regardless. Having had my own bones to pick with developers (*cough*Dark Meadow*cough*), I for one would not want to be a developer in the current App Store environment... DBC
Actually, it's almost certainly tomorrow's FAAD featured app. And wow, what a spectacular free app it is, to say the least!
It will probably only be free for a day, so 99.99 percent of iDevice users will miss the sale. Personally, I think this is the perfect sort of game to promote itself this way. It's a great, beautiful, (most important to the average person) game that probably is nearly completely unknown outside or places like this. Hopefully, some astute shoppers will grab this and recommend it to people who otherwise have no real way of knowing that this game even exists, let alone how good it is. I know I have convinced quite a few people in real life to buy games that I've nabbed for free, and found were deserving of others' attention. Of course, if you just bought it, you might be pissed. Then again, every day people buy the exact same car as someone else, but spends thousands more, just because they aren't good hagglers. For perspective, you know. Since this game isn't 99 cents and it's hard to tell what exactly it's about, releasing a lite version would have been IMO, the first step taken to try to increase sales...however, I've heard from a number of developers that Apple lately (for the past year or so) has been discouraging the release of Lite versions. Not that they are never approved, but it's been more troublesome to release demos than it had been in the past, at least for large (in terms of filesize) apps. You'll notice a lot of apps released over the last year or so which previously would have been called "lite" now have a different modified title. And the days when every large EA or Gameloft game had a lite version seems to be in the past.
agreed... actually, I've got a whole big list of games to wait for... This happening over and over and over... and over... and over... and over again is turning me into less of a gamer who supports developers in the beginning, and more of a gamer who waits for games to drop down to 99 cents or free... Might as well save up my money for developers who very rarely go on sale, stick to their prices, or even raise their price after updates (Starbase Orion, I'm lookin at you!)... why not? If the game's gonna go free in a couple months... I've got PLENTY of games I still need to dig into, and complete... I can wait. =o/ **new song*** """Yeah, yeah, that's me... over there... becoming part of the... part of the GLAD I WAITED crew..."""
Those are relatively major developers. The AppStore and making a profit is a totally different world for indies.
Well FAAD is a pretty big site so I'm sure they'll get some exposure(many FAAD's promotions lead to top free spots). Also, not all apps go free eventually. I haven't seen any Illusion Lab to drop to free and I can't even remember if I even saw a sale on any of their games. Just sayin.
Yeah, I agree with you, last month, I got burned 6 times, so I'm pickier now, don't think I'll buy games in the first month anymore cause it seems like the trend is that the games will go free or 99 cents before then. Can't see how this is helping developers all that much in that early adopters seem to be getting the boot, and all it is causing is for all of us to become 99 cent or free lurkers. But guess this is just the way of apple, and really it is apple that drives the store, not the Indie or major game companies. Am glad though, I was just about to buy this game in the May sale, but didn't, but I had this on my mind because of reviews by players like you. Well, now I get it for free, so I'm very happy. Look forward to trying it out and seeing if your glowing review of this game is true.
...and if they did that, people would wait till it hit 99 cents again to buy it. If I see a game go free once, or once a year, that won't deter me from buying it. The games I hesitate most on are the ones that have been out for some time and have never gone free, but dropped in price and gone back up and down multiple times. Then again, I am completely irresponsible with money and usually waste my money on more expensive games that I never play or immediately delete. An other thing; by now, I can't even remember the majority of the games I've wanted but never purchased.
Actually, all of IL's games (Labyrinth 2, Sway, Touchgrind BMX, etc.) have never gone on sale or been free before. Not only that, their games are some of the best you'll find on the iOS, especially since they're designed from the ground up for the platform. Most respect to them. If you're still mad when apps go on sale/free..it's been like this on the AppStore for over three years now. If you felt like the game was worth what you paid for it even at one point in time, then so be it. No need to feel "burned" about a game that cost less than $5..if those few dollars really mean so much to you, don't buy games until they're all $0.99. There will always still be enough of us that buy games when they first come out. Gene Effect: Jul 08 '12 $3.99 -> Free Jun 11 '12 $2.99 -> $3.99 May 28 '12 $4.99 -> $2.99 May 04 '12 New App: $4.99, v1.0.0 An indie game priced so "high" and can't break the top 200 after two months? You should expect some kind of large price deduction coming.
