I didn't say that. What I said only applied to ME and FLICKITTY. I distinctly remember emphasizing it at the time. Yes I am grateful that Flickitty is in the hands of 30,000 people. However I would never advise another developer to follow this. I'm an artist (Fine Artist) so I am used to doing work just for the sake of creation and not getting paid for it. I'm used to putting my work into a gallery and not getting a penny out of it while being ignored by the press. Most developers aren't. Go ahead and look up the stats on any of the games that are in the AppVent Calender- Wheelers Treasure, iBlast Moki, etc. Pretty big games that immediately fell out of the ranks after they stopped being free. Most aren't even in the Top 200 in any category. Whether they think it was worth it is up to them as an individual developer. Look at what happened to the [brilliant] multiplayer game Soft Freak Fiesta. Immediately dropped from the ranks into oblivion after it went paid (it was even on the front page of TA). It has only risen recently because it is now Featured in New and Noteworthy. I'm sure the developer of Soft Freak Fiesta had an initial heart attack until the Feature kicked in.
More and more are getting a chance to get used to it. It is a harsh world, and the app store even more so. By the time most apps drop to free, the game has already been written, and the developers have had a chance to come to grips with how it is doing financially on the app store. Getting information out about how many games make very little money is better aimed at people about to start making a game. To me, if games dropping to free is a sign of some of the developers coming to grips that making iPhone games can only ever be a hobby that might make a few bucks, then the more it happens the better. That is how it worked for me, and I'm much happier for it.
I think that's way too much of a generalization! I bet that Crescent Moon Games and quite a few other developers, many who frequent these boards, would beg to differ. Honestly, it all comes down to this: If you make a game that (1) has a valid value proposition (there's enough content to keep people playing over and over for a reasonable price), (2) takes the person out of their shoes and brings them someplace else, (be it into an amorphous blob, a gun-toting marine, an airplane pilot or a 'turret placer' in a tower defense game...for example) and (3) presents something familiar in an innovative or different way you're on your way to having a hit...and being able to at least support yourself for longer than a day. ...but that's the grail isn't it, and it's not what we're talking about here. I agree with Flickitty, and the proof is out there. I would have been happy pulling in lunch money with 'Imp or Oaf?' like I had been for several weeks prior, but now I'm making zero. That's right, the day after the promotion the game sold 20 units, the next day it sold 5 the day after (once all the reviews hit) it sold 1 unit...and now it is completely falling off all charts, meaning it is selling zero. Not for nothing, the game went out to about 40K people worldwide in one day...so yes there are likely people out there that are pleased to now own the game and are enjoying it. I'm an artist. I've shown my work in NYC for years now. I've sold a 3x5 drawing or a freelance illustration or weekend design job for an amount that far exceeded the amount of money I will ever see for imp/oaf. I've also had shows where I didn't sell a single piece. That doesn't mean that after the show I took my drawings outside and gave them away to random people walking by. Hey do you like images on paper? Here take this!. If I did, I'm sure some people wouldn't even take them! If they did take the drawing, some would probably toss it within a couple blocks. My point is, if you are going to get sales, you have to target your market and your product has to have perceived or actual value. In the end (I'm learning), setting something to free devalues your product, devalues your brand and makes it difficult for a buyer to justify a paid purchase. Again, I think Flickitty is on to something in saying that no one wins...in the long run. Short term, a lot of people get games free. Long term, developers will see that an uneven number of bad reviews from getting the game into the hands of non-targeted customers hurts sales. Also, developers will also see that they are instantly losing many possible 'paying customers'. In the end they won't ever set games to free, meaning that there will be no more 'limited time free game promotions'. Not sure how to fix this, maybe games can't be rated if they go free for a period shorter than 5 days? Seems fair: The #4 ranking in Kids Games for the day imp/oaf was on the free chart didn't carry over once I went back to paid, why should my reviews on the free downloads? The paid and free stores are two completely different markets! Either way, what's done is done! Those are the rules. Im presently working toward making my next game (and many more after that) a game that people actually think is a valid value proposition, that helps them to escape into another reality and presents something different and Im not going to give it away unless the revenue model involves in-app purchases
Thanks for the post. I agree with most of what you are saying. I'm sorry to hear the free promotion worked out badly for you, and it is good to get that information out there. I would be interested to hear your thoughts for developers who aren't trying to make money on their games, but just want to get them out to the most eyeballs. As an aside, I am looking forward to your upcoming game, and hope it gets you great success (in every measure of the word)
Flickitty and gildedskull, thanks for all of the information you've shared in this thread. Sorry for the bad luck you've had too. It makes a lot of sense the way you've broken it down. There sure are a lot of downsides to making your app free and a very very slim chance of a positive effect.
I think going free from paid is certainly a way to get more attention (start paid, give it a go, 'market' it, then set it free). I'd assume that you'd have to build up a buzz and have a product that's desirable in that case too. There are a lot of free apps/games on the iTunes store that would be 'cool to show your friends' or that do something with the hardware that hasn't been done before...so if you've got something that's free and you want people to see it you're still going to need to 'market' it in some way...I mean...some way that's free. We learned an unbelievable amount of invaluable information by developing, marketing, launching and hearing feedback on imp/oaf. There are a few things we'd probably change, looking back (with the game and the launch) but we're taking everything we learned and we're moving ahead to bigger and better!
Another thing unmentioned is the customer base you build up releasing a game for free. You may not earn anything directly from 20 000 gamers downloading your game for free, but that's 20k customers who are going to recognize a sequel game, or if you've branded the game properly, just future games from you as a developer. You can even use the free app to advertise the sequel or your other games. I see lots of benefit in doing that if you really feel you should go free. Although keep in mind the potential downfall in that your audience of 20 000 will tend to lean toward free titles, but I think you can sway them if they can be assured by the quality of the original free game.
It actually doesn't work that way. There are numerous developers that have sold over 100,000+ copies (sales, not free) and their other app can't gain any ground at all. Sure there are sequels that are successful (I Dig It Expeditions, Jelly Car 2). I'm not a big fan of sequels and neither are a lot of other developers- we want to expand our horizons. Unless the the developer has heavily branded themselves (themselves, not their individual games), nobody is going to recognize them. How many indie companies can you name without even looking up their info? Branding isn't easy.
We actually tried this recently over the holidays. Everybody who plays our game Pig Rush loves it (it's kind of like a light hearted Canabalt), yet it got very little traction in the App Store. Over the holidays, we decided to offer it for free, and it jumped to a rank of #12 (in Games/Kids from < #200) in the US store, and in the Top 10 and #1 in several other countries - all in 48 hours. We received many comments and emails from users saying "I can't believe it's free! I'd easily pay $1.99 for this!". After the holidays, we put it back to paid ($0.99), and there was a significant drop, but it's doing much better than before and seems to be rising steadily. If anything, putting it at free created a userbase for us and gave us some exposure. It also gave us a lot of App Store reviews (in many regions) that would never have appeared otherwise. Not saying this will be the case for everyone, but it seems to be working well for us so far.
We offer another alternative Instead of going free, try bundling your app up with some other developers. StuffedTurkeyApps We've seen these types of apps do well in the past with, well, somewhat mediocre games in them. We suspect that with better games they'll do really well.
I can understand offering a free "lite" version as a promo leader, or dropping the price on an app for short time to gain traction in the charts. But free? Why did you create the game? To earn bragging rights or to make money? If it's the former, then by all means, give it away. If the latter, don't. I make music for advertising, for video and film, for corporate events and video, and now for games. And I don't work for free. I have never encountered a free project that would provide enough exposure to make it worth more than spending the same amount of time turning over the dirt looking for work that actually pays. You've got a lot of your time invested in that app, so which makes more sense: giving it away so people will play it, or figuring out better marketing approaches so they will pay you for it? And as Commader Data pointed out, promoting oneself at every opportunity is essential... which is why I'll remind you that you can ear my work in MikaMobile's popular Zombieville USA and OMG Pirates, with titles from other developers coming soon.
