It should be able to run on the 3GS as that was he device that broke the barrier for epic to consider porting the unreal engine in the first place. Sorry I'm typing on my iPhone on the bus to my train.
...So if they spent a lot of money on it, wouldn't they want to use the best possible pricing strategy to generate the most money? Pricing is heavily based on context. Right now, the frame of mind for most iPhone/iPod Touch owners is "insta-buy if it's cheap". Even I put anything over $3 on my wishlist and wait for a sale. If they offer it for $20, nearly all of the casual market would not buy the app. I would say, maybe not $3, but somewhere between the usual price of a hugely successful app ($1-2) the Gameloft standard ($7-10).
Are you saying that the Unreal engine was not designed for action games? I'm sure that the millions of GoW players would have an issue with that statement.
How quickly the AppStore has deteriorated the way of thinking on what the prices of games should be. If you want quick pickup and play games then they should be cheap as the content might not be there. I'll admit angry birds is fun as heck but it's a game I can play a few mins at a time. If I want a long rpg that is content heavy with a lot of choices on building a character it took a lot of timeto develop and code and test. Look at aralon that game was in development before ravensword was even beginning development. I think Josh and the rest of the development team should charge whatever they want. This game should be no different in what the developer wants to charge. The bottom-line is if you want a console game you have to be willing to pay the console prices. The AppStore really is destroying the game industry I hate to say it, but it really is true. You said it yourself with waiting for a sale on a game that cost $3 Once again I apologize as I'm typing on my phone.
I'm realize that if somebody wants a console game they should have to pay console price. However, the company selling the game wants money too, and that means appealing to the casual market (read: most iPhone/iPod Touch users). This means lower pricing. Actually, if they were going to maximize their money, they should start off the app at $15-$20, so that all the hardcore fans that want the game badly can get it at a premium price. They they should drop the price to $3 after all the hardcore fans have already gotten the game. Do you think that Epic Games should do this?
Epic is a major multi-platform/console developer. If they were to create true console quality games on the iDevice and sell them for a handful of dollars, considering that they continue to sell actual console games for the Ps3 and 360 at full retail price (59.99), then by d a m n near giving away similar quality games on the iDevice they would be pulling the proverbial rug out from underneath themselves. They would be cutting off their nose to spite their face. In order to maximize overall profits, Epic needs pricing to remain relatively competitive across the board. All platforms that they seriously develop for need to have similar price structures. That's the only way for them to maximize profits. If the idevice is out of whack with every other system and/or platform out there in terms of pricing, it's going to ultimately subtract sales from the more expensive systems. Especially if Epic decides to incorporate the iDevice as part of its cross-platform strategy.
this looks so cool! I hope there's civilians wandering the castle to make it more lively. Also, going inside the castle would be awesome
We'll that is the basics of marketing 101. Sell high to early adapters then as the product matures gradually lower the price for the next round of buyers. Yes that is also how they would maximize their money. It comes down to his are you wanting more games like chaos rings or more games like voice fantasy ? Your buying will eventually start to sway developers one way or another. I remember the old days of the neo geo and when those cartridge based games used to cost $100+. If that would have released today it would have died even sooner thanks to the AppStore. Lol
One example: first case: you sale "console quality game " at 20 dollars on the appstore: 300 000 units sales --> 6 000 000 dollars Second case: you sale "console quality game" at 5 dollars on the appstore: 5 000 000 units sales --> 25 000 000 dollars Look at the PSP go: console quality games between 20 and 35 dollars. How bad are the PSP go selling ? very bad, very very bad... Without CDs, cartridge, Bluerays, you can't go on high pricing...it's a fact. How many IOS devices today ? 130 million How many PSP today ? 60 million How many IOS devices in december ? 160 millions And so on. Thats a big, big market. a huge market in fact. a huge market for huge sells...but at low price. you can sells many many consoles quality games at a low price, and it's better than bad sells at an high price.
I know that the AppStore has no marketing overhead, but what about company overhead? Companies still have to pay employees salaries and health benefits. Also don't forget apple takes about 30% of the pie on app sales. So even though no marketing is needed or packaging you are still losing 30% as a developer. Halo 3 had a production budget of $40 mil and made $110 mil in the first or second week. What about the employees or benefits on those people that work their, as that effects the NOI?
Yep. I think it's the good price for big console quality games (big studios). 5 dollars for consoles quality games (mid-studio) 3 dollars for big independant games 1 dollar for fun little games (fun games can be made by big studios or independant)
You're saying you want Aralon to be $3? I don't care who develops it, just look at some of the EA "big corporation" games. I just care about how fun it is. I probably put more times into Galaxy of Fire 2 than all the EA games I've bought combined...
I'm agree with you. It was just some examples. Some big studios are doing crap games and some independant are doing "big" games. There are no definitive rules...
thats why the idevices will never get real games from real devvelopment studios or have square make much else for it than voice fantasy. Because the pricing and apple's policies and the very low barrier to entry causes it to never be possible.
the only way that apple could make the ipad or iphone a legitimate contender as a game device if they stopped taking 30% of shares on some big budget games, at least at the outset until they really prove themselves to sell at premium prices, and like sony or microsoft even pay for exclusivity or license agreements 30% extra.
