I hate Fremium games with a passion. And their CEO is rather dumb. Different devices cater to different people. If someone wants a multi-purpose device, they will buy an iDevice, but if they want a true deep gaming experience they will buy a 3DS or an NGP. A smartphone is the last place to go if you want a console quality experience on the go. Smartphone games are mainly casual. And graphics aren't the issue here. The issue here is price. You can't make an immersive game for <$10.
ngmoco- Founded: July 2008 Sold: October 2010 Pulling a company out of thin air in a market that didn't even exist in June of '08 and flipping it two years later for $400m isn't what I'd call "rather dumb", but hey, everyone has different standards I suppose.
Oh really, These types of freemium but not Ngmoco freemium since I don't see any ngmoco games in the top grossing as well as in the top paid, their new Starwars fps flop hard, the Epic wars game closed down due to diminishing player base, whenever they post something on facebook they are lucky to have more than five replies or like, theY stop posting in TA, their fans have stop posting in TA, plus+ is no longer as relevant as it use to be. Perhaps Ngmoco is giving you constant updates about their financial income since you seemed to know so much about them but on a gamers perspective I fail to see how relevant they are in the gaming scene.
I was under the impression that the fact it became a half-billion-dollar company within the space of two years was evidence enough in itself.
IAP isn't the only way to make money with a freemium game. It's not just ngmoco, developers are getting very clever with how they're making cash giving their games away for free. Why do you think that services like Free App a Day and others can get away with charging developers so much money?
We know dEna bought them and that made them instant millionaires but what boogles me is how they can manage to give dena their ROI since they don't seemed to be anywhere near the appstores top grossing.
So we all agree that the only way to stop crappy games from being made is to make the government pass a law in which you must take a mandatory test determining your "hardcore-ness" when you go to purchase a video game console. If you fail, you're considered a "casual" gamer and you are instantly executed in a violent or gruesome way (Note to Self: Game where you KILL "casuals" i.e. Gamers, Death Race? Research.). If you pass the test you can purchase the console and enjoy the now-amazing games. Bing, bang. Somebody start a formal letter and get it shipped to the Legislature.
Casual gamers aren't the ones that buy generic WWII FPS #190832 and generic SciFi FPS #201485 then get all gitty when generic WWII FPS #190833 and generic SciFi FPS #201486 are released a few months later. The only way to stop crappy games is to stop crappy gamers, people who care more about graphics and gore factor then actual gameplay.
OK, new test then. Make everyone play Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask on the N64. If they don't like it, then deliver the previously mentioned punishment.
Look, we get it, you suck corporate ****, you have ads here and the site does better if it isn't hostile to developers. But we, as gamers, dont give a rats ass as to how popular they are, their games became horrible. You are defending McDonalds for making America fat and malnurited, you are defending walmart for destroying small buisness. Ngmoco selling out only proves the corporate system cares nothing for quality, nothing for good products, and why the hell you actually sincerely seem to support this i dont know.
I don't think Hodapp ever said they made good games. He said they made successful games, which he characterizes as making lots of money and being popular.
Yes, we as consumers have absolutely no control over our actions, we are merely puppets for major corporations. I shovel big macs down my throat faster then you can say "heart attack" and shop exclusively at a store that's less organized then a flea market because I don't have any free will. Woe is me, thank god I don't have to take any responsibility for my actions. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go sue smith and wesson for forcing me to shoot my neighbors dog. /sarcasm
I wasn't too interested in this thread until now. To be fair, you don't have to like McDonalds and Walmart to know they're successful, any idiot can see that. Hodapp didn't specifically say he likes or dislikes freemium games.
I would respect a developer that makes a lot of money from a high quality game. Examples? Crytek - Far Cry 1/2, Crysis, Crysis: Warhead, Crysis 2 DICE - Battlefield Bad Company 2, Battlefield 3 Infinity Ward - Call of Duty 4 (yep that's it ) Polyphony - Gran Turismo 5 Firemint - Real Racing 2 (very high quality by smartphone standards) Lima Sky - Doodle Jump NGMoco made money from "Energy points" and "Pet wars $$mon3yzz$$". Making $400 million from in game transactions to advance in a low quality game is not something I will show any respect or deference to. Maybe you will...but I hate it when people make money the easy way. And don't tell me Eliminate is a good example of a high quality game...because it isn't..even by iOS standards. I included Doodle Jump because it was a new, innovative, successful, and amazing idea. Making MMO Zynga type game knock-offs is not innovativ or new or special in any way...just successful.
...and a clone I agree with your post though. Micro-transactions (is that one word or what?) have been around for ages, most notably in the likes of Korean/Chinese MMOs and it's never been the kind of thing I wanted to see take off in the west. If it works and people are happy paying for it then fair enough, but it still doesn't garner as much respect as simply making a fantastic game and selling loads of copies.
Because I respect the business behind all of it. You can rage all day about the evils of McDonalds and Wal-Mart, but at the end of the day there's some incredibly smart people on top pulling the strings that have made them the mega-businesses that they are today. Ngmoco is the same way. You'll notice nowhere in this thread did I say I enjoyed their freemium games. It should be fairly telling how we feel about freemium stuff as a whole, considering we barely ever post about anything freemium related on the front page. But hey, don't let me stop you from frothing out.
