It'd be $500 if you didn't want to actually do any races yourself. Which would be weird since, ya know, it's a racing game.
I loathe the freemiumness in this game, and I'm still pissed at Firemonkeys and beyond pissed at EA for screwing up the sequel to my favorite iOS game, but what you said is pretty clueless. I've spent exactly $0 on this game. I made it 70% through... Then I deleted it and started over but whatever... $1 is never, ever even remotely necessary. Let alone $500. The game can be competed without spending money. All you have to do is race. If you don't want to race, you shouldn't have downloaded the game. The game was made considerably worse by the freemium crap, especially the timers, but it's far from ruined. Although it pretty much singlehandedly keeps it from surpassing RR2 as far as I'm concerned. Play the game, then come back and bash it. (according to gamecenter, you've played exactly one race) I'm not defending the game, just saying your $.02 suck.
I have to 100% agree with this. As things stand right now, as an example, if there was no Blitz Briagade freemium, there would be no MC5 premium. If even that will be the case. Its fine to complain about freemium but here's the crux, without it, there'll be nothing worth playing. The development cost has to come from somewhere. And irrelevant of the price of iap, excessive though it may be, you never have to actually get it in this game. If you do, you're playing the wrong game. Racing will actually get you everything you need. There are far worse money crunchers and pay walls out there. And funnily enough they're all top ten grossers. The market has spoken. And to make it clearer this isn't one of them.
I believe the $500 was to buy enough gold to buy all cars and upgrade fully, which is what most people want to do once they've completed the game. That's reflective of the original IAP prices and car prices, mind you. Here's the article : http://www.148apps.com/news/503-ios-racing-game-shocking-reality-iap-real-racing-3/. Please, read it in its entirety and tell me it doesn't raise some valid points. Even having an IAP avalaible for $100 is crazy. Even Dead Trigger got that right, for which I applaud Madfinger. It may not have been particularly fun, but the F2P system was very reasonable. And guess what? That $100 won't even get you all the gold-only cars, not to mention the cost of upgrading them. I have nothing but the utmost respect for you, Rip, but I do have to disagree on this one. Systems like this, for whatever reason (piracy, money, etc) are ruining our games. Can you honestly look me in the eyes (well, in the Internet sense) and tell me that this F2P system is just dandy, and you don't feel as though this would be a better game were it paid? Yeah, piracy is a bitch but so is treating your customers like shit. And that's exactly how I feel when I open up this game and get bombarded with waiting times, cars that cost $20 or more in real money to buy, and ads galore. There has to be a better way to go about this. That's all I'm trying to say. Edit: I maintain that companies are out there to make money, and that if premium titles like MC4 and Gangstar 4 don't turn a profit, then budgets wouldn't keep going up exponentially with each release. Gameloft isn't making those games just to please a fan base.
You obviously haven't played the game. Gold only cars are easy if you don't waste all your gold on timers. Duh. He and I both made it quite clear it would be better paid. You got bombarded with timers after one race? You just have wrecked your car pretty good. Or 20 minutes of racing. I don't think you know what you're trying to say.
Gameloft isn't making money on those games. MC4 daily server costs alone (long term) will never be recouped by the number of people who buy the game. They are prestige halo games to promote the brand. Marketing. That's all. The Lexus LFA will never make Toyota a profit either. Blitz brigade will though. And it'll pay for MC 5, which will never make a profit. Dominions will though. And that'll pay for something else. As for the rest, well freemiums here and its here to stay. As for the more specifics, I'm just not getting in to it other than look at the top ten grossing chart on every store worldwide. Appannie will do that for you. The answer is pretty clear.
So wait... having IAP available for $100 is crazy, but Asphalt is okay? Asphalt 7 has an IAP for $100. Applying even more of your argument to Asphalt, I'm sure it wouldn't be cheap to get all the cars and all upgrades using real money in A7 if you didn't want to race. So why does Asphalt get a pass and not Real Racing 3?
Exactly. His logic was flawed from the start, that much we know. What I want to know is.. How do you know there's a $100 iAP in A7??
Yes, but RR3 has a premium currency, Asphalt doesn't. I was using RR3 as an example. All $100 IAPs are ridiculous in my opinion, but RR3 just gets the spotlight because that's what the thread's about. Asphalt has those IAPs and pushes for you to buy them, but nowhere near the level that RR3 does. You can get everything bought and upgraded with zero grinding or picture-perfect racing. It's just fairer game design.
Not... True!!!! MC5 went into production as soon as MC4 was released! If half a million gamers bought MC4 for $6.99, after apple take their 30%, gameloft still has a cool $2 mil left and guess what, it doesn't cost even 1 mil to make MC5. Thx for listening! Btw, more than half a mil gamers bought MC4!
How else am I supposed to beat it? : ) Seriously though, I read the $100 complaint and checked the Top IAP for A7 in the AppStore app and voilà.
