I got notification this morning of a couple of games that had updates waiting to be downloaded, and so I went to read what was new under the appropriately-titled "What New In This Version" section, as I always do. And I hafta say, I was somewhat irked to see that, alongside the usual expected one line of text describing "minor bug fixes", there was also an additional two paragraphs of advertising, where the developer thought it would somehow be appropriate to reel off a list of their other games available and also a list of their sales! This happened with two games, but one of them was more blatantly over the top than the other. The other thing to note is that I checked these updates on my iPhone which normally lists *ONLY* the changes under What's New, and does *NOT* include the usual main paragraph description text that you would normally see when just browsing for the app. I initially saw this to be a pretty blatant abuse of the "What's New" section, and thought developers should not be using this to advertise their other products. And I do still think that, but I'm just wondering if I'm in the minority here? I mean, is it any different to saying the same thing in the main main paragraph description text? I'm guessing it *IS* different, because advertising in the main description could be considered helpful to the customer if they are looking for more information or similar products, and it's unobtrusive. I feel that advertising in the What's New section *IS* obtrusive, because that's a unique section where customers go to find very specific information. Whatever, I just hope it isn't a trend that's gonna spread... Thoughts?
I agree. But I can understand why developers do it, wether it be right or wrong. I won't be doing so myself though, when I have more than one game out. But that's just me being too goody goody Btw, corrected your thread title for you, as requested.
Well, customers like the good developers who follow the "rules" (insert reams of small print here about what the "rules" are, exactly, etc.) and they avoid the bad ones. Surprise, surprise... So yeah, if you're one of the goody-goody ones, then I'm sure all your customers will appreciate you all the more for that! Oh, and thanks for correcting the mis-spelling in the title.
UPDATE: I just got a reply from one of the developers in question that I sent a polite email to, querying their practice of advertising in the What's New section. This is what they had to say: "The most important thing for us is to let the customer know what has been improved in the new version" they say...? Hmm, interesting then that they put their advertising at the top of the What's New section, above the part that actually does state what is new...
