Advice on pricing for the iPhone game We Are Making.

R

rickshankshaw

Banned
Basically we're having team discussions on how to price our app. I'm not going to go into specific gameplay details (sorry!) but we came across an issue with how much we were trying to pack into the game.

Knowing that there is a 10mb limit on downloading an app from where ever you are (which would severely hurt impulse buys of our game) we decided to break the five worlds of our game into episodic releases.

Originally the game would have been $3.99 for all five worlds. However we're discussing whether to sell each world for $0.99 on the app store in a month by month release or doing three worlds for $1.99 and each additional world for $0.99 each.

My concern is that if we release the $1.99 app with three worlds, people would complain about the remaining two worlds being sold for $0.99 each. Am I correct in this?

However I feel if that we release the worlds one by one at a static $0.99, people would feel okay by the consistency of the pricing.

What do you guys think?
 
[quote name='rickshankshaw']Basically we're having team discussions on how to price our app. I'm not going to go into specific gameplay details (sorry!) but we came across an issue with how much we were trying to pack into the game.

Knowing that there is a 10mb limit on downloading an app from where ever you are (which would severely hurt impulse buys of our game) we decided to break the five worlds of our game into episodic releases.

Originally the game would have been $3.99 for all five worlds. However we're discussing whether to sell each world for $0.99 on the app store in a month by month release or doing three worlds for $1.99 and each additional world for $0.99 each.

My concern is that if we release the $1.99 app with three worlds, people would complain about the remaining two worlds being sold for $0.99 each. Am I correct in this?

However I feel if that we release the worlds one by one at a static $0.99, people would feel okay by the consistency of the pricing.

What do you guys think?[/QUOTE]

I don't have an iphone, so my perception of the pricing may be a little different than someone who is used to the iphone pricing. When you are used to $20-$40 portable games pricing, $2-$4 seems like nothing.

If I bought the first three levels and enjoyed them, and felt they were worth the money, I would have no issue paying $0.99 for each of the additional levels. If I enjoyed the game enough to buy more levels I wouldn't care about price inconsistency since we are talking about $0.99. That amount is an impulse amount.
 
I'd be okay with trying a game for $1 then buying more levels if I enjoyed it. As msdmoney said, it's an impulse buy at that price. I've bought a lot of apps just because they're "only a dollar".
 
I don't know what the limits are on the new in-app transactions, but couldn't you release the first 3-level pack for $1.99 and each additional level at $0.99? That seems fair.
 
How about if we introduced the first world at 0.99 and every time we introduced a new world, we'd drop the price on the previously released game?
 
$.99 would be ideal, really.

However to try and maybe make some money..have the first episode free and make everything else $1.99 :lol: :cool:
 
Depends on the game. If every world is significantly different (ie story or art/location or gameplay mechanics) then you would be safe to release each world at .99 each. If they are all similar (ie tetris or pacman) then you should release them all in one pack.
 
Personally, I'm going to say that you should go ahead with the 1.99 pricing for the initial game, and then charge 0.99 for each additional "world" you release for it. If you have convinced someone to pay 1.99 for a game, they probably enjoy it enough to invest an extra 0.99 for additional content later. Your conversion rate for that sort of transaction should be decently high for anyone who buys the game initially.

However, if anyone buys the game and decides that they don't want anymore, you will have gotten an extra dollar out of them. I don't want to be too much of a bastard here, but you need to make some manner of grab for up-front profit. Also, pricing your initial game higher than the episodic expansion packs will make the expansions seem like more of a bargain.

Too many developers haven't been confident enough in their titles, and price their iPhone games too low. While it is true that this lowers the barrier to entry, it also puts your game in the same bracket as a lot of the shovelware that has been released for the iPhone. At 1.99, it is still well within the range of "impulse" purchase, while still being expensive enough to give your game a boost in prestige.
 
i say, .99 means your game is either really awesome and can afford to have that cheap price point but you also got to expect that (me as an iphone owner) whenever i see an iphone app. i do base some of my purchases off of price, and not necessarily because it's only cheap. if i see a game that is a little more expensive, i think to myself, there's got to be a reason, maybe it's worth it!

All i'm saying is, if you can make more money off your hard work, do it. Because when people put quality games for .99 cents because everyone and their mom is making apps for .99 cents there will be no competition for really quality games, and that's going to force you to get less money, just help change the trend for real good games that people actually put more work in to.
 
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I find it pathetic that everyone expects apps to be only a dollar no matter what the quality is. Charge $2-3, if it's killer then charge more. It really comes down to what the game is and how it plays.

Look at Blue Defense. Simple game play but highly addictive. It's only $1.99 and I would have no problem paying more as I've gotten hours of enjoyment out of it.

Right now everyone is putting out shovelware. The trend will be for true gems to change the structure of buying apps as this is still a new form of shopping, it's only now starting it's second year.

I'm not sure if you can, but send out beta's to get some real feedback on the game and get an idea on how much to charge. Or, issue a free demo level with the option to unlock the full game. This way you'll get the right customers willing to pay for the full experience. This allows the tire kickers to get their fill while you get real customers.
 
free. its all about the exposure and getting your names out there. don't fall in to the evils of capitalism. its about making a great game and making sure people enjoy that game.
 
definitely .99 per world, but with the new 3.0 firmware you can have your app built around serving the others as DLC. That way you don't have to label your original app as "World 1", which might turn people off since they might think they're only getting a partial experience. If you can code it so people can download the new worlds from inside the app, that would be ideal. Maybe have a webbased splash screen when the app starts as well, so when they first play it they're made aware of new content that is available/coming soon.
 
I think $0.99 per world is the way to go. $0.99 is the impulse buy area for iPhone apps as sales have show However, you run the risk if you first title doesn't perform as well as you hope, your chances of recouping your costs on the subsequent 4 worlds go down.
 
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