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Re:How in-app purchases have destroyed the game industry by throwaway092834 on Saturday February 01, 2014 @05:31PM (#7163776)
This is simply not true. Price has an enormous impact on units sold.
Re:How in-app purchases have destroyed the game industry by bertil on Saturday February 01, 2014 @07:31PM (#7164163)
Price elasticity is strong, but the original comment is presumably assuming you can make a decent revenue with a non-minimum price tag.

For instance, imagine a game listed as free:

- a freemium model let you play 15 levels and asks for 4.99 to unleash 500 more levels, maybe let a 1.99 option for 100 levels; this should convert 3-5% with a million testing players; v.s.

- free-to-play with locking levels every 10 levels that are so hard you have to use bonus, that would convert 1% to pay for either a Golden Orb for 1.99, or a Golden Blast for 5.99, etc. each who may or may not make a difference, and appease your frustration, and work only once. You get a couple of whales (desperate, clueless players) who pay 50$ a month, but even with a larger distribution (two to three millions players) you don't break even.

The idea in the original comment is not that a price twice higher will double sales, but more that having a price tag (which free-to-play games deny having) makes sense for good games.

Re:How in-app purchases have destroyed the game industry by Fasebook on Monday February 03, 2014 @03:16AM (#7169427)
Sure, if units sold is your only metric, then optimize for that.