

Ask HN: Pricing model for our first app - akg

My friend and I just released our first iOS game and are confused about what pricing model to use. There are two popular models:<p>1. The pay up front model (e.g., angry birds). All level packs are playable in sequential order.<p>2. Free to play with in app purchases. (e.g., almost every other game). Only the first level pack is playable with a price tag of 99cents on each additional level pack.<p>There seems to be quite a bit of data implying that the freemium model is the way to go. The idea is that one would release the game for free, get lots of users and hope that a small percentage of those users will spend money in-app.<p>Articles like this one (http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.marco.org&#x2F;2013&#x2F;09&#x2F;28&#x2F;underscore-price-dynamics) seem to indicate that &quot;the market for paid-up-front apps appealing to mass consumers is gone.&quot; Then there are the success stories like Clash or Titans, Candy Crush, etc. that seem to be raking it in on in-app purchases. I suspect that there is some observational bias here since we only ever hear of the successful apps that use this model.<p>It seems that success of the freemium model is largely a numbers game. To get a large number of downloads, one needs to either have money for advertising or some clout&#x2F;influence in relevant industry journals&#x2F;blogs; both of which seem dire approaches for small time indie developers.<p>I think that a pay-up-front model seems to have a longer tail than freemium models since it is less dependent on the initial marketing momentum. Additionally, the benefit of pay-up-front models is that you get the user to commit to pay you from the beginning -- theoretically that means that you can focus marketing efforts to people who would actually spend money on a well-made app instead of a shotgun approach to get the most number of active users.<p>Any advice&#x2F;suggestions are welcome.
======
anywherenotes
I think it's really tough to get someone to pay for an app from an unknown
publisher. Games like Angry Birds are a known, if I like one of them, I'll
very likely enjoy the next one, so I can pay and play. Games from unknown
publishers could be awful.

I think you gotta go with freemium at this point, because it's a lot easier to
get someone to try your game for free. Try your best to make a great game, and
hopefully you'll sell some in-game expansions.

For example Puzzle and Dragons makes millions of dollars daily from in-game
purchases:
[http://www.pocketgamer.biz/r/PG.Biz/GungHo+Online+news/news....](http://www.pocketgamer.biz/r/PG.Biz/GungHo+Online+news/news.asp?c=52683)
It's a good model for both developers and customers. Everyone gets to try it,
and some people will more than cover for others who don't want to pay, or
tried it but didn't like it.

------
notduncansmith
I have some anecdotal evidence against selling "level packs": most people that
I talk to hate them. There's a difference between buying things that enhance
the game experience (powerups, character skins, etc) and paying to unlock the
full game experience. When an app is free except for the first level, people
feel deceived (unless you put "Lite" in the title or something).

Disclaimer: I have no studies or objective data to support this, this is based
purely off of what I've heard from other iOS devs and regular humans.

