

Ask HN: game merchandaicing as a serious alternative to in-app purchases? - pablomartinez

20 days ago there was an active thread related to how the in-app purchases have destroyed the game industry https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=7161901. Why not consider game merchandising, like toys or physical items of a 3rd party, like a milk carton, as a serious way to purchase extras in a game.
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ruroma
I have just come back from the Toy Fair in New York where the Digital Kids
conference took place.

In-app purchases was a hot topic as everyone just focuses in the revenues from
Candy Crush and similar. However, the question floating in the air was if this
was an ethical model to target to kids?

It seemed that kids were aware when a game was trying to simply squeeze out
their money, and most kids which have access to their parents credit cards,
had a sense of responsibility that stopped them from buying this kind of
service.

So therefore, I think there is room for a market that wants to buy extras for
a game (as long as it provides value to the game experience) but considers
that the existing in-app payments are a rip-off.

Also, some research shown in the conference showed that the buying decisions
ultimately come from the mothers, and mothers usually tend to favour physical
objects which gave their kids the opportunity to play with them in other ways
and not just "staring into another screen"

