Comments on: Free Is The New Future (Is It?)

By: Baloo

Baloo — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 11:13:40 +0000

“2-hour casual game”: I was thinking of adding an optional story line… that way you can let your players choose the freemium model instead. I’m not sure if it’s worth it or not, it’s just an idea.

By: Juuso

Juuso — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 04:28:51 +0000

Yeh, depends how you define “microtransaction”, so true. :) From that video it was suggested about paying pennies or something. Guy on that vid didn’t think Appstore as microtransaction ($0.99)

I don’t know if club penguin has it… I know it has 5ish eur per month membership?

By: Jake Birkett

Jake Birkett — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 23:10:41 +0000

So the microtransaction I was talking about is the free to play game and then typically you buy a chunk of game currency and you use that to buy stuff with. It seems to be working for Club Penguin etc but yeah it would be neat if you could just make tiny transactions but the payment providers just aren’t set up to do that, currently if your transaction cost was too small, it would COST you money as the supplier!

By: Juuso

Juuso — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 05:00:19 +0000

microtransaction != freemium

By: Juuso

Juuso — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 05:00:02 +0000

Jake: guy on that vid actually suggested that microtransaction model isn’t really working – the transaction costs haven’t got that small, and there’s always the psychological barrier for “buying again” (no matter what the cost).

Of course there’s possibility that pirates hack things, but they’ll do that no matter what one does ;)

By: Juuso

Juuso — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 04:38:46 +0000

Good link. This reminds me that I actually don’t (all the time/often/sometimes) choose free programs/libs for the reason that there’s no guarantee of upgrades. With paid versions (and if there’s load of customers) at least you know that you are at “safe hands”.

By: Steven Egan

Steven Egan — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 00:13:07 +0000

Looking at this I am reminded of a post I made yesterday, Topplenomics: http://blog.igenoukan.com/2009/08/topplenomics.html

Thought you might find it interesting.

By: Jake Birkett

Jake Birkett — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:02:14 +0000

So with the microtransaction model where you have a free game but buy extras, does anyone think that maybe pirates will start pirating the extra stuff so you don’t have to pay to add it in, you just hack your account or install a new file etc.?

By: Juuso

Juuso — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 05:07:36 +0000

Robert: 60 min is at least an easy way to limit something. They’ve probably tested it… (but who knows :)

By: Robert Dowling

Robert Dowling — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 01:56:21 +0000

That was very enjoyable to watch! It’s kind of a topic we already were aware was happening, but needed it explained and possibly verified.
I also agree with what Katherine says regarding demo playtimes. I think out of all the trial based demos I’ve played, I’ve only ever bought a few, and they were games I had already intended on buying. A free level of a game in a demo though, is quite different. Being able to replay and knowing I can take my time through that demo is a great thing, and encourages me to see more by purchasing the full game.
Most ‘AAA’ game demos choose this way rather then time limited trials. So why is it so poplular in Indie games?