Release, Payment Methods. Profit Strategies

Hi there,
I am going to be releasing a title but am debating if I should...

A) release it for free with ads, and a pay to remove ads.
B) for a 99 cent fee with no ads.
C) for free but with ads of games only my company makes, with option to pay to remove.


My company is pretty much unknown so I will only be self promoting via sites like touch arcade and Twitter. In your opinion, any developers want to weigh in on what stands the best chance for profits???

Thanks.

 

The market seems to have settled on hamburger (A). And really, that encompasses Hamburger (B) as well; it's just giving users the option.

As for (C), no matter what you do for monetization, it certainly makes sense to include a "More Games!" or "News" or some such button on the main menu, that essentially goes to ads for your other products. I don't think people mind that at all.

Personally, I hate ad-supported software almost, but not quite, as much as I hate in-app-purchase "freemium" apps. I've been sorely tempted to try to start a movement — get a catchy name, logo, and slogan along the lines of "No Begging, No Bribery" or "Pay Once and You're Done" or maybe just "No BS." This would be for apps that you pay for up front and then never pay any more (nor have to sit through ads to play).

As a consumer, I would certainly support such a movement, including voting with my dollars. But I dunno... normal people seem to be of a different opinion. Many of my friends and relatives seem proud to proclaim that they never pay for apps. (Even if, when pressed, they admit that they do do IAP sometimes.) I don't know if a pay-up-front-and-never-again movement would catch on at all.

 

Yes,
Is think freemium is the dominant force. I like it only because I can download the game. If I like it, I will support it. If not, no loss.

The issue for me, i think is sales. In the end, what will generate more money? Of course, I think it's safe to say more downloads will occur with it being free.

As I think about it now, I may install my own ads system promoting my games or partners games. Of course one can pay to remove these ads. This helps me two ways. One it promotes my other projects and saves me the hassel of setting up the Chartboost program.


Hmmmm.

 

As a relative unknown you should also consider not monetising just to get your company and brand known.

 

Yes, I agree with that. I am seriously considering using only Yah Man Game ads. You can pay to get rid of them, if not, I just plug titles and the brand. I can live with a lot of downloads and exposure over annoying ads unrelated to me.

 

I read about Apple adding a section for "Pay once", but I can't actually seem to find it on the App store anymore.

I think the way for this to catch on (again... Remember how this is how all games/software used to be?!) is for there to be enough success stories of developers releasing games under this model.

So I say release your app for what you think it should cost (not just 99 cents because that's what you think you're limited to) and hope for the best!

 

Maybe there's another option: D) Don't monetize your game. For young developers, this really is a smart move. If you have a success, it's easy to put ads in later. Of course, real monetization is HARD, though that's a story for another day.

Gigi

 

Make a free demo version and full 99 cents version.
Or make it free and then add some paid stuff, like extra levels for example.