averyblund said:
I think you are right, but that is not as important as price. A system doesn't need a high attach-rate to be a success if it has unit volume BUT, right now the platform seems to be stuck with a stigma against paying more than $10 for a game. This puts devs on a tight budget and means that very few "epic" games have been released.
The good thing is that this perception can change. However if Apple wants to make that change they will need to do a few things. Right now the way the App Store is set up is by popularity. With 25,000 applications/programs most people just check the top 100 so they know they are gettign a quality product. Sadly it seems the vast majority of the things bought are in the $1-$2 range. So many higher end products end up lost in the shuffle and nearly impossible to find unless you have already heard of them. Developers are finding work arounds, one of which is to do a lot of external advertising with a link that points to their app. This is great but Apple needs to do something also.
One proposal that has been rumored for a few months is a "premium" section, where only $20+ apps are allowed, complete with its own top 100, ect. To me this is a winner and will provide confidence to developers that it is OK to make longer, more expensive games without the worry of them falling into obscurity.
Lastly Apple seems to have been advertising the Touch as game oriented which should help keep gaming in a spotlight.
On thing is for certain looking at the top 100 payed and free. 80%+ are games, so keep your eyes on this one. |
One thing that people need to remember is that the SDK has been in open distribution for what, 9 months now? It's not enough time to really make an "epic" game, no matter how easy the development is. But your points are all valid. Cheap things dominate the top lists, meaning smaller budgets. The thing that can change the direction, though, is buying more content in-game. It also enables somewhat real demos of games with suitable content, in other words games that have levels or other really meaningful content you can add later on. Currently, most people seem to complain about the lack of proper demos as a reason for not spending more than a dollar or two on a game. If you can get the game with first level only for a dollar, and then pay more to get more levels, it alleviates the problem greatly.
The AppStore has been a runaway success for Apple, and they themselves have been overwhelmed by it. I have to say that they didn't plan it perfectly from the beginning, but I have hopes they will fix things to a degree. On the other hand, a number of 3rd party App review sites have sprung up and I believe with time certain sites will gain influence. Currently, and unfortunately, the AppStore front page(s) and top lists are way too influential. You can get significant boosts from having your app mentioned favorably in certain blogs or podcasts, but those last only for awhile, and once you're out of the top 25 or 50, you're falling fast.
Despite the problems I still like to remind everybody that the damn thing has been around less than a year. So this is not directed at you averyblund but to everybody: Be honest, did you think it would gain this much success? Or did you write it off as a failure to begin with?
