Written by Ryan Ballard

So I’ve had this on my small chest for some time, and i believe it’s the perfect time I unload. I am not convinced everyone will agree with me, but hear me out. I believe Android gaming has problem with the amount of games that exist for free with IAPs, though I *suspect* iOS does too (See here). And I am getting at this at the outset: I do not hate all IAPs. Paying a set fee once to unlock full content (gaming or otherwise) is simply fine me with, out of the box a running subscription (Netflix, MLB At Bat, etc). My objection originates from how many games are attempting to monetize by applying scammy IAPs, and it is unmanageable.

Now as being an issue, this is not anything new. In June, EA had their IAP fiasco with Dungeon Keeper, where they received a notable quantity of backlash for taking a treasured bet on yore, and attempted to transform it into a place to farm cash from players. The CEO sat down with Eurogamer, and claimed that they learned from their mistakes. I imagine they learned something, but I’d question if they learned the right lesson, as their CEO Andrew Wilson went on to speak about value for which they’re asking. Given that EA promises to release the most recent Need for Speed, where they make an effort to use IAPs for gas, I do not think they did. And while they aren’t the only real ones doing this (Candy Crush franchise and spin-offs, I’m taking a look at you), the games they tend to put out lately exemplify Precisely what my beef is. Games such as this are rigged. Period. They aren’t released for individuals to savor, they’re released as a way for developers like EA to farm money from people, one nickel at any given time. It may be said that these games are “free to play”, but I’m at the point where I no longer believe them.

And we’ve heard all of these before:

– Play for half an hour, then pay to carry on.
– Congratulations, you’ve finished the board…. .99 cent passport to continue, or wait an hour.
– Uh oh, you’ve died. Lose all of your progress, or purchase a revival spell for 1.99
– The drops you earn from enemies is definitely gold, but you *really* need diamonds and the conversion rate for Gold to Diamonds is really skewed it isn’t really worth trying in order to save up enough to trade one for that other.

In the end, it is a mug’s game. While each one of these may have started (and perhaps, may yet be) well meaning, how do i make sure the game’s difficulty isn’t rigged to such a level it de facto requires me to pay for to avoid spending enough time to equate it to some second, part-time job? And when I have to ponder whether I’m being cheated in some manner, how much enjoyment will I really get from the game? Again, the claim can be stated that players can win for free, but at this point I’m not buying it. Full Stop. But let’s move on to the other part of the problem.

During the final Super bowl, Clash of Clans taken care of a commercial to become aired ($4.5M for 30 seconds) and also paid Liam Neeson up to $9M to star in said commercial. How can they afford this? And they are not alone. According to Wired, Game of War’s ad campaign such as the Super Bowl as with Kate Upton ran close to something similar to $40M, however they are also bringing in something similar to $1M every single day. Heroes Charge also had an advertisement within the Super bowl, though without the high priced celebrity. Why do I mention this? Because, dear fellow gamer, it’s working. It isn’t employed by us, not necessarily. It’s definitely working for them though, proven in how multiple mobile app developers are able to afford spots during the Super bowl.

Now I can be as laissez faire as the next guy, and so i can’t really fault this option for doing what works. But since it is employed by them, countless other devs are releasing games that follow exactly the same monetization model. Think about it. How frequently would you see news on our site alone (let alone others) of games that are free-with-IAPs, vs the ones that request a flat rate upfront? For each pr release that states a static asking price (a la Hail to the King collection, though the devs never mentioned exactly what the price would be), I’m able to list several games that are free with IAPs with more coming every single day. So how will we repair it? And check out the general top grossing games in the search engines Play. They’re all “free”, meaning they’re raking it in hand over fist, via IAPs.

Well, the onus is here as gamers to make the change. Ranting on the web rarely gets people very far (least of myself), so I guess all I’m able to ask is for gamers to think twice before dropping “just one more dollar” in to the IAP hole for more virtual currency that wouldn’t even survive a device upgrade or hard reset, simply because nobody wants to farm for said currency for another hour (again, that’s the point). I think we should begin being more choosy that games we’re willing put money into. Let’s give developers a realistic alternative to consider. If we as gamers are prepared to spend a couple of bucks up front, more than $0.99 cents mind you, we may even save over time.

I’ve had a friend who (shamefully) admits that he’s spent up to $20 on Clash of Clans. The issue is the fact that he didn’t do all of it at once, it was over time. And that i don’t mean to knock Clash of Clans, but that is far from the $20 game. It is a $2.99-$4.99 game… tops. If much more of us were willing to shell out that much at the outset though, then much more of us would save the remaining $15 for another thing… maybe more games? And i believe if devs knew they’d a shot at reliably making $3-$5 per install, they’d be more inclined to think about that like a pricing model. Heck, they couldn’t do any worse than offering an IAP in that price range for a “full unlock” option that re-adjusts the difficulty to something which isn’t the digital equivalence of the milk bottle or ring toss scams in the state fair. Am I requesting an excessive amount of?