Players still pay, but do so later and on-demand

A survey by Flurry has revealed that over the last six months, the preference among iOS gamers has flip-flopped from paid games (premium) to free-but-offering-in-app-purchases type games (often called "Freemium"). Using App Store data on over 90,000 apps and applying its own analytics, the website determined that the freemium model is growing rapidly, moving from 39 percent of all game sales in January to 65 percent last month.

Games that are free to play are unsurprisingly popular, since the "cost to entry" becomes zero, but the survey also showed that only a small percentage -- six percent or, in many cases, less -- of freemium players ever actually purchase any of the in-app options, leaving 94 or more percent of players simply playing the game on a limited level for free.

However, the players who do spend money on in-app purchases tend to have no qualms about doing so, raising the overall income -- even beyond what the developer would have made charging a flat-but-low premium price, because the audience of potential spenders is much larger.

What works best for each game varies, of course, on the perception of consumers. Players will be much more interested in giving a new or little-known title a chance if the cost of entry is free, but some premium games also carry premium reputations and can command even hefty up-front premium prices because players know and value what they are getting.

Freemium games can enhance and build their reputation by periodically adding-on new in-app purchasable content, such as the developers of the dungeon-crawl game 100 Rogues. Players of that game have the option to spend up to $6 on additional characters and modes for the game, with the potential for more in-app purchases later.

The Flurry study suggest that rather than simply counting units sold at a premium price, the current popular model challenges developers to keep players engaged in the game, in part by presenting additional "compelling spending opportunities." [via Flurry]

by MacNN Staff