The iPhone App Store just turned one, and developers are getting the hang of the device. Game companies like EA and Namco are starting specialised divisions just to target the iPhone. Apps are about to get good, right? Not exactly.
Here’s the major reason: the price of apps. AppCubby maker of apps like GasCubby, just put up an analysis of the app store that says the new price ceiling is $US5. It used to be $US10. But according to him and other developers, the $US10 price point is no longer sustainable, seeing as many previously $US10-priced apps are now $US3-$5.
There probably are two major co-existing reasons for the drop. One, older apps get price drops to lure in cheapskates. People who wanted them already bought them, and people who are holdouts will only jump on when the price is lowered. Two, older apps just get dropped because older titles (see Best Buy) get price drops.
But back to the main point. If $US5 is the new standard price ceiling, developers aren’t going to be willing to devote time to their projects. It’s as Craig Hockenberry of Twitterific argued: bigger projects need a bigger payoff, but if those developers price their apps too high, there won’t be enough income to make those projects worthwhile.
There’s no easy solution to this, which means that iPhone users shouldn’t expect much more complicated games than what’s already on there now. All the talk of the iPhone competing with the DS or the PSP in terms of quality may be moot if there’s nobody there to spend the effort developing that level of games. [AppCubby]
Zac
July 23, 2009 at 12:59 AM
I agree with much of what has already been said.
The big name developers just keep churning out expensive crap. Why pay $10 for a cheap shitty version of a console game when u know it isn’t going to be anywere near as good as the real thing. If u just put a lot of time and effort into creating a really good game and selling it cheap enough, u will still make money off of the sheer numbers u will sell. A really simple yet addictive game that u can’t put down like flight control sells for $1.19 and sells like a gazillion copies. Then u get $10 games like terminator which are great for a phone in terms of graphics and specs, they are just only playable For like the first 5 minutes of play.
Developers also need to be more original on their apps. U have a million copies of imob, ivampire, imafia etc. That aren’t worth shit. There needs to be more gaming gems like peggle or zenonia. With the thousands of useless apps in the AppStore it makes it really hard for small developers to stand out. Apple should dedicate more time to finding the genuinely good apps and promoting them instead of filling up the “featured” section with more useless crap.
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