I’ve been dying to hear experiences from developers trying the free+ model (free with in-app purchasing for revenue). To my delight, Riptide games just posted data and analysis of their experiences, two weeks in.
A few notes:
- The results: “In actual #’s we have had 66,346 downloads of the app from Nov 5-Nov 22nd and 1,267 sales of the first (and currently only) level pack.”
- The in-app purchase conversion rate seems to hover around 2%. Hopefully we can get a few more data points to confirm or adjust this, get in touch if you are willing to share.
- So far no backlash from users saying “I thought this was free.” Free apps generally have lower ratings than paid apps (because easy come, easy go and when you go you rate). So far not too bad, though. The game currently has a three star average rating.
- Riptide games will be putting out a “premium” version of their game for a few bucks, including all the level packs. I think a lot of free+ developers will end up doing the same. So instead of “lite” and paid versions we will have “free+” and “premium” versions.
