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Not sure if everyone here in the forums know about this site yet, but if you don't its great. They are doing a different free game for download everyday day of the year (year round if i am not wrong about this)
http://www.freeappaday.com/
Totally worth checking out everyday if you like free apps :)
Today's free one looks like it is Flux Tunes . Haven't downloaded it though as it is not my kinda app.
Good luck with your app hunting :)
I LOVE THIS SITE! so glad they're doing it every day and not just for a short amt of time like the cool appventcalendar.
What separates this giveaway from the multitude of other promotions is the fact that these apps are selected based on a certain standard of quality. This can be a good or bad thing.
For instance, Battle Bears was featured prominently and picked up thousands of downloads, no doubt. But with a strong player-to-customer conversion rate, this may have saturated the market of potential buyers, especially when you consider that the game itself was already priced relatively cheaply. My personal opinion is that participating in this event has damaged their sales quite considerably, because Battle bears was NOT an obscure title. It has been touted on many a forum and received favorable ratings by both players and critics - the same people out there savvy enough to find free app day are the people who would have been exposed to pro-battle bears reviews.
A completely different example of a game getting a raw deal out of this is Compression, by White Bear Studios iirc.
I absolutely feel for them, because they havean absolutely fantastic and addictive game. Their issue is that people downloaded it, and took out frustration on sensitive tap-controls out on the game's rating. If I remember properly, it was at 4 stars - perhaps even a coveted 4 1/2 stars - when I originally inspected it, quite some time ago. It has taken an enormous hit of 1-star reviews, authored by frustrated players who would not have otherwise bought the game, but are now dragging it's appearance / reputation down so that puzzle-heads, who would love the game, think twice or perhaps even pass on it. The game is now at 2 1/2 stars, held hostage by the "free" community it tried to embrace.
This is not to say that all participants are automatic losers; in fact, there is a great deal to gain from participating. For instance, if you have a series of games, it may pay to get such a large and eager ("free" brings customers to you) audience addicted to your first game, so that they will not only recognize your company, but will buy the sequels / prequels. When I see Reign of Swords / Low Grav Racer in there, that's probably great exposure.
The best possible game for a free distribution would be one that features DLC. Create and artificial "base price" for the product so that when you announce it will be free, you have a built-in consumer base waiting in line to download it. This is best exemplified by Cocoto Kart.
While I think freeappaday is great for the consumers, it may end up hurting us in the end if developers come to a decision that it is an unsustainable or ill-advised process.
Well, actually they feature any game out there that pays the fee ($600 US I think). Thankfully most of the devs that put out stuff poor in quality don't have that extra cash to spend :) And most of the featured games still suck frankly :)
Do I understand correctly? The devs have to Pay a Fee to allow the Site to announce that their games are Free for a day.
To all devs: Send TMA a note when your app is going to be free and I'm sure they will announce it for free.
And if you wan't to pay, send me 300$ and I set up a website to announce your free game.
Yes, yo DO understand correctly.Quote:
Originally Posted by NineSwords
So true. I can't believe these devs are paying money to give away their games!!!! Bless the app store I say... ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by ChiffaN
I do also agree though that the majority of the games offered are not even worth a download in my opinion.....
If I'm not mistaken, it may have even been $1200 at a time if I remember reading correctly somewhere else, and due to some backlash, it's been "lowered" to $600.
Frankly, I myself don't understand how it could be beneficial to spend that amount of money to give away your game, as it doesn't help your rankings since when you change over from free to paid, your ranking starts all over again....
So who cares if 1 million people a week visit that website? What does that actually do for your sales in the end? Company recognition maybe, but honestly, I think if you're willing to give your game away at one point, you're likely willing to give away future games if you're patient enough to wait...
In the end, I'm not a developer so maybe I'm oblivious to the actual benefits this could bring, but if anything, this just seems like some sort of scam that developers are falling for. Genious on the person to create that website and actually make a decent living off developers giving away their apps for free...
I mean, if someone had said to me last month, "I've got a great business idea. Create a website where people will give away their games for free, and charge them for it....we'll make a bundle!", I would have laughed in their face.
Today, I'm sorry I didn't listen to my imaginary friend.... :)
He we have the same imaginary friends. He told me that it would be a good idea to buy as many Apple stock as I could get when they we're as good as dead. He had also a recommendation about stock of a certain company who sells little blue pills.
pff...forget nine...pay me 50 bucks and i'll whore out your app/brand name to every corner of the interweb i can get into
Damn, and here I thought I had the exclusive with my imaginary friend....hmmm, I feel cheated somehow... :)Quote:
Originally Posted by NineSwords