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Trainyard was at $1.99 at launch and for a while after that. I figured it was a low introductory price, but not so low that I'd get careless users who wouldn't

by MattRix 16y ago

Trainyard was at $1.99 at launch and for a while after that. I figured it was a low introductory price, but not so low that I'd get careless users who wouldn't put any effort into the game and would just give it 1 star reviews, which was a bigger problem back a few months ago before Apple took out "rate-on-delete". These days, I feel like there are less tangible disadvantages to the 99c price point, other than the fact that you make less per sale. There's still the issue that users are willing to put more effort into a product they pay more for, and will even go to further lengths to defend it, because they want to justify their purchase and their taste. On the App Store, it all comes down to perceived risk. If a user is unsure about an app, they probably won't spend much more than 99c because they don't want to overspend on a dud. Once a user sees an app in Apple's "featured list" or has used the lite version of that app, they'll be much more willing to splurge on a higher price, because they know what they're getting. For Trainyard, I felt that there was no longer a big difference between the $1.99 and $2.99 price points, because by the time a user arrived at the purchasing page, they already knew they wanted it. All that being said, there is a large contingent of users that seem to only buy apps at $0.99, but most of the time, your apps won't be visible to those users. The moment I reached the top 50, I knew I would have tons of that sort of user looking at Trainyard, so I did the price drop.

dpcan 16y ago
I went the opposite route in the Android Market. When the lite version of my game hit the top 20 in its category, I made a few nice updates, and I felt the full version earned its higher price (~$4). After making the change, the number of sales barely went down, but revenue went up. But now you have me thinking. Are MORE people in the the $0.99-only crowd seeing my app, and are there enough of those people to make DROPPING the price more financially beneficial??? I suppose I could run a "sale", but once you start getting comfortable with a nice daily income, taking risks becomes harder and harder.
- MattRix 16y ago
  Yep, that was exactly my dilemma. I was making a huge amount of income, so it was a pretty big risk to drop the price, but I knew I would only have the opportunity during the week I was featured. It very well could have dropped and failed. I'm not sure how the Android charts work, but in the App Store, it's ranked by units sold, not by profit. This is the KEY thing that is crucial to how the market works. Even if I make LESS money than I did the day before, I will be higher up in the charts, which will get me more exposure, and eventually more sales. Going high in the App Store is all about upward momentum. The volume of sales doesn't change linearly with rank either, it's quite exponential.
  - dpcan 16y ago
    So, if you get high up on the charts, do you plan to put the price back at $2.99 or stay/go back to $0.99 since everyday will be like you're featured?
    - MattRix 16y ago
      Well in my case, is kind of already happened, and I kept it at 99c. Tough decision, but I think it worked out pretty well.
    - sp4rki 16y ago
      I think his best plan would be to put the price back at 1.99 after he gets the publicity he needs and leave it there while he works on the next iteration or game. Then make a sale or 0.99 a few weeks before the new launch to create some media exposure and leave the game at 1.99 again close to the release of the new product and leave it there until it dies or new signups become so low that 0.99 becomes the new price for the old game (while focusing on the new iterations off course).
    - gbhn 16y ago
      Looking at Gamasutra (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/31045/Top_iPhone_Game_Apps_Trainyard_Cartoon_Wars_2_Debut_as_Big_Sellers.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/31045/Top_iPhone_Game_App...) it would appear that top-10 == $0.99. I'd guess this is because, as has been speculated here, there is an enormous number of people who are simply going to spend a maximum of $.99 on an iPhone game and that's that. Either you sell yours for $.99 or they'll find something else for that price. The evidence suggests to me that if you don't realize this, you'll simply be replaced in the top 10 by someone who does. Of course, next week when a $9.99 game is in the top 10 I'll have to revise this opinion. :-)
      - MattRix 16y ago
        Part of the reason is just because these are GREAT games that are all worth much more than 99c, but because of the fact that they are 99c, they're also fantastic value. Why would a user pay $2.99 for a fantastic game when they can get one for 99c?
- sp4rki 16y ago
  I believe you need to be aware of your markets behavior first. There will come a point where your revenue will start stalling and even decreasing, and that's a great moment to release a major update or start a sale. You want to increase your exposure to level decreasing revenue and it has the benefit of marketing your app to a completely different market with different rules on pricing. When you get this people on board and you take the price up again, you'll be taking some of this customers with you, for any next iterations updates, or even your other products if you decide to make another.

by MattRix 16y ago

dpcan 16y ago

I went the opposite route in the Android Market. When the lite version of my game hit the top 20 in its category, I made a few nice updates, and I felt the full version earned its higher price (~$4). After making the change, the number of sales barely went down, but revenue went up. But now you have me thinking. Are MORE people in the the $0.99-only crowd seeing my app, and are there enough of those people to make DROPPING the price more financially beneficial??? I suppose I could run a "sale", but once you start getting comfortable with a nice daily income, taking risks becomes harder and harder.

MattRix 16y ago
Yep, that was exactly my dilemma. I was making a huge amount of income, so it was a pretty big risk to drop the price, but I knew I would only have the opportunity during the week I was featured. It very well could have dropped and failed. I'm not sure how the Android charts work, but in the App Store, it's ranked by units sold, not by profit. This is the KEY thing that is crucial to how the market works. Even if I make LESS money than I did the day before, I will be higher up in the charts, which will get me more exposure, and eventually more sales. Going high in the App Store is all about upward momentum. The volume of sales doesn't change linearly with rank either, it's quite exponential.
- dpcan 16y ago
  So, if you get high up on the charts, do you plan to put the price back at $2.99 or stay/go back to $0.99 since everyday will be like you're featured?
  - MattRix 16y ago
    Well in my case, is kind of already happened, and I kept it at 99c. Tough decision, but I think it worked out pretty well.
  - sp4rki 16y ago
    I think his best plan would be to put the price back at 1.99 after he gets the publicity he needs and leave it there while he works on the next iteration or game. Then make a sale or 0.99 a few weeks before the new launch to create some media exposure and leave the game at 1.99 again close to the release of the new product and leave it there until it dies or new signups become so low that 0.99 becomes the new price for the old game (while focusing on the new iterations off course).
  - gbhn 16y ago
    Looking at Gamasutra (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/31045/Top_iPhone_Game_Apps_Trainyard_Cartoon_Wars_2_Debut_as_Big_Sellers.php http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/31045/Top_iPhone_Game_App...) it would appear that top-10 == $0.99. I'd guess this is because, as has been speculated here, there is an enormous number of people who are simply going to spend a maximum of $.99 on an iPhone game and that's that. Either you sell yours for $.99 or they'll find something else for that price. The evidence suggests to me that if you don't realize this, you'll simply be replaced in the top 10 by someone who does. Of course, next week when a $9.99 game is in the top 10 I'll have to revise this opinion. :-)
    - MattRix 16y ago
      Part of the reason is just because these are GREAT games that are all worth much more than 99c, but because of the fact that they are 99c, they're also fantastic value. Why would a user pay $2.99 for a fantastic game when they can get one for 99c?
sp4rki 16y ago
I believe you need to be aware of your markets behavior first. There will come a point where your revenue will start stalling and even decreasing, and that's a great moment to release a major update or start a sale. You want to increase your exposure to level decreasing revenue and it has the benefit of marketing your app to a completely different market with different rules on pricing. When you get this people on board and you take the price up again, you'll be taking some of this customers with you, for any next iterations updates, or even your other products if you decide to make another.