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App Store Analysis: Revenge of the 99c games

Eight of the US top 10 are minimum price

App Store Analysis: Revenge of the 99c games
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| App Store Analysis

After a couple of weeks that have seen the big publishers such as EA Mobile and Gameloft come to the fore, this week US Top 100 sees the pendulum swinging back in the direction of the indies.

Games priced at 99c such as geoDefense Swarm, Battle Bears, TightWire and Mr AahH!! sit in the top 5, alongside Konami's Frogger, which now costs 99c.

In fact, 52 of the US Top 100 games are priced at 99c - the most since we started our App Store Analysis in July 2009.

It's hence no surprise that the average price of a game in the Top 100 is down to $2.53.

However, big brands are certainly not dead with EA Mobile's Madden NFL 10 at #6, and thanks to its $9.99 price tag, it is #1 when it comes to the Top Grossing chart.

The most expensive new entry is Marc Ecko's Dexter the Game ($5.99), which is in at #19.

Indie developers are capable of creating their own brands though: geoDefense Swarm is the sequel to Critical Thought Games's geoDefense, which was launched back in February 2009. Priced at 99c, it's a re-entry in this week's chart at #87.

Meanwhile developer Skyworks has three games in the Top 100 as Skyscrapers ($1.99) is in at #33, alongside Arcade Bowling (99c) at #65 and World Cup Ping Pong (99c) at #85.

Physics games bounce to the top

As a genre, physics-based games continue to perform well. iBright's TightWire (99c) is in at #4, while Box Shaped Games' Max Injury (99c) climbs to #8 from #81.

Fighting waves of iconic enemies is another popular endeavour with Origin8's MonsterKill (99c) at #71 and Mad Finger Games Samurai: Way of the Warrior (99c) in at #78.

Significant from a marketing point of view, is CandyCane's Fling! which was given away from free last week. Priced at 99c, it's now at #36.

Also playing around with price was The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition which re-enters at #39 thanks to a price cut from $7.99 to $3.99.

Games dropping out the Top 100 this week include Touch Physics 2, Bloons, Rise of Lost Empires, CLUE, iPark It! and Trivial Pursuit.

Average price still under pressure

When it comes to the price distribution throughout the Top 100, the average price of the top 10 is down significantly, 40 percent compared to last week. That was a peak however.

This is because many of the higher priced games have been pushed back into the 11-30 positions.

As previously mentioned, there are 52 games priced at 99c in the Top 100; the most since we started the App Store Analysis.

This has come at the expensive of $2.99 games, which are down from their high point of 21 in mid-August. There were only 42 99c games that week.

And keeping a beady eye on Firemint's Real Racing, it's 'weekend' sales has extended for another week. The now $6.99 game is at #59, compared to #54 last week.

Big publishers maintain high prices

Even EA Mobile and Gameloft have been knocked back by the influx of 99c games.

EA is down from 14 games in the Top 100 last week, and Gameloft from 10.

Typically though, they have lost some of their cheaper games so their average prices are up, EA by three percent and Gameloft by nine percent.

With the exception of Skyworks, no other publishers or developers have more than two games in the Top 100.

It has Skyscrapers, Arcade Bowling and World Cup Ping Pong in play, but they are priced towards the bottom of the market, providing a low average price.

Jon Jordan
Jon Jordan
A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon can turn his hand to anything except hand turning. He is editor-at-large at PG.biz which means he can arrive anywhere in the world, acting like a slightly confused uncle looking for the way out. He likes letters, cameras, imaginary numbers and legumes.