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Opinion: EA Mobile and Gameloft's 99c promotions are checkmate for indie iPhone developers

Last bell tolling for 99c iPhone game business

Opinion: EA Mobile and Gameloft's 99c promotions are checkmate for indie iPhone developers
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Alongside quirky gameplay and making the most of cultural fads and viral memes, it used to be that the one element of the App Store business in which small developers could compete against the big boys was price.

Gameloft, EA Mobile, PopCap, Activision and Namco Bandai et al spend proper money making their iPhone games and hence have to charge punters proper money to gain recompense.

Which isn't to say they haven't experimented with the 99c model. EA set up its own micro-studio 8lb Gorilla back in 2009 to quickly churn out 99c games, but couldn't get the business model to work. 8lb Gorilla was quickly closed down.

Priced to sell

Yet despite its obvious limitations, for indie developers 99c has remained a potentially great model, always assuming they can drive volume.

For one thing, it offers a very low barrier of purchase for consumers, and for another, any success is well represented in terms of paid chart position, which is based on the number of downloads. This makes hit 99c games very sticky - just look at the longevity of games such as Skee-Ball, Angry Birds, Pocket God and Doodle Jump.

However, while 99c isn't the natural price point for big publishers, that doesn't mean it's not an increasingly viable option.

During the iPhone 4 launch weekend, both Gameloft and EA Mobile launched sales across many of their older games. Not all went as low as 99c, but the end result was they dominated charts. Indeed, Gameloft has just cut the price of another slate of games to 99c ranging from Driver and Rayman 2 to The Settlers.

App Store grab

Limited as one-off promotions, these wouldn't perhaps be important. But what's significant is that on top of the mindshare it gains, this activity is now more profitable for these large companies than their regular pricing, albeit for a short period of time.

For example, after its three day iPhone 4 launch sale, EA Mobile highlighted how it had gained 12 out of the top 20 slots on the US top grossing chart, clearly boosting its coffers in the process.

Okay, EA Mobile and Gameloft won't get the same financial impact if they do such promotions every week, but they have enough titles that doing this sort of thing on a monthly basis isn't impossible.

And, if they can generate additional profits in this way, why won't they?

So the question for other developers - especially those operating at these lower price points - is how can you compete?

Sadly, the simple answer seems to be that at 99c, you can't. Time for another strategy then.

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.