Semi Secret on why your iPhone game needs to be priced $2+
Lessons learnt from $2.99 Canabalt
As has often been discussed on the pages of PocketGamer.biz, the trend in the second half of 2009 for App Store prices to drop to the minimum of 99c, €0.79 or 59p has serious longterm implications for developers.
As Distinctive Development's Nigel Little put it: "99c games only make sense with sub-$40k development costs".
A similar sentiment is repeated by Adam Saltman of Semi Secret Software, the studio behind Canabalt and Wurdle, over on Gamasutra.
Entitled The 0.99 Problem, Saltman discusses his decision to price Canabalt at $2.99, and how the business model for the game - which peaked in the US Paid Top 100 at #37 - worked.
Using the example of a ‘new game’ Manabalt - a six man-months project - he points out the difference in revenue that will be experienced by a typical iPhone game selling around 50,000 copies in its first two months.
The maths for net revenue is obvious.
50,000 copies x $0.99 = $49,999 - 30% = $35,000
50,000 copies x $1.99 = $99,500 - 30% = $70,000
50,000 copies x $2.99 = $149,500 - 30% = $105,000
Hence the line-in-the-sand of around $40,000 as a budget for a 99c game.
Saltman's conclusion is similarly clear.
Selling your game for $0.99 means you have to get in the top 10 to make money, but selling at $1.99 or more means you can get by and maybe even fund your next project even if you're only in the top 100.
[source: Gamasutra]
