Future version of Mobsters: Big Apple will include micro-transactions
The Godfather will have his cut
One of the hot topics for iPhone developers is when to start charging micro-transactions.
There are plenty of people who think this is a very bad idea because they’ll end up paying more for their games. But plenty of people already do pay out real money for virtual items within Facebook, MySpace and web and mobile games, so it's definitely coming to iPhone.
The issue at the moment is Apple only allows developers to use micro-transactions in paid games that use the 3.0 OS. Games on Facebook and MySpace are free to play.
We got an interesting slant on the problem talking to Rachel Thomas, veep of marketing at Playdom, the company behind games such as Mobsters and Bloodlines.
In July, Playdom released an iPhone version of its #1 MySpace game Mobsters called Mobsters: Big Apple at the cost of 99c. It’s doing quite well and is still in the US App Store Top 100.
Thomas explained why it was a paid app: "so we can include micro-transactions in a forthcoming version of the game".
However, she also pointed out that because it links into the MySpace version of the game, "players can buy their points via MySpace and spend them in the iPhone version. We're already seeing this happening. This was a reason it wasn't so important for us to get micro-transactions enabled out of the gate".
So micro-transactions are coming to Mobsters: Big Apple - indeed, it already has them - just that you have to pay via MySpace.
You can read the full interview with Playdom on PocketGamer.biz.
