Monday, May 20, 2013
By: Matthew Doucette
Radiangames released their first F2P (free to play) game, a game format we at Xona Games have not adopted yet, Bombcats. Now, for the bad news:
Here's the article: radiangames.com/epic-fail-so-far. Here's some quotes:
"The first number [100K (or so)] is the number of downloads (in the world). The second [<100] is the number of IAPs purchased. Most of those are of the $1 or $2 variety, with a few being $4-$10. If you know Math, you can figure out that’s not much money." - Luke Schneider, Radiangames
"I tried to make a fairly unique, very high-quality physics puzzle game, and I think I succeeded very well there. But in terms of making money from it, I tried to straddle a line (F2P but fair) and it’s failing financially as a result." - Luke Schneider, Radiangames
Sounds like Luke tried to play nice and treat his gamers with respect, and failed financially for doing so. F2P appears to be a very tricky style of game design. Others say you will succeed if you simply make your game fun, as opposed to try to make your game profitbale. Until I try myself, I'll have to reserve final judgment.
Sad news from one of our close friends. :(
About the Author: I am Matthew Doucette of Xona Games, an award-winning indie game studio that I founded with my twin brother. We make intensified arcade-style retro games. Our business, our games, our technology, and we as competitive gamers have won prestigious awards and received worldwide press. Our business has won $190,000 in contests. Our games have ranked from #1 in Canada to #1 in Japan, have become #1 best sellers in multiple countries, have won game contests, and have held 3 of the top 5 rated spots in Japan of all Xbox LIVE indie games. Our game engines have been awarded for technical excellence. And we, the developers, have placed #1 in competitive gaming competitions -- relating to the games we make. Read about our story, our awards, our games, and view our blog.