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Apple to Open $19.99 Premium Games Section in App Store?

I'm torn on this whole issue.

On one hand I can understand developers making higher priced apps concerns that they can't get publicity through the current system, but on the other hand, it also seems like the market has spoken concerning the price points people are willing to pay, and their trying to rig the system so they can charge more.
 
Stampyhead said:
If you don't like it go complain to Apple, not here. MR just reports on the news (er, rumors) that's out there, so if you're not hearing about Mac Minis and Mac Pros that means there's no news about them.
Here's another idea, don't read threads in whose subject you have no interest?
I think the premium game area is a good idea. It would help us sift through the chaff to find serious games that are actually worth playing.
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TYVM! But I think I'll post my opinion anyways and if ya don't bloody well like it, then take your own advice and don't read it or respond to it. Have a nice day! ;):D
 
arn said:
Only select developers would be allowed in this special section according to the rumor. So, while any developer can price their game at whatever price they want, to be featured in this $19.99 section, it probably has to be approved by Apple. Essentially, this is a "featured" section.

arn
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To me this can lead to price fixing. Invite the biggest 4 or so developers...who will basically know..ok lets charge the same price...noone is to go under 25 or whatever number they want. The wild card is when you throw in the individual developer who wouldnt mind to price his game at a cheaper price, but taking that factor out of the equation...
 
chuxdaddy said:
I use the iphone for what it is, a phone. While it has many other uses and abilities i don't think that many people are interested in buying expensive games for their phones. If I want to buy games in that price range of 19.99, I might as well get a psp or gameboy. The iphone is not for serious gaming, just for casual game play to waste time.

just my 3 cents.
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I agree, but Apple is trying their best to make it a serious gaming platform. And likely, this is what firmware 3.0 is going to focus on if this rumor is true. Great.
 
iOrlando said:
To me this can lead to price fixing. Invite the biggest 4 or so developers...who will basically know..ok lets charge the same price...noone is to go under 25 or whatever number they want. The wild card is when you throw in the individual developer who wouldnt mind to price his game at a cheaper price, but taking that factor out of the equation...
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Sound like price fixing to me (but Apple is fixing the price, so I wonder if this is legal). These apps will not fall below the $20 mark, but if they do, they just become lost in all the sludge.
 
Thanks Arn!

This would be such a welcome trend if you ask me. With 123 apps on iPhone as it is, I really have no more interest in the cheap "cell phone style" games that make up most of the app store now days. $19.99 does seem a little high, though. The games at that level had all better be Brothers In Arms quality and not that stupid Monkey Ball crap.

Anyone who hasn't been to www.toucharcade.com go there and look around! It's definitely worth your while - their forums are helpful and they always post game play videos along with their game reviews!
 
kas23 said:
Sound like price fixing to me (but Apple is fixing the price, so I wonder if this is legal). These apps will not fall below the $20 mark, but if they do, they just become lost in all the sludge.
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im thinking price fixing in this scenario is not illegal since technically apple is selling all of these apps....its not like att, msft, ibm have the same product and all 4 conclude on a price. if apple just says all of you will charge $25 and thats that...pretty sure that is legal
 
JML42691 said:
I think that if Apple were to follow through with this, it would be a way to easily settle down the activity of the gaming section, and to truly promote the gamily capabilities of the iPhone/iPod touch and the game section of the App Store. Currently the gaming section dominates the App Store, and Apps in that section seem somewhat "lower quality" for the most part. And with Apple's classifying of the iPhone and iPod touch as gaming devices, they should probably have some true games that can rival other devices of similar nature. Currently finding some of those "true games" that are worth the buck is kind of hard because they get mixed in with all the other free or low-priced games in the App Store, I think that this is a great move for the App Store if it were to happen.
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I agree, for me it's a pain to get through all the crap out there. I RARELY use my iPhone for gaming, but my son does a lot on long drives. For me, Monkey Ball was WELL worth the $9.99 I had paid because my son got hours and hours of enjoyment out of it until he unlocked every level.

I can spend $20, $30, $40 on games for the Wii that are just crap and combined with not allowing my son to sit and play the Wii all day, I'd much rather spend $20 on a good iPhone game that I don't mind my son playing in the car.

I also agree with the argument about poor controls, but for my 5 yr old's use, they actually work out great.
 
Two things why it's not a good idea:

1) It's not going solve the problem of crApps, because If people see, for example, a tower defence game made by... Sega ( -.- ), people will still go for the cheaper alternatives.

2) It's not all that fair that some companies who never update their Apps (Sorry to mention Sega again) get the special high price space when you have some really great smaller devs who talk to the community, update their apps and see what the users want.
 
I guess this is Apple taking the gaming sector really seriously, PSP games are what £30 normally? And they're pretty much fully fledged games, I think what we're seeing here is Apple really trying to get into the games market, as well as the mobile games market.
 
Come on, Apple. NO ONE wants $19.99 apps except you and the big name publishers like EA.

It's a phone, not a PS3. $1.99 for a watered-down version of a game is fine. $19.99 for a watered down version of a game just doesn't fly.

Schtumple said:
I guess this is Apple taking the gaming sector really seriously, PSP games are what £30 normally? And they're pretty much fully fledged games, I think what we're seeing here is Apple really trying to get into the games market, as well as the mobile games market.
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The difference is that the PSP is a full-fledged gaming system. The iPhone is a phone. It has no joystick or control pad that are needed for serious gaming. It also doesn't have the same graphics processing power of the PSP, which limits how far you can push "modern" gaming.

Look, I love playing games like Wurdle and Trism on my iPhone, but I'm not going to sit down and play Call Of Duty on a phone. That's the level of game that justifies a $20 price, and I don't see the iPhone being capable of running them.
 
Apple needs to open a whole new "high end" app store where the apps have to meet certain quality standards. I'm so tired of sifting through all the crap to find a decent app.
 
$19.99 Too High

$10 is the most games should be. These games are time passers, to help us during long meetings or a bad date. I don't care if these "High End Games" want their own area to play in but keep the prices reasonable.
 
slicecom said:
Apple needs to open a whole new "high end" app store where the apps have to meet certain quality standards. I'm so tired of sifting through all the crap to find a decent app.
Click to expand...

Now that is a good idea. Two submit processes. Normal standars to get onto the regular store. You can also submit for "High End App Store", where Apple use thei iniative and some guidelines on what is a quality app (Nicely polished and in depth games, useful apps etc.) and reject non-quality apps (Small things like fart machines, mini one function apps, torches :D!). Much better way of doing things.
 
bad idea...
is Apple trying to compete against DS or PSP?

I can't imagine myself sitting on the plane or something playing games for more than 30 minutes max on the iphone...
 
good,

If I hear one more uninformed poster say "$1 is more then enough for a developer to live off of if they sell 100K copies" I will resort to mocking them in public for their ignorance.
 
Am I the only one thinking that $19.99 is too high for a game for the touch, I mean the type of game the touch can handle given the limited controls.
 
chameleon said:
The difference is that the PSP is a full-fledged gaming system. The iPhone is a phone. It has no joystick or control pad that are needed for serious gaming. It also doesn't have the same graphics processing power of the PSP, which limits how far you can push "modern" gaming.

Look, I love playing games like Wurdle and Trism on my iPhone, but I'm not going to sit down and play Call Of Duty on a phone. That's the level of game that justifies a $20 price, and I don't see the iPhone being capable of running them.
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Actually the iPhone has a faster processor than the PSP, so actually, the iPhone is a better gaming platform than the PSP...

So if a slower processor can run these much bigger games, why can't the iPhone? I'll admit, it would be nice to have some physical buttons to mash (to which apple could make an official add on, which games could require to play), but the touchscreen does the job.
 
Are these Apple's first steps in attempting to turn the App Store into eBay?

Like eBay, the App Store was built off the hard work and success of small time developers (sellers).

And like eBay, Apple may very well be shifting the business focus on corporations, squeezing out the small guys...

(And look where that's gotten eBay...)


Schtumple said:
Actually the iPhone has a faster processor than the PSP, so actually, the iPhone is a better gaming platform than the PSP...

So if a slower processor can run these much bigger games, why can't the iPhone? I'll admit, it would be nice to have some physical buttons to mash (to which apple could make an official add on, which games could require to play), but the touchscreen does the job.
Click to expand...

By your definition, no one would buy Wiis, PS3s or XBox 360s as PCs can run rings around them in terms of processing power and are thus better gaming machines...
 
slicecom said:
Apple needs to open a whole new "high end" app store where the apps have to meet certain quality standards. I'm so tired of sifting through all the crap to find a decent app.
Click to expand...

Apple needs to raise the developer program fee to $600.

higher dev fees would cut a lot of crap out of the store.

Like eBay, the App Store was built off the hard work and success of small time developers (sellers).
Click to expand...

The App Store was built by Apple. Period. End of discussion.
 
andiwm2003 said:
the $19.99 pricepoint seems quite arbitrary to me. within a short time there will be a number of junk apps in this section because everybody will try to sell as quick and as many apps for $19.99 as possible. so the companies will rush and throw whatever they have into this segment hoping that user don't check and buy.
Click to expand...

This is what happens when Steve is on medical leave.
 
Unspeaked said:
By your definition, no one would buy Wiis, PS3s or XBox 360s as PCs can run rings around them in terms of processing power and are thus better gaming machines...
Click to expand...

Sigh, just remembered why I never post in this section, regardless of what you say, someone will spin it...

What I meant was effectively the iPhone is more powerful than the PSP, so, effectively better games can be made for it, making it a more expansive platform to develop for (graphically atleast).

I didn't mention anything about any other consoles/handhelds (apart from the PSP), nor market share, you just took a silly meaning from what I said for the sake of making a even sillier argument. At which point, I'm unsubscribing from this thread. Bicker away!
 
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So is this why need for speed keeps getting delayed? I bet EA are loving this now they can sell us overpriced apps and not just overpriced console games.
 
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