A frank discussion about in-app purchases.

firethorne

Devs, you say you are listening, so listen when I say this:
My roster is not worth $6700 to level.

We all know the relationship between players and developers has been very tense, even downright toxic. So, I want to try to express this in a civil manner. But, I realize that is difficult, because I do feel you should be a bit ashamed of your current practices. Now, we know this price has always existed, but it has been off in the wings, and we all ignored it and laughed at it. But, to put it so front and center on the level up screen in the latest update makes me think you still expect rational people to pay this much for this little ISO.

Lets take a bit of time to consider some of the areas from where the dev-player toxicity stems. Sure, there's the garbage RNG progression that gets denounced by players over and over. But, I think the new brazen $100 price tag on the level up button is another place where you've not really been listening to the players. I can't help but feel you're missing the boat. A good in app purchases should be something people want to buy. $100 for ISO to level up a character... No strike that, $100 for an amount of ISO that isn't even enough to fully level up a character, is in no way that. ISO that isn't even sufficient to max out a single 4* shouldn't cost more than a brand new Triple-A game. I can't help but think that flashing this price tag at players every time they go to level isn't going to do you any favors in the winning of hearts and minds, as a number of them see overt greed as a cornerstone of what is primarily wrong with the game.

Amid a rising consumer backlash against in-app purchasing, Apple has started featuring the “Pay Once and Play” page features a number of games in its library that don’t have or require any additional in-app or purchases or downloadable content. They've done this, in part, due to greedy and ridiculous cash grabs moves by devs that ultimately poison the well and end up working against the dev's best interest.

And we get it, this is your job. Make no mistake, we do understand you have to get paid. Which is actually a reason I'd be more than a bit concerned if I were in your shoes. As I said before, a purchase should be something people want, something that people would happily spend. And you are excluding a lot of people from that group. The trend seems to be chasing a higher and higher dollar amount from a smaller and smaller population. You have players that love your game, that would happily pay a few bucks now and then. But, if you tell me the cost for a phone game is significantly more than a top line PC, complete with HTC Vibe, there is no question on which I'll pick. This is not sustainable. Eventually, your bubble will collapse, and you will be out of a job.