游戏邦注：本文原作者是GOSUB 60产品副总裁Sean Thompson，他是一名富有经验的手机游戏开发者，本文是他总结出的手机游戏开发者需采纳免费模式的五大理由。

经常关注苹果App Store的人不难发现，最近在该应用商店名列前茅的七大应用中，有6款应用属于免费产品（游戏邦注：除了《愤怒的小鸟》之外）。

top apps chart

对熟知手机游戏行业规则的人来说，这种结果并不令人意外。采用了微交易形式的Facebook应用运营模式，现在也已经席卷了整个移动领域。虽然这看起来似乎与人们的直觉相悖，但我还是要说，采用免费模式的应用可能更有助于开发者吸金，当然也并不一定能够保证应用大获成功。

自从移动领域诞生手机游戏这种概念起，我们GOSUB 60公司就已经投入开发手机应用。苹果和Android市场的开发性，决定了我们必须从原来的一次性付费下载和订阅服务，转向以多种途径盈利的免费模式。Capcom、ngmoco、Zynga等公司的成功均已证明，免费应用的市场潜力十分巨大。据Kleiner Perkins所称，他们的一个应用开发者因采用了虚拟商品而增加了5倍的收益。虽然免费模式未必适合你的应用产品，但我还是有5个重要理由建议你考虑这种途径：

1.你的游戏可供用户体验的时间是多长？假如你的游戏含有20个关卡，拥有一个重玩性不高的游戏模式，那就可能不太适合免费模式。只要用户对你的内容不感兴趣，那么他们就没有理由为你的产品买单。所以你的目标就该是创建一个忠实的活跃用户群体，他们投入游戏的时间越长，就越有可能为其付费，你就越有可能顺利创收。

2.你的游戏是否嵌入内置消费功能？如果一款免费应用拥有一个响当当的名号或品牌，那就可以事半功倍地实现收益。你可以通过一些外设技巧（游戏邦注：例如图标、名称等）创造无数下载量，但如果没有高质量的游戏体验，一切都将沦为空谈。用户如果在游戏中遇到障碍，他们就会很快转身离开。另外还要注意，用户评价对下载量也会产生重要影响。首先，你有可能通过杀手级的广告服务获得无数点击率和下载量，但如果人们发现这款应用的口碑不佳，就不会去下载这个产品。其次，越高的用户评价会产生越高的原始下载量，从而推高应用的排名情况。

3.你是否能够通过k-Factor获悉游戏的DAU？先将用户引进门，然后再考虑从中盈利的方案并非良策，最好是在设计之初就周全考虑游戏的盈利模式。如果缺乏这方面的经验，建议你去参考insidesocialgames网站资料，从中总结出适合自己的创收解决方案。一般来讲，有些应用具有天然的盈利策略优势，而另一些应用则需开发者有所针对性地设计一个盈利系统。例如《Hold ‘Em poker》就有一个自然的盈利机制，如果玩家输掉了所有的扑克筹码，他们可以等到明天再来玩，或者马上支付现金购买筹码继续体验游戏。这几乎是专为其量身订造的机制，而《FarmVille》之类的游戏则需要一个更高级的盈利系统。这两种模式都可能极为成功，开发者可以从自己的实际情况出发，择其最优者而行之。

4.面临大量同质化产品挑战怎么办？假如你计划推出的是市场上现有游戏的同类产品，而且想比它们做得更出色，我强烈建议你考虑免费模式。假如你开发的是一款九宫格游戏，如何才能成功说服用户购买你的游戏，而不是App Store的其他700多款九宫格游戏？他们为什么要为你掏出1.99美元？所以你在应用描述的第一步就应该做足功课，旗帜鲜明地向用户提示，这是一款免费游戏。免费模式可以降低新用户试玩游戏的门槛，让他们迈出尝试游戏的第一步极为关键。

5.能否妥善处理用户反馈意见？用户评价可以反映出他们对游戏的满意度，而这一点正是取决于你的产品质量和处理问题的方式。如果你能够及时回应用户的要求，并努力修复问题，就有可能收获大量忠实的用户。你收到的每一封用户邮件，都暗藏着培养一位铁杆用户的机会。对你的免费应用漠不关心者，会随时将其删除，而真正在乎这款应用的玩家，就会发送邮件向你指出问题，这说明他们是想使用该产品的用户，如果你直接而及时地提供满意答复，就有可能为自己培养一位死忠粉丝。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

5 Key Reasons to Make Your App Free

by Carlo

Sean Thompson is the VP of Production for GOSUB 60, a long-time maker of mobile games, where applies his mobile gaming industry expertise to every GOSUB 60 product by implementing the company’s core game design principles: superior quality, intuitive gameplay, extended replay value and a casual focus. Through his management of both the Product Development and Deployment teams, Sean supervises each project’s timeline from inception to completion. Sean’s also a long-time supporter of WIP, and sent over the following post about app pricing to share. Thanks Sean!

Have you checked out the list of Top Grossing apps in the Apple App Store recently? Besides some flash-in-the-pan specialty app for ornithologists, 6 of the top 7 top grossing apps are free:

For close followers of the mobile industry, that’s no surprise. In a previous post last October, I pointed out the impact that free apps were having on the App Store. The Facebook model of free apps with in-game transactions is now dominating mobile as well. Why? As counterintuitive as it may seem, it’s possible to make more money when you give your app away for free. Possible, but certainly not guaranteed.

So, should you go free? It’s not an easy decision. Here at GOSUB 60, we’ve been making mobile apps since they were known as cell phone games. The advent of the open markets of Apple and Android has dictated that we change our business model from the old reliance on One-Time Downloads and Subscriptions to free apps with multiple monetization schemes. Capcom, ngmoco, Zynga and others have proven that there’s a ton of money to be made by free apps. And Kleiner Perkins is reporting that at least one of their app makers saw a 5X spike in revenue with introduction of virtual goods (5X spike is on Slide 40, but the whole presentation is awesome!) But that doesn’t mean free will necessarily work for you or apps. Here are 5 key factors to consider when choosing your path:

1. How much play time? If your app has 20 levels and one game mode with little replay value, free is probably not a good way for you to go. Once users blow through your content, they have no reason to keep playing your app. The goal is to build up an audience of active users over time. The more time users spend in your app, the better your chance to make money, regardless of how you do it.

2. Do you bring the goods? It takes more than a cool name or a brand to make money from a free app. You can get great feature placement and generate a ton of downloads, but it doesn’t matter without a quality game experience. Users will ditch as soon as they encounter any crapulousness. Additionally, user ratings now play a huge role in how many downloads you get. First, if you are running ads to acquire users, you can put together a killer ad and get a ton of clicks, but shoppers won’t download your app if the ratings are bad. Second, a higher rating will generate higher organic downloads from any chart position.

3. Do you know your DAU from your k-Factor? It’s not good enough to attract an audience first, and then figure out how to monetize later. You need to talk about how you will make money early on in the design process. If you need some tips on monetizing, go someplace like insidesocialgames.com and read up on how the competition is doing it. In general, some apps lend themselves to a natural monetization strategy and others require you to design an artificial system. For example, Hold ‘Em poker has a natural monetization trigger. When a player loses all of their poker chips, they can either wait until tomorrow to play, or play right now and spend some money. Pretty much designs itself. FarmVille style apps require a more advanced system. Both types can be extremely successful; you just need to think about how your app monetizes at the outset.

4. Lots of similar products on deck? If your plan is to take an existing style of game and just do it better, you should strongly consider going free. How are you going to convince shoppers that your Sudoku app is better than the other 700+ Sudoku apps in the App Store? Why should they shell out $1.99 to buy yours? If you can’t summarize it in the first line of the app description, you’re in trouble. The barrier to entry for new users is lower on a free app, so it’s easier to convince them to give it a try. That’s the first step.

5. Ready to handle customer support? User ratings reflect customer satisfaction. That comes from a combination of your app quality and how you handle issues that come up. We’ve released a few iterations of our apps where we missed some bugs. It happens to everyone. What’s more important is how you deal with it. Users are happy if you are responsive to their inquiries and work hard to fix the issues. Every support email you receive is an opportunity to create a satisfied customer. Users who don’t care about your free app will just delete it. They have little invested. If someone cares enough to email you about an issue, they want to use your app. Be responsive and forthright and you have the chance to create a fan.（source:wipconnector）