作者：Paul OConnor

免费应用的问题在于它们“成本过高”。

本周我们将从App Store移除《Trucks & Skulls》精简版。精简版《Trucks》是我们最后一款“精简”iOS应用。我们曾推出众多精简内容，包括《FaceFighter》精简版，《Zombie Pizza》精简版，以及《Appy Newz》精简版，采用这种做法的并非仅有我们Appy Entertainment一家公司。我们2008年进入这个领域，当时的玩家希望尝试完整版应用（游戏邦注：指1-2美元的“付费应用”）的免费精简版本，若感觉不错，再升级至付费版本。

如今时代已发生变化。

就像海底生物受深处水压挤压，发生变形一样，定价压力迫使应用发行商开始探索“免费”以外的价格模式。就Appy Entertainment来看，解决方案就是由“免费”转移至“免费增值模式”，在免费增值模式中，游戏内容呈现所有功能，玩家能够免费体验，并且植入内置付费选项，服务希望购买额外内容或选项的玩家。

在Appy免费增值模式中，玩家进行“有偿”体验，他们通过完成关卡和获得高分赚取货币。我们能够不花一分钱就完成所有游戏任务。希望通过虚拟交易“快速致富”的玩家能够获得满足，但玩家也可以选择“慢慢”赚取奖励的游戏体验。玩家从不会受到付费墙的干扰，要求他们付费，方能继续前进。

Trucks & Skulls NITRO from gadget.pdamu.com

上月PocketGamer.biz专栏介绍我们由“付费模式”转变成“免费增值模式”的畅销游戏《Trucks & Skulls NITRO》。文章概述苹果去年11月评选这款游戏为当月iPhone和iPad游戏，以及游戏在采用“付费”模式期间所取得的丰厚营收。我们的解决方案是重新改造应用，将既有玩家从付费模式转移至免费增值模式。就像文章说的那样，将《Trucks》变转变成免费模式，能够极大提高游戏日营收，这主要受惠于庞大虚拟交易量。

《Trucks》后来又有几周采用99美分定价模式，但当上周推出《FaceFighter》至尊版时，我们发现《Trucks》可以再次采用免费模式。于是我们将游戏重新变回免费模式，在《Trucks》和《FaceFighter》至尊版中展开交叉推广，两款免费应用互相促进，提高各自的日下载量。在首次采用免费模式期间，我们发现免费提供《Trucks & Skulls》能够有效提高下载量、榜单位置及虚拟交易量。

FaceFighter Ultimate from pcpop.com

你也许会认为植入200多个关卡（游戏邦注：游戏每月都加入新关卡），在iTunes获得4.5星级评价的作品应该是款平价的99美分应用，但市场数据不会说谎，它会说明一切。iPhone应用《Trucks & Skulls NITRO》从现在开始将永远采用模式。

此外，从8月18日开始，我们将于这周把iPad版本调整为免费模式。《Trucks & Skulls NITRO》高清版过去一直定价1.99美元，其包含iPhone版中的所有功能和内容，同样也配有我们用于创造iPhone游戏内容的全功能关卡编辑装置。根据《Trucks & Skulls NITRO》高清版在免费期间的运作情况，游戏或许也会永久采用免费模式。我们将综观游戏本周表现情况，然后进行评估。

Appy Entertainment的“精简”时代已过去。“精简”已成为大多玩家心中“不完整”或“广告！”的代名词，因此精简版应用的下载量和广告点击也呈下滑趋势。

移除精简应用有几大益处：

* 除去同款应用的多个版本能够减少玩家困惑，将下载量集中于少数应用中，提高应用排名位置，最终提高应用曝光度。

* 相较让玩家先试验某精简应用，若愿意付费再下载另一完整应用而言，通过虚拟交易提供升级内容是促使玩家从“免费内容”转向“付费内容”，从而带来营收的更有效方式。

* 浓缩应用列表意味着Appy Entertainment能够减少用户服务和技术支持开销。

* 全功能免费应用获得更多下载量能够帮助我们覆盖更多用户，更有效地通过营销向既有玩家发行和宣传其他游戏。

Appy Entertainment通过将《Trucks & Skulls》转向“免费增值”模式，以及上周成功推出《FaceFighter》至尊版（游戏邦注：取代原本的精简版《FaceFighter》），顺利跳出“精简”路线，完成向免费增值模式的过渡。从此以后，我们的原生作品将完全采用免费增值模式，我们的下款原生作品是款尚未发布的角色扮演游戏，将于今年秋天发行。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Lights Out For Lite Apps

by Paul OConnor

The problem with free apps is that they are too expensive.

This week we removed Trucks & Skulls Lite from the App Store. Trucks Lite was the last “Lite” iOS app in our catalog. There was a time when we had several Lites in our lineup — FaceFighter Lite, Zombie Pizza Lite, Appy Newz Lite — and we weren’t alone in that. When we entered this business in 2008, the customer expectation was that they could sample full apps — “premium-priced” at a dollar or two — with a free Lite version and then upgrade to the paid game if they liked what they saw.

Times have changed.

Like undersea creatures crushed into strange shapes by the unimaginable pressures of the ocean’s depths, pricing pressure has forced app publishers to find a rung below “free” on the pricing ladder. For Appy Entertainment — as for many publishers — the solution has been to pivot from “free” to “freemium,” in the form of full-featured apps that are free to play, but also offer in-app purchase options for players wishing to purchase additional content or options.

Appy’s take on freemium is that players get “paid to play” as they can earn currency by completing levels and setting high scores. It’s entirely possible to complete our games without spending any money at all. Players wishing to “get rich fast” through in-app purchase can do so, but players can also “get rich slow” by earning their rewards through play. Players are never halted by a hard pay wall requiring purchase before they can advance in the game.

Last month we were featured in PocketGamer.biz with a contributed piece detailing our pivot from “Premium to Freemium” for our fastest-selling game, Trucks & Skulls NITRO. That article outlined Apple’s selection of Truck’s as iPhone and iPad game of the month last November, as well as the substantial revenue the app earned during its “premium” lifetime, before settling into a long tail of lower daily sales. Our solution was to rebuild that app from the inside out, and migrate the existing player base from the premium to the freemium model. As the article notes, reducing Trucks to free pricing greatly improved daily revenue thanks to a greater volume of in-app purchases.

Following that report, we set Trucks back to its “premium” pricing of $0.99 for several weeks, but when we released FaceFighter Ultimate last week, we saw an opportunity to again experiment with Trucks as a free app. We returned it to free and cross-promoted between Trucks and FaceFighter Ultimate, leveraging the two free apps against each other to improve daily downloads. As with our first free period, we found setting Trucks & Skulls to free significantly improved downloads, chart position, and volume of in-app purchase.

You might think that a game with more than 200 levels — with new levels added monthly – and one that enjoys a 4.5-star review score on iTunes would be a bargain at $0.99, but markets are never wrong, and the market has spoken. Starting immediately, Trucks & Skulls NITRO for iPhone will be free – forever.

Furthermore, beginning on Thursday, August 18th and through this weekend we will experiment with free pricing on the iPad version as well. Trucks & Skulls NITRO HD has always been $1.99, and includes all the features and content of the iPhone version, plus the same full-featured level editor that we use to create content for the game. Depending on how it performs during its free period Trucks & Skulls NITRO HD might very well become free on a permanent basis. We will give it a go over the weekend and then evaluate.

The conclusion of the “Lite” era for Appy Entertainment is overdue. “Lite” has come to represent “incomplete” or “advertising!” in the minds of most players, and download and advertising numbers have declined as a result.

Eliminating Lite apps from our catalog has several collateral benefits:

* Eliminating multiple versions of the same title in our catalog reduces customer confusion and concentrates downloads on fewer apps, improving rank position and ultimately helping the discoverability of our games.

* Offering upgrades through in-app purchase is a more efficient means of monetizing customers from “free” to “paid” than asking them to try one app, and then download a second app if they wish to pay.

* Fewer apps in our line means reduced customer service and support expenses for Appy Entertainment.

* Greater download volume from these fully-featured-yet-free apps lets us reach more players, improving our ability to launch and promote other games by marketing directly to our own player base.

With the pivot of Trucks & Skulls to “freemium,” and with last week’s successful launch of FaceFighter Ultimate replacing “FaceFighter Lite,” Appy Entertainment is out of the “Lite” business and has completed our transition to the freemium model. Our original games from this point forward will be built for freemium from the ground-up, commencing with our next original title, an as-yet unannounced role-playing game releasing this Fall.

In case you can’t tell, we’re in love with “free” here at Appy. Now we just have to convince our banker, our landlord, and the taxman that they will make more money in the long run by cutting OUR fees to free!（Source：gamasutra）