Gaming Forums > Nintendo Handheld Discussion
Anyone else just feel like the e-shop is too damn expensive?
leahsdad:
--- Quote from: xcwarrior on April 26, 2012, 04:01:01 AM ---
Just don't get used to paying $1 for video games. If you do, expect the quality to go down.
--- End quote ---
Especially because few to none of the IOS $1 games are truly $1. They make their money by selling virtual fish food or extra outfits or paint cans for your virtual village. I took my family on a long trip a few weeks ago and went onto the IOS app store to find games for my 6 year old. I could barely find anything, after looking at over 300 apps. Keep in mind, she was already way over Angry Birds, Tiny Wing, and Fruit Ninja. Everything had some kind of stupid DLC attached to it. Now, I've got in-app purchases disabled, but my daughter keeps coming to me when she's playing her stupid Winter village app saying "Daddy, I want to keep playing but the game says I have to buy more winter bucks." You know what I tell her? The game is broken. I don't have the heart to tell her the truth, which would be "Well, honey, the people who developed this game are bad people and they're trying to fleece daddy's bank account a dollar at a time."
You know what I did instead? I downloaded Fun Fun Mini Touch Golf, and she had the time of her life on the plane. She literally would not put it down until my 3DS ran out of batteries. Okay, so that was only 3 hours, but still.....
I hate IOS games. Because of the in-app bull. I hate it so much, all parents do. But until my kid gets older and I can explain that there are people out there who try to make money by being dishonest and misleading, and are basically selling paid demos, I'm going to have to either keep in app purchases off and keep telling my daughter that the games are broken, or give in and pay $15 for Strawberry Shortcake virtual dresses.
ejamer:
--- Quote from: Evan_B on April 27, 2012, 01:23:59 PM ---... With Wayforward adding more levels to Mighty Switch Force, I feel that I'm really getting my money's worth...
TL;DR I think they're fine.
--- End quote ---
A good reminder: I need to go buy Mighty Switch Force. Didn't buy originally because I felt it was more expensive than I wanted for the amount of content, but with a free update I'm good with the price.
(Has the update already happened, or is it coming later?)
leahsdad:
--- Quote from: ejamer on April 27, 2012, 03:27:57 PM ---
A good reminder: I need to go buy Mighty Switch Force. Didn't buy originally because I felt it was more expensive than I wanted for the amount of content, but with a free update I'm good with the price.
(Has the update already happened, or is it coming later?)
--- End quote ---
No update yet. It's an awesome game that I love, love, love, but I'll be honest: it's not for everyone. The real lynchpin in its gameplay appeal is the par times. If you're interested in beating the level within the par time limit, then the game is super fun and challenging. If that kind of thing, beating a par time / getting all three star coins on every level / high score attacks/ etc. hold no water with you as a gamer, then....you might not be as thrilled with this game as everyone else. The beauty of the gameplay really comes out with the sort of "economy of action" that you have to strategize and plan with before every level if you want to make par.
Uncle_Optimus:
--- Quote from: Miyamoto on April 25, 2012, 03:54:56 PM ---In this day and age, considering what you can get for the same price on iOS, PSN or Steam, the e-shop is just too damn much.
--- End quote ---
Greetings all, first post here.
iOS gaming seems to be rapidly redefining our concepts of "value" for software. Your post in some ways describe my own experience: a customer who as recently as 3 years ago didn't much bat an eye at shelling out $30 for a DS game...and if the game was $10-15 hoooo boy whatta deal!
About a year-and-a-half ago however, I got an iPod Touch and then stumbled upon Touch Arcade. Man, did that lead to a lot of games.
The key takeaway for me was that I realized my value-meter shifted...I was doing what you just outlined, lamenting a $30 pricetag. Coincidence or no, my purchases of DS software have plummeted in the last couple years.
There are other factors, of course...my age and ability to settle down with a game, a system at the end of its product life and correspondingly less relevant software being released, less disposable income for games, etc. Nevertheless, that I consciously thought "dang, I don't really feel like shelling out $30....$20...$15(!?) for this game" has been a shocker for me.
I am seeing more and more online opinions from people who have experienced a similar transformation.
My own peculiarities aside, on the topic of 3DS download games in particular, my feeling is that $7-10 dollars for a quality original digital production with good ol' "d-pad n button" controls is still decent value. If the game is largely a port, and the original is cheaper on another platform, I do think "whaaaaaaat" tho! And yeah, I am NOT down with a lot of Nintendo's VC pricing scheme (not to mention catalog choice) but I understand why they set it that way.
Who knows, perhaps increasing iOS traction will force them to reevaluate their pricing on digital storefront policies (like others here, I really hope they give developers more tools to sell and promote their wares)...or maybe their increasingly "core" 3DS customer base will prove resilient with the current value proposition?
UncleBob:
I was with a group of coworkers recently. One of them is also into Skylanders, so we were discussing the new Skylanders app. He had me play it and it's really not all that impressive. He said "There, I just saved you 99 cents".
Then, the group launched into a discussion that basically ended with the fact that this 99 cent app and my copy of Cut the Rope (although I've now downloaded the second one) are the only paid games the 6 of us had downloaded.
Let me tell you, this group - always tinkering on their phones. Draw Something is pretty HUGE amongst them right now. All techies, 4 of us are gamers (seriously, the other Skylander's guy brings his PS3 every time we have to stay at a hotel overnight), one isn't much of a gamer and the other is a somewhat lite-casual gamer.
If six people have only bought $3 worth of games... I seriously have to question the sustainability of such a business model.
Of course, none of this accounts for ad revenue... ;)
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