Punch Quest: Popular Game, Terrible Business

Punch Quest is a hot (free) game on the App Store. Over 600,000 downloads. Rave reviews. Black hole of money. Wait, what?

This news about Punch Quest has  been making the rounds today and it’s tough to read the posts. Here are some salient parts from The Verge interview/post:

But the reality was much different. Despite surpassing 600,000 downloads, Punch Quest only just crossed into the five figure range in terms of revenue. “The really scary thing is that profits tend to drop off sharply a week after an app’s out,” Auwae says. “I hear it’s a bit better for free apps, but a paid app often makes most of its money in the first week of being out.”

Figuring out where the problem lies is a difficult task. Punch Quest seems to have done many things right, with a game that has proved popular with a wide audience and was designed from the beginning with the concept of IAP in mind, but obviously something is missing. “There’s a lot of stuff that could be wrong,” says Auwae, “but we’re just not sure.”

It’s something the team is trying to pin down and rectify, though. After getting plenty of feedback from both players and fellow developers, Rocketcat has come up with a list of potential problems to address, and at least one of them seems incredibly simple: the “buy” button for the game’s currency could just be too small. “It’s kind of terrifying that our game could have been incredibly highly reviewed and made no money because the ‘buy’ IAP button was too small, but there you go.”
Via: ‘Punch Quest’ is the iPhone’s hottest game, but it’s a financial flop | The Verge [1]

Well worth the read, and extending the discussion, is Federico’s post on MacStories [2]  talking about other games like Letterpress (I haven’t bought the IAPs…yet):

I think it’s a smart move, because Letterpress’ in-app purchase is a must-have so, essentially, you’ll be purchasing a $0.99 paid app. In this case, the “free” price tag is an illusion to draw more customers to download the app right away: think of it as a “trial” version of the real Letterpress. This is what the App Store dynamics have become, and Brichter is simply experimenting with something completely new for him while playing by the market’s rules. Because while I could go by without themes â€" I just use the default one â€" more simultaneous games and played words is what you’re really looking after.

and apps like iThoughtsHD [3] (my favorite mind mapping app):

Personally, I believe developers shouldn’t settle on “established” ways to implement IAPs. For instance, despite the completely different category, I like what iThoughts HD is doing with IAP: the regular app is $9.99 and already a sustainable business model, but if you want, you can pay more. Paying $3.99 for the IAP will unlock “Early Access” features, which include things like Search and Doodling on mind maps. These are features that will come to the main app eventually, but you can pay to get them now.

Myself, I rarely buy IAPs for games, however I often buy IAPs for apps like Hipstamatic, Paper  by FiftyThree, and similar apps. I like to know what I’m getting. I like to be able to restore purchases. Buying coins in games, just doesn’t make sense to me. Others, it does.

So, what do you think the problem is? Have you played Punch Quest? Did you notice the in-app purchases?

Sound off folks…

Gold coins from Flickr by Anthony Joh [4] .

Links

1. ^{^} ‘Punch Quest’ is the iPhone’s hottest game, but it’s a financial flop | The Verge (www.theverge.com)
2. ^{^} Federico’s post on MacStories (www.macstories.net)
3. ^{^} iThoughtsHD (www.ithoughts.co.uk)
4. ^{^} Flickr by Anthony Joh (www.flickr.com)

source: www.iphonehacks.com