If you take a quick look through the App Store (or Play Store) on your phone, you'll notice that they tend to prioritise showing you apps which are free. And who doesn't like free stuff?
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| Screenshot of my own phone Play Store as an example |
However, once you start downloading and playing these "free" games, they often have their own in-game currencies which help you unlock new chapters or boost your chances of winning. The more you play, the harder it will get to progress the game without these boosts, and the game will try to target ads at you to improve your score or give you another chance at a level for just a small bit of their in game currency. Welcome to the world of Freemium games.
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| Examples from the mobile games I play lol |
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| Use real money to buy fake plants! |
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| Pokemon Go is an example of how it gets harder and harder to progress as you level up. |
Part of their strategy is to start off gifting these boosts to you. For example, when begin playing Pokemon Go, they gift you free Incubators, Lure Modules and Lucky Eggs every couple of levels, but as you continue playing the game, it takes longer and longer to level up and you end up using up the free gifts. Once players get a taste of how much easier the game can be with the boosts, they get tempted to spend money. Another trick is to make you use real life money to buy in-game currency, and then use the in-game currency to buy the boosts. The extra step creates a bigger detachment between the purchase and real-life money, thus encouraging them to spend more than they realise. Many popular mobile games use this tactic, including Candy Crush, Clash of Clans and Dragon Quest.
However, many users still cling on to playing games without paying for in-game boosts. In fact, many games rely on a small percentage of users who pay a lot. These users are called "
Whales"(Psychguides.com, 2016), and games target these big spenders more than the usual player.
While Freemium model has is
supporters and
detractors, it definitely seems like it's here to stay. Users prefer being able to download and use an application before putting any money into it, and many users are able to live with the incessant advertisements that come with a freemium game.
References:
Jacobs, H. (2016). Gaming guru argues why 'freemium' is the best business model for gamers and developers - Business Insider. [online] Business Insider. Available at: http://www.businessinsider.my/sean-plott-explains-why-he-thinks-freemium-games-are-the-best-business-model-for-both-players-and-developers-2015-3/?r=US&IR=T#fFBeJGvtwvmIxiKH.97 [Accessed 16 Dec. 2016].
Psychguides.com. (2016). The Psychology of “Freemium”. [online] Available at: http://www.psychguides.com/interact/the-psychology-of-freemium/ [Accessed 16 Dec. 2016].
Blog.helpshift.com. (2016). Why Most Freemium Games Fail. [online] Available at: http://blog.helpshift.com/blog/freemium-games-fail/ [Accessed 16 Dec. 2016].
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