Apple App Store 'Pay Once' Category Excludes Freemium Games

Consumer attitudes toward so-called freemium games are growing increasingly sour. Many mobile games are available for free, but upon downloading one finds that it was only free to download — the content itself requires money, or the game is designed in such a way that you eventually have to pay to keep playing, otherwise you're stuck in an endless cycle of losing and then waiting a long time for another life. This has prompted a slow shift to games that have a charge to download and no additional in-game charges.

Such games often end up proving cheaper in the long run than freemium game — with a freemium game, you'll eventually find yourself in the position of needing to pay again, while in a traditionally priced for-pay game, users only pay once (usually less than $4) and never have to pay again.

Apple has decided to make those traditional for-pay games a little easier to find, introducing a new section in the App Store for "Pay Once and Play" games. These are mobile games you'll need to pay some minuscule amount for, after which point you'll be free from freemium purgatory.

It's a simple change, but a welcomed one that makes it easier for users to find what they're looking for (or, better stated, avoid the things that annoy them). It also points toward the growing consumer shift away from the freemium model, which set to draw in profits while enticing users with a "free" price tag.

SOURCE: MacStories