Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit hit the number 7 spot for top-grossing Appstore titles in the U.S for the last week. It's certainly not a bad effort considering it was just released on Tuesday, the same week. The Appstore racing title was developed by Melbourne's IronMonkey Studios who were acquired by EA earlier this year and is part of EA's mobile division. IronMonkey have developed a number of successful and critically acclaimed mobile games based off EA's licenses over the years, including Sims 3 and NFS: Undercover.
It's well worth noting that the top-grossing list collected by Gamasutra consist of game apps that make the most amount of profit, not sales numbers. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is the only title in that list that is sold for higher than 99 cents.
1. Smurfs' Village (Free)
2. Angry Birds ($0.99)
3. Cut the Rope ($0.99)
4. Restaurant Story (Free)
5. Tap Zoo (Free)
6. Texas Poker (Free)
7. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit ($4.99)
8. FarmVille (Free)
9. Kingdoms at War (Free)
10. Haypi Kingdom (Free)
Clarification please
How is the 'amount of profit' determined for free apps? Or does this comment refer to a list not seen here?
- Genuinely Confused
Microtransactions....
The Gamasutra article explains how the first free app generates profit:
"Capcom's microtransaction-supported simulation title Smurfs' Village currently earns more daily revenue than Rovio's longtime chart leader Angry Birds, and ranks as today's highest-grossing iPhone game."
It also mentions the other free apps in that list utilising microtransactions - Restaurant Story, Tap Zoo, and Texas Poker. I'm sure Farmville and the rest of the free apps listed have microtransactions in game also.
Freemium = Future of AppStore
Notice that 7 out of the top 10 grossing Apps are Freemium titles? Like it or not that's rapidly where the AppStore is transitioning to.
Expect console to follow it.
Expect console to follow it.
Please don't say Freemium
Please don't say Freemium anymore.
Why not?
It's the new zeitgeist!
Huzzah!
Good job monkies!