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Which is better? One Time Purchase or In-App Purchases?

Laurenellis

Laurenellis

Lurker
So I am curious to know what other people think...

Do you prefer to purchase a game upfront and have it be completely unlocked and playable? Or would you rather have a free game with some content locked that you have to purchase?

I have always been the pay upfront kind of gamer. There is more risk if you don't like the game, but if you do, then you can play it forever.
 
I often and gladly pay upfront for a game. If it is something in the game where it is pay X amount to remove ads, I will do that. I don't do recurring in-app purchases.
 
It depends on the app. Some,like real racing GT, I like the in app purchases as they are reasonably priced and allow you to customise quite well. However, in some apps, I would prefer to pay upfront. Take contract killer. I really like it, and would happily pay 5-10 dollars for it, to access more weapons. However, it is free, and to get some of the weapons and stuff you have to pay over $100! So, it is a no go

I don't mind in app purchases as long as they are reasonably priced. Otherewise, no.
 
One time purchase. Paying in game often becomes a ridiculous thing where doing anything requires you to pay money. I'd rather pay and be done with it (yeah, I'm looking at you glu mobile...).
 
I prefer one time pay games, the in app games usually are time based and the in app purchases speed up the time you have to wait before you can play again. While apps you purchase up front you can usually play for as long as it holds your interest.

While I enjoy free apps with in app purchases, they're usually just something to pass the time and after a while feel like a chore having to come back at a certain time to do whatever task you had waiting for you so you can play a little more.
 
Yeah the "pay to make things go faster" seems to play with our patience. And any In-App purchases has to be reasonable. Most times they seem a little over priced to me. Paying once and for all is what I prefer.

What about demo versions or "pay to unlock the full version?" Those don't seem so bad because they you can at least test the game a little first to see if you like it.
 
I tend to steer clear of games that have a price tag. Out of the games I play that are free and paid I don't really notice a difference in quality. The only in app purchase I've made is the gem multiplier in trolls and towers. The only games I've bought were on sale.
 
I despise in-app item purchases and absolutely refuse to pay for them as the matter of principle. I refuse to download and install any app with in-app item purchases. Disgracefully, not all apps with in-app item purchases clearly states so in their descriptions. I immediately uninstall them when I find out, and from then on I will never look at any other app from the same developer again. Unfortunately, Android is plagued with games with in-app item purchases.
 
One time purchase is the way to go.

In app purchases tend to introduce problems when you re-install the application, often requiring you to purchases things again or produce errors when trying to unlock previously purchased content.

It's not always the case but it does happen allot for me so I try and avoid them.
 
IAP is an instant uninstall for me. Give me a quality game that is optimized for my device and I will gladly pay for it.
 
jordy2254 said:
i dont like in app purchases but it is the only way developers can make a game without it being pirated. like dead trigger
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I am still waiting to see proof that Dead Trigger was pirated. And there are ways around IAP, with and without rooting.
 
syi said:
I tend to steer clear of games that have a price tag. Out of the games I play that are free and paid I don't really notice a difference in quality. The only in app purchase I've made is the gem multiplier in trolls and towers. The only games I've bought were on sale.
Click to expand...

I'm the exact opposite. I won't touch a free app with a ten foot pole. I'm not saying that free apps don't have the same quality as their counterparts because that's generally not the case. What I am refering to has already been said many times since that is the OP topic: Paid vs. IAP. If it's IAP it's a POS for two reasons. One, if you get a new device or have to reinstall the app for whatever reason, you have to pay for everything again, as Shocky stated. Two, alot of the IAP items are expensive...with the amount of money some people drop on those items you could buy 50 other games.

Therefore, if it's IAP, I won't even install it. I will not support developers in any way, shape or form if they use IAP. In some cases it may be my loss, but still theirs as well. It's a shame that piracy has led to such a greedy means to making a profit.
 
MacFett said:
I am still waiting to see proof that Dead Trigger was pirated. And there are ways around IAP, with and without rooting.
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You can't have been looking very hard, then. :D

And IAP purchases being hacked is rather irrelevant - anything can be hacked. The fact is that piracy of paid apps on Android is incredibly easy, to the point where apps that would do fine on other platforms struggle to make back their development costs on Android. It is a harder to hack IAP than circumventing the poor DRM system that Google offers its Android developers. Combine this with the fact that games with IAP also do a lot better on all mobile markets than paid apps, means that IAP will become increasingly dominant.


That aside, there is a difference between using IAP as an upgrade option (instead of having a free and a paid version of an app) and using IAP to sell limited-use game "objects". IMO, to not distinguish between those two cases is doing both yourself and developers a disservice.

One, if you get a new device or have to reinstall the app for whatever reason, you have to pay for everything again, as Shocky stated.
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This is incorrect. Or to put it more precisely, "it depends".

There exist three types of in-app products on Android: "managed", "unmanaged", and "subscriptions".

Managed in-app purchases always follow your account. These are one-time purchases per Google account. If you've purchased them once, you can not purchase them again using the same account. Change phone, uninstall/install, etc... the purchase will remain. IAP to remove ads or add DLC will usually be of this kind, unless the app developer is trying to rip off his users.

Unmanaged in-app purchases is what you guys are all discussing. Any IAP that can be purchased more than once will be unmanaged. Unmanaged purchases will tend to follow the app only, unless the developer stores the purchase information on his own servers.

Subscriptions are exactly what they sound like. Recurring, time-limited in-app purchases. Subscriptions automatically follow your account, and can be cancelled at any time.


Or to put it briefly: IAP is not an inherently evil or exploitative system. What developers do with them, might be.
 
What I like about IAP models is the way that you can see if you like the game before shelling out any cash. A video demo or good review can only go so far. That said, some of the in app purchases could be cheaper though.

As for problems when going to a new device, almost every game I have found that have in-app purchases are linked to some account like Openfeint, or Com2us, or Glu cloud, or even Facebook, which basically lets you open the same game, same bought stuff etc on multiple devices. I used to have a game from Glu Mobile synced between my tab and phone, it was Star Blitz. it had IAP.
 
strategy said:
You can't have been looking very hard, then. :D

And IAP purchases being hacked is rather irrelevant - anything can be hacked. The fact is that piracy of paid apps on Android is incredibly easy, to the point where apps that would do fine on other platforms struggle to make back their development costs on Android. It is a harder to hack IAP than circumventing the poor DRM system that Google offers its Android developers. Combine this with the fact that games with IAP also do a lot better on all mobile markets than paid apps, means that IAP will become increasingly dominant.


That aside, there is a difference between using IAP as an upgrade option (instead of having a free and a paid version of an app) and using IAP to sell limited-use game "objects". IMO, to not distinguish between those two cases is doing both yourself and developers a disservice.



This is incorrect. Or to put it more precisely, "it depends".

There exist three types of in-app products on Android: "managed", "unmanaged", and "subscriptions".

Managed in-app purchases always follow your account. These are one-time purchases per Google account. If you've purchased them once, you can not purchase them again using the same account. Change phone, uninstall/install, etc... the purchase will remain. IAP to remove ads or add DLC will usually be of this kind, unless the app developer is trying to rip off his users.

Unmanaged in-app purchases is what you guys are all discussing. Any IAP that can be purchased more than once will be unmanaged. Unmanaged purchases will tend to follow the app only, unless the developer stores the purchase information on his own servers.

Subscriptions are exactly what they sound like. Recurring, time-limited in-app purchases. Subscriptions automatically follow your account, and can be cancelled at any time.


Or to put it briefly: IAP is not an inherently evil or exploitative system. What developers do with them, might be.
Click to expand...

Are you suggesting they offer the use of more intrusive and possibly game breaking drm? If so I want this man removed!
 
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