Should Apple be Held Accountable for Shifty Pricing Practices?

"Are we about to see a radical shake up in the way mobile games are priced? If recent events in Europe are anything to go by, the answer is an emphatic yes." - Grab It Magazine

[iosgamer]

I think they should just create a third category and be done with it. Free, IAP, Paid. Just separate free and IAP.

[christian hour]

Yeah these practices are even more common on Android due to it being less restrictive for publishing apps than on Apple.

I'm a fan of this open-source mentality that Google have as their mantra, and It's definitely the way forward, it's just unfortunate that so many people are willing to take advantage of it and ruin it's truer capabilities, as well as making it impossible to find truly good apps when so many people, mainly casual dolts, download these terrible games and cheap knock offs of other games/apps, constantly putting them to the top of the free games list.

On that note I would argue that the Simpsons Tapped Out IS a free game, because it is possible to earn "Donuts" in the game to buy things. You can buy donuts to speed up the process of getting these items, but you don't generally need them to play the game in its entirety, and there are constant additions on a monthly basis of new free buildings and themed events that give donuts away in abundance.

That is a F2P model done correctly, I play for about 30 mins every day or two, and I've never paid a penny. And I've gotten plenty of donuts over the last year or two to "buy" things I wanted, while happily passing over things I didn't want.

There are however, plenty of games in a similar vain, that are much much worse in their practices and pricing.

[CoyoteHunter]

I think that raises a whole separate issue about how games like The Simpsons Tapped Out, Boom Beach etc are rubbish because of their reliance on timer management. I don't want to play for a week just to earn enough doughnuts to buy Duffman. But I don't to be forced down the IAP path either. Just give me an upfront once-off purchase cost and be done with it.

[3-4-5]

Don't you guys ever just get sick of tapping or swiping?

You realize there are REAL controllers out there to play better games right ?

[iosgamer]

Play République and it'll change your mind.

[christian hour]

Sadly I cant bring my console on a plane or a bus or to the pub toilet. Its nice to have little things to pass the time that doesnt plague my thoughts when im not using it to pass the time :)

[SlappingOysters]

Apple make a lot of money off every IAP...

[DealWithIt]

Apple should be held responsible for unimaginable damage to the RTS genre