

Kahrama also cites the problem of "annoyance by design" as an important but largely unacknowledged problem mobile development is currently suffering - in other words, adding what is euphemistically referred to as "friction" in order to subtly (or not so subtly) nudge players in the direction of payment options. In other words, depending on a publisher or external funding is well at odds with the 'independent' part of the term 'indie.'" I do not expect many indies to sit on war chests with hundreds of thousands of dollars reserved for paid user acquisition, or an active existing userbase of millions to cross-promote to. "You'll need VC funding, a publisher or a developer partner for the hard launch of your game. "I can't help but wonder if a successful free-to-play developer is an indie any longer," notes Kahrama. Would it be successful if it came out today? Secret Exit's Zen Bound came out as a paid app in 2010. Writing for Develop, Jani Kahrama, CEO of Secret Exit, the developer of popular iOS game Zen Bound, pondered the fact that indie games development and mobile free-to-play are seemingly contradictory terms. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out that way, and free-to-play is partly to blame.
ANDROID GAMES LIKE ZEN BOUND PLUS
Both of these metrics, while impressive, are becoming increasingly meaningless with each passing day.įor a while, it looked as if the independent development sector was going to flock to mobile platforms and stay there - the relative ease of development plus the enormous potential audience looked like a dream come true for small-scale developers hoping to get their games noticed. Consequently, we end up with endless reams of press releases boasting how Mobile Game X has surpassed 100 million downloads, and a Top Grossing chart made up almost entirely of games and apps that cost absolutely nothing.
ANDROID GAMES LIKE ZEN BOUND DOWNLOAD
It's proven particularly popular in the mobile sector, where developers and publishers quickly discovered that the best way to encourage players to download something is to offer it for free, then charge for things later via in-app purchase. Is there something you think we should be reporting on? Email it or not, free-to-play is here to stay - at least for the immediate future.
