Area 161

How to Get Non-Gamers to Buy

// August 2nd, 2010 // By LordBron // Game Dev, iDevBlogADay, Pricing

One thing that is so exciting about the iOS platform is the number of devices out there. Now, sadly, not every device is owned by a gamer. Even sadder, not every gamer is a buyer.

My Un-Scientific Research

Other than my little bro and Smiley (the other half of Area 161), I don’t really know very many gamers. However, a large number of people I come in contact with have iOS devices. This leaves me with, what I feel, is a great opportunity to do some market research.

There’s Good News, Bad News and Hopeful News

The first thing I ask people is:

“Do you have any games on your device?”

The good news is that, overwhelming, the answer is yes. People have at least one or two games on their device. They tend to be casual gamers, who only play when they have a few moments to spare. “Which isn’t very often,” they offer.

Next, I ask:

“Did you buy the games or are they free?”

Time for the bad news. “They’re free.” Even sadder, some of the people will tell me. “I don’t even think my account has a credit card attached to it.” Therefore, they couldn’t even buy a game even if they wanted to.

Free is still king when it comes to iOS in my findings. Oddly enough, the ones that do have a lot of paid games are the younger crowd. Those between 5 and 15 years old have the ability to convince their parents to buy them games. Some of these games are even the costlier big publisher games that are far above the 99 cent price point.

When I ask those with free games only, “Why don’t you buy games? ” The answers vary.

I hear a lot of, “The free games are so good, why do I need to buy a paid game?”

Some will tell me. “I would, but I don’t know which ones to buy.” To this I counter, “So, 99 cents is to great a risk to take a chance on a game that seems interesting.” The reply, “No, but again, the free ones are good, so why risk it?”

Part of it has to do with the non-gaming apps that have hit it big. For instance, one of the things that has made the App Store sucessful is now hurting it. People will mention apps like “that fart app for 99 cents” or other one trick pony apps. Thus, their mentality towards iOS games is much the same. “Will I really play it for more than a day?”

It’s funny to see these same people plunk down 4 bucks for a Starbucks or something similar, yet cringe at the thought of buying a 99 cent game.

After I hear they only have free games, I ask, “But what about In App Purchases? If you like the game, will you buy more levels, etc. as a way to reward the developer for their work?” Sadly the answer tends to be: “Umm…not really.” Case in point, LandFormer. I would gift the IAP of the levels to my friends if I could, but sadly I cannot. Most say, “Yeah, the basic levels are good enough.”

Is there no hope?

Luckily, if you’ve made it this far, I have some good news. There is a silver lining.

“So, there’s pretty much nothing that will get you to buy a game?” After much thinking, the resounding answer is: “Actually, if a really good friend told me I *had* to buy it because it was sooo good, I’d buy it.”

The key here is how do you let your friends know which games you like the most? I actually have some ideas around this. I’m chatting with my brother-in-law, to whip something up, but I may just offer it up to the community. The tool would be a benefit to indie game devs versus a huge profit center on its own, though I do have some ideas on how to make some profit out of it.

I’ll jot the ideas down and break it down for you in the next post. Maybe it can become an #iDevBlogADay effort. We’ll see.

Gift Cards and App Gifting

The number one way I’ve found to convince people that it’s worth their time to buy games is to gift them games. Now, in addition to games you’ve made, I’d suggest you gift your favorite games. I’ve gotten many people hooked on geoSpark, Sneezies, and Harbor Master via these methods. (Shout out to LandFormer, which I can only “Tell a Friend” to since it’s free). People are scared to buy apps, but once they see just how fun they can be, some change their ways. Not all, and I don’t know for how long, but hey, every convert counts.

Another thing I’m gonna start doing is giving iTunes Gift Cards to people instead of traditional birthday/anniversary/graduation/holiday gifts. On the envelope, I’ll list the games I recommend they buy with the gift card. Again, we need to help get people comfortable with buying games for their devices. Obviously, people are buying now, but we need to help convert the non-buyers. It’ll only help us all in the long run.

Sidenote: During my research I stumbled across this infographic about App Stores. Here’s a link to my favorite slide that contains this gem:

“iPhone users spend an average of $80 on apps; 70% of that goes to developers.”

Another slide says:

“Even now 90% of app developers do not make a sustainable return on investment.”

No one said success is gonna be easy. However, I think if we all work together, we can help success find its way to us faster.