Future of android market depends on YOU.

[ninja_reject]

The developers work hard to create games and apps for us. The android market will stagnate if stingy people refuse to pay for games. That's why we dont have games as nice as iPhone games, because android users have a rep for never paying for games. The big-name developers don't want to work hard for the peanuts that ad-supported games bring in.

I have spent maybe 50$ in the last 2 months on games and apps. That is less the price of one new PlayStation 3 game. And I am doing my part to support the android market and the developers, and helping to ensure that the market has a bright future. I can't wait for the day when we get a DECENT Sims game, and final fantasy, and other well-developed rpgs.

 

[supermanlegend]

The developers work hard to create games and apps for us. The android market will stagnate if stingy people refuse to pay for games. That's why we dont have games as nice as iPhone games, because android users have a rep for never paying for games. The big-name developers don't want to work hard for the peanuts that ad-supported games bring in.

I have spent maybe 50$ in the last 2 months on games and apps. That is less the price of one new PlayStation 3 game. And I am doing my part to support the android market and the developers, and helping to ensure that the market has a bright future. I can't wait for the day when we get a DECENT Sims game, and final fantasy, and other well-developed rpgs.

I agree that's why I try to quickly support good games and get the word out. We all say we love android because it's the best but we all want new good games.The fact is over half of the good games are only getting 1/8 of what they are suppose to be making because we are being cheap compared ios users as a whole who buy new games and apps frequently. I'm slowly seeing improvements but numbers are not ever close to I ios how many games have sold 1million copies on market? How many over 250,000 copies 2 I believe. Most really good games get around the 10,000-50,000 range. Most top I phone games are in the 20 to 1 million range. We are not even close yet. Plus it's harder to make games for android in general because so many variety of low to high end phones.

Here's the good news Android is #1 now in number of smartphone users so we can make a difference. Also Google has just made it where 99 more countries can buy paid apps. I think there a lot of people who wanted to support but couldn't soon they will be able to. Also, I think because of this your fixing to see a lot more developers try Android. Heck even Gameloft is loosing up now by starting to release more games on Market and guaranteeing you get a replacement copy off all your games even if you switch devices on their website.From a business perspective things look at a lot better on ios side to make money but that will change I believe because of ccompetition and growth. Now we have the most users and the quality of our phones are increasing greatly. Developers have more freedom with Android so are still very attractive. You will see a number of big game changers hit android only, because they need more freedom to make the product they want. PlayStation Suite and Gamestop Spawn labs will be two big exclusives plus Steam is coming too.

Bottomline: We have to do our part if we want Android to grow. Invest in a couple of apps or more a month if you can. Whatever you do please dont pirate & if you have if the app is worth it support the developer. If the developer is being unreasonable on the price let them know and don't support till you get a fair one (still don't pirate). This is a big year for us a lot big companies are coming and Google is doing a lot of things to get more developers to come over. Expect a lot of improvements soon to market to see better apps and a number of big games.

 

[chaz_uk]

In the past month I've bought:
Plex
Tweetcomb
Samurai II Vengence THD
Geurilla Bob THD
Bang Bang Racing THD
Toki Tori and the excellent
Battleheart.

Im more than willing to buy app/games and support developers. They make or brake a platform imo.

 

[ludist210]

I'm slowly seeing improvement but numbers or not ever close to I ios how many games have sold 1million copies on market? How many over 250,000 copies 2 I believe. Most really good games get around the 10,000-50,000 range. Most top I phone games are in the 20 to 1 million range.

Whoa, wait. What? The average app on the iPhone that isn't in the top 100 (games included) sells around 20k, and even then you're lucky. Not every app is going to sell like Angry Birds. Even the top selling apps rarely hit one million downloads.

I know gaming on the Android is improving, but let's not go shell out our money on games that are sub-par. Make me want to pay for it. Sell compelling apps.

 

[supermanlegend]

Whoa, wait. What? The average app on the iPhone that isn't in the top 100 (games included) sells around 20k, and even then you're lucky. Not every app is going to sell like Angry Birds. Even the top selling apps rarely hit one million downloads.

I know gaming on the Android is improving, but let's not go shell out our money on games that are sub-par. Make me want to pay for it. Sell compelling apps.

Yeah I meant top 100 apps but look at our top 10. I personally think Abduction owns doodle jump but sales say otherwise but that is probably due to the number of countries too. We should support good and innovative apps if we want growth. If you're supporting keep it up and if not your contributions help. We are getting doing better lets keep it up.

 

[jerofld]

Another problem with buying apps from the market is the fragmented currency system. The exchange charge on some banks exceeds the cost of the apps in many cases.

Also, with the wide variety of phones, I don't think there are enough lite versions to properly demo the app. On iPhone, it's less of an issue, because every iPhone (of that generation) is very close in performance. So demo apps are not as necessary. One of the reasons I shrug away from Gameloft games are because they don't have demos. They get excellent reviews, but I want to try it for myself.

I don't know how the currency exchange thing could possibly be fixed. But demos should be more widely distributed, IMO. However, I have bought games off of their reviews and descriptions alone, too. But games like shooters and RPGs? Definitely need demos.

 

[ninja_reject]

In the past month I've bought:
Plex
Tweetcomb
Samurai II Vengence THD
Geurilla Bob THD
Bang Bang Racing THD
Toki Tori and the excellent
Battleheart.

Im more than willing to buy app/games and support developers. They make or brake a platform imo.

How is that Samurai II game? Might get it ...

 

[chaz_uk]

How is that Samurai II game? Might get it ...

It's a lot of fun. Runs great on the Xoom!

Battle heart really has me hooked at the moment tho.

 

[walkinhotdog]

I love games and would buy more games, except my phone cant run any quality ones lol. I cant even play angry birds . Once i upgrade to a dual core phone ill definitely do my part

 

[Shocky]

I'll buy all the Gameloft games if they release them on the market, I bought Modern Combat 2 straight away and hope others did as well.

Lots of games I'd like to play but many are all Tegra 2 or xperia play only, I actually hope nobody buys those games to discourage exclusive titles.

 

[stanlalee]

and what incentive do I have to buy a $6.99 modern combat 2 from the market when the same game was/is buy one get another free for $4.99 buying direct.
Otherwise somebody pointed it out already why pay for half ass games. Even games that are on iphone often come to android half ass. I LOOK for games to PAY for on the android market and get tired of scrolling beyond the ones I've already bought. I like racing games foremost. I've bought Need for speed shift, drift mania, Raging thunder 1 and 2, turbo fly, asphalt 6 (not from the market, again why when its $2.50 or $5 from gameloft). I like first shooter games. can fine NONE that are good from the market so all mine are gameloft but PAID for. I Like Gunbros but it runs 24/7 even if you manually kill it so it can go to hell with the rest of the market games. cant complain about sales when unless you offer something worth buying.
I think the bigger problem is the ever widening differences in hardware.

 

[Quboid]

I am happy to encourage developers by buying games from the Market, but I'm not going to encourage sloppy ports by paying for half-assed games that lack features it has on other platforms or that cost more for no apparent reason. Gameloft presumably add Google's cut onto their Market price which sucks but at least we have the option of buying from their site.

 

[Mitchturbo]

I don't understand why people don't buy from Gameloft's site?
It's easy and the games can be paid on your phone contract deal.

I've bought Pewpew 2 off the Android market and Death worm also, I really recommend them if you haven't already own them.

 

[bishop92t]

I'd buy gameloft games in a heartbeat if I could. Unfortunately they lock out Captivate owners because att won't let us load apps from other markets.well I'm on custom rom so I could access other markets, but gameloft doesn't leave us anyway to get games.

 

[Bomfy]

I will always buy an app/game if I give a free version a go and like it.

It's like the old days when you could actually get PC game demos and try and then buy if you liked. There are quite a few things that I would never have purchased unless I got to give it a spin first.

 

[amontanez09]

But you have to take in cosideration that apple has giftcards alot of people as my self don't feel confrontable using there credit card so if we can get a android giftcard we could see a rise in apps purchases

 

[spottyelephant]

Well said, I've been saying the same since I joined android 2 years ago. The market opening to another 99 countries should hopefully boost natural growth too.

I just wish Google would be a bit more proactive in hiding cracked android game sites from their search results - or better yet damage their DNS!


Unfortunately there are no fine grained stats as to the demographics of android users, since so many phones are available pay as you go. I'm sure Google could collate the info through Gmail analysis, but I suspect it's probably a pyramid-esque shape, with the feet being teenagers who often don't have credit cards. Wide spread carrier billing for apps and games would go a long way to reducing that segment of users from requiring (and crying for, babies!) free games, and stop us supporting the platform growth for them!

 

[Muminus]

I know several game studios that would be very happy to place their products on Android Market. However, Google does not allow them to sell their apps. So, they develop for iPhone instead.
You want more high-quality products on the market? Petition the Google to open it more.

List of currently allowed countries:
Supported locations for merchants - Android Market for Developer Help

Muminus

 

[morph4290]

I have no problem paying a couple bucks for worthwhile games and new games that have promise. What I don't care for is buying games from publishers that just release new stuff non-stop instead of releasing one or two games then supporting them for a while. I applaud Spacetime Studios and their dedication to Pocket Legends. I will definitely pick up their next mmo Blackstar too.

 

[basalt]

I happily pay for games but I do like to try out demo versions first, the 15 mins return rule is ok but isn't long enough compare to trying out a cut down verison for a day ot two.

Unfortunately for the Android Market is badly set up- I try to avoid buying anything from it. The search facility is atrocious, particularly considering it's run by google plus I get stung for a foreign transaction charge by the bank for every transaction on the market place, for a 99p app that means I pay more in bank charges than the cost of the app.

I could put up with the poor search as it's easy enough to go online to look for something but if Google really wants people to use the marketplace properly they should at least sort out the bank issue that affects some countries. Until then I'll buy most of my stuff from the likes of Gameloft, and maybe Amazon if they ever get it set up in the UK

 

[espectra]

Another problem with buying apps from the market is the fragmented currency system. The exchange charge on some banks exceeds the cost of the apps in many cases.

Hopefully this is getting better since google phased in "Buyer's currency", allowing devs to sell apps in different currencies. This happened around March I think.

Has anyone seen this change? e.g. an app from a US dev that was only sold in dollars before March but is now sold in GB pounds, Euros, etc depending on your country? Hopefully, this would keep the bank from adding extra fees.

 

[jerofld]

I still see games in foriegn currencies.

 

[espectra]

I still see games in foriegn currencies.

Hmmm... it may not be available to devs from all countries yet. This link to the market help seems to say it's available for devs from these countries currently:

Countries

Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, United Kingdom, United States

Currencies

CAD, CHF, DKK, EUR, GBP, NOK, SEK, USD

And here's some info about currencies for buyers.

 

[Essex]

But you have to take in cosideration that apple has giftcards alot of people as my self don't feel confrontable using there credit card so if we can get a android giftcard we could see a rise in apps purchases

Good point. Google needs to add gift card support for the Android Market. I have no qualms about using my debit card to purchase apps and games, but many people are uncomfortable with online purchases with credit/debit cards.

I think we'd see an uptick in purchased apps if people could buy them with giftcards. I think developers and consumers should push for Android giftcards.

 

[shaolin95]

I bought all my Gameloft games at their website.
I have a Captivate so I buy them for Galaxy S and all is good.