In App Purchasing Done Wrong

Plants Vs. Zombies 2 and Real Racing are both good examples of poor decisions when it comes to in app. purchasing but what do they do wrong exactly? Poor value for money is one of the key problems, nerds like to feel they are getting a good deal and these games don't really convey that feeling. There are often too many confusing options, and what the usefulness is of your purchase is not clearly laid out. Too many "currencies" I'll also look at what other games have done right when it comes to in app purchases.

What does buying a $0.99 app get you these days? Quite a lot actually and that is a problem for a lot of in app purchases. Especially if you have bought a previous version of the game, you know what you got for your money. If you paid between 1 and 5 dollars for a whole game, you aren't going to be happy spending 10 dollars and just getting a small bonus and some useless in game cash. It's partly a psychological thing, I mean you got the whole game for free why pay so much for these little extras? The best example I have of this, is that the original Plants Vs. Zombies, will set you back $10.49 for a computer version, yet the free sequel wants to charge you $4.49 just for the use of a special plant!

Plants Vs. Zombies 2 is probably the best example of confusing in app. purchases. Unless you have played the original game the value of a lot of the things you can buy will be totally unclear. How useful is a Squash or Jalapeno in the game? I would say these types of items are not very useful at all, certainly not for the price but that is because I have completed the original game many times. Often these games want to give specials and bundle deals that are more attractive to the user, than some of the standard options. That's fine but usually this confuses the deals and what they come with exactly, is made unclear. Again this comes back to a value for money thing and the value really isn't there.

Real Racing 3 is a great example of too many types of currencies. It  uses "Real Dollars", "Gold", and requires you to have "Drive" to enter certain races. Real Dollars (not to be confused with actual money) are used to buy in game cars and upgrades, that makes sense and is fine I think but then gold will allow you to speed up things like your car being repaired. Plus you are going to need drive to enter special types of races, it's all a little too much and Real Racing isn't necessarily the worst offender out there. I think companies like this as it adds to the confusion over value but that is exactly why most people hate it. It's much simpler when you can purchase one currency and then use that on whatever you want to rather than being forced to spend your money all over the place.

In app. purchasing is just one option available to videogame companies and it isn't always the best way to go. Sometimes though companies do get it right, here is a look at some examples. Sid Meier's Ace Patrol got a lot of things right with it's in app purchasing and the main thing they did, was to give you a pack at a discounted price. The packs contain all the Aces for example or the campaign pack had all of the missions besides the already discounted British Pack. That was another great thing they did, give you a whole campaign for just a dollar. It felt like good value and due to the gameplay being so excellent it was good value. The Walking Dead also had a great system, they gave you the first episode free, then you could buy one episode at a time, or buy the whole pack for a discounted rate. It was a simple and clean no bullshit approach. Ultimately I think it is in the companies interest to make a clean system that the user will appreciate, not only does it help their review score but I know personally I am much more likely to buy from a company that does this well.