As a fellow developer at a software company, I totally get where you are coming from, and can see the challenge this presents. It could absolutely require a change of direction for your company.
As a consumer, I really don't like being asked to buy things in a Free game. I'm more than willing to shell out for a quality game upfront, and do so without hesitation.
The "free" games upselling me at every turn has honestly made me a bit burnt out with the Play store. If your app/game is of high quality, let me try it for a few minutes and I'll buy it if I like it, no problem. No need to badger me about "optional" extras.
People like me may or may not be a large chunk of the Android-using population, but I figured I'd share.
>I'm more than willing to shell out for a quality game upfront, and do so without hesitation.
clearly you are in the tiny minority
>Free game
no such thing. people need to make money, they don't just have time to make great games and give them away. I understand not wanting to "pay to win" but IAP isn't at fault here. Also, these games are very obvious. if you don't want to do it, just don't play those games.
>If your app/game is of high quality, let me try it for a few minutes and I'll buy it if I like it, no problem.
wait wait wait. you JUST said you were willing to shell out for a quality game upfront. After downloading it free and playing it is not in fact upfront.
This whole comment is pretty silly and trollbaity, so I'll only bother addressing what I think was your primary snark.
> wait wait wait. you JUST said you were willing to shell out for a quality game upfront. After downloading it free and playing it is not in fact upfront.
If I don't ask for a refund after the first 15 minutes, it's a done deal. Most app authors would probably prefer that I get a refund instead of buying their app and leaving a negative rating.
Psychologically it is not the same. One action requires you to get out a credit card and then later do more work to get a refund. One of theM is actually free. Not to mention that this only covers 1 of the 2 major platforms. No free demo refund on iOS. What would you propose for iOS games?
As a consumer, I really don't like being asked to buy things in a Free game. I'm more than willing to shell out for a quality game upfront, and do so without hesitation.
The "free" games upselling me at every turn has honestly made me a bit burnt out with the Play store. If your app/game is of high quality, let me try it for a few minutes and I'll buy it if I like it, no problem. No need to badger me about "optional" extras.
People like me may or may not be a large chunk of the Android-using population, but I figured I'd share.