Remove the 'free' option from demos and make more money, says Accumulate's Jens Lauritzson,
The mobile industry has worked on the ‘freemium’ model for a number of years now – giving away content such as demo versions of games in the hope that people will buy the full version later
This approach has had some success – it has helped increase penetration for example.
But has it helped the industry make more money?
A demo has to be developed and tested in the same way as a full game, so it still takes time, effort and money.
Here's how the concept works: A demo is pre-loaded and it usually offers the player a couple of levels of game play or a limited number of sessions.
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When the demo is finished the customer is re-directed to a store where it is hoped he or she will pay and download the full version.
However, for many people, the demo often becomes a game in its own right where people play one level many times and never bother to go and buy the full version.
It has very low conversion rates and publishers do not know anything about how many times people play.
Of course, free demos can have a big effect when you are competing with the 1,000s of on-portal titles on offer. It drives downloads of your game, which can be especially important for non-branded titles.
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