Refreshing focus on product from the makers of Beat Sneak Bandit (via IndieGames):
It broke every mobile game rule, says Flesser and Gardeback, providing players with hardcore gameplay that featured no in-app purchases, no cross-promotion, no ads, and no cut-price sales at all.
The game never even received a single update, and the duo does not plan to ever release one, noting that they don’t feel the need to build on the experience as it’s full enough as it is.
Nor is the team planning to port the game to other platforms such as Android, even though the Unity engine allows for fairly simple porting. “We’d rather spend our time on new things rather than porting,” explained Flesser.
I really think this model is better for the games industry as a whole – it’s Calvin & Hobbes vs Garfield, or Inception vs Pirates of The Caribbean – but not every game needs to be this way.
It’s not inherently bad for a game developer to try to monetize up the wazoo, as long as they do it through good gameplay (e.g. Angry Birds Space). It’s also a different story for multiplayer or very moddable games (or both: see Team Fortress 2) because the interactions within the community continually redefine the game. A careful steward can amplify that community while keeping the game fun and balanced for everyone.
