Grumblings
Grumblings
Pay to Play: The Frustrating Reality of Freemium Apps
Unleash your inner grumbler as you join Jimmy on this episode of "Grumblings". We’re talking about a modern-day annoyance that’s been eating at us all - in-app purchases. We delve into this topic to explore what really annoys us about this, and why do I always feel like I have to pay to not be frustrated. Later, decompress with us as we explore fascinating fun facts about the world generated by a neural network. From cube-shaped wombat poop to a train station designed solely for admiring views, this episode has something for everyone. Don't miss out!
www.mygrumblings.com
Well, hello. My name is Jimmy and you are listening to Grumblings. This my dear Stressed Out Friends, is your weekly pressure release podcast where we take a deep dive into a particular topic and have a good old grumble about it. Today we are going to be exploring in-app purchases. Let's go through this together, shall we?
And as always, stick around for some fun and insightful facts at the end of the episode. Now let's release some pressure together.
In today's episode, we are delving into a topic that's gnawing, has been gnawing at many of us, an unspoken frustration that resonates with us all. I think in app purchases, I'm sure many of you have heard of the word freemium, a portmanteau of free and premium. Now you may be asking yourself, Jimmy, did you just say portmanteau?
What on earth is portmanteau This was a word of the day a while ago, and I've never had the chance to use it until now. You are welcome freemium. Is something that offers like basic functionality, but has premium features that incur costs, a cost that is often very high. It's like being invited to a free meal.
And when you arrive there, you discover that the only thing that's free is the bread and the water. The good stuff is going to cost you. And that's basically what freemium apps are. So are they actually free at all? Let's just take a bit of a rewind here, because apps weren't always this way. It wasn't always the case that apps tried to hook you in and then force you to pay for premium features.
What's interesting or maybe frustrating here is how we got to this point, because if anyone can remember back when the app store was released and all of us. Pretty much unanimously only was playing Angry Birds. We paid one clear price, usually something around 99 cents or so. Or if you were feeling real fancy, you'd go for that.
App that was a little bit more expensive, just under $2 or so, only on special occasions. Of course, as time went on, developers were looking at new ways to cash in on users and make more money because. When you've paid for the app and the developers already got that 99 cents, they've still kind of obligated to make updates, right?
They're still adding features and functions to the this application, but you only ever paid that one fee at the beginning. Which I guess is the same as the Allyou can eat Buffet policy, but they have rules and restrictions around that. The app store didn't enter the freemium model. It all started around 2010, but really became the new app store business model in the mid 2010s around 20 14, 15 or so.
Why did this happen? Well, quite simply, it was more profitable. You could get a user on board, you know, get them to download your app and start using it with a free download. No barriers to entry. It was the gateway drug of the app world. Give users a taste, get them hooked, and then start charging them. And this monetization with this freemium model came through ads or in-app purchases.
Both of which I'm sure we've all had a lot of encounters with. The number of times that I'm playing a game and an annoying ad pops up, I have to wait like 10 seconds for that little dismiss X things to appear. Which of course somehow every time you press it magically opens the app store or redirects you to a webpage.
It's one of the most annoying things ever. The intrusion on the gaming experience can be felt, I think by us all. The developers then offer a solution. Why should we suffer this way? All you need to do is pay, pay to remove the ads or keep trying to dismiss that little button away. Or even worse are the games that have like those, uh, progressive level up games when.
You are getting really invested into this game and all of a sudden you hit the paywall where in order to even stand a chance of progressing through the game, you need to pay for that weapons upgrade. Sure, you can earn the coins or whatever to buy this weapon, but the maths has been calculated and it can in some instances, Take months to earn enough coins to be able to progress through, oh, you can just pay $9 and 99 cents.
Now what, what's more valuable to you? You know, your, your time, that's gonna take you months or just a simple $9 and 99 cents, which gets beyond to these price points. We aren't talking just under a dollar in order to be able to release these features and functions that allow us to actually engage with this game, some in-app purchases can literally cost you a small fortune taking almost all of the joy away from gaming because these prices can run up to and be comparable to a console game. And let's face it, these little games that we are playing on our phone do not stand up to a console game. They do not compare to the latest PS five release. I'm sure paying $70 for a game on the PS five. Is a little bit of a struggle, but it's a one time cost like you are investing in that game.
Eventually it will come down in price as well. But they've invested millions of dollars in these. Very high quality games that we do download and play on our consoles.
They use the latest console technology and you feel every time when you get a new console or you get one of these new games, you are experiencing something new. You can feel the technology slowly like upping itself, but. My iPhone game, however, pretty much looks and feels the same as they did 10 years ago like, think about it. Think about the old Angry Birds you used to play. Download it now. Okay. It's gotten a lot more complicated for some unnecessary reason, but essentially it's just the same thing. I'm not seeing anything that stands out any anymore than the one I played before.
And you might be thinking, well, I never buy those silly and 99 cents gemstone packs. But some people do. In fact, not. Some people, a lot of people do, and it's why the video game revenue for mobile is over 92 billion US dollars. Console gaming is just a measly 51 billion, so there is a lot of money in these freemium models.
What's really bad here is that oftentimes these in-app purchases or ads are also targeted at children, and we've all heard those stories of kids racking up thousands of dollars on in-app purchases. Sure. Those are rare. But it's literally what the developer wanted you to do, and the kids are doing exactly what this app was designed for.
You might be saying, well, Jimmy, it's a freemium model. After all. It's not inherit bad, it's just good business. And yes, I can agree. I understand that it's not so much wanting to try to increase the amount of money you're making from users. It's the implementation of how this is being done. It's the gatekeeping of.
Progression through the game and these highly intrusive ads that hinder and limit your experience. It kind of makes most of the apps suck and regulatory bodies have taken note here. They are monitoring these practices, but what really can they do? A balance needs to be struck here where users can enjoy games and apps without feeling pressured into unnecessary purchases or bombarded with ads, and the developers can still earn a revenue.
Now I get it. You could say to me, well, Jimmy, you could always just buy the app up front. You know, you could spend the $3 99 on the premium application, but. The reality is, is that that's not going to replace the freemium model. It's still gonna be the case that we're going to be downloading, engaging, and interacting with these applications that just offer a substandard experience to the end users.
Cuz right now we aren't getting the amazing experience that most of us would hope for when we download and start using these kinds of apps. And developers aren't exactly incentivized to not do this. Developers make around 40% more through in-app purchases than upfront payment. So which model would you choose if you were designing an app?
Well, I'm gonna start deleting you. I'm going to take action with my thumbs and I'm gonna do that long hold press, press that X and get rid of these applications.
I'm just gonna go and download a good old fashioned console game because gaming shouldn't feel like a freemium burden. I'll leave you to ponder this for the next time you hit that install button. Maybe we all need to start supporting the developers that are just charging those couple of dollars, those 3 99 upfront price tags.
At least we know what we're getting. Next up, fun facts.
Okay, let's get into some fun facts. Now, I've chosen to do this in a new way. I'd love to hear your feedback on it. I have some prompts that I've asked, a neural generator, a chat, G P t, if you will, which means the neural engine has created them for me, so we will click through and discover them together.
First up in Japan, there is a train station that has no entrance or exit. It was built solely to allow passengers to admire the scenic views of the surrounding forest. That sounds lovely. Actually, that sounds so blissful. I, I need to research this, that, yeah, that sounds awesome. Actually, let me Google this right now.
Japan train, Japan train, scenic view, no station stop or something. Here we go. No entrance or exit. It is,
I've, I've probably butchered that. I'm sorry, everybody. It looks pretty. It isn't what I had in mind. I, all right. It's a fun fact. I don't think I would make the effort to go there. You shouldn't either. Number two, wombats have cube shaped poop. You heard that? Correct. What on earth is this? Scientists believe this helps them mark their territory and prevent their poop from rolling away in the hilly terrain where they live.
What I mean it It is an interesting fact. I guess so. Yeah. Yeah. Alright, I'll, I'll take it. There you go. Wombats have cube shaped pooped folks. Next up, uh, in Switzerland, it is illegal to own just one Guinea pig. Oh, I've heard this. I, I didn't know it was Switzerland, but I have heard about this. this is because Guinea pigs are social animals and need companionship to thrive.
Yes, I have heard about this. Funnily enough, it's not just Guinea pigs that have this eye. There are many, many other animals who are very social and have shown signs of becoming depressed when they're just by themselves. So, yeah, that's a bit of a depressing fact I guess. But cute. Well done Switzerland.
Well done. Sea otters hold hands while they sleep to prevent themselves from drifting away from each other. That's cute. That's very cute. That's like the equivalent of spooning in bed, isn't it? But I wonder if they get the same thing where they're kind of like, Ooh. I'm feeling a bit overheated now, so I need to just, you know, roll over to the other side.
I wonder if that's what they think about, if they think about it. I dunno. Lastly, the world's old piece of chewing gum is over 9,000 years old. It was found in Finland and is made from birch bark tar. Okay. Interesting. Don't tell anybody. Oh, do you know what? Next time I'm in Singapore and I accidentally find some chewing gum and I start chewing it, if anybody tells me off, I'm just gonna say it's, it's not my gum, it's, it's birch bark tar.
Um, yeah, no, that's stupid. I'm not going to do that. That was. That didn't even make sense. Oh, nevermind. But on nor end is, that was a pretty crap fact as well. I didn't like that one. But if you're ever asked how old is chewing gum, I guess you now know that it's over 9,000 years old. So, facts my dear, stressed out friends, that is it for today.
Feel free to check out my YouTube and TikTok at my grumblings. Don't forget to subscribe to be the First to know when a new episode drops, and let me know what your thoughts are on today's topic. You can do that by connecting with me on social.
All links can be found@mygrumblings.com. Thanks, friends.