Why I Use In-App Purchases in My Mobile Game
“Pay 2 win.”
Every player hates these games.
Every indie dev fears these comments.
And yet here I am, telling you that it’s probably the best way to monetize and actually make money with your app.
I’m building my own mobile game right now, and this is a decision I had to make myself.
Why?
Because the alternatives suck. Not at their core — but in how they’re usually used.
And apps without a way to somehow generate money usually die out when interest of the developers fades.
Why your app should generate money
Maybe you just had a funny idea. Or your spouse. Or friend.
And you made an app for fun, published it, and learned a ton - that’s amazing!
But these kind of apps usually won’t get far. After all, why should you continue to pour time into an idea like this, if you only wanted to prove it can be done.
The real reason most apps don’t make money isn’t bad ideas.
It’s that developers are too afraid to charge.
If you have any serious ambition, your app needs an income stream.
This is not just a capitalist mindset, imho, but a necessity to keep up motivation for any project.
Not seeing any traction?
You will quickly lose interest.
The first $10 changes everything.
Suddenly it’s not a toy anymore.
It’s a product.
So monetizing an app is actually a service for every user - because it’s a way to make sure the dev keeps improving the app.
Ways to monetize apps
Now that you are in the right mindset to monetize your app, you have a couple of options:
- Make your app paid
- In-app purchases (subscriptions, etc)
- Ads
I won’t go much into the third way because a) I have little experience with ads but more importantly b) I absolutely hate apps with ads.
I think ads make every polished app look cheap.
It’s like the most random way to make money with your app because you forgot to think about it in the beginning.
Now making something paid is the usual way how game studios earned money in the past, and what many games on Steam do.
And in a perfect world, I’d probably also vote for this option.
But there’s a problem with this option for mobile apps.
Paid apps won’t work for you
If you are reading this, chances are high you are an indie dev. Or a small shop. But not Supercell (which btw also uses IAP).
And if you fall into any of these categories, you rarely have the reach or credibility to make your app paid.
People simply don’t know if they should trust you or your app and pay $10 upfront!
And the bigger issue in my eyes is that there is no “demo” for mobile apps.
I’d love to play the game, and then decide whether I want to really buy it, but the App Store mechanic for this isn’t easy.
The closest you can get:
- Make your app free
- Let users play X hours or the first X level
- Require a one time purchase to unlock the full game
Not rocket science to implement, yet still won’t work for everyone.
But the fact remains: For most indie devs, paid apps won’t work on the App Store.
The case for In App Purchases
In-app purchases come in different flavours.
Some apps have just a subscription, some apps have a handful of unlocks like “remove ads” (Playing ads so the user wants to remove them is actually a clever way).
And some games have a variety of microtransactions, like I also do in my game Tiny Harvest.
How you design this depends on the type of your app.
General/productivity apps will usually either have 1-2 unlocks or just a subscription, while games usually gravitate more towards microtransactions.
And once you start doing that, you automatically get flagged for “Pay to win” comments whenever you show up on Reddit, TikTok or any other social platform.
After all, many shady app studios and games have this approach, so it’s natural to jump to the conclusion.
However, in my game there is not really any kind of “winning”.
Yes, you can be the first on a leaderboard. But there’s not a tournament or any real life reward.
When players spend money, they’re not buying progress.
They’re buying commitment.
Since you can play and enjoy the whole game without spending any money, I don’t feel bad about using IAP.
And maybe you shouldn’t too.
It’s also sometimes a welcome way for users to support the work of the dev.
They have an interest in the continuation of the game, the ongoing support and work behind an app that makes it better.
Bad IAP feels like exploitation.
Good IAP feels like support.
If you can keep your IAP optional in a game, or useful in general apps, there’s no reason not to use them.
The Effect of Money
My IAPs have given me great confidence in my game Tiny Harvest.
Users are willing to spend money, which is a signal that they truly like the game and plan to play it for longer.
In my game, most players never pay. But the ones who do are the reason I can keep building.
It also means I’m not putting in countless hours every week for nothing. There is the potential for something bigger, as I wrote about in Why I’m Doubling Down on My Own Farming Game.
If you want to do yourself and your users a favor, have a monetization concept for your app from day one.
If your app doesn’t make money, it won’t survive.
And if it doesn’t survive, it won’t help anyone.
That’s why I use in-app purchases.