Best way to generate revenue on multiplatform indie games? Thread

Hey everyone,

I'm Rob, lead developer of Artifact (rather we're a very small indie studio - we all have full time jobs and do this as a hobby).

Recently, I made the decision to make Artifact Free-To-Play as the player base wasn't growing as quickly as I wanted to it, and the server load can really support a Free-To-Play model for the time being.

We've been working on a separate client that will allow players to play the game from their mobile phones and tablets as well.

My question is this:

If you were a developer, what would you do?

1. Make your game subscription free, completely free-to-play but make the mobile download from the App-Store have an initial purchase price (think 99 cents)
2. Make all downloads completely free and offer a free to play and offer a subscription service (monthly) for a small subscription fee that would unlock certain features (like clans, guilds etc)
3. Make the entire thing completely free and invest in 'Advertising' selling Ad-Space within the game or pop ups within the mobile client?

I'm bouncing a bunch of ideas around in my head and can't quite determine which I think will be the most effective method.

That being said, you can try it out on Windows now at www.samugames.com/artifact
Hopefully, in a month or two you'll find it on the Apple AppStore and Android Market!

As a player, I would lean towards the first two and avoid the third option. As a dev, I've been in the same boat as you for a while now. I spend all this time programming games and can never seem to decide on a business model or price. I'm also currently wrestling with the idea of integrating a Paypal checkout system instead of using the standard Droid and Windows Store checkouts, but I'm very concerned about losing potential customers.

Again as a dev, I'd lean towards option 2, since you're probably more likely to gain players at a higher rate if the app is free to download originally. The downside of this is of course the chance that someday you won't be able to afford the free player base anymore.

I'd be much obliged if you shared your experience here in the forums when you make your decision. Good luck, and hopefully I'll have some free time to try out Artifact in the next few days.

Edited by: emorobotstudios