Frozen Synapse from Mode 7 Games is by all accounts a great game. It is in my preferred genre (strategy), on my preferred device (iPad). Why haven’t I played it yet? Because it costs £4.99. I’m now...

In June 2010, 71% of the worldwide 100 top grossing apps on the App Store were paid only. Just two years later, that figure is 16%. If we include apps that are paid but also enable in-app purchases...

At the Cloud Gaming Conference Europe this week, a number of speakers recommended books that members of the audience should read. Alfred of Take Two suggested to me that I should make a list on Amazon of...

I think that the data points about whether free works are becoming very clear. In 2011, across the whole Appstore, 59% of the top grossing apps (not games, but all apps) were free. The charts below show the price...

This post was originally published as part of a regular series on gamasutra. It is reproduced here with permission. Retention is the key measure of success for a free-to-play game. This fact should send a frisson of fear...

Traditional media businesses are all about volume. Every customer pays the same amount, so the only variable that matters is how many customers you have. In the online world, every customer is different. They can pay anything...

"Free-to-play" games have caused intense reactions in the gaming community, with strong views on whether it is an ethically sound way to design games or whether it is slot machines in disguise. When we designed Forever Drive,...