Almost exactly one year ago, we switched Zombies, Run! - a fitness game - from being a paid app ($4-8) to a free-to-play app with subscriptions ($4/month, $20/year). Unsurprisingly, I'm delighted by this announcement, because it rewards apps like ours that provide long-term value and entertainment for our users.
Clearly a subscription model isn't for many apps - probably most apps. But it was right for us, as we've been maintaining and improving Zombies, Run! for over four years now, and every week we add new content. With a subscription model, we only get paid if people decide we're good enough to commit to over a long period of time. Since we're about helping people exercise, I think that's fair enough.
People fear that the subscription model is an easy grab for continued revenue.
I do think that Zombies, Run! is an example of an app that justifiably fits the subscription model. The continued added content makes that make sense. (I am a fan!)
I just hope subscription doesn't become the norm - I'd hate to see a calculator on a subscription model.
Yep, it works a lot better for some apps than others. To be fair, a calculator app doesn't need (as much) long term development or maintenance so I think a single payment is fine for both dev and customer there.
In light of this news, I wrote up a short post about how we made Zombies, Run! a subscriptions success:
They won't, don't worry. It will be a great option for small devs to get a sustained income, a good incentive to keep working on an app that otherwise could be neglected after the first few months. Also, Apple announce that there would be more than 200 price tiers for subscriptions. We'll have to see when it's all live but I suspect there could be subscription lower than the 99 cent baseline. At least I hope so
Clearly a subscription model isn't for many apps - probably most apps. But it was right for us, as we've been maintaining and improving Zombies, Run! for over four years now, and every week we add new content. With a subscription model, we only get paid if people decide we're good enough to commit to over a long period of time. Since we're about helping people exercise, I think that's fair enough.