Apple approves subscription based iPad gaming service
Apple has approved a subscription based iPad gaming service for the first time. Big Fish Games has gained Apple’s approval for its collection of games to be made available to iPad users at a cost of $6.99 a month. Apple introduced its subscription features earlier this year however no other game developer has taken advantage of this business model until now.
When Apple introduced its subscription feature earlier this year, Paul Thelen, the founder of Big Fish, saw it as an opportunity to offer an “all-you-can-eat” service. That lets players jump in and out of different games without having to make a bunch of downloads. While game-subscription services have a mixed record of success, the popularity of the iPad, along with the easy payment method provided by Apple’s App Store, will make the offering attractive, Thelen said.The new subscription service will provide access to Big Fish Games titles such as “Mystery Case Files” and “Mahjong Towers” from within the app. Instead of a user then having to download and install the chosen game, it is streamed from a data center belonging to Big Fish. This will have to be done over a Wi-Fi connection.
Initially the service will launch at an introductory price of $4.99 a month. This will increase to $6.99 a month when more game titles are added. Big Fish also plans to offer a free version of its app. This will allow a user to play for a maximum of 30 minutes a day and it will include advertisements too.
Would you use a game subscription model like this?
Source: Bloomberg
UK editor at iMore, mobile technology lover and air conditioning design engineer.
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def not!!
could be good for the onlive setup with a bluetooth controller.
Sounds good...http://www.sydneyappiancerepairs.com.au
My mom and my grandma loves big fish games, they will definitely jump right on this!
Pay for ads...I don't think so!!! And only over wifi?!? What??
Poor value proposition over the long term makes this a sucker bet. Just wait for a sale and buy the games you want - you'll save money in the long term.
Wow, so after 3 months, I could have bought 3 great $6.99 games? And after 12 months...? $85/year? Think of all the games I could have permanently...
I see this dying quickly. $.99 or $1.99... possibly.
No! The streaming over a wifi connection sounds like the game performance could be iffy at times, and what about people who use only 3G? downloading the game directly to your device has more advantages like being to play anywhere and playing without slow touch resposes. This is definatley not a good idea!
Can we say Onlive is on it's way?
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