Edge Online: Free-To-Play Has ‘Soured’ The iOS Gaming Scene

In recent years, free-to-play games like Candy Crush Saga have taken the iOS gaming scene by storm. In fact, as I write this, the “Top Grossing” chart for the App Store’s Games category is populated entirely with free-to-play apps. Edge Online took a closer look at the iOS gaming scene and concluded that free-to-play games, along with clones and other factores have “soured Apple’s iOS gaming revolution.”

The Edge Online essay cites the rise of free-to-pay games as being a limiting factor of sorts, nothing that only certain genres of games lend themselves well to a free-to-play model.

It also notes:

“Where we once saw a promising new marketplace of fresh ideas, unrestricted creativity, and daring new ways to play, the App Store of 2014 is swamped with cash-guzzling junk, shameless knockoffs and predictable sequels. Games worth discovering still exist, but they mostly dwell on the fringes and in the shadows, while endless horror stories suggest that paid-for games are simply no longer profitable and are dying out. What happened to the iOS gaming revolution?”

The full article is worth a read if you have any interest in the iOS gaming scene and where it’s headed.

[Edge Online via Daring Fireball]

Nick spends way too much time in front of a computer, so he figures he may as well write about it. He's previously written for IDG's PCWorld and TechHive.