Final Fantasy III from Square Enix, originally released in 1997, currently costs $15.99 on iPhone.
Square Enix has revealed that it may reconsider its pricing structure for mobile games following critical feedback from users in Western countries. While the Japanese developer is well-known among iOS users for its awesome RPGs, such as Final Fantasy and Chaos Rings, it’s also famous for its hefty price tags, which can often be as much as $18 per title.
When console-quality games are going for less then $5 these days, those prices are a big problem for some.
So much so that user feedback is convincing the company to rethink its pricing model. Speaking at Casual Connect in Kiev, Ukraine, last week, Square Enix’s general manager for mobile, Anthony Douglas, revealed that the prices the company is currently charging could soon be replaced by much “lighter” ones.
“I think that the Japanese view of this is that we have built quality games, whether they’re for handheld or for mobile… the business model is not set in this world. Everything is free-to-play right now, tomorrow it could be different, [and] it’ll change the day after that,” Douglas said.
“$20 for something you can play for 30 or 40 hours is still cheaper than what you can get on a handheld. [Square Enix] Japan are trying that and seeing how it works, and it works very well in Japan.
“It has been commented on quite a lot in Europe in the West, [and] they’re responding to it. They’re seeing the feedback, and there will probably be changes in the way that it’s structured.”
It’s unlikely Square Enix’s titles will sell for $0.99 like a lot of iOS games, but it would be nice to see them reduced down to around the $6.99 mark. That’s what were paying for games like Infinity Blade II, The Dark Knight Rises, and FIFA 13 — and these are original games built from scratch for iOS, not ports of existing games.
Via: PocketGamer
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