Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
Apple Creates New ‘Pay Once And Play’ App Store Category Free Of F2P Games
Free-to-play games and in-app purchases have been a point of contention for years now. With accusations of deceptive advertising and children racking up hefty credit card bills, the spotlight has shone brightly on problems with mobile app stores.
Apple has taken steps recently to address some of these frustrations. The company re-labeled games that can be acquired for free. The button to download them now simply says “Get.”
Now, the company has provided a safe haven for those looking for entertainment experiences that can be had for a single purchase. The new “Pay Once and Play” category includes titles that have no in-app purchases and all carry a premium price.
The category is filled with lauded games, including Supergiant’s Bastion, Square Enix’s Final Fantasy Tactics, Sirvo’s Threes, BioWare’s Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Firaxis’ XCOM, Stoic’s Banner Saga, and many more. You can access the new category through iTunes and iOS devices.
[Source: Apple App Store via MCV]
Our Take
This is a great move, and a category I’m sure to spend time browsing in the future. While I’ve grown less rigid about free-to-play, I still prefer one-and-done purchases. I hope this concept is applied to other app stores to help declutter the offerings.
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
