Square Enix: £20 iPhone games do work

Publisher Square Enix has dismissed the notion that free-to-play is the only business model for mobile.

The firm says it has had success with its premium-priced iOS titles, including episodic title Final Fantasy Dimensions, which costs in total 19.99.

It’s actually done a lot more revenue than a lot of free-to-play with in-app purchases or advertising models,” said Square Enix’s mobile general manager Antony Douglas.

You’ve got to sell 12 times that in some cases to get to one game on that 14.99/20 model.

Customer behaviour is changing all the time so it’s one of many business models that we have and we have all the others under scrutiny as well.

What I will say about the business model is that it’s not fixed. Everyone says free-to-play is the future and that’s absolutely part of it, but that will change.

If you’re playing a lengthy 20 RPG title, there will be an audience for that. Some people won’t go for it but those people could spend 30 on resource management games. We’re looking into it to see how people respond.

We can’t show too much in the way of figures but it hasn’t had the negative sales response that some people would think.”

To find out more about the booming free-to-play sector, check out this week’sFree-to-Play Special Editionof MCV Magazine. In celebration, we’ve made it free to read online!Check it out here.