Talk:Road Trip/@comment-31462314-20180405205248/@comment-27123099-20180406215251

So, in reviewing the Wikipedia entry for this game, I think I may have very well been one of the early players of RR3. I know I started a decent amount before RTLM was the 1st SE (part of the May 2014 update), but couldn't nail down exactly when. However, I recall when the Cobalt SS and Corvette ZR1 were added to the game and that was the first update (March 2013). The game had just been released on iOS and Android on Feb. 28, 2103. So, I guess I did start from the very beginning!

In any case, here's my opinions on the various scenarios you laid out Amrosa (of which I believe the 4th and 5th ones to be the most likely).

1 - I'm sure they did figure that the freemium model would grow as time went on. It seems fairly logical and many other games have made it work well. I think the key is that freemium typically relies on microtransactions, in which players pay a little bit here and there and end up paying more in the long run than if a single initial payment was requested for the game. That's the difference with this game, there's nothing of value available as what anyone would consider a microtransaction. IMO, the only IAP worth anything is the 1019GC pack, which is $100, certainly not micro, at least in my book. If RR2 was profitable, then it seems that they could continue that same model for RR3 and remain profitable as well. I never played RR2, so I don't know how it differed really. If they had deferred licensing, then it seems they'd have known that and would have planned for it and we wouldn't be in the situation we are now where things seem to be changing much more rapidly, as if it caught them by surprise.

2. - I think this one is related to 4 & 5, but it warrants its own discussion as well. I certainly do believe that players were more inclined to pay real money for R$ and GC in the early days. There were far fewer cars, and said cars were a lot cheaper. So, the IAP's, while still expensive, went further than they do now. So yeah, it did make more sense to buy IAP's then. Now however, with the increase in cost of everything, that same money spent on IAP's is a literal drop in the bucket. As far as many players admitting to spending $1000+ on this game, I think they are either idiots and/or have entirely too much money (not that those are mutually exclusive). I think very few players would consider any mobile game worth thousands of dollars. I certainly woudln't want to run a game franchise relying largely on those players to generate my profits anyhow.

3 - This is true as well, and related to 2 above. There were fewer ways to generate income (both R$ and GC) in the early years, but also far fewer places to spend it as well. That same Wikipedia entry also claimed that when the game was introduced, the cost (in real dollars), to buy every car in the game using GC, would be $503.22. That's just to purchase the cars, upgrades and such are not included. That same $503.22 would barely make a dent in today's version of the game.

You also mentioned the updates made in 2014, which did provide more options to farm and earn more R$ and GC, in a quicker fashion. However, this was also partly due to adding more, and more expensive, cars to the game in updates around that same time. It was a fair way to counter the increased costs added to the game with the new cars added. We don't see these sorts of offsetting increases these days. Career Series still pay out roughly the same as they always did, we still can only receive 20GC ads/day, though now only if you chose to watch tons of R$ ads as well (in the early years, some players had unlimited GC ads/day, and R$ ads didn't exist), SE's and LTS's don't really pay more than they used to, etc.

4 & 5 - I see these two as directly related, and largely interchangeable. I think both of these may very well be true, and related to the 2nd and 3rd items above. I think, as the game has become more complex, the supply aspect (how we earn R$ and GC, either through gameplay or ads/IAP's), hasn't kept up.

Consider that in the initial iteration of RR3, the Bugatti Veyron was the most expensive car in the game, at $1,650,000 and it cost 458GC to fully upgrade. Compare that to the game now. For one, R$ cars are virtually unheard of as new additions (and those that are are lower-end cars). Plus, it seems like any mid-level or higher car has upgrade costs that well exceed the 458GC the Veyron required, and many are nowhere close to the Veyron's PR level.

However while those costs have increased, the amount and cost for IAP's hasn't changed. $100 still buys you 1019GC, just like it did 5yrs ago, even though that 1019GC doesn't go anywhere near as far. There's been no discussion (or at least any action), to maybe make these costs more reasonable, either by offering more R$ and GC with the IAP's, or reducing the cost of the IAP's. I really do believe that either (or both), would greatly increase the number of players that opt to purchase IAP's.  Otherwise, I think players nowadays are just looking at the math involved and realizing that IAP's are just flat-out not cost-effective. Certainly not as cost-effective as they were when the game was first released.