User blog comment:RomGuyony/Cost Prediction of v4.3.1/@comment-25956839-20160522082017/@comment-26249703-20160522101718

On Monday night when waiting for the update to come out, I was looking at the highest grossing games on the App Store. I think the list is limited to the Top 150 and unless I missed RR3, it doesn't feature on the list. A few racing games do feature, including CSR Racing, which was quite high (possibly top 25-50). I used to play it but dropped it because it became too repetitive in terms of gameplay. However, I believe their costing model was more interesting. First of all, while the equivalent prices for lowest to highest packs were similar (£1.79 to £79.99), what you received was a lot more rewarding (image the top pack to award 3,000 Gold instead of 1,000, or something like that). Plus, the system they use is not condition for each car, but a fuel tank with 10 bars, 1 bar/race (2 bars for some bosses) that refilled at the rate of one bar/min. They offered a deal to increase that to 15 bars in the tank, for £3.67, which I was more than happy to pay, as it was a worthwhile investment into the experience, not something I had to buy just to stay afloat, not being strong-armed into it. Later, they started to introduce cars that were only obtainable by paying real world currency. I think there were 4 by the time I quit, adding up to around £15.00. That's when I started to feel iffy about the game and something I'm worried about for RR3. In the App Store, the top 10 purchases for RR3 are all under $20. I just don't see people dropping more money that that in the game, on a regular basis.

At the end of the day, the freemium model is what got them their audience: I think I read an article that RR3 eclipsed RR1 and RR2's all-time combined downloads within 3 weeks, or something like that. I know nothing of the associated costs and profit margins so I can't comment on that but it seems to want the best of both worlds: to have more players because the game is free (compared to RR1 and 2) then want them to pay more than they would have for RR1 and 2 combined.

You talked about an XBone and FH2. There's obviously a higher initial cost but once you have it, you have it (barring DLC, which is usually worth the money). It could be even cheaper by considering Project Cars, rFactor, Asseto Corsa, etc... all worth the equivalent of 476 Gold, going by the price in RR3's store. If one has a decent PC, they can drop £80-100 in a wheel, pedals and far superior game in terms of realism, graphics, content and most importantly, enjoyement. I'm seriously considering the latter.