Times change. Converting demos into premium purchases used to be a viable business model, but it's not anymore. Selling premium games on the app store used to be viable. It's not anymore. You've got access to balance sheets - would you disagree?
Re: "widespread hate for IAP among gamers", that only applies to gamers, who compose a negligible part of the overall population. Any company that's trying to target the wider market ("people" instead of "gamers") is right to ignore what gamers think, because gamers are not the ones playing Candy Crush, Bejeweled, Farmville, etc.
IAP can be done well, IMO, but it requires game designers to accept and embrace the model. If they view their target market as exploitable simpletons, they'll neither make a good game nor make much money, and this happens too often (as I'm sure you're aware). This doesn't need to be the case, though it does require some care to do it well and make sure that the free experience is valuable to players while still providing compelling opportunities for people willing to pay to do so.
Re: updating games in response to telemetry, why is that any worse than when a website A/B tests different calls to action? Or do you think games should not optimize to be the most profitable businesses that they can be?
I'm almost out of energy for repeating myself on this point. Every good game that I can think of offhand made plenty of money. Right up to the present day. Selling a game for money is still a plenty viable business model. Now, ok, yes these freemium Skinner box things are not games in the same sense I and other gamers are used to. Just like slot machines have nothing to do with Grand Theft Auto, this new breed of F2P 'games' have nothing to do with Portal. What's unfortunate is that companies that used to make good games are selling out, in the very essence of the phrase. In my opinion, it's not because what they were doing before isn't viable, it's because their management is that admirable combination of greedy and risk-averse.
Re: "widespread hate for IAP among gamers", that only applies to gamers, who compose a negligible part of the overall population. Any company that's trying to target the wider market ("people" instead of "gamers") is right to ignore what gamers think, because gamers are not the ones playing Candy Crush, Bejeweled, Farmville, etc.
IAP can be done well, IMO, but it requires game designers to accept and embrace the model. If they view their target market as exploitable simpletons, they'll neither make a good game nor make much money, and this happens too often (as I'm sure you're aware). This doesn't need to be the case, though it does require some care to do it well and make sure that the free experience is valuable to players while still providing compelling opportunities for people willing to pay to do so.
Re: updating games in response to telemetry, why is that any worse than when a website A/B tests different calls to action? Or do you think games should not optimize to be the most profitable businesses that they can be?