I absolutely agree with you about paying actual money for a full game. The problem with this though is I've been burned a few times buying a game, only to have it become free with in-app purchases later on: functionality that was previously included is removed and players must now periodically pay to get it back (usually in the form of some kind of temporary 'power boost' pack).
I guess the developers reasoning is they can get as many suckers as possible to pay for the full game after initial launch, then after a couple of months they squeeze more money out of it by changing to a pay-to-win format which hugely increases their user base.
It's a disgraceful approach and I certainly won't deal ever again with any devs who do this. Unfortunately, such devs don't really get much shaming so they probably get away with it.
Are you describing a situation where you initially pay for the full experience only to later have some of those features you specifically paid for become in-app purchases again which you have to re-purchase? If so, surely that's not legal? I've seen apps where something similar to this happens before but people who bought the original full price purchase are grandfathered in.
There's also the scenario where a previously-purchased game becomes ad-filled.
One example: I purchased Rovio's Bad Piggies outright for a couple bucks way back when when there was the ad-supported version and the fully unlocked ad-free purchased alternative. Sure, my current version has all the features I originally paid for, but the experience has gone to shit.
The purchased version was a complete and ad-free game at the time. Now my version of it is filled with ads for their other games and "consumable" IAP options at damn near every pause screen, every menu and the loading screens because they made the game "free", which essentially downgraded my experience back to the free-to-play version they started with. I didn't lose any game mechanics, but I lost the ad-free experience I paid for.
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Music companies were/are notorious for doing something similar.
I can't tell how many CD's I bought in the early aught's right when a band I loved came out with a new album - only to see it in Target a few months later with several "previously unreleased" tracks on it as a bonus.
It drove me crazy since it happened so frequently.
That's different, the re-release has new content which wasn't in the original that you bought? And the original continues to work?
Instead imagine that half the disc you originally bought turned out to be self-destructing ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3064327.stm ) but you can buy a re-release without the issue for a discount if you trade in the old disc.
Ya you're right, this is cross-industry. Lord of the Rings did the same thing with its franchise. They released all the "Theater Version"s first knowing the hardcore fans wouldn't be able to wait the many months after for the extended edition. It's an annoying tactic to say the least.
Like all App Store purchases, you didn't pay for the full game, you paid for access to an app id which points at mutable bits of data that you can't stop from mutating.
I guess the developers reasoning is they can get as many suckers as possible to pay for the full game after initial launch, then after a couple of months they squeeze more money out of it by changing to a pay-to-win format which hugely increases their user base.
It's a disgraceful approach and I certainly won't deal ever again with any devs who do this. Unfortunately, such devs don't really get much shaming so they probably get away with it.