Do you think Bill Gates or Steve Ballmer cares that some people hate Windows/Microsoft? Do you think Steve Jobs cares that a certain percentage of people think the iPhone sucks because it doesn’t support flash?

Nah, I think they simply ignore the displeased minority. Their bank accounts probably help in making them happy, but I think knowing they created something that people love and use makes them happier. They all have lots of fans, and so do you.

As long as you have customers that love your product, and it provides you with enough money survive, you should be happy. My wife’s 13 year old cousin loves your game. He keeps wanting to borrow my cell phone so that he can finish the game. Chopper2 provides a ton of entertainment to many people, and that’s what you should pay attention to. That’s what matters.

I disagree with people that say you should raise the price to get higher quality customers. I don’t think a higher price point results in better customers. It simply results in less customers, and more people would pirate the game. Software should be priced such that it provides the developer with the most amount of money possible. If $0.99 generates more income than $4.99 for your particular product, that’s the price it should be sold at.

I have software on the App Store and I would trade places with you. I would gladly read some bitchy emails in exchange for $70k revenue

Turd

You have apparently learned this lesson because that was your strategy and it worked for you. It is too bad that there do not seem to be many ways for a competitor to get noticed once another app is already high in the rankings.

And I’d agree that the low price point invites the wrong kind of customers. It’s not completely analogous to your situation, but I’ve raised my consulting prices over the past year or so, and the shift in quality of clientele has been a breath of fresh air! (not to mention better for my business and my workload) People who buy something on the cheap are (literally) not investing themselves in your work… but for some reason they always seem to bring high expectations for the experience. I agree that for a good game app, it’s not out of line to charge $2.99 – 4.99, considering the hours of entertainment it brings. I personally think a shift in app store economics is imminent as more developers realize the support aspect of the business, and adjust their pricing accordingly. (Jason Fried of 37signals had some great thoughts on this with their own iPad app pricing)

Just thoughts. Still a bummer that people have to be assholes… but realize that there’s more to the surge than just the ratio of asshole customers to non-asshole customers. Do what you can to minimize the voice given to the 20% assholes (even if it’s just a filter between the comments and you), and you’ll have more time/attention to focus on the “good” 80%.

Good luck!

A fellow game programmer at my company sent me your blog. I’ve been making games for over 20 years, and have felt a lot of what you are going through. Just a couple words of wisdom:

First, and I mean this kindly – get over it and move on. In the same way that your customers expectations are totally out of whack with reality, your expectations of your customer are probably skewed as well. Deal with the 90% of your “good” customers and don’t spend too much time worrying about the vocal minority. They will always be there, and you simply CAN’T satisfy them with your economic model, so don’t try. Just politely say “I’m sorry our game didn’t meet with your expectations. We are a small shop and do the best we can to serve the vast majority of our customers.”

And note that this happens at all levels of game development. From 99c app store games to $70 AAA titles. You can’t please everyone, so you gotta’ please yourself. And, seriously, if you are actually making money selling 99c apps, then you CERTAINLY DID SOMETHING RIGHT, so keep doing it. You’re ahead of 90% of the developers out there and you should be proud!

If you stick with it, you will be surprised how fast this kind of thing brushes off your shoulders. It’s all part of the business, so embrace it! Once you’re “jaded” to all this, consider yourself a real game developer. (Well, I take that back, you need to deal with an insane publisher first before you are in “the club.”)

Finally, what most people don’t appreciate is that video games, in general, are the most under priced form of entertainment in the history of mankind. “Kids these days” (I hate to find myself saying that) expect amazing things for almost no cost. If somebody get’s 15 minutes of fun out of your 99c game, then they got a bargain.

And an amusing way to handle this (although it won’t work for you): my friend Brian Fox (author of, among other things, bash, which is on your mac right now), got many many flames about bash. Since it was free software he had a canned response to these: “please return bash for a full refund.” He never got a response!

Perhaps it might be cathartic to post collections of the most infuriating comments as blog posts? Then you could read the supportive comments (and ignore the counter-flames)….

Keep up the good work, and don’t let the losers grind you down.

At least with email it’s contained and you can delete, ignore, or reply. You have none of those options on the app store… Well you coil ignore, but prospective customers won’t.

Chin up son. Live is good :)

I suspect it’s a lot to do with why the community on Flickr ($25 per year) is mostly positive, while YouTube is a sewer. The price is an idiot filter.

Raise your price.