I am giving away 1000 Free Ideas. Find out how this works and ask me a question!
Anonymous writes: I create web/mobile games for a living, and I was looking for a way to make money by selling some by-products. The thing is that I can’t think of any by-products coming from free web games and mobile games. The by-products would obviously target players.
Dear Anonymous: This is an amazing question, and thank you for asking it. I wish I knew more about the games you were creating, but at the very least I’m going to assume they are fun. Here are a few fast ideas for what to offer as an added value that a gamer might be willing to purchase:
- Extras extras extras. Extra life, extra equipment, extra powers, etc. If people love a game, they will spend money to upgrade if they can’t put in the time. Look at how World of Warcraft junkies buy gold, and other items.
- Ringtones or soundtracks could be sold. With Zen Bound for the iPhone and iPad you get a Ghost Monkey album with your purchase. There’s no reason why the game couldn’t be free and the music costs a few bucks.
- T-shirts! Everyone likes to wear their favourite games like a badge of honour. Look no further than The Mario Brothers to figure out how to merchandise games. Mario and his friends are on everything. This is my favourite Nintendo shirt (that is not made by Nintendo).
- Collectible figures. If Homestar Runner can do it, so can you.
- Collectible cards. Pokémon turned a video game into a trading card empire.
- Upgrades and new levels. Many games offer a basic version for free, and then charge a few dollars for extra levels. Rolando 2, from the Apple Appstore is a perfect example of this.
- Tutorials on how to make your own games. You could sell a game kit that allows fans to make their own levels to sell, and then profit-share with you. Labyrinth 2 allows users to make their own games (but doesn’t sell it as an add-on feature).
- Allow people to customize games using photographs of people they know. Charge a buck to create a customized game for someone’s birthday or anniversary.
- Perhaps you could write and sell a screenplay? If they can make Battleship into a movie, than everyone has hope. (I warned you that not all of my ideas would be good!)
- Join the likes of the Cheezburger empire and allow your players to take screenshots of cool or funny moments in your games, add a caption, and upload it to LOL-Arcade.com (the domain is even available as of 10 minutes ago).
BONUS: If anyone has additional ideas on how to make money on free games with peripheral add-ons, please express them in the comments below!
Out of 1000 Free Ideas, there are now 949 left.
