Apple Stops Listing Games As ‘Free’ On iTunes

By Ted Schwerzler | Nov 21, 2014

Apple is trying to stay ahead of trouble on the App Store by listing games with In-App Purchases differently.

If you have ever browsed the iTunes App Store for the next time killer on your iOS device, you have likely seen the multitude of games being offered up for “free.” While this is a great thing upon first glance, a simple download typically greets you with a bombardment of in-app purchases and microtransactions. You may have been expecting that, but maybe not, and now Apple is clearing the air.

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Instead of listing games with in-app purchases as free, Apple has now changed the “buy” button to simply say “get,” and also added a tag line of “In-App Purchases” below the choice.

For consumers, this is something that has been desired for quite some time. The European Union recently forced Google to do something similar in the Google-Play Store in regards to their listing of free-to-play games. Considering that nothing but the initial download and entrance is free, it is somewhat of a misrepresentation.

With Apple having one of the largest online marketplaces in the iTunes store, this move is likely something that is being done to stay ahead of what could turn out to be larger problems down the road.

For those consumers who were looking to download free-to-play games or were familiar with microtransactions, this change is likely no issue. However, it helps to bring more clarity to those consumers who found themselves somewhat shocked by the development of a game that they believed to be free, only to be asked for money on the back end.

Free-to-play is a growing model, and it’s gaining a lot of steam. I think as long as developers pick either one purchase strategy or the other, they are in the clear. Consumers become more upset paying for something up front, and then being asked for more money later.

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