Free From In-Game Fees?
What is this about free from in-game fees and charges?
Perhaps you have heard the word "Freemium". These are games that are available free for download. This sounds nice on the face of it. However, anyone that distribution software has to make a little income on each game -- even if only a few pennies. Why? Because there are administrative costs. Once a game is on the market it's possible for research and software development costs to drop to zero. But administrative costs never go away.
If you only distribute a few games, then it's possible to dig into the petty cash and cover the costs.
If you have a viral hit, then even a few pennies, nickels, or dimes multiplied by thousands and millions of downloads becomes a cost burden. You may recall that Flappy Birds was pulled from the market because the developer didn't want to be bothered by the administrative overhead of a run-a-way viral hit. Not a great decision in my option, but it certainly serves to underscore the fact that life can change over night if you get a viral hit.
So to cover the incremental costs for the games we charge $5.99
Why $5.99 cents?
Several years ago when we started this project we thought that 99 cents would cover the basic costs of delivering this service. Turns out we totally under-estimated the expense. The $5.99 is a nice compromise between the actual cost of delivering the orbs and a reasonable price to the user. We make up the short-fall through other means.