Stoic co-founder John Watson claims that Apple is fed up with the race-to-zero mentality which pervades games pricing on the App Store.
Watson is currently facing the unique challenge of deciding on a suitable price point for his studio's upcoming high quality iPad game, The Banner Saga. According to him, Apple is encouraging the studio to top up the game's quality and price, but he is still not convinced that this strategy would pay back.
"Apple is frustrated, along with everybody else, about the mentality that's gone rampant in mobile app markets, where people don't want to pay anything," said Watson.
"They think that four dollars is an exorbitant amount to pay for a game, which is very illogical considering most people's lifestyles. They'll spend $600 on an iPad, and $4 on a coffee, drop $20 on lunch, but when it comes to spending four or five dollars on a game, it's this life-altering decision. I'm frustrated with that too."
Stoic's other co-founder, Arnie Jorgensen, explained that Apple is enticing them to take advantage of the extra processing power available to the iPad Air. "So they're telling us to go higher-end with our game," he said. "We're still making those decisions."