public-trans-it-deactivated2024:

I’ve ranted about this before, but Pokémon Picross had the best monetization model of any game I have ever seen in my life.

For those unfamiliar, it was a puzzle game. You get about 5 or so puzzles per ‘stage’, have a limited amount of energy to spend on each puzzle per day, and have to pay a freemium currency to advance to the next stage.

The cash shop offers the freemium currency you can buy to advance to further stages (obtainable for free by doing free daily puzzles), as well as energy refills for doing the puzzles (recharges for free over time). Also some pricier options like a 'Mega Stylus’ that gives you access to a few more, higher tier puzzles to solve.

Playing the game for free takes something like half a year to complete. It’s a nice little side distraction you can spend about half an hour on each day.

If you spent money, you could finish the full thing in an afternoon or two.

How much money would that cost you?

… $20. Because the game keeps a lifetime total of how much you have spent on it, and the second that total hits $20, it locks you out of being able to spend money anymore, and everything in the shop becomes free forever.

This is literally the BEST most user friendly monetization option I have seen for any game. I desperately wish other games did this!