![]()
For the first time in the App Store (at least as far as games are concerned) competing developers are joining forces to release their wares as one in the 5 Fingers Bundle ($5 in the App Store). Similar in concept to MacUpdate, these five developers are offering their great games as one, for almost a 60 percent savings.
As many of us have experienced before, bundles usually have a shining star or two while the rest just ride the coattails. So what do you get with the 5 Fingers Bundle?
- Chopper – Was a No. 1 game for a while.
- BurnBall – I’ve become addicted to playing this game.
- Up There – A beautifully designed game, featured by Apple.
- Blackbeard’s Assault – A classic Zuma-style game with incredible graphics.
- Sneezies – A bubble-popping game which seems to have a great following.
Tim Haines — developer of BurnBall — shared the following:
In an increasingly competitive market, five different development teams have taken a break from fighting for a spot in the App Store Top 100 to create something wonderful. Independently connected through a shared admiration and enthusiasm for each other’s work, they have joined forces and worked together to deliver a bundle brimming with quality.
Since the bundle consists of five games from five different developers, I was curious how updates would be addressed. According to Haines, bug fixes will be nearly immediate. App updates to the individual games will be handled in the Bundle on something close to a monthly basis.
Of course the $4.99 price tag may not represent a deal for you if you own 3 or more of the games already. But if you’ve found yourself bumping up against the 148 app limit, this is a good way to squeeze some additional apps onto your iPhone or iPod touch.
I wonder how this model will affect sales of the individual apps. It’s win-win for consumers, who will not only get 5 great apps for a bargain price, but who may also find developers with other apps they didn’t previously know about. With such a generous pricing model and update strategy, I hope it works out as well for the developers.
I love the concept, and think many others will too. Will we see more competing developers ‘shacking up’ together for similar bundles in the future? I think it’s a great way to play off each others’ customer base, but I guess only time will tell. For now we’ll chalk it up as yet another interesting experiment in the youthful Wild West that is the App Store.
Comments have been disabled for this post