Disable free to play games targeted at children completely. Require every children's game to have an upfront price (I suppose the $0.99 minimum app charge at least).
This would be great news for the market - game developers would focus on building more rewarding gaming experiences, instead of just endless skinner boxes. It would also help sell Apple devices, since developers would not need to target the lowest-common-denominator for mass advertising appeal.
I wonder if you could list multiple copies of an MMO game client on an app store, with each client having a different price and providing different in-game aesthetic effects like "FooGame: Sparkly Hat Edition".
Could be an easy way to get around this limitation.
That already exists with the Basic, Advanced and Pro editions of some application software. Extending that paradigm to a game is just a matter of determining which expansion packs are preinstalled.
The 70c that they would get out of that sale would still be much greater than the current ARPU from ad and microtransaction supported games, and would go some way to encouraging gameplay shifts.
Apple could just increase the minimum charge to $4.99 (or its regional equivalents) if it really wanted to increase quality. A decrease in its exorbitant 30% commission would be suitable as well.
Disable free to play games targeted at children completely. Require every children's game to have an upfront price (I suppose the $0.99 minimum app charge at least).
This would be great news for the market - game developers would focus on building more rewarding gaming experiences, instead of just endless skinner boxes. It would also help sell Apple devices, since developers would not need to target the lowest-common-denominator for mass advertising appeal.