Amazon Underground games “100% free”
August 27, 2015
Amazon has launched Amazon Underground, a new app store that lets users play games for “actually free”.
The app store, which can be downloaded for Android phones, looks set to take on the “freemium” model that has become popular with games developers. The business model sees publishers offers games for free initially — but then charges micro-transactions for extra in-game bonuses, or levels, or playing time etc.
Instead, Amazon will pay developers according to how long people play them for. “We’ve made this possible by working out a new business model with app and game developers: we’re paying them a certain amount on a per-minute played basis in exchange for them waiving their normal in-app fees,” Amazon explained.
The store will offer “100 per cent free versions” of popular titles including Goat Simulator, Fruit Ninja and popular titles with in-app purchases like Frozen Free Fall, Star Wars Rebels: Recon Missions and Angry Birds.