Freemium games dominate App Store list of most downloaded, highest grossing apps for 2014

Apple on Tuesday released its annual "Best of 2014" list for the App Store's most-downloaded and highest-grossing titles, revealing so-called "freemium" games as the year's biggest money-makers.

Like last year's Best of iTunes list, games dominated iOS App Store downloads in 2014, with Heads Up! coming in as the top paid app for iPhone and Minecraft — Pocket Edition for iPad, according to Apple's Top Charts.

Top-ten paid apps for iPhone:

Top-ten paid apps for iPad:

The year's highest grossing app for both iPhone and iPad was Clash of Clans, a popular game offered on the freemium model. In many cases, freemium games offer in-app purchases for virtual currency, character buffs or special items. According to Apple, games featuring in-app purchases accounted for nine of the top-ten grossing apps for iPhone and ten out of ten for iPad.

As for free apps, social media and messaging titles led in downloads, with Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, Youtube, Facebook and Instagram taking the top five spots.

Top-ten free iPhone apps:

Top-ten free iPad apps:

Today's list follows Apple's "Best of iTunes" awards, which saw Elevate — Brain Training take home iPhone App of the Year and Threes! as iPhone Game of the Year. Pixelmator and Monument Valley won awards for best iPad app and game, respectively.

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19 Comments

benjamin frost

said about 9 years ago

Out of the 45 apps mentioned, I own three. I look forward to receiving my medal in due course.

jason98

said about 9 years ago

This is explainable. Freemium model is the only way for the iOS users to "try it before you buy it". Every app that still asks for money upfront should be considered as a potential scam.

mpantone

said about 9 years ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by jason98

This is explainable. Freemium model is the only way for the iOS users to "try it before you buy it". Every app that still asks for money upfront should be considered as a potential scam.

Your explanation is inadequate.

Before Apple introduced the "freemium" option, many developers released free (basically demo) and paid versions of their apps. However, based on the way Apple's App Store accounts for download statistics, a user of Demo App X counts as a separate person/transaction when he/she downloads Paid App X or Freemium App X+.

Plus, app developers can discount their paid apps to the point of 99 cents or free. I've downloaded plenty of paid apps that way.

ascii

said about 9 years ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by jason98

This is explainable. Freemium model is the only way for the iOS users to "try it before you buy it". Every app that still asks for money upfront should be considered as a potential scam.

They almost need separate categories for apps you try for free, and then pay once (in app) for the full game, vs "freemium" games where you are constantly making little payments for virtual currency etc, and that kids rack up big bills on.

rogifan

said about 9 years ago

What a shock that stupid fremium games dominate the App Store....not. I wish the App Store was dominated by things other than candy crush but I guess that's what people want. Sigh.

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