Banner Saga dev says Apple is frustrated with race to the bottom

"Apple is frustrated, along with everybody else, about the mentality that's gone rampant in mobile app markets, where people don't want to pay anything."

- The Banner Saga developer John Watson In a new interview with Polygon, Stoic Studio co-founder John Watson tells the site that Apple has been advising the company on its pricing plans for its upcoming iPad port of indie PC hit The Banner Saga. Surprisingly, it sounds like Apple may be advising the studio to go with premium pricing. Watson suggests that the tablet maker is frustrated with players who expect to pay little or nothing at all for games. He thinks the company hopes that, at least on tablets, games with "higher-end" production values may resurge at premium prices: "... I think they're hoping developers are going to be using that on iPad Air, because it can push it now. So they're telling us to go higher-end with our game." One thing is clear, though: The Banner Saga on iOS will not be free, Watson tells Polygon. However, research by Distimo and Chartboost earlier this year has confirmed that iOS users (across both phones and tablets) have embraced free-to-play: 81 percent of all revenue generated on the App Store comes from in-app purchases. Meanwhile, on Android, App Annie says that freemium apps account for 98 percent of global revenue on Android's Google Play store. Just last year, however, another high-caliber strategy game found iOS success with premium pricing: XCOM: Enemy Unknown hit the top-grossing charts at launch.