Executive Class: Will App Store Host Premium Games At Premium Prices?

What's the secret password?  M-O-N-E-Y.

There are hints and allegations that the App Store will be adding a "premium" department, featuring higher-priced gaming apps from established companies, at a corresponding higher price.  No ninety-nine cent fritterware here, Bunky — and, it would appear, no bedroom developers either. 

According to PocketGamer.biz, qualifying games would have to meet a new set of stringent requirements for quality and value, and would hover in the US$20.00 range.

However, Greg Joswiak, Apple vice president of iPhone and iPod product marketing, said in a recent interview that "What we'd like to do is show off the games – the 3D and the casual
ones. Everyone from the big developers is excited — the EAs, the
Gamelofts, Hudsons and Segas — but what's also cool is the small guys…You get the one or two-developer shops like the Pangeas, who are doing
a great business, with anecdotal stories like paying off their home
mortgages after a month or two of being in the store."  Joswiak also feels that a "sweet spot" of US$7.00 to US$14.00 is more realistic.

Right now, there are more than 1,500 games available in the App Store — more than what's available for the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP combined.  But many of those games are hand-crufted [sic] by "the little guys," and it would be interesting to see if the App Store's preferential treatment of gaming high-rollers would help or hinder these mini-entrepeneurs in the long run.

[Via AppleInsider]