I recently watched a South Park episode called “Freemium isn’t Free” and it really got me thinking. South Park is known for it’s pop culture references and maybe taking it too far sometimes on undeserving people or issues. However in this case I really did think that Freemium apps did deserve having their crooked business model made fun of.

The idea behind Freemium apps is that you can purchase the initial app or service for free, but then subsequent services or features are then charged. Slightly deceivingly, Freemium apps are under the “Free” category in App Stores. These Apps provide a much more consistent and growing revenue stream then other free and maybe even paid apps. Due to their attractive revenue model, there is an exponentially rising amount of Freemium game apps.

The first main type of Freemium app is like a “False Demo”. They provide you the first level, fully functioning, for free. In order to play any more levels, you have to pay for each individual level. This type of business model is effective because after completing a level, users might feel like their efforts have been wasted if they can’t proceed to the next level.

The other type of Freemium game is where in order to purchase certain characters or features you need to use coins or similar in-game currency. Of course you could play the game repeatedly to earn those coins. However, the way the game is set up, it would take an extremely long time to earn coins organically and makes it almost impossible to buy those extra features. Because of how nice these game creators are, you can use real dollars to purchase these in game currencies, which then allows you to buy those features that seem so alluring.

In the words of South Park, Freemium apps are just enough fun to keep players hooked, but not fun enough without the extra charged features. A dominant primary target consumer for these apps might be young children or teenagers. While they might not be spending large amounts of money each time, it could all add up to a substantial value spent on a very addicting and crooked business model.