Free Version has been removed in App Store? Now i have to rebuy each table?

Thats a joke or?

It was removed for only a week due to apples request, because the paid version is app of the week... Just wait until the week is over...

Didn't FS say that even though the free version is temporarily removed you will still be able to download the tables if you have the app?

Kevlar said:

Didn't FS say that even though the free version is temporarily removed you will still be able to download the tables if you have the app?

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You can't redownload because the app no longer appears as an app in the itunes store as if it was deleted even though it will be back next week once they raise the price to 99 cents again. If you need to redownload the tables this week because you have the old free version, unfortunately you have only one option. You can ask apple's itunes store for a refund of the free version tables you bought and then you can repurchase all of them again once you get the refund in 5 to 7 days or immediately if you don't mind paying twice temporarily.

The good news is the Free version that has been removed this week will have better reviews than the 99 cent one when it returns. I think making the paid version free without marketing exactly what is free about it has created all of the problems with the bad reviews it has been getting. What Farsight should have done is advertise their 99 cent table you get when you purchase the app is Tales of Arabian Knights and explain in the description they are giving away this table which is worth normally 99 cents and that all the other tables are not free, but all are playable up to a certain point an unlimited amount of times. So many one star reviews because people were expecting a free app and instead get ads thrown in and most of the tables with the buy screen showing up and a login screen for facebook. Both are annoying to the average person. Also, most cannot appreciate the hard work that goes into emulation. The other inferior pinball apps will have better reviews and more stars because of this. What Farsight should have done is have their free version be the one advertised and perhaps giving away one of the downloadable packs. If that was done, there would have been much better reviews and the publicity would have been better. So far what has occured I do not see it as a positive. Also, the little icon for the game should be Tales of Arabian Knights so as not to confuse new people downloading the game during this promotion. Then switched back after it is done.

Overall having two versions of practically the same game was a bad idea considering the way the appstore is run.

Afik as far as appstore is cncerned these are two different apps, in hindsight its a bad idea, birthing pains man, while both apps have the same content their payments sadly dont apply to the other but it is an entireky apple issue

Heretic said:

Afik as far as appstore is cncerned these are two different apps, in hindsight its a bad idea, birthing pains man, while both apps have the same content their payments sadly dont apply to the other but it is an entireky apple issue

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It's a Farsight issue as they created and sent both apps for apples approval. Apple sees them as two seperate apps, which is appropriate for them since it is not the android market which is riddled with multiple versions of the same program and is confusing in the same way. I am glad most apple apps submitted to the appstore don't usually suffer from this problem. For example Angry Birds Space doesn't have an add riddled free version for a reason, at least not yet. Farsights solution of hiding the free version to avoid confusion makes sense, but has caused a lot of confusion to those having paid for the free version tables.

Supermans said:

For example Angry Birds Space doesn't have an add riddled free version for a reason, at least not yet. Farsights solution of hiding the free version to avoid confusion makes sense, but has caused a lot of confusion to those having paid for the free version tables.

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Really? Because a search of the App Store shows this free version of Angry Birds Space: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/angry-birds-space-hd-free/id526337775?mt=8

Farsight didn't hide the free version on their own, Apple asked them to temporarily remove it because the paid version was now free.

I'm not sure why people have such an issue telling the difference between the free version and the paid version. When the Pinball Arcade was released, every story I read made it pretty clear that there were two versions. I bought the paid version because I have absolutely no desire to rely on free versions with IAP. For all the complaints you'd think Farsight was the only company that ever released a free version. From my experience, 95% of the apps in the app store have a free version as well as a paid version. Look at Big Fish Games. They have hundreds of apps that they release as free versions and then you can unlock the full version with an IAP. And then half those games also have a paid version as well.

The only reason people have issues with Pinball Arcade is because leading up to the app being named the App Of The Week, the paid version got updated and the free version didn't. If people had read the comments made by Farsight, they would have realized this was because the approval for the paid version was expedited knowing it would be App Of The Week. If it wasn't going to be AOTW, we probably would have been waiting another week for the new tables in BOTH versions and yes, they would have been updated at the same time. Come next month, I'm sure they'll be back to be released at the same time and people will stop whining.

It was indeed a bad idea to maintain two separate versions of the app. But it's really something they could and should remedy from now on. Or the confusion will just go on.

They should keep the one version that is now off sale (due to the promotion) permanently off sale. People who previously downloaded this version will still be able to download it via the Purchased tab in the App Store (apps no longer in the store will also show up here).

The good thing about this is that Farsight can still update the version no longer in the store. Read this article for more about this. The one thing that potentially could be a problem is if in app sales no longer work when an app is taken off sale. Hopefully it will still work.

Ben Belden said:

Really? Because a search of the App Store shows this free version of Angry Birds Space: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/angry-birds-space-hd-free/id526337775?mt=8

Farsight didn't hide the free version on their own, Apple asked them to temporarily remove it because the paid version was now free.

I'm not sure why people have such an issue telling the difference between the free version and the paid version. When the Pinball Arcade was released, every story I read made it pretty clear that there were two versions. I bought the paid version because I have absolutely no desire to rely on free versions with IAP. For all the complaints you'd think Farsight was the only company that ever released a free version. From my experience, 95% of the apps in the app store have a free version as well as a paid version. Look at Big Fish Games. They have hundreds of apps that they release as free versions and then you can unlock the full version with an IAP. And then half those games also have a paid version as well.

The only reason people have issues with Pinball Arcade is because leading up to the app being named the App Of The Week, the paid version got updated and the free version didn't. If people had read the comments made by Farsight, they would have realized this was because the approval for the paid version was expedited knowing it would be App Of The Week. If it wasn't going to be AOTW, we probably would have been waiting another week for the new tables in BOTH versions and yes, they would have been updated at the same time. Come next month, I'm sure they'll be back to be released at the same time and people will stop whining.

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The free version for Angry Birds Space didn't show up until their paid version stopped selling as much. I didn't know they released it yet, but I guess it has been long enough. In any case if you want to buy the full version of angry birds space, without ads, then it points you to the other version from within the app. That is what Farsight should have done. Instead there are two versions of the same game where you have to spend the same amount of money to unlock, just in slightly different ways. Except now you save 99 cents if you buy all the tables this week while the 99 cent version is free. I hope your're right in that both get updated from now on at the same time, that eliminates confusion as well.

I just don't see how hard it can be for Farsight to leave the 99 cent version as the only one and for them to send out emails to everyone who purchased them with vouchers or itunes gift card money with the balance they paid for all the tables and have everybody repurchase the tables from the paid version.

Because there's no guarantee that people would use those cards to buy the tables in the paid version. Plus, they lose 30% again because Apple takes their cut.

Gord Lacey said:

Because there's no guarantee that people would use those cards to buy the tables in the paid version. Plus, they lose 30% again because Apple takes their cut.

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I see. Then Farsight would have to work something out with apple' itunes store in order to get rid of one of the two versions. There has to be a workaround or way. Granted if two versions remain, then so be it. Hopefully there aren't anymore negative issues that occur because of it.