Tapulous’s latest update to its massively successful Tap Tap Revenge franchise will soon be live on the App Store. It looks as though the app was supposed to be live by now according to an article on TUAW, though it doesn’t appear to be available quite yet (we’ll update with a link as soon as it is). The new app brings with it plenty of gameplay enhancements, but the biggest change here is support for in-app song purchases. This means you’ll be able to choose from a roster of premium songs created by well known artists and buy the ones you like — giving users more choice than ever, and giving Tapulous a lucrative new source of revenue. Update: The app is now live. You can download it here.
Gamers would have loved to be able to purchase songs in-game before now, but for the first year of the App Store’s existence Apple didn’t allow for that functionality at all, so Tapulous was forced to release standalone premium packs (as they did with Weezer, Nine Inch Nails, and others). These apps have done well, but Tapulous was always faced with the challenge of getting users to download an entirely new application with each release. Update: CEO Bart Decrem says that the company has sold over 500,000 premium apps at $5 each, so obviously they weren’t exactly struggling. Now they’re be able to sell track packs through a single application.
Up until now TTR’s flagship games have been free, which helped them get great distribution (the original Tap Tap Revenge was the most downloaded game of 2008), but has turned into something of a thorn in Tapulous’s side. With the release of the iPhone 3.0 software update this summer Apple finally allowed applications to offer in-app purchases, but they offered this option only for premium apps — that’s why TTR3 costs 99 cents. Tapulous will have to find a way to get its users on other apps to switch over to TTR3, but it should be able to facilitate the switch by cross-promoting in TTR1, 2 and the aforementioned premium apps.
The TUAW article includes a full listing of songs that will able available through the app, which are available as 6-track bundles for $2.99 and 2-song bundles for 99 cents.
Here’s a sampling of the tracks available:
BLINK 182 – “Adam’s Song” / “All the Small Things” / “Dammit” / “First Date” / “The Rock Show” / “What’s My Age Again”
FALL OUT BOY – “Thanks for the Memories” / “Sugar, We’re Goin Down” / “Dance, Dance” / “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race” / “I Don’t Care” / “American Suitehearts”
FOO FIGHTERS – “The Pretender” / “Wheel” / “My Hero” / “Best of You” / “Monkey Wrench” / “All My Life”
THE KILLERS – “Mr. Brightside” / “Sweet Talk” / “Human” / “When We Were Young” / “All These Things That I’ve Done” / “Read My Mind”
We’ve been tracking the new version for some time now (the company had planned to have it out by the end of August but it was delayed). Among the features in the new version are over 100 free songs, custom themes and avatars, integrated chat, and a multiplayer online gaming arena.
I wish it was free
really? complaining about a 99¢ price tag? how is this not more than a reasonable price… i guess if you really want to complain it should be about apples in-app purchase policy
It could be a shining example of the freemium model if this weren’t the case.
Since only paid apps can charge for additional content they really have no option. Is either this or releasing a new version for every artist. It would be cook if apple allowed free apps to sell extra content tough it would be a mess.
So if it’s free how exactly are they supposed to afford to make an updated app for you? ads? Yeah, those economics are really working. And if you seriously can’t afford a .99 why do you have an iPhone or a Touch? For that matter why are you reading Techcrunch? You should be looking for a job. You obviously have larger financial challenges you should be addressing. As an app developer probably the most annoying users are the ones that expect everything for free. I’m sure your boss would like you to work for free too. Maybe you think you shouldn’t have to pay rent or that gas stations shouldn’t charge you to fill up your tank. It’s .99. The developer of a $US 0.99 app gets $US 0.70. Then we get to pay another 1/3 of that to the IRS to cover your unemployment checks.
As a consumer, we don’t really give a damn what you think… We just want a good product, I agree thAt 99 cents is not a substancial amount of money, but we do not appreciate your logic when saying that he can’t afford the app, am sure he does. If I had Three hundred dollars to spill on a 32gig iPhone then I sure the hell have 99 cents for an app.The fact is that we have grown acostumed to a great free app. And it’s only because apple’s stupidity of an app having to be premium to allow in-app purchase that I find this ridiculous. How would you like to pay 10 dollars for iTunes, which considering it’s capabilities, is a really good price for it. When something has been free for almost 2 years it’s really hard to make people pay for it. I am just saying….
@locutus
I don’t see what you’re getting at by comparing paying for this app to paying for gas and rent, and insulting people.
Tells me that you really have nothing better to do than lurk these sites and make irrelevant and stupid comments.
In my opinion, $.99 is a perfect price. I remember dropping the same amount for the first Tap Tap.
What I don’t get is why they are now charging for most of their songs.
And yeah, Apple’s in-store policy is pretty stupid.
Really dude? Are you seriously complaining about 99 freaking cents. Can you really not afford that? I have had the opportunity to have the pre-release of it and it is worth more then $.99. Do you get more fun out of a game that you can play over and over again or a cheeseburger at McDonalds? It is not even worth saying that.
Omg Jonah I’ve been talking with Ed it sound so awsome. I can’t wait
here’s the direct appsto.re URL: http://appsto.re/ttr3
you could download it for free!!! U NEED JAILBREAK
maybe they need to integrate it with sociallybuzz.com
I got TTR2 yesterday.
I really liked the Jailbreak version a lot better since it could use your music library and didn’t force you to shake your phone (that’s so weird to me).
That being said, I intend to buy TTR3.
This is one of our favorites and will only get better. Can’t wait to try it out.
Well nice, bad thing i got no money on my iTunes Account right now. Gotta wait a week. But nevermind. Keep the good stuff coming ^o^
Great news, I must say I am not a big spender on Apps but if there is something that I want and that is proven to be good, I will pay for it.
There are heaps of apps that cost $5+ while there are apps which are just as entertaining for 99c or even free.
I’ll be happy to buy songs on TTR3, so long as it is music that I like.
I just feel not liking to pay for the songs. They are not that good to my taste, and TTR2 has tons of free songs. So when you have choices of free songs why bother buying them (e.g. “Tap Tap Domination” is free in TTR2)
If someone really are into “music games”, they should know that TTR2 is lacking. If there is no indication that they are fixing those problems, it is not worthwhile to buy songs that has those problems in it.
In the mean time I find playing DJ Max a much better experience than TTR2.
is it just me or do these games keep looking worse n worse with each update? TTR looked awesome when it came out, TTR2 looks ok i guess, but this looks horrible. fix the interface and menus PLEASE! o n the avatars look like cr*p too…
99cents? Wish it was free..
So I think TTR is over for me, since i’m on Brazil and we don’t have a game session on iTunes Store =’(
Now that you are making money off the game (which, BTW, I have no problem with at all- you all deserve more for what you do) will it still have ads? Also, will we be able to import all of the premium tracks that we did spend money for into TTR3, like TTR2 (I have every Tap Tap App ever made, so this is one of those things that would be really helpful, so I don’t have to have all 8, about to be 9, apps on my iPod)
Can’t wait for this release. Will be nice to be able to buy some decent songs very easily!
As for 99¢, that’s nothing to me, I can imagine it will make them a small fortune as well when you consider how many people will actually be purchasing this app.
so uhhhh when exactly is this coming out?? any word on the time/delay???
Woah, cant wait to see it! But, i have a question: If i haven’t installed 3.0 software yet, could i have played Tap Tap Revegne 3? If i cant download or play it, i’ll very very upset because Tap Tap Revegne 3 have FOO FIGHTERS & FALL OUT BOYS! Hope u guys will answer me soon cuz i cant wait to play it anymore! :”>
I’m glad it’s 0.99. Now Tapulous can make money off it, and no noobs will leave bad reviews.
Also, Apple forces them to make it $0.99 versus free so that they can use the In Apps purchase feature. I find this kind of ironic because it would be very nice to have the application free and all premium features sold using In App purchase.
dislike how most the the good songs require payment