Ngmoco VP Alan Yu today disclosed that his company's total game downloads during a new game's first week of release would be anywhere from 50% to 90% pirate copies. Yu cited this as a reason why ngmoco is moving to include in-app purchases in its upcoming titles, since that gives users incentive to buy legitimate versions of the games. Yu stated that pirate download rates seem to fall off faster than legitimate download rates, too.
In-app transactions are becoming an increasingly prominent part of major iPhone titles. Both Tap Tap Revenge 3 and the iPhone version of EA's Rock Band intend to sell songs and virtual items through in-game download shops. Some developers have spoken out against iPhone's current microtransaction scheme as too limited to be a useful revenue stream, since it's only available in paid apps, forbids sale of virtual currency, and puts a minimum $.99 price tag on downloads.
[via Know Your Mobile]
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