HeroCraft’s definition of free is well, a little different

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Published on Sunday, 03 February 2013 12:53

A few days ago, HeroCraft released a new game onto Google Play called Jail Run. This is a decent little puzzle game where you grab loot and avoid traps in a bid to escape the dungeon you’re held captive in. We covered it in our latest Under the Radar column a few days ago.

Anyway, the game is available for download for free, but you have a limited number of steps. By the time you get to roughly level 15-ish, you run out of steps and can buy a thousand more for $0.99 or purchase unlimited steps (in effect the “full game”) for $2.99.

Some of those who downloaded the game were caught unawares by this, and took to the game’s Google Play review section to give HeroCraft a piece of their mind and to let others know that a pay wall exists. HeroCraft seemed to take offense to those calling the game free in all but name, and issued the following reply to all users who made such a complaint:

Dear user, this game is absolutely FREE. If you want to get more steps, then you should click this option - "Steps for free". There you're told what you should do to get a certain amount of steps.

Let me translate that for you. What HeroCraft is essentially saying is that you can get more steps for free by downloading other apps and games. Thus, since this whole process is done without any money involved, HeroCraft maintains that Jail Run is a totally free game.

Those who got these replies were not amused, with them unilaterally saying that they’ll not be downloading free apps and games to complete the game and as such ended up deleting it. I personally think HeroCraft’s definition of free is flawed here, and I hope no developers follow in their footsteps by claiming a game is completely free despite it needing one to complete offers to finish the whole game without forking out any money.

What do you have to say about HeroCraft’s definition of a free game? Are they right to claim that Jail Run is “absolutely FREE”? Share with us your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

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