Pick Your Tools – We Are Going To Farm Away!

Make Hay, Not War.

Finnish mobile gaming studio Futureplay Games announces global launch of their brand new title Farm Away for iOS devices on the App Store worldwide.

As the title suggests, it’s a farming experience, but much more dynamic and faster in terms of gameplay and it should be able to keep you occupied for long time. Game controls are very simple, tap and swipe to cultivate cute animals, crops and virtual riches.

I am not gonna tell you all bits and pieces of gameplay, as you can easily download the game on your iOS device and start farming some crops. Instead, I am going to give a small insight on the game monetization choices and future plans.

DISCLAIMER: I was unable, once again, to test the game myself as I do not own any iOS devices. I will write an updated article once I get my hands on Android version of the game.

The game uses traditionally, many hated In-App-Purchases (later referred as IAP) and on top of that is supported by ad content. Sounds weird, right? Why would you use both IAP and ads. I reached out to developers of the Farm Away and the decision actually makes a lot of sense.

We coined the term View-to-Play and we believe that ads can be done right so that they feel natural for the game and rewarding for the players and are great for the advertisers and generate revenue for us. IAPs usually reach only about 3% percent of the players and we want to reach the other 97% as well. The mobile ads business is estimated to be $100B market next year and we believe this is a huge opportunity for games and developers that the majority of developers have still not woken up to,” tells Jami Laes, CEO of Futureplay Games.

So it seems like company is aiming to not interfere the user experience with ads, but merely support their future developments. Only time will tell how good or bad the execution of the plan is.

As with any IAP games, there is, commonly, an in-game currency. Gems in this instance can be both bought through IAP or farmed by playing the game. First question that popped in my head is how feasible it is for the player to farm gems without spending a dime on IAPs. Laes claims that actually it’s more than feasible to play the game without investing any real money in it. Players will get around 15 Gems per level up and level ups are based on how actively you play the game and there is no cap on levels, so you can continue earning the gems. Sounds great.

What about Android? As always, I am an Android patriot so that question bothered me as well. The plan is to release Android version of the game earliest by the end of this year if no major issues arise. So keep an eye on Google Play Store.

And last but definitely not least, how is Farm Away different from Supercell‘s Hay Day?

The key difference is pace. Hay Day is slow in progression where you put new orders and then wait, where with Farm Away you can continuously play without interruption. And that’s something that I personally have been waiting from the Supercell titles. I don’t want to just sit and wait or being forced to use IAP – I want fast and steady progression without being artificially slowed down and if I want to invest more money into the game to support it, I will do so on my own free will.

All in all, Farm Away seems like a great game to play, with a lot of potential for growth and development. I do really want to see the game for myself before making a final statement but on paper, but gotta say this game looks awesome.