F.A.S.T. — Fleet Air Superiority Training!, one of the App Store’s most popular paid games is now available for free, but there is a catch. I noticed it on the App Store this morning and mistakenly believed this was a simple Christmas sale, it’s not.
Indeed, the app turned free but only allows you to access a very limited number of missions or planes. If you want to actually enjoy the game you’ll have to spend a further couple bucks on in-app purchases.
This is definitely an extremly disapointing move from its developers and especially for those of you who paid the full-price and are now stuck with a trial.
If you haven’t yet, do not update F.A.S.T.
***Update
If you already updated, Tom Stitzer, one of our readers just explained how to get back the old version:
The old version SHOULD now be in your trash or recycle bin, or will be once you sync. If you haven’t synced yet, what i would do is, drag a copy of the old app from your itunes and make a copy of it somewhere for safe keeping, make sure it’s not the new update. Delete it off your iPhone/Touch. Sync. THe old version should be restored, but your old scores and stuff might not be.
IF you’ve already synced, just look in the trash for the old version. Delete the new version from your device and from iTunes and then drag the old version back into iTunes and sync. That should do it. Just never update it, never use the update all, because then you’re back to the new in-app purchase version.
Thanks for the tip Tom!
***Update, Apparently some of the updates would be free of charge if you bought the game earlier. We are getting confusing reports about this, I’ll be looking into it to set the record straight.
I just downloaded this game but it keeps saying that I should upgrade to the full version. Why is it this way? Anyone with the same problem?
I bought this game months ago for 5$ or so, I think I know why they did the upgrade for free. Because now you have to make in app purchases to buy the planes you want to fly then you have to buy the map you want to fly your bought plane in and then you have to buy the gear for your bought plane to fly on your bought map. Yeah really nice of them. Be careful the next update they might throw in, an in app purchase to pay for fuel tax for the virtual fuel you are burning in your bought virtual plane! HA!
I just want the update gone and my app I paid 5$ for restored!
OT: NFS: Shift is out
Doesn’t look like a sale. Rather that it’s converted into making you buy the full version in-app. And from the wave of 1 star reviews, it did this even to the people who already bought it before this. Lame move on the devs part.
The old version SHOULD now be in your trash or recycle bin, or will be once you sync. If you haven’t synced yet, what i would do is, drag a copy of the old app from your itunes and make a copy of it somewhere for safe keeping, make sure it’s not the new update. Delete it off your iPhone/Touch. Sync. THe old version should be restored, but your old scores and stuff might not be.
IF you’ve already synced, just look in the trash for the old version. Delete the new version from your device and from iTunes and then drag the old version back into iTunes and sync. That should do it. Just never update it, never use the update all, because then you’re back to the new in-app purchase version.
Title: When Good Games Go Bad, Part 2?
Thanks for the heads up. As a preemptive measure I opened up the Apps pane in iTunes and dragged the current F.A.S.T. object to a safe spot on my hard drive. It manifested as a file “F.A.S.T. 2.0.ipa”. Key info for that file:
Size: 10548786
Modified date: Sep 16 2009
MD5 hash: 4197aafd5bf1bc7c550858a363bf6cfd
If I inadvertently get the update I should be able to just drag back that file to the apps pane, right?
It would be nice if there were a way to flag an app for iTunes as “never update.”
Yep, discovered this and did the same for Shazam. Free version, No 5 tag limit, No ads and NO UPDATE! It would be great if we could put programs on an “ignore updates” list. Just sayin ;^/…
This is such a stupid move on the DEV’s part, the bad press they will get from this is bound to backfire. And it needn’t have happened. Shazam found a way for its existing users for the free app to still get unlimited tags per months after they updated and changed the business model, F.A.S.T. should have done the same, rather than punish their existing customers.
Check it out: If you’ve bought the game in the past, you will NOT have to pay the in-game cost to unlock features:
http://forums.toucharcade.com/showpost.php?p=729514&postcount=4223
Goodness…
I purchased this app at the full price and am now being asked yo pay .99 for the full version.
Also just noticed that the support link and email address are DOA. This is one of my son’s favourite games and I am stunned that they would pull something like this!
Wow, I have no problem with them moving to an in app purchase system but I can’t believe they are downgrading all the previous owners in the process. I am glad I did not buy this one and it looks like I wont be buying anything from this developer if they don’t take care of their customers.
In my opinion, this is the main problem with Apple’s in-app purchase system. This sort of crap should not be permitted. If a developer wishes to provide a free version with in-app purchases, then it should be a separate app from the paid app. Get with the program Apple and put a stop to this sort of practice! Do something great for your consumers for once!