Yesterday I noticed that Xploding Boxes had snuck into the Top Paid chart on AppWorld. This is unusual because Xploding Boxes is listed as a free app.

Instead Xploding Boxes has made it onto the Top Paid charts by virtue of its in-app purchases. This represents a change by BlackBerry in how they determine their charts, and one that should benefit the consumer, as it gives additional promotion to those apps that can be tried for free. This will be a boost to those apps that make use of in-app purchases, which continues to be the best way to sell games on AppWorld.

Despite what I implied at the top of this post, it is actually rather common for these apps to do well. Previously there were plenty of times when Xploding Boxes would be outselling Pixelated Plus, yet Pixelated Plus would be the only one of my apps on the Top Paid chart. Currently four of the top twenty-five paid games on the PlayBook are technically free (including the number one game on the chart).