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@jkhab69 AB Go! represents a turning point in Rovio’s quest for cash. This was Rovio’s first proper freemium game. To unlock the characters in AB Go! you can either wait endlessly for birds to recharge OR you can pay. (Really? The birds are too tired to play unless you pay them?!) You can either replay hundreds of races to mine gold for required upgrades OR you can pay. More of the same when you get to the challenges. If you’re stuck, buy your way out! For a long time Rovio didn’t check if challenge objectives were even feasible (examples). The money-grab wasn’t exactly subtle and your observation that races become harder doesn’t surprise me at all.
I suppose it’s possible to complete AB Go! and 2,000 challenges without paying Rovio a dime, but it would take a special kind of determination. I have no idea what a reasonable amount would be for 5 months worth of playing. A thousand bucks sounds excessive, and I can only hope that you got your money’s worth of entertainment.
Personally, I wish Rovio the best but I refuse to support their new business model. When I started playing Angry Birds, I paid €0.75 for Angry Birds Space Premium and €0.80 for the extra Danger Zone episode. That was it, there were no extra costs or extra options for anything. Back then I actually thought that €0.80 for Danger Zone was a rip-off! Cut the Rope and other great games, same thing. Then Rovio introduced pay-to-use Mighty Eagles and Power-Ups in their old games. You didn’t need those features to keep competing for the leader boards, but the trend towards freemium was obvious. After AB Go!, Rovio messed up Star Wars ll with pay-to-use Character Swaps and Last Chance options. Same with Stella. Those things are required if you’re playing for the leader boards.
From $2.00 for unlimited game play in 2012 to a whopping $200 per month in 2014. Yep, beware of what games you get into!