Given Sacred Odyssey: Rise of Ayden peaked at #32 on the App Store's top grossing chart in the US, the suggestion that Gameloft's try-before-you-buy model hadn't been a hit with consumers was already on solid ground.

The model, also replicated in Starfront – Collision, lets players take on the title for free for 15 minutes, before hiding the rest of the game behind an in-app purchase.

Now it seems Gameloft's take on try-before-you-buy could be heading towards an early grave, with a full £3.99/$6.99 version of Starfront having recently hit the App Store.

Bye bye try-before-you-buy

According to Gameloft, Sacred Odyssey is soon to receive the same treatment, with the publisher responding to what it claims has been a negative response from some quarters.

"We've taken into account feedback from many players, who did not feel comfortable with the new free model with in-app purchases," said Gameloft's UK marketing manager Callum Rowley in an email to Pocket Gamer.

"And so we've decided to bring as well the classical full version our players are used to buying. Thus, people will now have the choice to take advantage of the purchasing experience that best suits them."

Though the try-before-you-buy releases will remain on the App Store for the time being, the move is an unashamed u-turn by Gameloft, given it originally billed the new model as a reaction to increasing demand from consumers and developers alike for try-before-you-buy.