Apogee

John Carmack discussed the success of Apogee's Shareware model. Apogee (which John mistakenly refers to as "Apigee" in the conversation) is notable for its innovative approach to software distribution. They split games into three parts, offering the first part for free as a sharable demo while selling the remaining parts. This method proved successful, attracting significant consumer interest and support despite risks of non-payment. One key feature of this model was the substantial volume of fan mail received, indicating strong customer engagement and satisfaction 1.