Virtual round table
We want to share our new project, which is called a virtual round table. The essence is simple: we prepare the questions and ask them by phone to the experts of the mobile application market. Then everything is “cleaned”, brought together and voila! You can listen to the audio version on our website , and especially for Habr's users, we did the decoding.
In this issue, experts talk about what to do with the application when development is finished: how to promote and promote, how to get Apple's feature on the App Store, what business models are better to distribute, why you need a publisher and how it can help, etc. d.
Ilya Chernetsky from i-Free , Pavel Räikkonen , director of distribution for Nevosoft , and Max Grinev , author and developer of the hit game Contre Jour (the best game for iPad according to Apple), share opinions .
Ilya Chernetsky
Ilya, tell us how you can increase your chances of success - in terms of, for example, the project. What should be in it for success to be more or less guaranteed?
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The very moment of launching the application is very important. The first question you need to ask yourself before launching the application is how do people find out about it? Hoping that you will release the application and it immediately gets to the top, of course, possible, but rather pointless.
I, in turn, can suggest several quite viable options.
The first is to work actively with the App Store itself. In other words, to increase the visibility of the application at the expense of a beautiful icon, at the expense of a good description, at the expense of screenshots, at the expense of the name, which should attract the attention of those users who roam the App Store in search of new applications. You also need to think about how your application will be. There are the majority of users who are looking for something not by specific requests or by category, but by the words, for example, “turn-based strategy” or “game for children”. So think carefully, choose words and phrases according to which the application can be.
Second - try to get into the reviews on the promoted sites. If we are talking about Russia, then the article on iphones.ru gives an almost guaranteed chance to be in the top 25 paid or free applications. If we are talking about foreign sites (American, first of all), then there are more such sites. On the one hand, this increases the likelihood of getting into them, on the other hand, the competition is very high, and, accordingly, the chances of getting a review from a small, independent, not exposed developer are much less. But you need to try: write letters, knock, get acquainted, in general, do everything possible. Sometimes you have to pay money for it.
The third is advertising. Plus, if you understand the conversion (the whole chain of events, from the moment when the user learned about the application to when he started paying for it), then you can experiment with buying traffic. The purpose of this is to raise the application in the tops. However, for this you also need to understand how many downloads we are talking about, what regions, categories.
The latter option is applicable when the application is already being sold (relevant mainly for paid applications). It is called price drop (temporary price reduction). Sometimes the application is even made free for one or two days so that it rises in the tops so that they write about it. After that, the application is usually hung up with the old price tag, with the result that there is a local increase in sales.
With regards to the way the application is distributed - you said paid, free - which one is better to choose and what to follow? Do you need a marketing budget for the launch? If so, which one?
The answers to both of these questions are highly dependent on the market, as well as on the method of monetization and on the category of the application. For the Russian market, the budget can start from one thousand dollars. For this money, it is quite possible to buy a few reviews and purchase additional traffic. It is likely that after this the application will fall into the first lines in its category. Accordingly, it will begin to be noticed by people who are watching the profile category. Although the cost of games may be a little more - there is more significant competition. As for the American market, there it will be already a question of numbers 10 times more. This is about the App Store.
For Android, with its system of ranking applications in the top by active cumulative installations - these numbers should also be more than the thousands of dollars already mentioned. The fact is that in order to get there in the tops, you are competing with applications that already have a fairly large installation base accumulated over the past months and years.
As for monetization, it all depends more on the category of the application than on the region, because in games, for example, the free distribution model with internal payments has now quite effectively shown itself.
In other categories, other rules. For example, the free financial top of the American side consists of banks with which it is very difficult to compete, even the leading American service Mint is not in the first place. While the top paid - it is almost completely applications for accounting for finance.
So always look, study the category in which you are going to release the application. Also watch carefully for categories in those regions where you plan to publish your application.
Pavel Räikkonen
Pavel, in your opinion - what determines the success of the project?
First of all, it is determined by popularity. And the developer can make a sufficiently high-quality title, and the publisher can make quite a lot of effort, but, nevertheless, if such a project was launched, but the users for some reason did not like it, they cannot talk about any success.
In addition, success has different criteria. For someone, success is just to make a game, run it in some application store and show your friends: “Here, I did it,” and for someone, success is some given amount of profit that a particular application can to give. It all depends on the goals and objectives that are initially set by the developer.
What should be in the project and what should be done with it after the development is completed in order to at least recoup the investment? This is speaking of the success of the project in terms of its profitability.
Now the classic of the genre is the release of updates - well, it seems to me that this is a matter of course.
First of all, you need to look at the metrics that are obtained as a result of user sessions, and carefully analyze them: what happens to the user when he gets into the game. In the future, based on these metrics, you need to make a decision: it is worth fixing something, it is worth improving something or nothing needs to be improved, you just need to release additional content. First of all, the start-up phase after itself implies, in a good case, the analysis of the received metrics, and the developer should plan further actions based on the received data.
If the developer is independent, small and made his first game: he has a choice: run this game on his own or contact the publisher. If he chooses the second option, what does the publisher do to make the game sell better?
First of all, this is preparation before launching the project: work on promotional materials, testing on various firmware and devices, localization (either full or partial - localization of promotional materials only). But we are now considering the case when the developer turns to the publisher at the last stage, when the project is ready for him.
In the event that he addresses at a sufficiently early stage, when he has only a ready-made design document with software, we, for example, give advice and answers to questions about what he should do with such a project, in which direction to develop what monetization schemes to apply.
We have already launched enough projects, and we have an understanding that it works better, that it works worse, that it does not work at all. Here, in the absence of experience, the right step: go to the publisher and get this experience. In the future, respectively, the developer can decide for himself whether to resort to the help of the publisher or not. If he believes that he can do all these steps himself, then please - this is his choice.
If at all these stages the work was carried out qualitatively, then the probability of success increases. No one will say that “I guarantee you 100% success,” and if he says, then it is clear that you need to treat these words with skepticism. No one knows exactly what will happen after the release, but the more experience, the higher the probability of success.
Max Grinev
Max, last time you said that the idea itself is of little value - the implementation is much more important. But if there is a good product - a game or applications - what will determine its success in the future: the quality of the product itself or some further steps?
In fact, there are a lot of nuances here, but quality is, let's say, nuance number one. If you want to make a successful game, it is just enough to make it qualitatively. It may not be a suicide, but a good quality game in any case should pay for itself. Quality in the broadest sense. If the game works, if it is beautifully drawn, this does not mean that it is made qualitatively. If she has no bugs - this does not mean that it is of high quality. She must have a well-developed gameplay. It should be qualitatively focused on its audience, that is, all the parameters should be at a certain level: programming, design, game design, marketing. If everything is done well, then the game will be successful in any case.
That is, if the product is really high-quality, then any marketing efforts are no longer needed?
In fact, the App Store is a very specific situation that is very developer friendly. Outdoor advertising almost does not work, it is exactly the internal advertising that works, advertising by Apple itself - a feature on iTunes. Accordingly, Apple, as a vendor of the platform, is interested in the fact that it is those games and programs that the user will like to advertise. For this reason, it is advertised quality products. If the game is worth it, Apple will fix it, and if it does, you have free and very effective advertising.
How to make Apple notice your game? So much after all every day appears.
Apple reviews every game. Let's say exactly how everything happens - no one knows. But I suspect that they have some kind of internal scheme. And if reviewers at the lowest level see something that catches them, they pass this matter to the top - and at the top it is already determined which program, which game will be finished. Of course, it may be useful to write a letter to Apple. Many developers say it worked for them. In my case, I did not do this. I put all this in the hands of the publisher. But the fact is that whatever the publisher, Apple ficerit exactly what they like. A publisher, for example, may draw Apple’s attention to a product, but it will not be able to put its game on display.
We hope that the opinions of experts will be useful to you. If during the discussion there were any questions, then write them in the comments. By the way, you can talk personally with those you have just heard at the White Nights Mobile Games Conference , which will be held on June 14 and 15 in St. Petersburg.
In this issue, experts talk about what to do with the application when development is finished: how to promote and promote, how to get Apple's feature on the App Store, what business models are better to distribute, why you need a publisher and how it can help, etc. d.
Ilya Chernetsky from i-Free , Pavel Räikkonen , director of distribution for Nevosoft , and Max Grinev , author and developer of the hit game Contre Jour (the best game for iPad according to Apple), share opinions .
Ilya Chernetsky
i-free
Ilya, tell us how you can increase your chances of success - in terms of, for example, the project. What should be in it for success to be more or less guaranteed?
')
The very moment of launching the application is very important. The first question you need to ask yourself before launching the application is how do people find out about it? Hoping that you will release the application and it immediately gets to the top, of course, possible, but rather pointless.
I, in turn, can suggest several quite viable options.
The first is to work actively with the App Store itself. In other words, to increase the visibility of the application at the expense of a beautiful icon, at the expense of a good description, at the expense of screenshots, at the expense of the name, which should attract the attention of those users who roam the App Store in search of new applications. You also need to think about how your application will be. There are the majority of users who are looking for something not by specific requests or by category, but by the words, for example, “turn-based strategy” or “game for children”. So think carefully, choose words and phrases according to which the application can be.
Second - try to get into the reviews on the promoted sites. If we are talking about Russia, then the article on iphones.ru gives an almost guaranteed chance to be in the top 25 paid or free applications. If we are talking about foreign sites (American, first of all), then there are more such sites. On the one hand, this increases the likelihood of getting into them, on the other hand, the competition is very high, and, accordingly, the chances of getting a review from a small, independent, not exposed developer are much less. But you need to try: write letters, knock, get acquainted, in general, do everything possible. Sometimes you have to pay money for it.
The third is advertising. Plus, if you understand the conversion (the whole chain of events, from the moment when the user learned about the application to when he started paying for it), then you can experiment with buying traffic. The purpose of this is to raise the application in the tops. However, for this you also need to understand how many downloads we are talking about, what regions, categories.
The latter option is applicable when the application is already being sold (relevant mainly for paid applications). It is called price drop (temporary price reduction). Sometimes the application is even made free for one or two days so that it rises in the tops so that they write about it. After that, the application is usually hung up with the old price tag, with the result that there is a local increase in sales.
With regards to the way the application is distributed - you said paid, free - which one is better to choose and what to follow? Do you need a marketing budget for the launch? If so, which one?
The answers to both of these questions are highly dependent on the market, as well as on the method of monetization and on the category of the application. For the Russian market, the budget can start from one thousand dollars. For this money, it is quite possible to buy a few reviews and purchase additional traffic. It is likely that after this the application will fall into the first lines in its category. Accordingly, it will begin to be noticed by people who are watching the profile category. Although the cost of games may be a little more - there is more significant competition. As for the American market, there it will be already a question of numbers 10 times more. This is about the App Store.
For Android, with its system of ranking applications in the top by active cumulative installations - these numbers should also be more than the thousands of dollars already mentioned. The fact is that in order to get there in the tops, you are competing with applications that already have a fairly large installation base accumulated over the past months and years.
As for monetization, it all depends more on the category of the application than on the region, because in games, for example, the free distribution model with internal payments has now quite effectively shown itself.
In other categories, other rules. For example, the free financial top of the American side consists of banks with which it is very difficult to compete, even the leading American service Mint is not in the first place. While the top paid - it is almost completely applications for accounting for finance.
So always look, study the category in which you are going to release the application. Also watch carefully for categories in those regions where you plan to publish your application.
Pavel Räikkonen
Nevosoft
Pavel, in your opinion - what determines the success of the project?
First of all, it is determined by popularity. And the developer can make a sufficiently high-quality title, and the publisher can make quite a lot of effort, but, nevertheless, if such a project was launched, but the users for some reason did not like it, they cannot talk about any success.
In addition, success has different criteria. For someone, success is just to make a game, run it in some application store and show your friends: “Here, I did it,” and for someone, success is some given amount of profit that a particular application can to give. It all depends on the goals and objectives that are initially set by the developer.
What should be in the project and what should be done with it after the development is completed in order to at least recoup the investment? This is speaking of the success of the project in terms of its profitability.
Now the classic of the genre is the release of updates - well, it seems to me that this is a matter of course.
First of all, you need to look at the metrics that are obtained as a result of user sessions, and carefully analyze them: what happens to the user when he gets into the game. In the future, based on these metrics, you need to make a decision: it is worth fixing something, it is worth improving something or nothing needs to be improved, you just need to release additional content. First of all, the start-up phase after itself implies, in a good case, the analysis of the received metrics, and the developer should plan further actions based on the received data.
If the developer is independent, small and made his first game: he has a choice: run this game on his own or contact the publisher. If he chooses the second option, what does the publisher do to make the game sell better?
First of all, this is preparation before launching the project: work on promotional materials, testing on various firmware and devices, localization (either full or partial - localization of promotional materials only). But we are now considering the case when the developer turns to the publisher at the last stage, when the project is ready for him.
In the event that he addresses at a sufficiently early stage, when he has only a ready-made design document with software, we, for example, give advice and answers to questions about what he should do with such a project, in which direction to develop what monetization schemes to apply.
We have already launched enough projects, and we have an understanding that it works better, that it works worse, that it does not work at all. Here, in the absence of experience, the right step: go to the publisher and get this experience. In the future, respectively, the developer can decide for himself whether to resort to the help of the publisher or not. If he believes that he can do all these steps himself, then please - this is his choice.
If at all these stages the work was carried out qualitatively, then the probability of success increases. No one will say that “I guarantee you 100% success,” and if he says, then it is clear that you need to treat these words with skepticism. No one knows exactly what will happen after the release, but the more experience, the higher the probability of success.
Max Grinev
Contre Jour author
Max, last time you said that the idea itself is of little value - the implementation is much more important. But if there is a good product - a game or applications - what will determine its success in the future: the quality of the product itself or some further steps?
In fact, there are a lot of nuances here, but quality is, let's say, nuance number one. If you want to make a successful game, it is just enough to make it qualitatively. It may not be a suicide, but a good quality game in any case should pay for itself. Quality in the broadest sense. If the game works, if it is beautifully drawn, this does not mean that it is made qualitatively. If she has no bugs - this does not mean that it is of high quality. She must have a well-developed gameplay. It should be qualitatively focused on its audience, that is, all the parameters should be at a certain level: programming, design, game design, marketing. If everything is done well, then the game will be successful in any case.
That is, if the product is really high-quality, then any marketing efforts are no longer needed?
In fact, the App Store is a very specific situation that is very developer friendly. Outdoor advertising almost does not work, it is exactly the internal advertising that works, advertising by Apple itself - a feature on iTunes. Accordingly, Apple, as a vendor of the platform, is interested in the fact that it is those games and programs that the user will like to advertise. For this reason, it is advertised quality products. If the game is worth it, Apple will fix it, and if it does, you have free and very effective advertising.
How to make Apple notice your game? So much after all every day appears.
Apple reviews every game. Let's say exactly how everything happens - no one knows. But I suspect that they have some kind of internal scheme. And if reviewers at the lowest level see something that catches them, they pass this matter to the top - and at the top it is already determined which program, which game will be finished. Of course, it may be useful to write a letter to Apple. Many developers say it worked for them. In my case, I did not do this. I put all this in the hands of the publisher. But the fact is that whatever the publisher, Apple ficerit exactly what they like. A publisher, for example, may draw Apple’s attention to a product, but it will not be able to put its game on display.
We hope that the opinions of experts will be useful to you. If during the discussion there were any questions, then write them in the comments. By the way, you can talk personally with those you have just heard at the White Nights Mobile Games Conference , which will be held on June 14 and 15 in St. Petersburg.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/140540/
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