Why it is not necessary to develop applications for VK.com

I have long been associated with this network, and at one time it was the perfect place to develop and launch applications:

1. A good audience;
2. Growth opportunities without large financial investments at the start;
3. Excellent API;
4. Application support at the infrastructure level;
5. Various earning opportunities for the audience.

Over the past couple of years, the situation has changed dramatically for the worse, and since this year my team and I will not even try to launch something inside the VC.

Growth opportunities without financial investments are practically removed.

1. Prohibited the possibility of gaming promotion - to give bonuses for invited friends, it is not recommended to send something to the walls and other equipment. Now if you want growth - you need to invest in advertising.
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2. Placement in the games catalog is paid, and costs very little money. Moreover, this value tends to increase suddenly several times. I will tell one story:

When developing one game project, we budgeted the cost of placing in the catalog of new applications, money was raised to the internal account of the game (something about $ 1000 then it was worth it).

And so, as the administration sent out to all developers a message that they are observed from a delay when they hit the catalog, because of the large number of applicants, the deadlines may be delayed. It was important for us to know when exactly the placement will be, what the support service question was asked about.

Three days later, the answer never came (for the sake of justice, it is worth saying that it is still not there yet - six months later), but the cost of accommodation has suddenly increased three times.

In general, the whole system has become focused on pumping out money from developers, while the quality of service for your money is none.

Attitude towards applications and developers

1. About a year ago, the system was reoriented to games , all non-game applications disappeared from the catalog, it became possible to find them only by searching. Perhaps from a network point of view, this is logical, but the audience on this growing application began to decrease, slowly but steadily.

2. The attitude of support and moderation, worse with each experience of communication. Again a few stories.
One year ago, the application was banned from me (about a million users), because it showed prohibited advertising (showed naturally the teaser network, and not the application itself), it happened as follows:

- From the moderator in the panel of correspondence comes a couple of words "violation, subscription."
- I politely clarify what they mean, what exactly needs to be eliminated.
- The application is silently blocked for users and entered in the list of prohibited.
- Over the next two weeks, all questions in the panel of correspondence, support and e-mail can not get any answers.
- The question is solved only by a post on Habré (find 10 differences with obtaining a passport abroad, until you write to the prosecutor’s office in time to get your passport).

Moreover, I was ready to eliminate the violations immediately, without unnecessary talk and any disputes, if someone explained what was violated.

Second story, current:

I had a lot of projects, there are good ones, and many are not very successful (5000-10000 installations), then a person who is ready to buy them turns to me, for not very big money, $ 100 each for a similar project.

In principle, the projects are already frozen - an unnecessary ballast, for which they also offer some money.

In principle, the rules for selling applications are not described anywhere, procedures as such do not exist, but it is possible to change the main administrator to whom the application is tied. Accounts at the same time must be both verified by phone numbers.

If there is a change of the main administrator, the application will not be returned, and there is no more control over its capabilities.

But! Attention, the drum roll - the former administrator who passed the application, and has no control over it - is still responsible for the actions of the new owners.

I somehow missed this moment, as it slipped in two words at the end of the second paragraph, in one of five to six modal windows that you go through when transferring control over applications.

The result is expected, because of the sale of a small application, the account was banned, for the actions of someone from the new owner of the application. And along with the account, applications with 3 000 000 users, funds in accounts and so on.

As a result of a month of communication with support, it was not possible to come to anything, the arguments are built ironically - you clicked “Ok” in one of the windows where this phrase was, you are now to blame.

Guys, I am a developer, not a lawyer and not an angel, sometimes I am mistaken and I do not always read the subtleties of small print, but I am always ready for a dialogue and admit my shoals.

By the way, while writing the article I came up with several simple ways to circumvent such a ban, everything is rather trivial to do if you think in advance about what you can be banned for fraud. But I, unfortunately, apparently, was not inclined to fraud.

And the last - profitability

Since March, only ads from Vkontakte can be placed in applications, so that all the above described buns have also been added to the decline in profitability twice from the same audience.

Total.

Vkontakte - you can behave as you please , ban anyone you want, I don’t care, I will be engaged in projects in more interesting directions, with more adequate "partners".



And never mistaken elves from the VC, I wish to once again get into the list of prohibited sites, and not to be in the bath for a few months, but in parallel with the Roskomnadzor in parallel, receiving answers in my own style - What claims now? ".

PS This is not a post of hate, but rather a final disappointment in the company, which at one time you treated well.