Cheating ratings Dungeon Keeper, 500 million installations Temple Run and update iTunes Connect - the main thing for the week for a mobile developer

EA tricks with reviews of Dungeon Keeper for Google Play

Electronic Arts decided to use, as many believe, a dishonest way to raise the rating of the game Dungeon Keeper in Google Play. To do this, they inserted into the application a not quite standard “Rate the game” window.

The meaning is as follows. If a player clicks “5 stars“, then he is sent to Google Play to put the highest score on the game. If he presses “1-4 stars“, then they open a mail client with a request to write “what is wrong“ and why he wants to give a low rating. As a result: in the store were published mainly ratings of 5 stars.

You can make a conclusion about how much this influenced the rating of the game in the store, just by looking at the image below and comparing the indicators in two key markets.

This method of obtaining estimates caused a storm of emotions in the industry. Some believe that this is a hoax. Others that EA did not break any rules. Indeed, such a decision does not prevent the player from switching to Google Play and setting the grade that the game deserves.
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EA representatives commented on the situation as follows: “The“ Rate this app “feature in Google Play’s Dungeon Keeper version helps us collect feedback from those who don’t think the game deserved the highest rating.”

That would do the same in the AppStore. But no. There is one very interesting point that is very dangerous to break:

“3.10.

Do you think this decision falls under this description? We believe that EA lawyers still recommended their colleagues not to take risks and limit themselves only to Google Play.

500 million Temple Run installations

One of the most popular games on mobile platforms has been downloaded more than 500 million times. Temple Run was officially born on August 11, 2011, after just over 3.5 years the application managed to achieve such a significant mark.

By the way, another well-known hit - Candy Crash Saga - scored its half a billion downloads “just” 1 year after its release. Now, these numbers do not surprise anyone anymore.

GetJar was sold for $ 5.3 million ... or 10 times more expensive

The buyer of the popular mobile platform (by the way, with domestic “roots” among the founders) was the Chinese company Sungy Mobile. The entire amount was paid to the creators of the cache.

GetJar is an independent mobile app store that was launched in 2004. The store is used by more than 15 million people who downloaded applications more than 2 billion times.

Interesting situation with the amount of the transaction. At the beginning, it was reported about $ 78 million, then the version about $ 50 million sounded . As a result, the information about $ 5.3 million was confirmed, which were paid in cash. Additional payments are possible “in case of achievement of certain indicators after the transaction”.

Sociality Rocks! 2014 Moscow will not take place

Sad news. The organizers of the conference Sociality Rocks! 2014 (http://www.socialityrocks.com) in Moscow sent a letter to the participants that the conference would not take place. The message does not reveal the motives of such a decision. The organizers report that the event is being canceled “due to reasons and logistic circumstances beyond our control (organizers) that fell like snow on the head today (02/18/2014)”. It is a pity that it happened. The conference promised to be very interesting. We wish Sociality Rocks! survive this unpleasant incident and please the industry with new events.

ITunes Connect updated

On February 13, Apple updated the Sales and Trends section in iTunes connect. Those who have developer accounts can already see the new interface (which, if memory serves us, has not changed since the launch of the iOS Developer Program).

Now this section looks like this:


In short, the changes have pleased. It is now possible to view data by country, platform, category, type of transaction, select time slots, and create your own filters for faster viewing of the necessary information.
The interface of the page has become more convenient and informative. A complete list of changes can be found in the Sales and Trends Guide .

Have a nice work week!