2014/01/20

iOS App Store congestion

Many developers and publishers alike are worried about visibility on the App store. To counter this they try to spend more and more money on user acquisition. Or they find creative ways to game the App Store.

However there is another obvious way getting your App visible. Have a bloody good & distinct game.

If you do whatever everyone else is doing then the only way to separate you from them is either price or marketing spend (aka visibility). Price is tough as you can't go cheaper than free (well you can, but that is not here yet).

Lets see some examples: strategy games. There are really bloody good strategy games on the App Store. Check them out yourself: http://toucharcade.com/top-reviews/strategy/?time=all

Just look at the 5 star rated ones. Awesome isn't it. The key trick is that I put on "life time", i.e. all 5 star rated games since the App Store exists from that site.

Why this? Because the iPhone to an extend doesn't change a lot in terms of games. Practically you compete against all games having been released since ... lets say the iPhone 4, that was in 2010.

This is what I am worried about more than visibility. In the next few years you need to compete against all hits since 2010. That is kind of unique. On consoles hits from 2 years ago aren't really competing anymore with you. On iOS they are.

Look at the top grossing charts. do you realize that most of these have been released prior 2013?

Check yourself: http://blog.tapjoy.com/app-development/what-do-apples-top-grossing-iphone-apps-of-2013-all-ha/

So if you plan to make a runner game for example don#t do this unless you are 100% sure you are going to revolutionize that genre. Or a tower defense game.

Do what no one does. Or do it entirely different. Be bold. Be different. But be realistic.

Also check this list out (Metacritic): http://www.metacritic.com/browse/games/genre/metascore/strategy/ios?view=condensed

And do  me a favour and buy one of my all time favorite real time strategy games on iOS: Red Conquest.