7 ms·

The End of Indie Game Development on Android

126 points by tzm 14y ago

richcollins 14y ago
No offense to the op but it sounds like he doesn't hustle. The app stores aren't the only place that people learn about games.
- goostavos 14y ago
  Agreed about using other channels. But I think his main point remains, finding something other than top 100 on Google play is near impossible. I mean, I've pretty much given up completely. Separating the wheat from the chaff is quite difficult. I rely on places like /r/gamedev, and /r/android for finding new apps. If someone could aggregate all of that data into something that actually usually it be freaking awesome. As it stands now, the playstore is horrendous. Google is doing a pretty overwhelming job in my opinion.
  - ricardobeat 14y ago
    underwhelming?
    - goostavos 14y ago
      heh.. Yeah, That's what I meant. I typed that on my phone.. The autocorrect seems to have gotten the better of me.
CrazedGeek 14y ago
App stores will never remove the need for other advertising. Why not send review copies to the major Android, tech, and gaming websites, and see if they put something up? Why not put something up on AdMob? Why not do giveaways of the game? Why not put it on a competing app store? There are many legitimate answers to these, but relying on the Google Gods to sell your product for you is just silly. (Whether Google's cut is then justified is a different matter entirely.)
- mwd_ 14y ago
  I'd love to give away free copies of my Android game but I don't think Google Play supports promo codes. You also can't start out with a free app and then convert to a paid app later. Of course, a common approach is to have a free version and a paid version (or make your game ad-supported, or add in-game purchases). "Just In", if it worked, would be great.
  - shazow 14y ago
    You could just send out a link to the .apk, it doesn't even need to be through the store.
  - hackerpolicy 14y ago
    I've always wondered, what would happen to Google's 30% cut if they implemented promo codes, and I used it to send a few copies of my paid app?
    - shinratdr 14y ago
      That's why Apple limits the number of promo codes you can issue to 50 per version last time I checked, so you can't sell the codes to users and avoid giving up the distribution cut.
  - fpgeek 14y ago
    Last I heard, Google supported completely discretionary developer-initiated refunds. IIRC, at least a couple of the high-profile apps that left the Amazon Appstore took advantage of that to ease the transition for their paying (i.e. not FAOTD) customers. With that capability, implementing a reasonable functional equivalent of a free promo code seems straightforward enough.
    - kalleboo 14y ago
      How about e-mail?
mirsadm 14y ago
If there is anything I've learnt by releasing many "unsuccessful" apps is that "release and wait to get rich" strategy does NOT work. This time round we are spending A LOT of time networking/promoting/pestering reviews etc etc.
jwwest 14y ago
Because as we all know, there are no independent games on the apple app store. Sheesh, all consumer software is hit based.
- briandear 14y ago
  Explain Tiny Wings. One dev, no marketing, massive hit.
  - robryan 14y ago
    To an extent, winning the lottery. For every big hit indy game on the app stores, there are probably lots of similar quality which don't see the top lists.
  - programminggeek 14y ago
    Tiny Wings is a brilliant, fun game. It is one of those near perfect mobile "pick up and play quick" experiences. It all has good graphics and sound. It also is slightly derivative of Angry Birds without being a ripoff. In short, it's a very well made game that is worth talking about. Marketing something brilliant is easier than marketing something that is average. Let's face it, most Android and iOS games are mediocre.
    - saulrh 14y ago
      The game also had the advantage of free ideation and fun-testing; Tiny Wings is a zynga-style copy of the best flash game from a small flash dev's one-experimental-game-a-week-for-a-year personal project. Tiny Wings' contribution was mostly brought art and a few extra weeks of development. http://nmccoy.net/2011/02/24/on-the-whole-wavespark-tiny-wings-thing/ http://nmccoy.net/2011/02/24/on-the-whole-wavespark-tiny-win... http://nmccoy.net/2011/02/26/setting-the-record-straight/ http://nmccoy.net/2011/02/26/setting-the-record-straight/
      - Impossible 14y ago
        Although this is pedantic, wavespark actually is not a flash game, it was made with processing and is a java applet.
wilfra 14y ago
People still search for games based on keywords. Can't you focus on this? Title your games with high volume search terms, use good keywords etc.
- mwd_ 14y ago
  I think the search function is biased pretty heavily toward more popular titles. Even if you put an obscure word in your app's description, if it is not very popular it will be behind pages of approximate matches.
jamesjguthrie 14y ago
Personally I don't spend a lot of time browsing the markets on either platform. I download my apps by necessity or recommendation. I suspect many others (if not most) are like that. I'm with 'mirsadm' and in future I will not follow the "release and wait to get rich" strategy. I will properly sell my next product!
pacomerh 14y ago
But don't tell me that if your game was super awesome it would still do bad. Good work always floats to surface, yes it's more difficult but why would you do a mediocre game anyways.
ISeemToBeAVerb 14y ago
It may be the end for you, but not for me. I see tons of potential for mobile app developers, especially independents. I hear so many developers complaining about their apps not getting exposure on the app stores, but guess how many of them have put any serious sweat equity into building their business outside of the app stores? Hardly any is the correct answer to that question. The whole world of internet marketing is open to you. Build a brand for yourself, cultivate a community. You think the only way to get people to download your app is through the app store? The only time I go the app store is when I want something specific. I find ALL the apps I use through search and social. You need to think bigger to survive. Yes, competition is increasing- nobody gets a free ride in this world. But there are advantages to being small and nimble in this market. You just gotta think outside the store.
angrycoder 14y ago
Whenever you see an article like this, it is always useful to check out what they've made: https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Polyclef+Software https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Polyclef+Sof... Speaks for itself.
- eropple 14y ago
  I'm not sure I completely disagree with his argument--folks I know who are not putting out crapware like this say similar things--but you're right in that it's hard to take it seriously when his products are apps like this.
- julianz 14y ago
  Good point - I wouldn't buy any of those even if they did show up on a What's New page.
- EternalFury 14y ago
  What have you made? Let's show and tell.
- ameasure 14y ago
  His point is that certain changes to the Google Market are making it harder for indies to get noticed. That is a legitimate concern that should be of interest to HN app makers. Whether or not you like his apps is irrelevant.
- geofft 14y ago
  I'm not sure that's an interesting argument. The author's claim is that _their_ sales have gone down. And of course there will be some customers interested in those sorts of things. Unless you're arguing that there are better direct equivalents of those apps on the market these days and there's more competition from good apps, I don't see how "your products have always been poor and have not recently gotten worse" answers "our sales have gone down".
  - CrazedGeek 14y ago
    That's the thing, though -- nearly every app they release is fairly generic. Not bad in a vacuum, but the apps got a ton of competitors and they didn't differentiate themselves. It also doesn't help that the exact functionality of their most famous app (EasyTether) has been baked into the OS since ICS (and similar functionality has been in since Froyo), and their second most famous app (WordFeud) relies somewhat on network effects and has been mostly supplanted by Words With Friends.
glennos 14y ago
I don't understand the negativity towards this article. I don't think Derek's message hung solely on the removal of the 'What's New' section, but it being the final straw in series of issues for indie devs. Yes, there are other channels for promotions, but this was (or had the potential to be) and important one. I'm an Android user, so I hope that if this experience is indicative of many, that there will be new tools for indie devs, to help them get that initial bit of momentum. I'm very interested to see if the OUYA can deliver on promise. It looks like a fantastic machine and at its price point, there will be no reason not to have one on every tv in the house. That will be an exciting new frontier in game development.
bryanlarsen 14y ago
The problem isn't Google the problem is this: http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/08/02/34-best-new-android-games-from-the-last-2-weeks-71912-8212 http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/08/02/34-best-new-android-... They found 34 games worthy of review in a 2 week period. That implies that there are hundreds of others that didn't make the cut. That's a lot of competition.
- AnthonyMouse 14y ago
  "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded." -Yogi Berra
- Steko 14y ago
  There's more competition on the iOS app store. "For my new app I got 30 downloads on Android, 4,000 downloads on iOS." That's not remotely the difference between the size of the markets. To me that says yes it is partly or even mainly Google's fault. If anything iOS should be relatively harder to launch in.
moultano 14y ago
http://www.reddit.com/r/indiegaming/ http://www.reddit.com/r/indiegaming/ http://www.reddit.com/r/games/ http://www.reddit.com/r/games/ http://www.reddit.com/r/android/ http://www.reddit.com/r/android/ If you've made something great, it doesn't take much hustling to get your stuff in front of a lot of interested people.
bazookaBen 14y ago
i think what the OP meant was the end of indie game dev for great devs who don't want to do any marketing. in that case, partnering with a publisher makes a lot of sense. For example, Flight, the iOS game heavily promoted by ArmorGames could have gone it alone, but decided otherwise.
- bazookaBen 14y ago
  link : http://armorgames.com/news/151/flight-available-on-all-ios-devices http://armorgames.com/news/151/flight-available-on-all-ios-d...
eta_carinae 14y ago
The PC gaming world is filled with huge game companies, yet the indie market is doing quite well. What makes Android different?
- timknauf 14y ago
  I know not everyone gets their PC indie games from Steam, but their very pro-indie store design certainly helps keep the market vibrant. They often feature games from tiny companies in front-page promo spots, they promote indie packs in their sales, and their 'you may also like...' suggestions don't seem to shy away from obscure 'long tail' titles. All in all, discovery is pleasant and easy.
  - csense 14y ago
    I buy very few games on Steam these days. I dislike DRM, so I vote with my wallet, and spend most of my gaming budget supporting DRM-free games on Gamersgate.
    - timknauf 14y ago
      Yeah, perhaps I was wrong to focus so much on Steam in my comment. Gamersgate, GOG and Green Man Gaming (to name a few) also do a fine job of drawing attention to less mainstream titles.
- kalleboo 14y ago
  * PC games can charge a lot more. On mobile, users will balk at anything that costs more than .99 cents. If you want to charge $5, you have to have a pretty amazing game (like, Zelda-level), and even then people will complain. * Lots, lots more competition from crappy spammy games that flood out the good ones.
EternalFury 14y ago
There is no miracle. All marketplaces work the same way. If you are going to make a lot of money, you are going to quack like a duck...huh, I mean you are going to evolve towards businesses that makes a lot of money.
zobzu 14y ago
as a user its hard to disagree. so here i go looking for "new stuff" in the google play ... and its always the same tops. in searches or anywhere else. So i go on the web making random searches for new games & apps but it's neither convenient neither all that successful either (its mostly spam sites as in sites made to rank high with crappy content)
kizza 14y ago
I can't understand his whining about the removal of the What's New section. Google obviously removed it because it disproportionately helped the spammers. If you released a good app it only got a few minutes on the list anyway before the spam apps pushed it off.
- nhangen 14y ago
  Then why not fix the spam problem instead of ditching the section? That's like cutting off your arm to save a finger.
rsanchez1 14y ago
With all this talk about "End of Indie Game Development", I'm surprised there wasn't a mention of indie bundles. They certainly seem to have revived indie games on PC, and they're making inroads into mobile. Humble Bundle and Indie Gala have both had two mobile bundles each, and it looks like the market is ripe for the expansion of mobile bundles on Android.
linyu 14y ago
For people who think there is nothing wrong with the Android Play market, just think about what's the last "just released" app/game you downloaded in recent months? I can't think of anything. The idea that if your product is good, it will float to the surface is very true, well for some apps/games. The truth is that the developer need feedback to improve his product. Before it gets there, not after. The "Develop for a year and wait to be rich" really just works for big brands, who already know the market well.
- colomon 14y ago
  I don't believe I've ever bought a "just released" app/game -- certainly never one I discovered through the Android Marketplace. I don't think I ever went looking for one, either. Do people really shop for apps this way?
shareme 14y ago
author missed one area where game publishers will never enter.. Android Live Wallpapers as games especially if you price them at $1.00
franzus 14y ago
> Long Tail Market Oh, don't get it wrong. The long tail market is there. But what many people get wrong is that you don't make meaningful money as a producer in a long tail market. The guy owning the store with all those obscure niche titles in it will make the money. Yes, you can produce obscure apps (and music) and find customers. But it won't be many customers. You as the producer will be making only cents. The app store owner on the other hand will be making the big money because he can monetize the whole long tail with his indefinite shelf space.
mattmaroon 14y ago
I love it when people still cite The Long Tail, years after every bit of data it was based on turned out to be false. It's the tech industry's favorite pipe dream, but digital distribution simply does not change the 80/20 rule.
- barrkel 14y ago
  I always understood the long tail not as a fat tail, but rather something that enriches middlemen who can afford to "stock" a much wider range than a brick and mortar store. That is, the only way to get rich off the long tail is to aggregate over it. You won't get rich by being a tiny slice in it.
michaelochurch 14y ago
If you were at Google in July-August 2011, you'll understand this: Google just does not get Games. The leadership DNA to understand the space is not there. There are people who understand the problem and could make Google Games great, but they are not in decision-making positions and probably never will be (design paradox). If you think about it, the mismatch is easy to spot. Google made a great product (web search) by being ideologically non-editorial, but you need to be editorial in the gaming space, and you need to support the indie developers who are where quality comes from. The problem, at "Google scale", is that you also need to figure out a process and strategy that enable you to be editorial without micromanaging every decision (because you can't).
shimfish 14y ago
Somewhat related to this is how staggeringly awful the Google Play search is. My app is called "My PlayHome" (the wisdom of that branding decision is another matter). Let's see what happens if a potential buyer (quite reasonably), adds an extra space and searches for "My Play Home"... https://play.google.com/store/search?q=my+play+home&c=apps https://play.google.com/store/search?q=my+play+home&c=ap... To save you time, my app is at the bottom of page 3 of the results. To make matters worse, Google autosuggests "My Play Home" as you type. "My Play House" does rather better, appearing in the bottom half of the first stage, even though that's not the name of the app. Compare, a normal Google search: https://www.google.com/search?q=my+play+home https://www.google.com/search?q=my+play+home - right first time ..or Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dmobile-apps&field-keywords=my+play+home http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dmo... - http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dmobile-apps&field-keywords=my+play+house http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dmo... Add to that Google Play doesn't have keywords or indeed a Kids section. Now, I should probably mess around and add some spammy keywords to my app title on Google Play but my point is that Google hasn't even bothered to get search right on its app store. That's some hardcore irony. [EDIT] I just changed the title on Google Play to "My Play Home" - that immediately drastically improved the search results for the incorrect name even before the name is being shown as changed on the search results or the actual app page. This is not exactly optimal, as the app has 10s of thousands of paid downloads on iOS as "My PlayHome" (iOS app search also compensates for extra spaces...) as well as all the reviews on the web using my original spelling.

126 points by tzm 14y ago

No offense to the op but it sounds like he doesn't hustle. The app stores aren't the only place that people learn about games.

goostavos 14y ago
Agreed about using other channels. But I think his main point remains, finding something other than top 100 on Google play is near impossible. I mean, I've pretty much given up completely. Separating the wheat from the chaff is quite difficult. I rely on places like /r/gamedev, and /r/android for finding new apps. If someone could aggregate all of that data into something that actually usually it be freaking awesome. As it stands now, the playstore is horrendous. Google is doing a pretty overwhelming job in my opinion.
- ricardobeat 14y ago
  underwhelming?
  - goostavos 14y ago
    heh.. Yeah, That's what I meant. I typed that on my phone.. The autocorrect seems to have gotten the better of me.

CrazedGeek 14y ago

App stores will never remove the need for other advertising. Why not send review copies to the major Android, tech, and gaming websites, and see if they put something up? Why not put something up on AdMob? Why not do giveaways of the game? Why not put it on a competing app store? There are many legitimate answers to these, but relying on the Google Gods to sell your product for you is just silly. (Whether Google's cut is then justified is a different matter entirely.)

mwd_ 14y ago
I'd love to give away free copies of my Android game but I don't think Google Play supports promo codes. You also can't start out with a free app and then convert to a paid app later. Of course, a common approach is to have a free version and a paid version (or make your game ad-supported, or add in-game purchases). "Just In", if it worked, would be great.
- shazow 14y ago
  You could just send out a link to the .apk, it doesn't even need to be through the store.
- hackerpolicy 14y ago
  I've always wondered, what would happen to Google's 30% cut if they implemented promo codes, and I used it to send a few copies of my paid app?
  - shinratdr 14y ago
    That's why Apple limits the number of promo codes you can issue to 50 per version last time I checked, so you can't sell the codes to users and avoid giving up the distribution cut.
- fpgeek 14y ago
  Last I heard, Google supported completely discretionary developer-initiated refunds. IIRC, at least a couple of the high-profile apps that left the Amazon Appstore took advantage of that to ease the transition for their paying (i.e. not FAOTD) customers. With that capability, implementing a reasonable functional equivalent of a free promo code seems straightforward enough.
  - kalleboo 14y ago
    How about e-mail?

mirsadm 14y ago

If there is anything I've learnt by releasing many "unsuccessful" apps is that "release and wait to get rich" strategy does NOT work. This time round we are spending A LOT of time networking/promoting/pestering reviews etc etc.

jwwest 14y ago

Because as we all know, there are no independent games on the apple app store. Sheesh, all consumer software is hit based.

briandear 14y ago
Explain Tiny Wings. One dev, no marketing, massive hit.
- robryan 14y ago
  To an extent, winning the lottery. For every big hit indy game on the app stores, there are probably lots of similar quality which don't see the top lists.
- programminggeek 14y ago
  Tiny Wings is a brilliant, fun game. It is one of those near perfect mobile "pick up and play quick" experiences. It all has good graphics and sound. It also is slightly derivative of Angry Birds without being a ripoff. In short, it's a very well made game that is worth talking about. Marketing something brilliant is easier than marketing something that is average. Let's face it, most Android and iOS games are mediocre.
  - saulrh 14y ago
    The game also had the advantage of free ideation and fun-testing; Tiny Wings is a zynga-style copy of the best flash game from a small flash dev's one-experimental-game-a-week-for-a-year personal project. Tiny Wings' contribution was mostly brought art and a few extra weeks of development. http://nmccoy.net/2011/02/24/on-the-whole-wavespark-tiny-wings-thing/ http://nmccoy.net/2011/02/24/on-the-whole-wavespark-tiny-win... http://nmccoy.net/2011/02/26/setting-the-record-straight/ http://nmccoy.net/2011/02/26/setting-the-record-straight/
    - Impossible 14y ago
      Although this is pedantic, wavespark actually is not a flash game, it was made with processing and is a java applet.

wilfra 14y ago

People still search for games based on keywords. Can't you focus on this? Title your games with high volume search terms, use good keywords etc.

mwd_ 14y ago
I think the search function is biased pretty heavily toward more popular titles. Even if you put an obscure word in your app's description, if it is not very popular it will be behind pages of approximate matches.

jamesjguthrie 14y ago

Personally I don't spend a lot of time browsing the markets on either platform. I download my apps by necessity or recommendation. I suspect many others (if not most) are like that. I'm with 'mirsadm' and in future I will not follow the "release and wait to get rich" strategy. I will properly sell my next product!

pacomerh 14y ago

But don't tell me that if your game was super awesome it would still do bad. Good work always floats to surface, yes it's more difficult but why would you do a mediocre game anyways.

ISeemToBeAVerb 14y ago

It may be the end for you, but not for me. I see tons of potential for mobile app developers, especially independents. I hear so many developers complaining about their apps not getting exposure on the app stores, but guess how many of them have put any serious sweat equity into building their business outside of the app stores? Hardly any is the correct answer to that question. The whole world of internet marketing is open to you. Build a brand for yourself, cultivate a community. You think the only way to get people to download your app is through the app store? The only time I go the app store is when I want something specific. I find ALL the apps I use through search and social. You need to think bigger to survive. Yes, competition is increasing- nobody gets a free ride in this world. But there are advantages to being small and nimble in this market. You just gotta think outside the store.

angrycoder 14y ago

Whenever you see an article like this, it is always useful to check out what they've made: https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Polyclef+Software https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Polyclef+Sof... Speaks for itself.

eropple 14y ago
I'm not sure I completely disagree with his argument--folks I know who are not putting out crapware like this say similar things--but you're right in that it's hard to take it seriously when his products are apps like this.
julianz 14y ago
Good point - I wouldn't buy any of those even if they did show up on a What's New page.
EternalFury 14y ago
What have you made? Let's show and tell.
ameasure 14y ago
His point is that certain changes to the Google Market are making it harder for indies to get noticed. That is a legitimate concern that should be of interest to HN app makers. Whether or not you like his apps is irrelevant.
geofft 14y ago
I'm not sure that's an interesting argument. The author's claim is that _their_ sales have gone down. And of course there will be some customers interested in those sorts of things. Unless you're arguing that there are better direct equivalents of those apps on the market these days and there's more competition from good apps, I don't see how "your products have always been poor and have not recently gotten worse" answers "our sales have gone down".
- CrazedGeek 14y ago
  That's the thing, though -- nearly every app they release is fairly generic. Not bad in a vacuum, but the apps got a ton of competitors and they didn't differentiate themselves. It also doesn't help that the exact functionality of their most famous app (EasyTether) has been baked into the OS since ICS (and similar functionality has been in since Froyo), and their second most famous app (WordFeud) relies somewhat on network effects and has been mostly supplanted by Words With Friends.

glennos 14y ago

I don't understand the negativity towards this article. I don't think Derek's message hung solely on the removal of the 'What's New' section, but it being the final straw in series of issues for indie devs. Yes, there are other channels for promotions, but this was (or had the potential to be) and important one. I'm an Android user, so I hope that if this experience is indicative of many, that there will be new tools for indie devs, to help them get that initial bit of momentum. I'm very interested to see if the OUYA can deliver on promise. It looks like a fantastic machine and at its price point, there will be no reason not to have one on every tv in the house. That will be an exciting new frontier in game development.

bryanlarsen 14y ago

The problem isn't Google the problem is this: http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/08/02/34-best-new-android-games-from-the-last-2-weeks-71912-8212 http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/08/02/34-best-new-android-... They found 34 games worthy of review in a 2 week period. That implies that there are hundreds of others that didn't make the cut. That's a lot of competition.

AnthonyMouse 14y ago
"Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded." -Yogi Berra
Steko 14y ago
There's more competition on the iOS app store. "For my new app I got 30 downloads on Android, 4,000 downloads on iOS." That's not remotely the difference between the size of the markets. To me that says yes it is partly or even mainly Google's fault. If anything iOS should be relatively harder to launch in.

moultano 14y ago

http://www.reddit.com/r/indiegaming/ http://www.reddit.com/r/indiegaming/ http://www.reddit.com/r/games/ http://www.reddit.com/r/games/ http://www.reddit.com/r/android/ http://www.reddit.com/r/android/ If you've made something great, it doesn't take much hustling to get your stuff in front of a lot of interested people.

bazookaBen 14y ago

i think what the OP meant was the end of indie game dev for great devs who don't want to do any marketing. in that case, partnering with a publisher makes a lot of sense. For example, Flight, the iOS game heavily promoted by ArmorGames could have gone it alone, but decided otherwise.

bazookaBen 14y ago
link : http://armorgames.com/news/151/flight-available-on-all-ios-devices http://armorgames.com/news/151/flight-available-on-all-ios-d...

eta_carinae 14y ago

The PC gaming world is filled with huge game companies, yet the indie market is doing quite well. What makes Android different?

timknauf 14y ago
I know not everyone gets their PC indie games from Steam, but their very pro-indie store design certainly helps keep the market vibrant. They often feature games from tiny companies in front-page promo spots, they promote indie packs in their sales, and their 'you may also like...' suggestions don't seem to shy away from obscure 'long tail' titles. All in all, discovery is pleasant and easy.
- csense 14y ago
  I buy very few games on Steam these days. I dislike DRM, so I vote with my wallet, and spend most of my gaming budget supporting DRM-free games on Gamersgate.
  - timknauf 14y ago
    Yeah, perhaps I was wrong to focus so much on Steam in my comment. Gamersgate, GOG and Green Man Gaming (to name a few) also do a fine job of drawing attention to less mainstream titles.
kalleboo 14y ago
* PC games can charge a lot more. On mobile, users will balk at anything that costs more than .99 cents. If you want to charge $5, you have to have a pretty amazing game (like, Zelda-level), and even then people will complain. * Lots, lots more competition from crappy spammy games that flood out the good ones.

EternalFury 14y ago

There is no miracle. All marketplaces work the same way. If you are going to make a lot of money, you are going to quack like a duck...huh, I mean you are going to evolve towards businesses that makes a lot of money.

zobzu 14y ago

as a user its hard to disagree. so here i go looking for "new stuff" in the google play ... and its always the same tops. in searches or anywhere else. So i go on the web making random searches for new games & apps but it's neither convenient neither all that successful either (its mostly spam sites as in sites made to rank high with crappy content)

kizza 14y ago

I can't understand his whining about the removal of the What's New section. Google obviously removed it because it disproportionately helped the spammers. If you released a good app it only got a few minutes on the list anyway before the spam apps pushed it off.

nhangen 14y ago
Then why not fix the spam problem instead of ditching the section? That's like cutting off your arm to save a finger.

rsanchez1 14y ago

With all this talk about "End of Indie Game Development", I'm surprised there wasn't a mention of indie bundles. They certainly seem to have revived indie games on PC, and they're making inroads into mobile. Humble Bundle and Indie Gala have both had two mobile bundles each, and it looks like the market is ripe for the expansion of mobile bundles on Android.

linyu 14y ago

For people who think there is nothing wrong with the Android Play market, just think about what's the last "just released" app/game you downloaded in recent months? I can't think of anything. The idea that if your product is good, it will float to the surface is very true, well for some apps/games. The truth is that the developer need feedback to improve his product. Before it gets there, not after. The "Develop for a year and wait to be rich" really just works for big brands, who already know the market well.

colomon 14y ago
I don't believe I've ever bought a "just released" app/game -- certainly never one I discovered through the Android Marketplace. I don't think I ever went looking for one, either. Do people really shop for apps this way?

shareme 14y ago

author missed one area where game publishers will never enter.. Android Live Wallpapers as games especially if you price them at $1.00

franzus 14y ago

> Long Tail Market Oh, don't get it wrong. The long tail market is there. But what many people get wrong is that you don't make meaningful money as a producer in a long tail market. The guy owning the store with all those obscure niche titles in it will make the money. Yes, you can produce obscure apps (and music) and find customers. But it won't be many customers. You as the producer will be making only cents. The app store owner on the other hand will be making the big money because he can monetize the whole long tail with his indefinite shelf space.

mattmaroon 14y ago

I love it when people still cite The Long Tail, years after every bit of data it was based on turned out to be false. It's the tech industry's favorite pipe dream, but digital distribution simply does not change the 80/20 rule.

barrkel 14y ago
I always understood the long tail not as a fat tail, but rather something that enriches middlemen who can afford to "stock" a much wider range than a brick and mortar store. That is, the only way to get rich off the long tail is to aggregate over it. You won't get rich by being a tiny slice in it.

michaelochurch 14y ago

If you were at Google in July-August 2011, you'll understand this: Google just does not get Games. The leadership DNA to understand the space is not there. There are people who understand the problem and could make Google Games great, but they are not in decision-making positions and probably never will be (design paradox). If you think about it, the mismatch is easy to spot. Google made a great product (web search) by being ideologically non-editorial, but you need to be editorial in the gaming space, and you need to support the indie developers who are where quality comes from. The problem, at "Google scale", is that you also need to figure out a process and strategy that enable you to be editorial without micromanaging every decision (because you can't).

shimfish 14y ago

Somewhat related to this is how staggeringly awful the Google Play search is. My app is called "My PlayHome" (the wisdom of that branding decision is another matter). Let's see what happens if a potential buyer (quite reasonably), adds an extra space and searches for "My Play Home"... https://play.google.com/store/search?q=my+play+home&c=apps https://play.google.com/store/search?q=my+play+home&c=ap... To save you time, my app is at the bottom of page 3 of the results. To make matters worse, Google autosuggests "My Play Home" as you type. "My Play House" does rather better, appearing in the bottom half of the first stage, even though that's not the name of the app. Compare, a normal Google search: https://www.google.com/search?q=my+play+home https://www.google.com/search?q=my+play+home - right first time ..or Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dmobile-apps&field-keywords=my+play+home http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dmo... - http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dmobile-apps&field-keywords=my+play+house http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dmo... Add to that Google Play doesn't have keywords or indeed a Kids section. Now, I should probably mess around and add some spammy keywords to my app title on Google Play but my point is that Google hasn't even bothered to get search right on its app store. That's some hardcore irony. [EDIT] I just changed the title on Google Play to "My Play Home" - that immediately drastically improved the search results for the incorrect name even before the name is being shown as changed on the search results or the actual app page. This is not exactly optimal, as the app has 10s of thousands of paid downloads on iOS as "My PlayHome" (iOS app search also compensates for extra spaces...) as well as all the reviews on the web using my original spelling.