3 ms·

Up until recently I worked at a large mobile publisher and we spent out-of-this-world sums of money to advertise games once the LTV was modeled and we had a hig

by jconley 13y ago

Up until recently I worked at a large mobile publisher and we spent out-of-this-world sums of money to advertise games once the LTV was modeled and we had a high confidence level they would be profitable. Ironically, App Store distribution is becoming nearly as difficult and cost prohibitive as pre-internet game retailing. Everyone is competing for the same limited shelf space and end caps. Once a network of games is built cross promotion is helpful, but entering the market is extremely expensive. You either need to win the featuring lottery, have something that is organically viral, or know your LTV and spend tons on marketing. Unfortunately it seems the most surefire way to build a top 100 mobile game nowadays is to partner with a big publisher in order to leverage their marketing dollars and cross promo network. Hopefully some of the early indie link sharing cross promo networks will do some good to change that.

jtunnell 13y ago
Thanks for this comment. Many people do not understand what I am trying to say (I'm probably not saying it well), but you have described the problem nicely. I would love to hear from you directly on my blog so we can hook up on Twitter or G+.
drewcrawford 13y ago
> Ironically, App Store distribution is becoming nearly as difficult and cost prohibitive as pre-internet game retailing. The only reason that this is true is that game development is essentially a game of madlibs. As soon as I say "rail shooter" or "turn-based strategy" you instantly know how to play, because it is exactly the same as the last four games of that type you played with different artwork. I don't play a lot of games these days, but the last game I played that was mildly innovative was Portal. Big-box success, right? No. It was a student design project that had actual dead-tree mainstream press coverage[1] before it got bought by Valve. Imagine for a moment if all the spreadsheet software that was written were Excel clones with slightly different menus. Success would all come down to the marketing lottery, no? But take a look at the world that we actually live in [2] [3] [4] [5]. It is easy to stand out if you are doing something legitimately different than the other entrants in the space. And there are plenty of people making innovative games. I've compiled this list in five minutes: LiquidSketch, Fez, Amnesia, Monaco, Gish, Darwinia... I don't see these guys worried about standing out in the App Store. I played the game in TFA and it is literally 1 drag and tap per game. During the two games I played, I got four different upsells and confused the ads with the user interface at least twice. If there is any innovation in this title, it revolves around delivering the least amount of game per ad/upsell than anything I have ever played before. [1] http://www.jeepbarnett.com/gallery2/v/scrapbook/narbaculardrop/gameinformer_narbacular01.jpg.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1 http://www.jeepbarnett.com/gallery2/v/scrapbook/narbaculardr... [2] http://getpermanent.com http://getpermanent.com [3] http://grid.binarythumb.com http://grid.binarythumb.com [4] http://www.lumina.com/uploads/technology/Whats%20wrong%20with%20spreadsheets.pdf http://www.lumina.com/uploads/technology/Whats%20wrong%20wit... [5] https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/glimpse/id423562777?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/glimpse/id423562777?mt=8

by jconley 13y ago

jtunnell 13y ago

Thanks for this comment. Many people do not understand what I am trying to say (I'm probably not saying it well), but you have described the problem nicely. I would love to hear from you directly on my blog so we can hook up on Twitter or G+.

drewcrawford 13y ago

> Ironically, App Store distribution is becoming nearly as difficult and cost prohibitive as pre-internet game retailing. The only reason that this is true is that game development is essentially a game of madlibs. As soon as I say "rail shooter" or "turn-based strategy" you instantly know how to play, because it is exactly the same as the last four games of that type you played with different artwork. I don't play a lot of games these days, but the last game I played that was mildly innovative was Portal. Big-box success, right? No. It was a student design project that had actual dead-tree mainstream press coverage[1] before it got bought by Valve. Imagine for a moment if all the spreadsheet software that was written were Excel clones with slightly different menus. Success would all come down to the marketing lottery, no? But take a look at the world that we actually live in [2] [3] [4] [5]. It is easy to stand out if you are doing something legitimately different than the other entrants in the space. And there are plenty of people making innovative games. I've compiled this list in five minutes: LiquidSketch, Fez, Amnesia, Monaco, Gish, Darwinia... I don't see these guys worried about standing out in the App Store. I played the game in TFA and it is literally 1 drag and tap per game. During the two games I played, I got four different upsells and confused the ads with the user interface at least twice. If there is any innovation in this title, it revolves around delivering the least amount of game per ad/upsell than anything I have ever played before. [1] http://www.jeepbarnett.com/gallery2/v/scrapbook/narbaculardrop/gameinformer_narbacular01.jpg.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1 http://www.jeepbarnett.com/gallery2/v/scrapbook/narbaculardr... [2] http://getpermanent.com http://getpermanent.com [3] http://grid.binarythumb.com http://grid.binarythumb.com [4] http://www.lumina.com/uploads/technology/Whats%20wrong%20with%20spreadsheets.pdf http://www.lumina.com/uploads/technology/Whats%20wrong%20wit... [5] https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/glimpse/id423562777?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/glimpse/id423562777?mt=8