App Annie, a popular app analytics company, published an interesting blog post today about what makes mobile games sell. The conclusion may seem obvious, but in a world that counts Facebook likes and Twitter followers like dollar bills, it can be easy to lose sight of the obvious. App Annie says that creating the best possible game translates into most sales — not creating the best possible hype.
App Annie, a popular app analytics company, published an interesting blog post today about what makes mobile games sell. The conclusion may seem obvious, but in a world that counts Facebook likes and Twitter followers like dollar bills, it can be easy to lose sight of the obvious. App Annie says that creating the best possible game translates into most sales — not creating the best possible hype.
App Annie conducted a study of 28 different games — 14 “long-term” and 14 “short-term” games. Long-term games were defined as games that spent 12 months or more at a revenue ranking of 26-125 in the App Store. Short-term games were defined as games that spent 3 months or less in the top 25 revenue ranking. App Annie found that games that spent a long time at lower rankings ended up making more money than big, hype fueled hits that spent a short time at the top of the App Store food chain. Slow and steady wins the race.
From App Annie: “Such short term, hyped-up games are like fireworks that explode with downloads, gain all the attention but then fizzle and fade away into thin air.”
The blog post continues with a few pieces of interesting miscellanea about app gaming. According to App Annie, freemium games are more lucrative than paid games, and action titles sell best, with simulation games coming in second.
Anyone interested in the workings of mobile gaming should check out the article here for themselves. (At least to check out the cool graphics!)
