Not that I've been in the app store long enough, but I might be able to confirm your theory as well.... I was on a steady climb for the past 4 days. Then It just dropped. I'm still in the new and noteworthy section too.
design219 said: I'm surprised my first paid game is not selling at all. It's been out just 4 days, and is featured in New and Noteworthy in both action AND arcade.
My app tickle stones made What's Hot In entertainment last week with no uptick in sales.
What's up?
I had the same with mine... I was also featured in the banner ads at the top. Still no sales, so I made it free. lol.
Let's just hope the big boys don't keep selling AAA titles for 99c... we can't compete. There really should be separate store for indie and AAA titles. The AAA devs shouldn't be able to charge less than $5.99 or something... still cheaper than a $50 PSP game!
Should go up from today because all of the EA games went back to 2.99 and up. Even doodle jump and angry birds went down 10 spots for a day or two, but now they're back in their original spots. My sales went down alot too just until yesterday when they went back up again
POLYGAMe said: Let's just hope the big boys don't keep selling AAA titles for 99c... we can't compete. There really should be separate store for indie and AAA titles. The AAA devs shouldn't be able to charge less than $5.99 or something... still cheaper than a $50 PSP game!
Ha ha... That's a terrible idea. You don't want to be at the kiddie table of game development. Weather the storm! There's plenty of money to be made for everyone.There seems to be a lot of activity in the App Store, which is probably because of the iPhone 4. I'm not so much concerned that the big companies are lowering their prices, as that probably hurts their sales far worse than mine, but the approval times are so slow. An update to an app should be approved in a couple of days, not weeks!
So you think people are going to choose obscure indie games over AAA titles if the prices are the same? People don't mind spending more on the AAA titles. If there were two separate levels it would make things a load easier for the indie dev. Hell, this whole thread is about losing sales to the big boys! Doesn't the evidence speak for itself? It doesn't matter how good your game is... at 99c Madden or Need For Speed are always going to crush your sales.
POLYGAMe said: So you think people are going to choose obscure indie games over AAA titles if the prices are the same?
The point is, the big guys are not going to sell their games for 99¢. This was just a sale, and once one had a sale, the others had to match. But it's just temporary.
Hmm...well it looks like Gameloft had a good time with the last sale so here's # 2. I hope they don't make this a habit so we can still sell *our* games.
On the menu: Driver The Settlers H.A.W.X Rayman 2 The Oregon Trail
I think they may be killing their future sales of new apps with these sales.
I'm pissed that the NOVA game I paid 7 dollars for dropped to .99 within a few months. I will never buy a Gameloft or EA game anywhere near full price because of this (and the fact that I've learned that they just aren't much fun).
Now if the typical app store buyer thinks as I do is yet to be seen.
And my sales are sloping up, but not quite where they were.
And realistically, they CAN'T keep their apps at 99c... they simply won't sell enough to cover the budgets some of these titles have. It's okay when your game costs in the hundreds, even thousands to develop... but titles like Need for Speed Shift, Fifa and Madden I'm betting are a lot closer to the six zeros sum.
I'm confused, what tools do they use to make those big titles such as doodle jump, need for speed, angry birds, etc? Do they use Xcode or what? Anyone know?
artonskyblue said: I'm confused, what tools do they use to make those big titles such as doodle jump, need for speed, angry birds, etc? Do they use Xcode or what? Anyone know?
Comments
My app tickle stones made What's Hot In entertainment last week with no uptick in sales.
What's up?
I hope these sales become like once-a-year events.
Missing out on the action from the 600,000 new iPhone 4s floating around now >:(
@artonskyblue: I sure hope they do!
I think that the sales had a LOT to do with it, so let's hope that things go back to normal
Although, I'd be quite interested to know if their sales spikes do indeed equal more cash, since the prices are a fair bit lower...
'Events' usually result in sales or promotions by the big guys.
My advice: Don't release anything on Friday July 2nd - there'll be some July 4th weekend promotions for sure.
QS
Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home...
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Quantum_Sheep
Web: https://quantumsheep.itch.io
Make sure you are original, and fill a niche...
Have a style that says your stuff is valuable...
There will always be those who will sell their work cheaper...
You have to be better or first with an idea to not be cheapest.
Cheers, Weswog
It was significantly better though, so I'm hoping it will stay that way
On the menu:
Driver
The Settlers
H.A.W.X
Rayman 2
The Oregon Trail
I'm pissed that the NOVA game I paid 7 dollars for dropped to .99 within a few months. I will never buy a Gameloft or EA game anywhere near full price because of this (and the fact that I've learned that they just aren't much fun).
Now if the typical app store buyer thinks as I do is yet to be seen.
And my sales are sloping up, but not quite where they were.
QS
Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home...
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Quantum_Sheep
Web: https://quantumsheep.itch.io