App Store changes, new features including paid search?

Discussion in 'Game Marketing' started by AndyG, Apr 15, 2016.

  1. AndyG

    AndyG Miniboss Boxer

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    Jamie likes this.
  2. minibuilder65

    minibuilder65 Avid Boxer

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    That sounds really good! However I am still debating if it's a good thing as if you want your game to be at the top of the chart you will have to pay more than people that want to be around 20th place, but there's always going to be someone that has a bigger budget and able to pay more than you are. Either way Apple will make Millions/Billions in profit so it's not a big problem for them :p. It's just a matter of fact of what the prices are going to be and starting out as an indie dev it's going to be really hard for people to pay that much compared to huge companies. That's where publishers are going to be huge if this happens, as they are most likely to be the ones to spend as they want to get know as much as possible, which means that they are going to cut down on the share from the profit of the game. Get known = More downloads = More profit for publishers =More/equal profit for dev's than before. But apart from all that Apple is going to be the clear winner here :D.
     
  3. Jamie

    Jamie Avid Boxer

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    If I understand this, "paid search" or paying for "more prominent display" only affects ASO -- it only affects one avenue by which customers discover your game in an app store: searching in the app store.
    As long as Apple does not take money for features, I would be ok with it.
    Still, Apple has notoriously made efforts to avoid certain things impacting how an app climbs the rankings, and how developers or publishers do tricks to boost ASO have been "curbed" by Apple before. So, I do wonder how Apple will let this paid search possibility impact its algorithm(s) for ranking top apps in the app charts (which is different from a search result page).
     
  4. Christoph

    Christoph Miniboss Boxer

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    I hope this is never going to happen. It would be horrible for us indie developers. The App Store needs a better search algorithm that's all. It would also not be very Apple alike. But it seems that Apple is going in very bad directions lately anyway and anything is possible.

    I completely disagree. The indie developers are the most screwed with something like that. Do you really believe a publisher is going to invert any money without charging it to you?
     
  5. jigglybean

    jigglybean Avid Boxer

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    What I find astonishing is Apple are forgetting the very reason why their iPhone is a success in the first place. It's not the tech behind it - because that has always been slow and way behind anything else on the market - it was the Indie developer - who spent their time making the very apps that ensured the App Store actually had games to buy because ALL of the major games publishers, including places where I used to work like EA, had no interest back then but always had one eye on it if there was enough growth.

    It would be a very bad move if Apple forget those roots. Both Google and Amazon show zero love for indies, despite actually trying to look like they care but the revamped Google Play store just essentially features those with the deepest pockets.
     
  6. minibuilder65

    minibuilder65 Avid Boxer

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    @Christoph Yes, like I said they will invest their money but also give you a less share on the profit.
     

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