This is not really the right place, but didn't know where to ask. I will be releasing soon my first game and am thinking to send it to a publisher. Namely Ketchapp. Since I'm completely new in this I have a few questions: 1. Does it make sense? The number 1 game in the App-Store for already a few weeks is Smashy Road: Wanted. It is an independent, individual developer and he just made it from nothing. No need for a publisher it seems when the game is really good. I saw, that at the same time, not even Sky could enter the Top 10 and they had Ketchapp as a publisher. I know, that a lot of Buildbox games are in the half million downloads region. Sky had more than 2 million mainly because of Ketchapp... I also saw that Makibot hadn't much downloads at all and he now went with his new game the publisher route with Appsolute Games. So how can you measure something like this? Take the risk or going the save route with a publisher? 2. What are the sharings? This one is simple. If I publish for myself, I have what? 30% go to Apple. That leaves me with 70% for myself minus taxes depending on which country you live in. I suppose with Google it's similar. But how much do I get with a publisher like Ketchapp? 35% minus taxes? Or do they charge less? 3. How to protect a game? I heard some terrible stories about Ketchapp releasing a similar game just days or weeks after someone submitted his own game. Are they true? And how can someone protect a game legally? I mean after weeks of developing, the last thing someone wants to happen is that some other guys steal the hard work (and the earnings). 4. Does it make any sense to publish first on my own account and then send it to Ketchapp? I heard that Phases was published this way and then got the distribution by Ketchapp. And it even helped to fix some bugs in the game in the meantime... But doesn't this keep Ketchapp to stay away from the game even more?
@Christoph Back in September, I saw that SKY broke into the top ten in the US App Store as it reached the #9 spot, with Smashy Road Wanted sitting behind it at the #10 spot (at the time). Buildbox publishing will offer signed deals of a 50/50 split in revenue sharing, which appears to be a better deal relative to what other publishers offer as rev splits. Team Buildbox will launch Buildbox publishing soon, and they say to submit your game to their support email. 3 screenshots and a video. Buildbox publishing will be exclusively for Buildbox customers, and it will help advise on the polishing stage of game development. Show me a single game published on Andriod and iOS that did not have a single bug, ever... I don't think there is one. I suspect part of the reason for that is the fragmentation of the market (so many different devices). ...To my knowledge, Buildbox itself is always open to helping Buildbox customers with their bugs -- email their support email. My not-so-secret choice of publisher: I plan to submit most of my games to Buildbox Publishing because Buildbox publishing is a really great opportunity. I guess my advice is to consider Buildbox Publishing, insofar as you think it would solve the potential problems that you highlight. I think all of us in the community forums here can appreciate that you are asking tough questions in order to find your way. Asking these questions here can help others make decisions as well. However, not everyone will take the same route. You have to decide what matters most for how you will publish this particular game that you have put research, effort, and time into.
In regards to the particular incident you are (most likely) referring to. The developer accusing Ketchapp deleted his postings where he was making the allegations. Here is followup analysis of the incident from Touch Arcade. Everyone can consider the facts and come to their own conclusion. http://toucharcade.com/2015/04/28/w...happ-clone-of-another-game-signs-point-to-no/ To answer your question (#3) directly, there is no way to 100% protect yourself. Always get things in writing if possible, but many times it is not. In just about any situation I generally trust that most people are honest unless they give me a reason not to trust them. In the end it's just a judgement call. Talk to people who have dealt with the 3rd party in the past and get their opinion.
It looks like some publishers do practice submission review processes with an eye for protecting submissions. An example: http://www.ketchappstudio.com/developer.php "Dear developer, We love talented developers from all around the world, and want to select the best games for Ketchapp fans. In order for us to test your game, please connect to your account on iTunes Connect. Select Prerelease > External Testers, and add the following emails, so we will get invitations to test your game: dev1@ketchappgames.com dev2@ketchappgames.com dev3@ketchappgames.com If your game is already on the AppStore, please send us the link to download. developer@ketchappgames.com"
Thanks guys. I really appreciate your opinions. I hope more people can join the thread to share their experience. @Jamie: I didn't want to say that Sky isn't a good game. Sorry if that was the outcome. I love this game and really thought it would be the most successful game in the Buildbox history. But it wasn't. I suppose that when a new iPhone is released the competition is very very hard too and it didn't help in this particular case. I think all this is very interesting to analyze... and the bug thing of Phases was meant also positive. Or I didn't understand why you said what you said that all games came with bugs... I didn't know about the Buildbox Publishing platform. Is there a place to read more about it? I definitely would consider it too as an alternative to Ketchapp, even though it surely has to grow a little first to make a stand. And does Ketchapp not have a 50/50 split? I innocently thought this would be the minimum share as they actually do not do anything else than publishing. Or do they advertise or something outside the cross promotion when starting up an app?
@Christoph I don't think you come off negatively as a complainer or anything; I get that you are just trying to find your way. That's why I say that I think others in the community here (like me) will appreciate your questions. I was just pointing out that SKY did get the #9 spot. Let's talk about SKY hitting the #9 spot - this is, of course, because so many people liked it. That's what it means to be a "really good" game--that so many people (will/do) like it. However, there are also at least 4 major forces at play in raising the public awareness of a game like SKY to find and reach out to those would like to play it (i.e. marketing is this outreach pocess): 1. the developer 2. the publisher 3. being featured and 4. App Store Optimization (ASO). In SKY's case, #1 is Buildbox, which has wide reach in terms of marketing. #2 is Ketchapp, which also has wide reach, and it uses a cross promotion system within all of its own apps to advertise new apps (and only its own). Other publishers do that too. #3 SKY was Apple-featured, putting it on the home page for at least a week. #4 SKY's publisher likely does the ASO efforts, which is ongoing. Publishers will typically do ASO efforts, from what I understand so far, as part of the efforts they do "qua publisher." It's not a bad idea to plan with your publisher (whichever one you pick, or yourself if you do this alone) about the updates that might be made to the game in the future, as well as how you and the publisher might work together in social media campaigns. The same should apply to your plans about updates and perhaps future sequels to a game. I imagine that the more marketing efforts you plan out with them, the better. Aside from doing your own social media efforts as a developer, the developer should talk with the publisher about what things the developer might do to enhance what the publisher will do -- for example, is it a good idea for the developer to reach out to specific press contacts, or would it be better for the publisher to reach this specific press contact? The forum here contains some posts (you may have to search for them) about Buildbox Publishing, as well as some really good posts from @TreySmith about the importance of polishing one's game. Check those out, and if you have more questions about Buildbox Publishing, you might contact Team Buildbox directly to get their answers.
Haha,... yeah of course @Jamie. I really would love to have 2 millions or more downloads in my first game. And thanks for all the thoughts you brought to the topic. I just saw that the new game by Ketchapp by the name Don't Fall wasn't featured by Apple and surprise, even with the cross promotion from the other games, it didn't get into the top 100. Does that mean that being featured by Apple is better than a cross promotion by a big publisher as it is Ketchapp? And actually, the game isn't that bad at all. I quiet like the concept and style.
Success is largely dependent on how viral the game is, what else is released that week and the mood of the market. Apple features many games each week that don't get near the Top 100, so I would definitely guess Ketchapp's push is much more effective overall.
You can use App Annie to see if games are featured. This game was featured by Apple when in launched last week: Part of what you are "paying for" with a publisher with an existing huge install base is reach.
Yeah. Sorry, didn't specify that I meant the US Appstore which is the single most important market for mobile games (I think). No featuring there. I think Trey is correct by saying that the most important thing is how viral it goes. You can have a very good game and it doesn't go viral at all... I suppose this is the reason why most publisher have a new game each week. If one isn't going to succeed, most probably the next will. Another question to all: Does it make sense to publish a game not Halloween related at the end of October, early November?
