Last week, the consulting company Canalys announced that 50% of the revenue from the US mobile market is accounted for by 25 companies. Below are five tips from the company’s specialists on how to make money for mobile game developers.
1. Think about several projects at once
It’s much easier to make money if you don’t depend on one game. Canalys notes that only Zynga has 15 original projects on the App Store. Finnish Rovio also costs far from any game under the Angry Birds brand. There are many examples.
Zynga is trying to make money not only on Farmville2. Start promoting the app right away.
And the more active, the better
Projects of top companies have gained a foothold in the top positions of app stores, where users can easily find them. Therefore, it is necessary to think in advance about promotion in social networks or to look for a publisher. Otherwise, no matter how good your project is, no one will notice it.
3. Not the time for holidays
Top publishers at Christmas, Easter, and other holidays often significantly reduce the cost of their products. At the same time, they are invested in advertising. For this reason, it is not recommended for small companies to enter the market at such a time with discounts.
Who will look at an unknown application when Modern Combat 4 or the latest Need for Speed will be sold for a song?
Gameloft’s latest Blockbuster draws attention to itself 4. Cross–promotion is the key
If there are several released applications, the developer must have a mechanism for promotion and advertising built into them. In this case, even if there is a small user base, it can be transferred from one title to another, thereby increasing the company’s profit.
5. You can grow not only through games
The user in the game can be attracted not only by game advertising. Promotion of a curious entertainment service is more likely to “hook” his attention.
These hints are not a guide to action. For each Canalys advice, you can find a counter-example (Supercell has only two released projects; the gaming audience loves advertising for games, etc.). At the same time, these recommendations are a good reason to think about forming their own consistent promotion strategy, without which it is impossible to survive in the mobile market today.