Developers from Remedy Entertainment claim that their Death Rally, being a paid application, earns up to $350 thousand every month just by being in the top 200 of the App Store.
This suggests that the development and publication of mobile games can be a very profitable occupation, even if your game is not in the top ten applications.
According to the data provided by the executive Vice president of Remedy Aki Jaarvilehto (Aki Järvilehto) to the portal BGR.com when the game was in the top five paid top apps for iPhone (or was in the top iPad), it brought in more than $50 thousand daily. When the game came out of the top, revenues began to float in the range of $ 50-$ 350 thousand per month. Against this background, it is very significant that the highest position of Death Rally in the paid top for the last 30 days, according to AppData, was the 188th.
Despite the fact that the game is paid, it receives part of its income from micropayments (the game allows you to spend from $ 0.99 to $ 39.99 on them). Perhaps it was this factor that allowed the game to enter the American top paid applications in just a day with a relatively small number of downloads – 3,500.
A similar policy was used by the German developer App Zap in the Kick the Buddy game (it was also paid and with micropayments). According to App Zap, those users who pay for the game are more likely to make an in-game payment than those who downloaded the game for free. As for Death Rally, according to Remedy, 60% of its revenue comes from the base price tag, and another 40% comes from micropayments.
In general, the conclusion is simple: even those games that are not in the top can earn significantly. According to Yaarvilehto, it is quite realistic for the application to bring in $ 1 million a year, being in the top 200. However, the highest-grossing applications bring in from $2 to $5 million monthly. So, there is something to strive for.