Yulia Lebedeva from Nevosoft, as part of a special project for the Casual Connect conference, told us about the audience of mobile games, shared her thoughts about the possibility of cloning popular projects, and also noted that you should not be skeptical about the market of Russian–language mobile games – it is quite possible to earn money on it.
The mobile market now and a year ago – is there a difference between them and what?
The market is developing by leaps and bounds. The number of active users is increasing. Competition is increasing. Platforms are changing. The cost of entering the market is constantly growing. If a year ago, it was possible to enter the market without a publisher, now it is increasingly difficult to do so. The developers understand this, and we are seeing an ever-increasing stream of games that are offered to us by the publisher.
On the other hand, making mobile games has already become almost fashionable. After listening to success stories, when the project “shot”, at times paying off small investments, many become igrodelami, having no experience in this field, not knowing what and how to do. As a result, a lot of low-quality projects appear, which are often not even brought to release. Users now have access to an almost unlimited amount of entertainment content in various forms, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to please them, so the quality bar continues to steadily increase.
Many novice mobile game developers prefer the strategy of cloning successful games. Is it worth trying to copy hits or is it better to take a risk and develop games with new game mechanics, invent something?
Making the first project with innovative gameplay
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mso-ansi-language:RU;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA”>– very, very risky. The first project is always very difficult. On the first project, you should not experiment much, there will be enough difficulties there anyway. It is best to turn to those who already have a lot of experience.
In the mobile games industry, it is a common practice to turn to a major publisher, who, in addition to obvious assistance during the launch of a project, can produce it during development. For example, Nevosoft producers start working closely with teams at the earliest stages if we consider the project promising.
Of course, it is necessary to pay attention to what is popular: it is necessary to study the tops of the App Store and Google Play, try to figure out why this or that project occupies the top line. But when choosing the genre of your future game, you need to start one way or another from what you know how to do. For example, a successful strategy game can remain popular for a long time, at least because fans of this genre are very loyal. But the problem is that to make a worthwhile strategy is a very difficult task, and it is not worth taking up it without having any experience at all, especially in the expectation of an easy victory.
Plus, don’t forget that in the current state of the market, it’s not enough to make a high-quality game. The competition is too high, there is too much content – therefore, success is often determined by competent promotion and marketing. There are still examples of “fired” projects of indie developers, but all their hope is for Apple’s attention, which may not be.
Entering the market with a publisher is an opportunity to significantly reduce risks, and even if the game does not become a new Angry Birds is an opportunity to make a profit. As practice shows, cooperation with an experienced publisher as a result still brings the developer more income. The main thing here is to carefully consider all proposals, preferably to talk to each company personally and choose the most suitable conditions.
In general, any game studio should focus on a project that is closer to the team in spirit and at the same time popular. We should try to do something similar, but in our own way and be sure to try to bring something of our own, somehow develop the idea.
Don’t make a clone. It is better to follow the path of developing a successful idea.
Strategy Analytics recently reported that there are now more than 1 billion active smartphones in the world. It is clear that every owner of such a device is a potential user. The question is, is it possible to please everyone in this market, and if so, how?
Naturally, it is impossible to please everyone, and it is not necessary. When the market is saturated with products from manufacturers – in this case, manufacturers of mobile games – segmentation by direction inevitably occurs. Companies choose the directions and genres closest to them and try to be the best in their segment. In order to make your game competitive, first of all, you need to think about who the target audience is, for whom you are making the game. Understanding your customer is the key to creating a successful product.
Continuing the custom theme. You not only create original projects for mobile platforms, but also transfer your old PC hits to iOS, Android and WP. In this regard, the question is: how much more spoiled is the mobile audience today compared to the casual one on the PC?
I wouldn’t really divide the audience between PC and mobile platforms. If, for example, you play games on your iPhone and on your PC, you still remain yourself. It’s all you, with your gaming experience, with your expectations of the product. At first you had the opportunity to play your favorite games on a mobile platform, then you began to want to play more comfortably, taking into account the features of your device, etc. It is quite natural that you will choose the best of what is offered on the market, since there is plenty to choose from. But here it is important to understand something else: the same CA on different platforms (devices) can behave differently. I.e. the same people who play casual games on a PC, quite possibly, will play lighter and arcade games on their smartphones, with a short gaming session and other features. Simply because these are different devices and they are characterized by different gaming expectations. I.e. the CA is the same, but it can behave differently on different platforms. This should be taken into account, it is important.
If we talk about the Russian mobile application market a little more specifically, what are the main features you would note?
The Russian market of applications for iOS and Android is one of the most promising at the moment. For some reason, it is not customary to talk about this, but in almost every report of one or another analytical company demonstrating growth rates, you will find Russia. Yes, this market is much smaller than the Chinese one, but it lacks most of its problems. In addition, it is much easier to get to it – if you know how, and most importantly, it is also developing rapidly.
The main problem is that Russian mobile game markets are simply underestimated, realizing that it will take a lot of effort to enter them, and few people believe in getting decent results.
One of the first pitfalls is localization. The fact is that the Russian-speaking audience makes very high demands on it. Users in Russia are used to content in their native language: all films and games are traditionally localized here, and at a high professional level. And with regard to mobile applications, the bar is not lowered.
The finished game should go into the hands of marketers. Yes, the competition in the Russian App Store and Google Play is much lower than, for example, in the US, but you can’t do without promotion.
Also, do not forget that you will need to take traffic somewhere. Despite the fact that now more and more international advertising networks have begun to offer targeting to Russia, as a rule, the quality of this traffic leaves much to be desired.
For example, we have a successful experience with an iOS game only in the Russian version, when the rights to all other countries remain with the developer, and we help to squeeze the most out of Russia. In this case, we also do localization and offer to additionally launch it not only on mobile platforms, but also on Windows and Mac.
As a publisher, Nevosoft takes care of all the preparation for the release: testing on different devices, descriptions, promo art, reviews, SEO promotion in the app store, etc.
We have been working with the Russian-speaking audience for a long time: portal Nevosoft.ru , one of the leading portals in Runet with casual games for PC, for more than six years. There are currently more than 30 games in the App Store under the Nevosoft brand, and more than 10 on Google Play.
How much money can you earn on the Russian mobile games market?
According to our estimate, in 2011, the mobile games market volume was about $30-40 million, of which about two-thirds were games for the iOS platform. In 2012, the figure, of course, will be higher. Now the first 20 projects from the Russian top-grossing earn about 2.5-3 million dollars a month.
Some of our games receive about a fifth of their revenue in Russia.
What recent mobile projects could you mention?
Royal Revolt! – excellent Tower Defense.
Drawn: Trail of Shadows Collector’s Edition is a chic casual quest with excellent graphics.