When is the best time to launch the game in the wake of the Christmas hype – Chartboost tried to answer this question in its blog by asking the authors of Tap Titans and Doodle Jump. We present a brief version of the material in Russian.
Releasing a mobile game in the Christmas season is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, at this time developers can acquire users who have both time to play and money for it. On the other hand, at this time almost all studios start hunting for users.
Opinion one: the calm before the Christmas storm.
Launching right before Christmas automatically means a very expensive advertising campaign due to the large number of competitors who have arrived. Release long before the holidays – and no one will notice you.
When is the best time to launch? “We prefer the second week of December,” admits Mark Wang from Game Hive studio, who created Tap Titans.
In order for the release to go smoothly, Game Hive tries, as a rule, to get a sub by the end of November. That is, the development itself should be completed by mid-October.
However, Mark also notes that the release is always a roulette game.
Second opinion: who gets up early, the player serves
Decorating shop windows in real stores begins long before the holidays themselves. If it works for online malls, it can work for mobile games as well. “You see all sorts of Christmas stuff back in November,” says Matt Turetzky from Lima Sky, responsible for Doodle Jump. – “So why don’t we also increase the timing of these updates?“.
According to the Turkish, the guys at Lima Sky launch their Christmas updates and apps in early November. They do this for two reasons. Firstly, there is less competition at this time, and secondly, they get more engagement from existing users along with the arrival of the Christmas season.
Third opinion: to raise a fuss in January
If we are talking about a small studio with a small audience, it makes sense to skip Christmas and wait for the beginning of January. This is exactly the time when the audience has already armed themselves with new devices, but has not yet squandered money from their gift cards. “People still have time (after the New Year), and they also have space on their smartphones that they want to fill,” says Turki.
And Wang agrees with him: “The CE releases on Christmas Day, much fewer applications are launched in January. There is less competition.”
Source: Chatboost