So I got an email this morning from someone telling me he bought my game Charmed and really liked it. He said he found Charmed in the "Hot New Games" section on his iPhone. I immediately went onto iTunes to see if I could find it. I don't see Charmed listed in any of the New and Noteworthy, What's Hot, What We're Playing, etc. in the US Store on iTunes. On the iPhone though under Featured, I saw the "Hot New Games" category and I WAS able to find Charmed there. Does "Hot New Games" actually correspond to a list on iTunes or is it totally separate? Also, does anyone know if a game stays there for a day a week or two weeks? I've seen posts about other feature areas that say normally 1-2 weeks. Thanks!
Honestly, i think its separate, but i personally think it is worth more if your featured on the iphone version instead of the itunes version.
First off, congrats on getting featured - that's great! From experience, I can say that the lists are separate. We were on "Hot New Games" on the iDevice, but never made "What's Hot" on iTunes. Also, I agree with ktfright's point about being featured on the device vs. iTunes - we were on "New and Noteworthy (games)" for 4 weeks on iTunes, but only on "Hot New Games" for 1 week. Our sales dropped off dramatically after getting bumped from "Hot New Games". Additionally, it looks like all the lists are updated on Tuesday, so you'll get at least a week of feature time.
No, but it's kind of tricky to find. Open up the App Store on your iDevice and go to the "Featured" tab at the bottom. "Hot New Games" is in the upper left under the "New" tab. It's not a tab - it looks like an advertisement.
It's actually been there for a while, like 2 months? I browse that list a lot, almost every day just to see if our games were featured at all but disappointed everytime . It's so frustrating to see big studio titles that has 2.5 stars rating getting featured and not ours.
My second game, Ski Champ, got featured in Hot New Games. I'm not sure what triggers it. It managed to stay there for a week with relatively steady sales. As soon as it dropped off, sales were about 20% of what they were while on the list. It's a HUGE boost to get on that list. I'd be curious to see how a 'bigger' game does while on that list, but I was pretty pleased with the results. Not sure if I was featured on iTunes in any way.