Have Apple promote my "Free Game For Today" Sale

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by Quapp, Jun 30, 2010.

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Free for a day while AppStore Featured?

  1. Good idea, this should start a trend!

    5 vote(s)
    29.4%
  2. Bad idea, that's crazy take it down!

    12 vote(s)
    70.6%
  1. Quapp

    Quapp Active Member

    Jun 29, 2010
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    Hi Everyone

    TODAY the AppStore featured game, "Amazing Cannonball Duck", will be FREE!:eek:

    This is my first game and I've decided to try some unorthodox promoting. My game was chosen by Apple to be featured in their "Hot New Games" list under "New & Noteworthy" this week, which means I'm getting a lot of views.:cool:
    I also signed up for OpenFeint's FGOTD and FAAP, which means they'll promote my game while it's free for a day then I'll share the games revenue with them for some time when it goes back to paid.
    So I figured why not merge the ideas and have it free for a day while Apple is "promoting" it!

    What do you guys think? Good idea? is this gonna work? Am I being dumb and this is a total waste of "prime billing" sales?

    Either way I'll post back how it works out for me :)
     
  2. NickFalk

    NickFalk Well-Known Member

    If it is only for one day, and you are confident the title is strong enough that it would gather strong, positive word-of-mouth I think it just might be a brilliant idea. If the game is just perceived as "OK" I think it might backfire...

    Looking forward to hearing your results though! :)
     
  3. Kusanagi

    Kusanagi Well-Known Member

    Yeah, let us know how it worked out! :)
     
  4. schplurg

    schplurg Well-Known Member

    Well with FAAD you'll be sharing a good chunk of your profit for an entire month. Since you asked, I vote no. Do the free stuff later when sales start to drop, if they do. More people will see your game on the Featured list than anywhere else. Just my opinion.

    Good luck!!! :)

    Edit to add: It would be interesting to do free for a day, but my main suggestion is not to use FAAD while featured. That will cost you.
     
  5. RevolvingDoor

    RevolvingDoor Well-Known Member

    Dec 13, 2009
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    I think that says it all. My two cents: Try to couple your FAAD promotion with a nice update later on, when your sales really start to drop.
     
  6. Stroffolino

    Stroffolino Well-Known Member
    Patreon Silver

    Apr 28, 2009
    1,100
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    Software Engineer
    Pennsylvania
    Going free while being featured by Apple is either insane or gutsy.

    You'll surely miss out on a lot of paid sales. And you'll be at risk for an uphill battle after going free again, since App rankings reset each time you switch from pay to free.

    You might even end up annoying the marketing bean counters at Apple. They do tend to choose pricier apps for the privledge of being featured. They aren't doing this out of the goodness of their own hearts - they're trying to stir the pot to increase overall AppStore revenue. If your app makes you and then a tidy profit, I wouldn't be surprised if your odds of having other apps featured in the future go up.
     
  7. Foursaken_Media

    Foursaken_Media Well-Known Member
    Patreon Indie

    We have made 25% of our entire game's profit in 3 months from the one week of getting featured, and I think that's actually modest compared to many other devs. Personally I would say, milk the time you are featured and earn as much money as you can now, because there is no guarantee it will last and at least you can look back and say you got something out of it -- sometimes you can earn enough from a feature to single handedly push the development of your next project! I know its not all about money necessarily, but this is also one of the best chances you have to see if your game can make it on a top paid list... this might be your only chance.

    Hate to be a pessimist, but many, if not most games, even high quality ones, fall off rather quickly after their feature period and won't see that kind of success ever again.

    Finally, you can always do FAAD at any time later, which gives you a very high chance to get on the top 10 free list by itself... you only get featured once. Not to mention you will be sharing your revenue at a time when you will likely be making the most you'll ever make.
     
  8. ultimo

    ultimo Well-Known Member

    May 5, 2009
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    I'd say a no, why let go of the chance (maybe your only chance) when you can cash in a $ or 2?

    Also, Loved the artwork from the screenies, did not get to try it though :)
     
  9. Quapp

    Quapp Active Member

    Jun 29, 2010
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    Hi everyone, Thanks for all the replies!

    Just to be clear I am not doing OpenFeint's FGOTD or FAAP while Featured, I have signed up for those but they have a while before they'll go into effect, so I will not be sharing any of my Featured revenue.

    I just set my game to be free for a day while it's being featured by Apple, as kind of an experiment of the Featured Lists promoting power verses something like FGOTD or FAAP.

    I do realize most people look to those other promotions specifically for finding Free game sales and probably don't expect to find one in a Featured list so we'll see if it's any use, if free for a day with those other guys are intended to boost low sales what if you do it while sales are high? Sales megaboost??! lol
     
  10. ultimo

    ultimo Well-Known Member

    May 5, 2009
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    Oh!
    I don't think You should NOT leave it free in the first place as it is already getting the limelight!
     
  11. Quapp

    Quapp Active Member

    Jun 29, 2010
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    My game reverted back to paid without my knowledge or consent!

    AppStore has a bug? OR Apple Conspiracy?!

    I set the price tier to Free for June 30 2010 to July 1 2010
    But AppStore thinks its July 1st right now and changed it back to Paid!

    I tried to set it back to Free in iTunes Connect but its giving me an error.
    Even my reviews are listing as submitted on July 1st.

    Here are some screenshots
    Is anyone else seeing this in their iTunes and iTunes Connect?

    I eventually just agreed with iTunes Connect and said "Ok, let say it is July 1st right now, then lets extend it to July 2nd..."

    Can't wait for "today's" (June 30th/July 1st) sales report to come in lol
     

    Attached Files:

  12. schplurg

    schplurg Well-Known Member

    I think that's normal. I had my game change price on me before I expected. I think it's a time zone thing. I'm in California BTW..about 5 miles from Apple.

    I would just not set an end date and change it back manually.
     
  13. ultimo

    ultimo Well-Known Member

    May 5, 2009
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    It should be the New Zealand time zone, thts where every game is 1st out!
    Good for the game that it changed from free to paid, why loose THAT chance of being in new & noteworthy?
     
  14. ultimo

    ultimo Well-Known Member

    May 5, 2009
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    #14 ultimo, Jul 1, 2010
    Last edited: Jul 1, 2010
    Bandwidth clog does this doublepost, was contemplating by watching gameplay vids. on youtube & posting @ the same time >.<
     

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