How to get onto "What's hot."

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by Kris Jones, May 14, 2009.

  1. Kris Jones

    Kris Jones Well-Known Member

    Mar 21, 2009
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    Producer/Publisher/Designer of Mobile Games
    America
    If anyone knows, could you tell me what it takes to have my game featured by Apple as "What's Hot" or "New" in the AppStore?
     
  2. Rocketman919

    Rocketman919 Well-Known Member

    Aug 8, 2008
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    yeah. Sell a lot and get noticed by Apple. To get into the "whats hot" they usually pick from apps in the top 100 or so.
     
  3. Eric5h5

    Eric5h5 Well-Known Member

    "What's hot" seems like another "staff favorites" list to me...some of the games are or were in the top 100, but others aren't anywhere near it. Which is fine by me, since we already have the top 100 list, so I'm not quite sure what purpose "what's hot" serves otherwise.

    "New & Noteworthy" is new(ish) games that Apple likes. To get on these lists, basically you just hope.

    --Eric
     
  4. WellSpentYouth

    WellSpentYouth Well-Known Member

    Jan 11, 2009
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    iPhone programmer
    App Tech Studios, USA
    Exactly what I was thinking. They just pick stuff that sell well/they like.
     
  5. PixelthisMike

    PixelthisMike Well-Known Member

    We recently had Sheepish featured on the "Staff Favorites" category right on the front page of the App Store. This totally came out of nowhere, we weren't selling much and we certainly weren't on any top 100 lists. The difference it made in sales was huge, we went from averaging around 5 sales a day to averaging 360 sales a day for the 7 days it was on sale! Sure it's nothing like the 10,000 a day that the top apps are making but it really shows the difference being featured makes. At our peak we were #76 on the top 100 games list.

    Since being moved to the second page of staff faves two days ago our sales have dropped to 130 a day and we're down to #103 on the top 11 games list according to www.148apps.com. So our golden age has passed but if we can mantain our current sales levels we'll be pretty happy :)
     
  6. sumiguchi

    sumiguchi Well-Known Member

    May 7, 2009
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    Yowsers - that wild! 5 to 360!! How long were you on the store before it got picked up into the staff fav's? Was it on in every country or just US?
     
  7. Eric5h5

    Eric5h5 Well-Known Member

    My experience with the staff favorites is that Realmaze3D is featured in the U.S., U.K., and Canada stores, but none of the others that I know of. (Although I didn't have the patience to look through them all. ;)) The "new&noteworthy", "what we're playing", etc. lists seem to be worldwide though.

    --Eric
     
  8. PixelthisMike

    PixelthisMike Well-Known Member

    Sheepish went live early February and Sheepish Lite late March (yes we were a bit slow coming out with a lite version, lesson learned there!!) so it was about three months after first release that we were featured. And it was also featured in Canada where it went from approximately zero sales to between 30-40, which in percentage terms is pretty massive ;)

    We released a minor update that fixed a memory bug fix that was showing up only on phones running the beta OS and we made mention of the beta in the release notes for that version. Next thing, and this is genuinely bizarre, Apple rings us to tell us our update has been held up because we're not allowed to make mention of the beta. Now as most will know it's near impossible to get an email from Apple (we bear know grudge, sheer volume of email must be insane!) so to receive a phone call from them came as quite a shock! Next day we're featured. Who knows if that's got anything to do with it though.
     
  9. PixelthisMike

    PixelthisMike Well-Known Member

    Hi Eric, Sheepish and Realmaze3D were actually right next to each other on the top 100 list for a while! We're like app store brothers :p Luckily you have managed to keep on that list, well done on your continued success! :) Do you have any thoughts on how you kept your sales level consistent once you were no longer featured?
     
  10. Eric5h5

    Eric5h5 Well-Known Member

    #10 Eric5h5, May 15, 2009
    Last edited: May 15, 2009
    Yep, especially since I had the exact same experience with Apple (mentioned 3.0 beta, submitted update, got a call from Apple saying "don't do that").

    The sales actually went down quite a bit when I was moved off the front page of "staff favorites" (on the third page now). In the U.S. store, I got as high as #32 in games/#56 overall when it was on the front page. There wasn't as much of a drop going from the second page to the third page though, which just shows that most people only look at the first page, but for those who do go past that, they tend to look at all four I guess.

    Another thing that probably helps is being featured in "new & noteworthy" for games as well, even if it is on the third page. This seems to be world-wide, so it helps global sales. I started out getting 85% of sales from the U.S., now it's down to less than 60%. I had the app store description translated into several languages. For some this didn't seem to help at all (Italian, Dutch), but for others, it had a noticeable effect (French, Spanish, Japanese). Especially Japanese...in the Japan store, it's at #29 in games/#71 overall and getting 50 sales/day, even without being in "staff favorites". Before I had the description translated, it was getting maybe 2-3 sales/day.

    --Eric
     
  11. BlazingLizard

    BlazingLizard Well-Known Member

    Jan 23, 2009
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    Austin, TX
    I wish that were the case but sadly it isn't. Our app, iSkyDive! was featured on the new and noteworthy section in the UK and AUS stores two weeks ago. We went from 20 sales a day to 820 in the UK region. Amazing sales bump! Now that we're on the second page we're hitting about 300 or so.

    Where do you put these translated descriptions? The app store only shows the english app description... What am I missing here?

    - BL
     
  12. Eric5h5

    Eric5h5 Well-Known Member

    All the "new and noteworthy" games in the various stores seem to be the same, from what I saw. This is not the same as the "new and noteworthy" section on the front page.

    It's in iTunes Connect along with all the other things you manage. The different stores show different translations in iTunes if you provide them, although for certain languages (like Japanese), you have to faff about with your computer's language settings in addition to choosing the Japanese store.

    --Eric
     
  13. ferret

    ferret Member

    May 19, 2009
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    Vancouver!
    I'm a developer at a company with one game under our belt right now. I thought I would mention the "best of" section in some countries Itunes store - we were featured as a best "ball rolling game" in around 10 different countries totally out of the blue about 1 week after we launched. I can only imagine it was because the Apple guys liked our product. We got a sales burst for sure, and it was great to have the recognition by Apple.

    -Farrah
     
  14. IUGOME

    IUGOME Well-Known Member

    Yaaaa Farrah! Nice to see you on here.
     
  15. ferret

    ferret Member

    May 19, 2009
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    Vancouver!
    saw you on here and new I had to join the party :)
     
  16. TechPadProductions

    TechPadProductions Well-Known Member

    Mar 13, 2009
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    Actually contact me and I may be able to help you, there are a few games from TA that we helped get Tiled and New and Noteworthy. Our game, iNetMania, was N&N for 5 weeks.

    PM me:
    1. Your Name
    2. Title or App (url if on app store)
    3. Price Point
    4. Any Special notes about it, like it has a fan base etc.
     
  17. WellSpentYouth

    WellSpentYouth Well-Known Member

    Jan 11, 2009
    1,363
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    iPhone programmer
    App Tech Studios, USA
    Ok, check your pms ;)
     
  18. TechPadProductions

    TechPadProductions Well-Known Member

    Mar 13, 2009
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    Got it, will be in contact over the weekend.
     
  19. WellSpentYouth

    WellSpentYouth Well-Known Member

    Jan 11, 2009
    1,363
    6
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    iPhone programmer
    App Tech Studios, USA
    #19 WellSpentYouth, May 22, 2009
    Last edited: May 22, 2009
    I am not sure exactly what you mean, but ok.


    Thank you!


    EDIT: Do you want my email address? Let me know and I can pm it to you.
     
  20. WellSpentYouth

    WellSpentYouth Well-Known Member

    Jan 11, 2009
    1,363
    6
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    iPhone programmer
    App Tech Studios, USA
    I am sorry, is there something that I am supposed to be doing to follow up on this? Just let me know.


    Thank you TechPad!
     

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