Recently we have reduced the price of our unified build game Speedball 2 Evolution down to $1 (which is an amazing bargain given the game's quality and production levels) to try and get some penetration into the US market. Speedball is a strange game, it has been out before on other formats and is currently massively popular all over Europe and in the top 10 of the iPhone and iPad charts in over 15 countries including 7 number 1 positions. The question for us is how can we boost the popularity of this brutal hockey meets football in the future sport in the US.... any ideas guys?
Maybe use American sports in the game, like a football field or a basketball court as the arena? Just an idea
Not too helpful for Speedball, but maybe worth bearing in mind for future releases: go back in time and launch at the lower price. You got a ton of positive coverage for Speedball's release, but I suspect a lot of people were put off by the (relatively) high price at that point (especially as there were also IAPs which weren't explained very well - what does "unlock full content" actually mean?), and you missed your chance to sell to them because they probably don't watch the price-drop sites and didn't see it coming down to something more impulse-friendly. (I also note that in Speedball's home market of the UK, the lower price has seen revenues rocket, from No.84 in the Overall Top-Grossing chart just before the price cut to No.11 now. Seems pretty conclusive evidence that low prices = more money AND more people playing the game, who might look out for your next one.)
I don't know how to increase the popularity, but I wish there were stats in the game so I knew how much my players were scoring, how many KOs they had, etc., and how their stats compared to other players in the league.
would agree, Speedball 2 is a great game. i'm guessing a large number of the sales in uk/europe are from people who owned the game on atari st/amiga? many of the user reviews i've seen mention the amiga version. was Speedball 2 popular in the US when it was on amiga/atari st? if so, maybe its just that more people in the US need to hear about it. i'd think you'd be able to get mentioned on many sites. eg, dont think i've seen mention of it on any of the gawker sites and would think they would do a post about it. on unrelated note, wow, is this jon hare? sensible software games formed a big part of my childhood. thanks for the good times.
I don't know if this will raise the popularity of the game but making it more online friendly will probably help a little. Games over Wifi worldwide with support for any device VS any device. I bought the game when it was 3.99 and I don't regret it, very nice game. I have to say that there is alot to do in future updates, this game has alot of potential.
