release in one country first

[metalbean]

Coca cola uses Norway as their test country, since it's a small market and fairly contained. Also because many say that Norwegian are more "american" than their fellow europeans. Coca cola uses it to see if Norwegians like the new product before doing massive marketing and product launch in U.S.

Similarly, hardware company use Hong Kong as the testbed for mainland china. If something sells well, it's likely that it will be well received in mainland China.

Apart from that, there is the obvious benefit of A/B hit testing improvement, server load, user feedback etc.

Have you guys thought of that?

[David Phan]

Our current plan for our first game is to soft-launch it in the Canadian app store. As Canadians ourselves, we're hoping to generate some light local buzz from this, but the main reason we're going with Canada is because user feedback and trends between the Canadian and US app stores are almost carbon copies of each other (personal opinion).

DP

[metalbean]

David,

Canada is a good soft launch market. It's close to U.S, geographically and taste-wise. The downside is that, though small, Canada is a pretty high ARPU country. Am thinking of even smaller market as a soft launch test.

[Jason Stark]

I guess that's one of the benefits of a zero dollar marketing budget - you don't have to worry about things like this.

But seriously, what are the advantages of a "soft" launch to a small scale developer?

[LiamAtDevour]

Originally Posted by Jason Stark

I guess that's one of the benefits of a zero dollar marketing budget - you don't have to worry about things like this.

But seriously, what are the advantages of a "soft" launch to a small scale developer?

Check out this Article by Ndemic Creations (who is active here):

http://www.ndemiccreations.com/home/...launchanalysis

It's a review of the first seven days after the launch of their game and basically explains all the updating and feedback they immediately received.

Releasing to a smaller market would likely get you most of this feedback so you could implement those updates before a full global release. You can talk to a lot of people even with a $0 marketing budget, so having your product in the best quality possible for one big push on release could certainly help you get the initial surge to push you into the charts.

[Nullroar]

A lot of major publishers prefer Canada, and I concur: It's a fabulous market to beta-release your app. It's very reflective of NA and the west as a whole while also giving you similar activity spikes WRT time of day / week / month and user preferences.

Full disclosure: My employer is Canadian : P

[zimone]

This is actually a good idea that I hadn't considered before, so thanks guys

[LiamAtDevour]

I've kept on thinking about this the last few days and it just sounds more and more like the best way to do things. Does anyone know of any indies who've tried this method and blogged/posted results?

[pragmapack]

I hadn't thought of this before, what a great idea! Thanks

[Rainier]

Test launching in Canada sounds like a great idea.

Are there any DISadvantages to just having a soft launch in one country?