I'm getting ready to have my first game on the App Store and I've really gotten a lot out of researching how other games did. It was awesome when developers shared sales data and other information to help give a good idea of how a game can do in this market. I think want to do the same and share sales data and anecdotes about how my own games do but first wanted to make sure I wasn't putting myself in any danger. I can't think of any serious disadvantages except maybe some people thinking poor sales = not worth buying (at the same time, if the information is useful it'd increase exposure by being reposted/linked to). Anyone have any advice? Safe to share that info on my company's website or should I relegate it to a personal blog? Anybody have positive/negative experiences sharing their sales data?
Sure, why not? There is plenty of sales info out there. We even created a chart of our sales info after Trenches passed $1,000,000.
Yeah I skimmed your blog but the closest thing I found was the combined 2 mil mark -- link to chart would be appreciated
i think you'll be fine. The only "danger" is perhaps your direct competitors knowing how bad/well you've done, but even with that information what can they really do? I post things about the development/design tools I use on my blog and plan to post things about marketing and sales numbers once my game is out there. I think it's helpful information for other devs and startups, and i think sometimes costomers like seeing what's going on behind the scenes.
agreed, it's no issue to post your data. the only thing that might be "weird" about it is if you actually very successful (like, very very) then suddenly a lot of people will know how much you are bringing in, and this could affect your personal relationships. The odds of most of us making it into the Top 10 Paid are quiet low, so no worries there
The people you have relationship issues with at this point just make it easier to determine who to remove from your address book and life for that matter.
If you have a rather big sale, I think it will help to publicise your game, otherwise, there is no need to emphasize the inappreciable result.
The sales figures would be accompanied by anecdotal information -- the kind of publicity we got, the kind of marketing we tried, etc. I think the information would be of at least some value to anyone trying to find success even if it's an example of a relatively unsuccessful title. Thanks!
I think you should go for it, we've been talking about doing to do the same thing here at Forest Giant when we release our game. In all our discussions we weren't able to think of any way that publishing our sales stats/anecdotes could significantly impact future sales.
