Releasing in November. Suicide?

I wouldn't put too much store into what others say as you already seem to have conflicting info. I'm sure someone could make a case for each of the 12 months being a bad one.

I think the only plan that makes sense is to avoid major US holidays, like the current Labour day weekend for example. Lots of big players have sales then and that'll drop you potential customer base on the one day you need it to max out.

 

I'm also very interested about since I might be in the same situation. It seems that my game might get a release date in November. Anyone with experience about this?

 

I agree with Rubicon, just don't try and compete with the big guys release dates.

I also think the other thing to be mindful of here is that even though you release on day X, there is a lot of promotional work that need to be done well before and long after a release for it to be truly successful!

 

I dont see any problem on November release date. Also our game have the same release window (we hope ).

The things change if november is the month of availability of some new device... in that case is the same thing of US holidays.

 

I think I have to agree with what's being said. When the big boys start slashing prices ........ probably not a good time to launch. I'm sure their's quite a few stats out their about how many apps people download per week/per month in total.

I can't really see an issue with releasing at any other times of the year. People download apps all the time and due to the large numbers I can't really see it making a difference. Sure, if you have an app closely related to an event ie Valentines day or with and Easter theme, timing would be crucial to add extra success. I think that a market can get so big, that eventually these fluctuations become irrelevant.

 

Or a good one too

November should be fine, anyway, visibility is extremely hard to get, what ever the date so you'll need to do a lot of work to make people aware of your product.

JC

 

I AVOID THE HOLIDAYS!

I don't know what you should do. That's up to you... but launching an app on the holidays might be like app suicide. Unless the game is amazing, or perfectly timed for the holiday, it's a huge risk. The big companies put all of their games on sale. The review/news websites have lots of other things to chat about. So, getting noticed is difficult. If a game doesn't get noticed, it gets buried quick!

I think launching in Mid November (Before Thanksgiving, but well after Halloween) is a much better launch window than late October.

 

Ground Effect was released in early November 2009 and missed out in one major way. A few weeks later when it was featured in the main N&N in most app stores, it didn't make it onto the US one where it,and presumably a few other apps, were replaced by a bunch of Thanksgiving themed games. This probably halved it's sales. In the UK for example it got to number 5 in racing games (just above the original Need for Speed) during the feature.

 

Seems quite a few of us are planning a November release. Anyone waiting until December?

 

With the appstore and the low price, the release date has less importance than on console for instance. People save money for the 70$ Gears of War or whatever expensive game, not for a 99 cents game. At least that's a good thing for us.

Although it's true it's better to avoid the big promotion days where EA and Gameloft etc drop their prices.

 

I really agree with Photics.

Just consider the tons of DLC and games coming out from every other developer competing for your audience's attention. There also no novelty to a releasing a game or content pack on large holidays like Halloween.

 

I also belong to the crowd who things the month you release your Iphone or Ipad game/app in is not as important as with pc or console titles.

First, it's much less money the gamer has to spend. The reason a lot of games are going for before or after Christmas sale is very obvious. Now, if I am judging from myself, I don't care what big game just came out. I can play Deus Ex all day long but in the evening, in bed, I decide to browse the app store for new games or check out some reviews during a free minute at work, online. All this has no influence whatsoever on what big title just got released.

I think you can group platforms into categories, some are going to influence eachother and others are really not connected much.

Obviously Pc/mac/console and mmos belong in the same category. While handhelds and iOS/Andriods are their own.

Now, if you know that there is a iOS or Andriod app coming around your planned released that that created a lot of fuss already and is everywhere, it might seem a good idea to postpone if possible. So keeping an eye out for the "loud" little games in your own category is a better idea if you want to be careful with when to release.

Just my opinion though

 

You aren't competing money-wise with these major console/PC games, you are competing for their time. November will have the new Call of Duty game, Battlefield 3, Skyrim, sports games etc etc. If anyone has played these games before, you will know that many players spend all of their waking time playing these games. They play til very late then go to bed. I will be one of them

 

I am a hardcore gamer myself but I always find time to play something on my iphone before really passing out

 

The app store "climate" is what's important. You want your game to be available and visible while the "walk-in" from misc sales and promotions is high, for high-visibility and potential conversion to sales. Over-bearing competition that harms the possibility of transaction for your target demography is a risk to be aware of though.

 

I agree with whoever said every month is a bad month. Welcome to the most competitive software market in the world.

With that said, November 2009 was something like my 2nd or 3rd best month all time. If anything, I regret launching Cavorite a day before Tiny Tower and two days before every app went on summer sale in late June. Even with a nice Apple promo-button feature, it probably didn't' get as much exposure as it should have!

 

Sorry to bump an older thread, but just saw this article on Ars and thought of this discussion

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/12/epoch-developer-on-skyrim-launch-how-indies-compete-for-time-not-money.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss