How did CraftedBattle become the top paid app in US?

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by markleung, Jan 29, 2013.

  1. This app seems to be the hottest app on the app store at the moment:
    http://www.appannie.com/app/ios/craftedbattle/ranking/#device=iphone&view=ranks&date=2013-01-29

    But the game looks unpolished and certainly does not have a wide appeal.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ZZbdnk9fYMA#t=9s

    Googled the app, the company and its creator and I can't find any traces of marketing. The app isn't even Google-famous, and according to AppAnnie, it hasn't been featured in any countries.

    So how has it gone up the charts?
     
  2. bramblett05

    bramblett05 Well-Known Member

    Aug 29, 2012
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    What's all the talk on the game y'all seem shocked a app paid its way up the charts look at the reviews on the AppStore.
     
  3. Vovin

    Vovin 👮 Spam Police 🚓

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    #3 Vovin, Jan 29, 2013
    Last edited: Jan 29, 2013
    -oopsie, double post-
     
  4. Vovin

    Vovin 👮 Spam Police 🚓

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    #4 Vovin, Jan 29, 2013
    Last edited: Jan 29, 2013

    Simple. Paid reviews. Also riding the Minecraft wave. Once the boulder rolls downhill, it's nearly unstoppable. Also out there: thousands of Appstore customers, which are dumb enough to buy before informing themselves about an app's quality, no matter which.
     
  5. tofusoup

    tofusoup Well-Known Member

    Aug 23, 2010
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    I was looking at this game a few days back on appannie and C-apps previous games. He even posts on TA. Well at least he's trying, and his games seems to be improving. Maybe someone can get C-apps to talk about it. I'm interested to hear more about it.

    He's got the icon,screenshots, user generated content going for it. The reviews seem to all think it's a MP minecraft FPS game. Most reviews seems forgiving, and giving it 4 stars hoping for a MP update.
     
  6. Therealtrebitsch

    Therealtrebitsch Well-Known Member

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    Seems absolutely legit for people who like Mine Craft type games.
     
  7. C - Apps

    C - Apps Well-Known Member

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    #7 C - Apps, Jan 29, 2013
    Last edited: Jan 29, 2013
    I haven't paid for reviews. I haven't even paid anything for marketing.
    The App has interesting concept and some unique features. Which iOS-shooter provides map editing? Another thing is the icon, this it what you look at first when you see an app on the Appstore. It shows a block which reminds of Minecraft and it shows guns. You can easily imagine what the game is about just from the icon. This is what I think but I can't even explain to myself how it came to this success.


    The multiplayer-mode is now a high priority.
     
  8. bramblett05

    bramblett05 Well-Known Member

    Aug 29, 2012
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    Some reviews on the game don't make sense and some seemed just copied one after the other.
     
  9. Vovin

    Vovin 👮 Spam Police 🚓

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    #9 Vovin, Jan 30, 2013
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2013

    Ok, no paid reviews. Was the app featured somewhere? Or is it featured as a gift on sevices like FeaturePoints or AppCasher? Or on Gnome Escape?

    Don't get me wrong, btw. - I was generally talking about how an app can raise in the charts even if it's only mediocre. Quite some devs use the things I mentioned, like paid reviews. Or cloning concepts which are popular.

    Again, I never tried your app, so no offense was intended.
     
  10. C - Apps

    C - Apps Well-Known Member

    May 9, 2011
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    Nope.
     
  11. pat3ck

    pat3ck Active Member

    Did any of the app review sites review the app and helped it gain exposure?
     
  12. Balloon Loons

    Balloon Loons Well-Known Member

    Jun 20, 2012
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    If he wanted to tell you he would have told you by now lol

    Don't we know by now it's mostly luck!

    And even if he did buy his way up....would he tell you? Probably no.
     
  13. Rank history looks suspicious.

    [​IMG]

    I have nothing against the developer. I just want to know what he did, because obviously that's working.
     
  14. C - Apps

    C - Apps Well-Known Member

    May 9, 2011
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    In the rank history it looks like there is a pattern but keep in mind that Hong Kong is a small market. CraftedBattle had been sold there 50 times overall and probably not all sales had been on the iPhone.
    And as already written here, if there would be a secret strategy I would not reveal it in a public forum just because someone asks.
     
  15. bramblett05

    bramblett05 Well-Known Member

    Aug 29, 2012
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    Something is fishy that much we know it is not a secret
     
  16. layzerboy

    layzerboy Well-Known Member

    Dec 1, 2010
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    how would a paid review help to get on top of the charts???
     
  17. #17 DungeonPlunder, Feb 7, 2013
    Last edited: Feb 7, 2013
    It's paid user reviews - basically, under that hypothetical scenario, he used some services or what not that provide user ratings for his application.

    What could lead to believe so is when you analyze ratings: UK ratings are about a 7 to 1 ratio toward US ratings and in his case there's a huge gap between both.

    Example of high ratings apps:
    Minecraft Pocket Edition: 14k UK ratings to 100k US ratings
    http://www.appannie.com/app/ios/minecraft-pocket-edition/ratings/:

    Angry Birds: 222k to 819k
    http://www.appannie.com/app/ios/angry-birds/ratings/

    In his case it's 27 to 1463:
    http://www.appannie.com/app/ios/craftedbattle/ratings/

    Basically, and again it's all hypothetical, that means a big burst of bought reviews at first would raise you to the top. Then it's a matter of wether you'll make up the cost in legit sales afterwards, Apple caughts you and pull your app off or if your app sucks you take a bath.

    At this point whatever he did, if anything, worked great. Enjoy the fat wire transfer.
     
  18. layzerboy

    layzerboy Well-Known Member

    Dec 1, 2010
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    Hey thanks for the response. So am I right to say that if I get 50 reviews over a period of 2 months as compared to 50 reviews in a week - that will give me higher ranking for that period of 50 reviews in a week?

     
  19. Tony@N3VGames

    Tony@N3VGames Member

    Feb 8, 2013
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    #19 Tony@N3VGames, Feb 8, 2013
    Last edited: Feb 8, 2013
    I have one possible answer to this, and C- has mentioned it as well ...

    the icon.

    We recently changed our icon and have gone from 1000 Overall in the US to Top 100, and from 400 overall in Germany to #3 Overall app - mostly to do with an icon change and then a price drop to push home the increased rankings.

    I posted about this earlier but I guess i broke a forum rule as the post was moved. The point I was trying to make is that icons are possibly more important than the app itself.

    Think about this. you are a consumer, you LOVE Minecraft. You and 20 of your closest 12 yr old buddies talk about Minecraft all the time. A game called Battlecraft comes out. You say to your bussies - hey, here's a game like Minecraft but more about battles (I haven't even read a review or the app description - I have decided this on name an icon alone). You and your buddies try it and like it ... another hit is born!

    If i is allowed within forums rules, I will post a link to the article I wrote about our icon success: http://forums.auran.com/trainz/content.php?42-The-story-of-3-249-VIPs-(Very-Important-Pixels)!

    The key point is, I believe the app is becoming almost irrelevant in the app marketplace. The name, the icon, the current position in the rankings all outweigh the value of the game itself.

    My 2c

    Tony
     
  20. Tony@N3VGames

    Tony@N3VGames Member

    Feb 8, 2013
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    #20 Tony@N3VGames, Feb 8, 2013
    Last edited: Feb 8, 2013
    Note that the country shown here is Hong Kong. I would think that a few apps bought at a certain time could fool the ranking algorithm. The smaller the market, the more likely manipulation can occur.

    We have been #1 ranked Overall App in countries like Mauritius and Slovenia with 2 sales.

    In fact I just looked at our Hong Kong sales. #4 in Sim category involved 3 sales x $2.99 x 4 days running. Looking at the chart above, I think it would be easy rank high in HK, much much harder in a big market.
     

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