Average Downloads for Freemium Game

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by BrandonLassiter, Mar 24, 2013.

  1. BrandonLassiter

    BrandonLassiter Well-Known Member

    I am roughly 2 weeks from submitting my game Word Warfare (expected release of 19 april) and I started thinking, what can I expect as far as downloads? I dabbled in the past with some paid apps with horrific results (to date my total downloads have only reached $15 in revenue, not enough to even get a check from apple).

    I decided to focus on creating games and have learned quite a bit in the process. I have put a lot of work (and some money in freelance artwork) into this game. I suspect that actual downloads should be better than what I saw on the apps I made although any downloads would be better than that :).

    I am curious to those out there that have trekked down this path before, what type of downloads did you guys see initially with a free game?
     
  2. BrandonLassiter

    BrandonLassiter Well-Known Member

    For those that are interested in this, the game should be launching in a few weeks. I will update this thread (if there is interest) with the numbers as they come in, as well as what I have done to market the game prior to release and after.
     
  3. Syndicated Puzzles

    Syndicated Puzzles Well-Known Member

    #3 Syndicated Puzzles, Mar 25, 2013
    Last edited: Mar 25, 2013
    Brandon we just released WeatherÂș

    https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/weathero/id602163348?mt=8

    as a freemium app and the downloads were

    150 launch night 700 first day 585 second day 485 third day everyday it will go down hill

    With Apple not featuring new apps I suspect you might expect similar numbers unless you really push the marketing side of things.

    I hope this helps
     
  4. opsive

    opsive Well-Known Member

    Feb 20, 2009
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    Raleigh, NC
    We just launched the lite version of Terminal Escape on Sunday. The first day we had 27 downloads, then 2363 when it was fully released yesterday. I'll update this thread in about a week to show the downward trend.

    Our other lite version (War Evolved Lite) out on the App Store has been released for over three years now and on average we get 150-300 downloads a day.

    We have yet to release a true freemium game but we're going to try it with our next one. I am hoping those numbers will be higher since it'll be the full version of the game versus just the lite version.
     
  5. opsive

    opsive Well-Known Member

    Feb 20, 2009
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    Raleigh, NC
    I said that I would post a weeks worth of Terminal Escape Lite numbers, and here they are:

    Days 1-8: 2363, 1260, 582, 369, 346, 378, 288, 166
     
  6. BrandonLassiter

    BrandonLassiter Well-Known Member

    Wow people arent kidding when they say that there is a steep drop off right after launch. What did you do to market it?
     
  7. We're currently right in the middle of top free games (between 80-100 depending on time of day). Our game Secret Castle is getting about 15k downloads a day due to being featured in the iPad store. Sales are increasing but have been well under 1% so far.

    I'm hoping with an upcoming patch and slow purchasers we'll see a decent uptick in interest and sales. I'm begging every site I can find to review the game but it's tough. We should hit 100k downloads by the end of the week if things hold steady...
     
  8. Dragon Game Studio

    Dragon Game Studio Well-Known Member

    Oct 8, 2012
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    Game Developer
    Bali, Indonesia
    We released our first two games last week, both of them free. Not a single cent was spent on marketing:

    The Harlem Shake vs Gangnam Style Dance Game was launched 27th of March 2013:

    Launch day: 1,903 downloads
    Day 2: 14,833
    Day 3: 16,743
    Day 4: 7,831
    Day 5: 6,851

    Total downloads so far: 48,162

    We reached the no.1 spot in the Free Music Games category in countries such as: UK, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland & many others. In the US store we got into the top 10 in the same category.


    Don't Steal My Banana was launched 28th of March 2013:

    Launch day: 3,668
    Day 2: 7,460
    Day 3: 6,428
    Day 4: 3,844

    Total downloads so far: 21,403


    So yes, it's still very possible to achieve good download numbers these days! As long as you research a lot how to launch a game. Study the App Store search engine, reach out to media, build up a pre-release hype, post on forums and many, many other things.

    Even if you are a first timer it's very do-able! None of the members of our team, including myself, had ever released anything on the App Store before :cool:

    Good luck with the release of your game!
     
  9. MarkFromBitmenStudios

    MarkFromBitmenStudios Well-Known Member

    Apr 4, 2011
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    IT Architecture, Development Project Manager
    Austria, Europe
    Just remember, money comes from number of downloads and conversation rate. There's little point in getting tons of downloads without anybody paying a dime.
     
  10. Dragon Game Studio

    Dragon Game Studio Well-Known Member

    Oct 8, 2012
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    Bali, Indonesia
    Amen to that!
     
  11. ChaoticBox

    ChaoticBox Well-Known Member

    Oct 8, 2008
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    Male
    Developer
    Toronto Canada
    In my experience, you should also prepare yourself for an average of 20 downloads a day. App Store can be harsh.
     
  12. Unicorn Rush Downloads

    I'll add a little to the data:

    Unicorn Rush launched as paid, but fizzled miserably. I made it free and then got the following downloads:

    [​IMG]

    So far, I have 310,000 downloads (16,241 on the best day), and it's been relatively stable around 800-1200/day (though there was a little spike in downloads over the past few days from China for some reason).

    U.S. downloads have dropped to about 400/day.

    Financially though, it's still a massive flop, having made less than $2,000 in sales and IAP.

    My advice is to strongly consider a different way to spend your time.
     
  13. BrandonLassiter

    BrandonLassiter Well-Known Member

    I agree about the spending vs downloads but even if you have 100% conversion rate, with say 200 downloads total, you arent making much. Getting people to see the game and download it is step 1, converting them is step 2. Don't get me wrong, I am not anticipating an "Angry Birds" type of success, or even anything close to it starting out with my first game, but if I can make enough back to cover development costs then I will be happy.
     
  14. Dragon Game Studio

    Dragon Game Studio Well-Known Member

    Oct 8, 2012
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    Game Developer
    Bali, Indonesia
    Another idea if you launch a free game is to integrate ads, but have them turned off in the beginning, with the possibility to turn them on sever side later without having to update with a new build. Then if you do get a lot of downloads, but the IAP sales are very poor, you can always switch the ads on.....
     
  15. TheFootballPlaybook

    TheFootballPlaybook Active Member

    #15 TheFootballPlaybook, Apr 2, 2013
    Last edited: Apr 2, 2013
    I am releasing a free game soon as well. I came across this blog post recently, it has download figures and sales figures...http://www.majaka.net/so-how-did-ski-champion-do-part-deux/


    @mindjuice i just downloaded unicorn rush and played it. I am not surprised your not making much money. Here are my observations..:)

    I didn't feel the coin doubler purchase was good value for money. There are very few coins in each level. In one play through of the first level i got only 15 coins. To double the few coins you get doesn't really help you out considering a new unicorn costs 3000.

    The different types of unicorns looked interesting but I couldn't see them in action, or try them before I buy. Also there are only two other types. In a game about a mythical horned horse you are only limited by your imagination :)

    I play jetpack joyride a lot and the cool thing with it is that you can try out the different vehicles plus the pictures of them in the shop look really interesting. Also the coin doubler and magnet are so ridiculously good value that you think you are cheating.

    have you tried releasing a paid version with all in-apps unlocked for say 69p?

    Btw your game is very nicely made. 300k people downloading your game means they thought so too :)
     
  16. BrandonLassiter

    BrandonLassiter Well-Known Member

    I added ads to my game. They are turned on by default with an IAP to get rid of them. It helps monetize the users that dont pay anything and there is incentive for people to upgrade to the ad free version.

    I think the key with ads is finding the balance between displaying them enough to make them worthwhile (I am using interstitials) and displaying them little enough as to not overly annoy the people playing the game
     
  17. Mindjuice, thanks a ton for the info. I'm preparing for us to fall off the "promotion cliff" on Thursday where we will need to get more reviews and press to hopefully have the game hold up. To it's credit, it's a new idea that's never been done before so hopefully it will eventually catch on once we work out a few of the remaining kinks.
     
  18. Dragon Game Studio

    Dragon Game Studio Well-Known Member

    Oct 8, 2012
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    Game Developer
    Bali, Indonesia

    Very true. There's a fine line between it :) We chose to have 3rd party ads in Don't Steal My Banana turned off completely for the release. We figured it would be easier to build a fan base, have a bigger chance of being reviewed by sites / customers and a bigger chance of the game spreading virally this way. We do have 'local' ads though to get the user aware about IAPs, that they will get free virtual currency for sharing the game on Facebook etc. Obviously we initially lose out on profits due to this, but we look at this game in a longer term :)

    Have any of you had a look at our IAPs for Don't Steal My Banana? Any tips / ideas for improvement?
     
  19. opsive

    opsive Well-Known Member

    Feb 20, 2009
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    Raleigh, NC
    We did absolutely nothing for marketing the lite version. The full version came out a couple of months ago and hasn't been selling too well so we thought that we would release a lite version to spur some sales. It had minimal effect. We always have the option of making the full game free since it has IAP but it'll still be a little bit before we do that.

    Our next game is going to be true freemium and I am hoping the download numbers won't drop off as quickly, plus we will do some more marketing for it.
     
  20. iMing

    iMing Well-Known Member

    Mar 24, 2013
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    co-founder at Takeout Arcade
    Kuala Lumpur
    This is encouraging numbers, thank you.
     

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