Hey guys, I promised in another thread to share the results of RoboHero. We released the game for free on Sunday January 15th. There is only one $1.99 IAP to unlock the whole game, no currency/consumables or anything like that. So this one is more of the old “shareware” model of F2P. After 2 days the results are exciting (to us at least)! We’ve seen over 6000 downloads in 2 days with minimal coverage in the media (only 3 sites have reviewed RoboHero so far, but those that have are loving it to death). We are currently experiencing about a 2% conversion rate as well from free to paid. This is about what we expected given the developers we have interviewed before. Interestingly enough, day 2 saw DOUBLE the number of downloads as day 1! I can only assume it’s because everybody who plays RoboHero tells at least 2 of their friends to check it out. I hope this trend continues! We will keep you posted on any interesting updates! Anyway, F2P has been a big topic around here recently, so I wanted to share our experiences with you guys for the benefit of the whole community! Power to the Indie!
Congrats, and thanks for posting! I'd love to see how the sales and downloads look after a few days as well. As a possible explanation to the increase from the first to second day, does that take into consideration that Apple updates the night before your actual release date? For example, if you set Jan 17 as the release date, then Apple will start updating the night before (11 PM EST around). People can download the game, so you'll have some downloads on the 16th and then a bunch on the 17th (when it actually releases). But here's to the game seeing the positive trend continuing!
Has I said on Twitter, congrats! Your F2P model (shareware-like) interest me very much since it's what we want to use for our game too. Sorry to be off topic but who where the other developers you interviewed regarding the 2% IAP rate if you can share their apps / names? Cheers!
Well done BravadoWaffle. Keep us up-to-date with your numbers. Maybe, the huge increase of your downloads is due to websites that monitor game prices. They may have picked up your game.
Sorry they haven't released the numbers to the public yet, so I probably shouldn't post about it. However, anytime you see a game on the app store made by an indie just drop them an email and ask if they'll share their numbers, it can be very enlightening! I choose to believe it's because our game has gone viral, it's just that nobody knows it yet. I wouldn't say we are a success yet... hopefully soon though! Maybe one of the sites we've been contacting will take notice and post about us!
We just released Shooter's Alley with a similar model. We made the game FREE with iAP to remove the iAds for $1.99 getting 6k downloads in 2 days is damn good number I'd say. One of our "problems" is our game is only compatible with gyroscope devices so I think it cut out a lot of the market. I think going this model is the only way to achieve rank and beat $0.99 apps like angry birds. Plus you can potentially make more money off ads and iap than the initial $0.99 (0.70) and NO piracy! Keep us posted. - Matt mehware
I have been playing Robo Hero and it is really good. I think you have something with some potential here. Hope it goes well!
Thanks for the reply. I'll ask some developers when we are getting closer to the release date.In any case, I hope you keep us up to date on the numbers in this forums. Cheers
Well Done with RoboHero, it's a polished game. I think the you have implemented the IAP Unlock better than we have in Froggies and might have more success with it than we have. We have a tiny bit over 1% conversion rate and are actually generating more revenue from the ads displayed in the free part of the game. We are currently considering reworking it and trying the Shooter's Alley model: FREE with IAP to remove the ads. What is your conversion rate for the IAP to remove the ads in Shooter's Alley, mehware? All the best and keep us posted.
RoboHero is featured in New and Noteworthy on both the main iPhone and iPad app stores! That's great too because our downloads had trailed off to around 800 or so yesterday before the feature. Can't wait to see what kind of traffic the N&N feature brings! It's party time like it's '99 here at Bravado Waffle Studios!
Indeed it is. It's on the front page of the iTunes App store as well for both iPhone and iPad, not just in the 'Games' page. Very exciting! We've cracked the top 127 free games for iPad too, and still rising! Haven't made it yet onto the iPhone top 200 free games yet, but hopefully that will change soon.
Well too early for champaign yet.. the start of the race just begun.. Now would be the chance to make a sale.. Due to the free + iap unlocks thats hard to communiciate but in the end iap unlocks counts not sheer dl numbers. Looking at the appannie stats in grossing there is not yet much movement in comparsion to the ranks. Now its time to get the pr ball rolling againg and telling the world and reviewers about this little game and its noteworthyness
maybe you can explain to me, why its a success yet? its still to early to say how things turn out.. it was just released and now being n&n robo has a chance to be played by alot of potential customers.. the conversion rate from free to paid is the most important factor here.. no matter the amount of downloads, since the game is not backed up by ads, for example in comparsion to hero acedemy (while free ) but how many users buy the money since thats the way bravado earns money with the game.. anyway.. steph know i wish him more than well , but a realistic look at numbers is better than all sugar coated comments people throw around (imho) go robo go ;D
