"Angry Birds"- Lost its position from No. 1 Paid game! Whats the reasons may have?

Issue #1 - Divide and Conquer - There are three Angry Birds games in the top ten paid section... Angry Birds, Angry Birds Rio and Angry Birds Seasons. Are people going to buy all three at once? Maybe... but I think an average gamer probably buys the Angry Bird apps one at a time. So, instead of one hit Angry Bird game, now there's three. It's still basically the same big three games dominating the top... Fruit Ninja, Angry Birds and Cut the Rope. What's odd to me is that all three versions of Angry Birds are still doing well. Usually when a sequel comes out, the previous version goes away. I simply don't understand Angry Birds Seasons? There are no big holidays going on right now, but it still easily beats all of my apps combined.

Issue #2 - Burnout - I stopped playing Angry Birds after 200 levels. That was enough for me. I felt that I had experienced the best that the game had to offer and the rest was a waste of time. I didn't like how the app got all spammy either. So at some point, the game's popularity will wane. It's taking much longer than I thought, but it's basically chucking birds at blocks. I'm thinking that the players will move on eventually to try something new.

Issue #3 - Competition - Cut the Rope is the other giant on the app store, so a sequel should do well. The two apps might fight for the top spot over the next few weeks... even months... but something even better should beat both of these apps. If Cut the Rope and Angry Birds are the best games that iOS can produce, I consider it a monumental failure for the platform. With thousands of developers and hundreds of thousands of apps, I'm amazed that a more advanced app hasn't emerged triumphant already.

 

Seriously? Cut The Rope is another giant in the Appstore. Pretty much any of the other games that hang around in the top 10 like Fruit Ninja and Tiny Wings will shoot up in the standings upon release of an update or sequel.

Any popular game from Gameloft and EA that has a 99 cent sale will temporarily do the job as well.

 

It hasn't sold well. It is an unholy, gotesque abomination of unprecedented ma-hoosive iOS sales and is outside the normal patterns of nature.

No logic or reason can explain it.

Perhaps Egon from the Ghostbusters can enlighten us as to why.

 

It's not that these more advanced games haven't been created, it's more of an issue that lots of these other games don't get the blessing from Chillingo, Gameloft, and an Apple feature. Combine that with some blogs who pay their bills from these giant publishers and talk about these chart toppers like it's water, you're mostly going to see these types of games over others. Of course you'll every so often get the break out hit such as Tiny Wings to shake things up a bit. And it depends how advanced of a game you're looking for. The iPhone and all mobile phones are very much still and probably will be a casual gaming device, so anything too deep probably wouldn't connect with a vast majority of users. And as the App Store becomes more hollywood mainstream, expect to see more wonderful titles such as Tap Tap Glee!

 

There is a huge difference between the subjective best game and the objective best-selling game. Hodapp's correct that Angry Birds has sold well because it's a great game. It has been in the top ten because it appeals to casual and non-casual gamers alike. And it has been atop the top ten chart for as long as it has because it has reached must-have status among consumers. Normally this would drive price up, but since there is no cost per unit to supply its price has remained the same.

Another term for must-have may be fad status. The pet rock sold for $4 back in the 70's (that's $17.75 in today's dollars!). It sold around 5 million units in a six month period. The reason I'm hesitant to use fad is that usually the word connotes that the product isn't worth the enthusiasm it garners. As far as I'm concerned, Angry Birds and Cut the Rope were worth all 99 of the pennies I spent on 'em. I don't think they are the best games on the App store, but I can certainly see why they're the best-selling, and I have no qualms with that.

 

It's just temporary. Why didn't you post before when some other games took the place of No.1?

 

yes i think it is just impossible to explain. I believe it has been over hyped, and as iphone user are quiet into "be in the move" it worked well.
Game is really regular. But i must admit on iOs small devices (iphone/ipod) it is hard to play games which are not casual. (i think, for ex Resident Evil i really enjoyed it on Play, but i played 1mn and deleted it on my iphone)

more advanced means in general more time to dedicate to the game not sure people want this ... world of goo is a lot better than angry birds but didnt do as good ....

 

Beyond promotional power and the demographic it appeals to, though, what other elements are at play here?

Is it groupthink following fads, is it the outgoing, experimental mindset of users, or is it a combination of both in marriage with a very low price point? Is it something completely different?

 

Hodapp, Hodapp, Hodapp.

I had a feeling that you had extremely BAD taste, but your comment has just confirmed my suspicions.

Finally someone who knows what they are talking about. If the appstore was gamer oriented, you would see games like Infinity Blade holding the top spot. But it isn't, most people with an idevice are not gamers. They only want casual games so you will see things like Fruit Ninja, Cut the rope, and that other game which name escapes me yet holds the number 1 postion in the top charts. And like bouglibougla said, it is just easier to play casual games on an idevice so even gamers will also like casual games as well.

Again, I agree. If the game is too advanced, it won't hold the majorities interest. What developers need is a casual game that people find interesting. Shocking, I know. Take Tetris for example, it will always be made for mobile devices and sell on them because it is casual enough that anyone can play despite their skill level and can keep you entertained for any amount of time.
Now take button trial challenges by Zincous as another example. It is a casual game so it should do well right? Nope. It doesn't keep you entertained for any amount of time. It gets boring rather quickly so you won't see it in the top charts anytime soon. Plus it has an alternative motive.

So that is what people want, a casual game that keeps you entertained by providing enough challenge that you want to keep replaying it and doesn't need a whole lot of time put into it to complete a level or stage because people are busy and don't want to waste their time playing a game that requires them to constantly play it, eating up their time, in order to get anywhere with it. Pausing it and coming back to it is not an option as it will still take forever to play and they may have to restart it at some point of they loose their progress.
The amount of content in the game is only a concern if you cant replay the same stages/levels without accomplishing something new like a higher score/rating. If that runs out, more content will be needed.

Now you might ask yourself, "What will people find interesting/entertaining". That is not an easy question to answer as everyone likes different things. I would certainly not go by Hodapps taste in games. But apparently if slingshotting round objects into different types of structures is entertaining, then just about anything could be considered to be entertaining, except for mashing a button over and over and over again or any other singular repetitious actions. I will admit that slingshotting round objects into different types of structures MAY be fun for a FEW levels, but after that, it is no good. I would say that a game that is random and changes itself up everytime you play would be the closes to entertaining/interesting for most people.

The other thing you need in the appstore is game awareness. Even if you have a casual game that is entertaining, it won't do you any good if you don't promote it and let people know about it. Your options are kind of limited and only relying on a site like TA to do it is a very, very bad idea. I'm not saying that you shouldn't want your game reviewed on TA, I am saying that you don't want to put all of your efforts into hoping that iOS websites will be sufficient enough in spreading the word about your game since there is a fairly good chance that some of those websites won't even review your game at all.

Your welcome for your FREE consulation Devs. I hope to see your new #1 game based on my input.
I am available for beta testing and giving feedback on games for which I have recieved a promo code for.

 

ROFLMAO!

 

At the end of the day both games are good. While it certainly wasn't the first of its kind, Angry Birds pretty much made the three-star, dozens of puzzles, quick casual puzzle experience a de facto expectation for many iOS users.

 

Someone literally said to me they thought the success was 100% due to the wacky sound effects.

So that's what I'm goin' with.

 

Hmm never seen that. Interesting read! Thanks

 

Responding to the Angry Birds hate:

Angry Birds is to the iOS as World of Warcraft is to MMORPGs

Publicly people will shit on it claiming it's the worst thing ever and that they don't understand how anyone could bare playing it. But at the end of the day they're going home and enjoying the hell out of it when no one is looking.

The reason Angry Birds is so successful is simple: It's fun and accessible and they had a budget to spend marketing it.

 

i suspect apple to love pinguins, birds, and zombies, they always feature those games
I vote PureSkill!!!!!!!

 

You can't argue with science. (B*tches)