I think it has more to do with overall jealousy, there's a lot of folks out there trying to make it on the App Store and instead of analyzing why Angry Birds is such a huge success it's all too easy to dismiss it as a fad. It's kind of sad really, there's lots of lessons to be learned from Angry Birds and most will never figure out those things because they're surrounded by a comfortable echo chamber of other developers who are more than happy to discuss how much Angry Birds sucks.
Not sure if this was directed at my comment since I first used the word fad, but I certainly didn't mean to dismiss Angry Birds. I completely agree that there is a lot to learn from Angry Birds, and I also agree that it's a great game. I was merely pointing out that sometimes products reach a must-have threshold and that increases demand beyond what it would normally be. I think Angry Birds reached this threshold, and I think it did so by being a great game, with a lot of polish, with a ton of content, and by showing off a lot of the pros of iOS gaming, while also capturing the quintessence of the App Store. What I meant was more that I think if you're basing your opinion of success on reaching Angry Birds level downloads, then your expectations are off. I personally think reaching Angry Birds level downloads requires reaching a market beyond the gaming market on mobile devices. You have to reach the market of non-gamers. Reaching the market of non-gamers requires being more than a great game, and in my opinion a big part of that "more" that Angry Birds has developed is creating that "must-have" buzz that is similar to consumer psyche that leads to higher-than-normal demand. Sorry for the long-winded response, but just wanted to clarify that there are no sour grapes on my end. I think Angry Birds deserves its number one spot, but I also think that there is plenty of room for other products to thrive on the App Store without necessarily knocking Angry Birds from its... er... perch.
Wow, I disagree with that. I played Angry Birds and I didn't make it a secret either... example #1 and example #2. The difference between World of Warcraft and Angry Birds is that WoW took the genre and perfected it. They worked on it for years and spent millions of dollars. Is Angry Birds anywhere near that level? I don't think so. What exactly did Angry Birds bring to iOS that's new or revolutionary? Is it the graphics? It's cute, but no. There are lots of cute games out there. Is it sound effects? Absolutely not. I find the music and sound effects to be annoying. Is it the level design? Maybe, but how many of these levels can you play? 100... 200... 1000? Is it the physics engine? No... Box2d, the same stuff in GameSalad (the SDK you don't seem to like). http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/28/creator-of-angry-birds-physics-engine-calls-out-rovio-for-not-giving-him-credit/ From what I've read about Angry Birds, it was about to suffer the same fate as most other iOS apps... buried beneath thousands of other apps. And yet, it came back and people loved it... just like people went nuts for Cabbage Patch Kids in the 80's. The reality is that Angry Birds is no more advanced, no more polished, than a good flash game on Miniclip.com. (Right now, I'd rather play Robo Rampage than Angry Birds.) That's a big difference than what Blizzard did for MMORPGs. Even though I don't play World of Warcraft anymore, and I strongly disagree with some of their game changes, I still think that it was a pretty amazing game. It fixed a lot of what was broken with the genre. I actually had respect for Angry Birds... until it was updated with Rovio spam. I don't understand how the game survived with so many people giving the app negative reviews. At least with Mario, Nintendo usually launches the game with new hardware... pushing the gaming industry further. Before Mario 64, I didn't like 3D gaming... it was an awkward mess. The sequel brought new excitement to the genre. What does Angry Bird Seasons or Angry Birds Rio add to the gaming industry? How does it push gaming forward? I don't think that it does. I think it's just a money grab and I'm surprised that so many people support it. The game is like bowling with birds. The characters are not that deep either... at least the Pac-Man ghosts had names... what are the names of the Angry Birds? At least with Wii Sports, it was packaged with the Wii and it opened up gaming to a new crowd. There was some logic. It made sense to me. And even if Wii Play wasn't deserving of being so successful, it made sense — it was packaged with a Wiimote. The success of Angry Birds is something very puzzling to me. With Angry Birds, the game is over a year old. Are people buying multiple copies of the same game? Logic says that at some point, this game should fade away. Where are these new customers coming from? Apple hasn't released a new iPhone in over a year. As for all the Verizon customers, that's not new either. Why shouldn't the developers be critical. Shouldn't the top-ten lists be filled with new and exciting games? As a gamer, wouldn't it be more enjoyable if something better than Angry Birds showed up? Is that it? Are we to accept the status quo? NO... developers are supposed to be critical and then make better games. With Angry Birds usually perched at the top, I see plenty of room for improvement. Maybe I'm not that developer to beat them... but with thousands of developers out there, it seems afoul that these foul have survived for so long.
As a developer your time would be better spent figuring out why Angry Birds is so successful then endlessly listing the things you personally think are wrong with it.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on why AB has been so successful. It surely has broad appeal. My wife loves it, and she hates most games. I will say this - it is easy to look at a something popular and proclaim in hindsight the characteristics that surely made it so. It is much harder to predict what will take off and what won't, and harder yet to duplicate someone else's success by analyzing it.
AB has lasted this long because non-gamers who buy iPhones want to at least try one game from the App Store. They go into the App Store and just download the number 1 game. And that's it period for most non gamers. I know this one guy who is 62 years old, got an iPhone 8 months ago - never played a game in his life - and decided to try one. And of course he downloaded the top game. I asked him what other games have you downloaded - non he said back. That is why AB has done well. My theory is that the game climbed the charts after a lucky moment - after all it did sink - then at that moment in time the iPhone became the most desirable phone to have. So an influx of non gamers keep it in the charts by wanting to try a game out. And because it stays at number 1, word and mouth and the media get behind it, so it sustains itself in one big feedback loop. After that point the devs are on a gravy train It really has nothing to do with the game design or how bad or good it is as a game - it was just about the timing of when iPhone sales went through the roof and non-gamers wanted to try a game and AB was the game at the top at the time.
I think you underestimate the savviness of iOS consumers. If it didn't have mass appeal it would certainly be another game that non-gamers were trying out.
I agree! The game had to be half reasonable to sustain it's position but my theory still stands fast. Try to prove it other wise
Sometimes when you're looking for something, it can be helpful to know where it's not. What went right with Angry Birds that explains it's success? Was it the publisher? Rovio doesn't seem to think so... http://www.pcworld.com/article/208449/angry_birds_developer_will_not_use_chillingo_again.html "You don't need publishers," said Vesterbecka For such a big success, the reason should be obvious... no? cheap price challenging but good for casual players cute theme that's family friendly I could have just described a port of Cool Spot to iOS. The other missing ingredient is that it's easy to play on a touch screen. Is that it? Is that all that is necessary to make a hit iOS game? Is it luck... simply an anomaly... people just liked the game... and then the storm just fed itself? It's was the number #1 app because it's the number #1 app?! I'm an independent developer. The success of Angry Birds is actually good news for me. The development costs of Angry Birds is FAR less than the games I would be competing with just a few years ago. That increases my chances of success. I think there are lessons to learn from Angry Birds, but I don't try to emulate it. That's because I think there was a random element to it... like good timing, being at the right place at the right time. Famous quote in hockey... "Skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been." Now while I still make games like virtual pinball for fun, I do look at the iTunes App Store as a whole and I try to figure out what people would like. I try to look beyond Angry Birds, because I don't see that as the future of gaming.
If your theory were correct, AB would have never lost the #1 spot (which it has many times) and would have never recovered. Being perched at #1 is a powerful thing in terms of visibility, but that alone doesn't magically generate the many five star ratings it has earned.
The reason Angry Birds has done so well is that it appealed to "non gamers". That is: Those not typically targeted by game developers. These "non gamers" make up by far the vast majority of iPhone users out there. The iPhone has put a powerful gaming console into the hands of millions of people who never were gamers or who had stopped playing games a long time ago. If you look at the App store at the time it was released, Angry Birds was singular in this approach. It had a cute theme, was easily one of the most polished titles of it's time, and had a universal and approachable appeal for everybody. The cute graphics, the adorable sound effects, the easy to learn mechanics, and the addicting yet rewarding gameplay are a masterpiece of balance and design. Any good game designer should study this balance if they want to succeed on any large scale. It spread by word of mouth, from gamer to non gamer (children to their parents to their grandparents) until it attained it's current position as a "console defining game". Due to this popularity, it has maintained it's current standings. Angry Birds single-handedly turned entire generations of people into casual gamers and opened a market that had never been tapped before. Thanks to them, we now have literally millions more people from all walks of life and affluence who are buying our games than ever before. "Whales" or rather, well-to-do adults who aren't typically considered gamers now play F2P games and spend crazy amounts of money in these games and make the industry what it is. You can bet all of them came to the platform thanks to Angry Birds. Angry Birds isn't the problem, it is in fact, the solution. Instead of complaining, we should all be thanking them!
I also completely agree with this. It was a perfect combination of multiple elements that propelled it to its current success. And that's great news for us!
I predict that this will be the top-most thread on the developer forum for at least 18 months to come.
angry birds is back to pos 1 anyway, shall we close the post ? its sucess has nothing to see with the game quality i think. i agree with Ninja , just marketing and some kind of hype/buzz that makes everybody buy it. i guess nobody play this game; they just buy it. as most of the games actually, you buy you play 2mn then you move one, but i dont complain at all, was just surprise by the success.
Then why not Bejeweled, Plants vs. Zombies, Tetris or other casual games? So, I looked... pricing could be one of the reasons. Yeah, Angry Birds did help set the standard... 99¢ but lots of content. It's a bit insane that there's over 200 levels... all included with the app. That definitely changed things in the industry. Were there any other big casual games, back in late 2009 that lead off with a 99¢ price tag? I don't know. I was just starting with iPhone development back then. I wasn't even buying apps back then. So, if the answer is... they changed the industry and helped Apple build up the iTunes store... then that is something worthy of a legacy. While the game itself isn't my favorite, what they've done for gaming is radical. I was quite happy last holiday season, with 9 new games for less than $10. I hadn't had that much fun with video games in years. But, that still goes toward luck/timing. It's not something so easily repeatable, because now 99¢ apps are the standard. The platform isn't new anymore.
Yeah the 99c thing has gone quite a long way toward helping AB get and keep it's top spot, I am sure of it. When other games such as you've mentioned have reduced their price, they would fire up the charts as well. But when they resumed their regular price, back down they slipped. It's amazing, the psychology of it Tetris is old as hell, and while still unbelievably popular, honestly doesn't "play" as well on a touch screen as AB does (no one can argue this!) In a different universe Bejeweled has ruled the #1 spot for ages, and in this world it probably "should" as well but between it's age and the "what kids want" factor it still can't live right up at the top along with AB. I'll still argue that it's Popcap's most important game, and probably the ultimate mobile game ever, all things considered. AB does have the "cute character" thing going for it, level progression, and a bit of a story (anemic as it is) that these other "board-puzzle-centric" games can't really compete against in that way.
i would totaly disagree.. thats sound like bad rovio pr blurb.. as if angry birds was the first long time seller.. its not the only title and there are a few other like doddle jump who had similar sucess for longer time.. and before that there where a different generations of big sucesses the difference is that rivio was a big enough company to handle their success and invest the money into growing larger, expanding their portfolio across several platforms and making the brand grow out of the appstore. but turning people into casual gamers.. i don't see that at all.. you certainly don't buy an iphone to play angry birds. and if you want to praise someone it would be apple and their implementation of the appstore which in the first place gave developers the opportunity to develope for a fast growing platform.. and certainly no one of the developers who had success on that platform and used that to broaden their brand awareness as for some of the more negative comments about angry birds.. thats pretty silly.. just because one does not understand the attraction of certain games to a certain audience that does not mean its a bad game.. just because you personaly don't like it or like other games more.. some reaction in this thread reminds me of the success of moorhuhn in germany 10 years ago http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorhuhn when i was working for a "normal" developer on a big title and no one really comprehended the success of the game since it had not a several page long list of features, deep interactions, storyline etc. in the end most developers either come from big productions or used to heavily play thoose kind of games.. so adjusting to the world of casual is not an easy task.. devs who worked on casual titles before the ios market hat no much trouble adjusting to the touch generation like for example donut games, or the prime example popcap.. i don't know how often i debate game design descisions based on the misconcept of the "you-enigma" alot of devs have a big problem with (me included) ... its not abot what you like but what your target audience likes.. i've seen so many ideas dismanteled because it was not deep enough for person a or b since they hold on to their triple aaa whatever origin they came from.. well i don't see angry birds as the new messiah.. its a decent product with a cleverly developed brand that put the money they earned from the appstore into very good use.. it deserves the sucess.. anyone thinking its a bad product clearly doesn't know what he is talking about.. cheers.
Dude, this is so clear as you said! +++++ To me, any game which is/were in top 200 games all deserved of that result, may be one or many criteria but they already did it right.
bahh-h-h-h. it's not a special game. Angry Birds is the good looking waitress at the crappy truck stop that happened to be working that night when the high-roller old dude with the bottomless pocket rolled into town. He paid out and she went straight to the top, and honestly.. good question, what was the consistent number 1 before AB? No one remembers because there was no one remarkable in that position, for any appreciable length of time. as cliche as it is to talk about this, it is still enjoyable to have a new topic going on about this right now. It's kind of become the big "faux paus" to even bring the point up, but while the whole world of iOS had changed so much over the past couple of years, and in spite one thing has remained starkly consistent. Love it or hate it...!
