There is a side benefit to updating. Every time I update my most popular game, I show customers a list of my other games on startup. Sales of my other games go up considerably with each update of the main game.
Ya I'm getting the same for Tap-Fu, which has no updates (at version 1.0). I wonder if that is from sales that we aren't being paid for or just some other bug? I hope the latter. :|
Quoted for truth. We have a dynamic banner system that pulls info from our server. I can update it whenever I want, without an submitting to Apple. This is mostly as a precaution and a service for the customer, in case we find something REALLY wrong with the game, we want to alert the players. Updates should cater to your existing customers. You can keep track of how many people are upgrading (thus how many people still have the game on their device). Don't let your upgrades slip too far- those are the people that will talk about your game, and generate business for you.
It shocks me the couple of devs in this topic who've said this. It only makes me think how poor of a developer you are to not care about your current customers, and that you'd screw them over for a few sales. That really isn't the attitude a development company needs to have if they want to be successful in the longer term. Maybe have more thorough beta testing, and hopefully you won't need to update so often? I can't help but think that it's a good thing a lot of the complaining devs aren't developing on more traditional platforms. For the DS/Wii/PSP/and 360 & PS3 owners who don't have theirs hooked up to an internet connection, you can't even make updates to games. If there's a major bug you have to recall the discs/cartridges at huge expense (see Wii version of Guitar Hero 3.) I do appreciate a lot of what you're saying is adding whole new 'features' and levels to a game, but this change should encourage developers to have a more fully featured app to start with, which should lead to better initial reviews, and a better shot out of the starting gates.
My apps are tested. I've fixed exactly one minor bug in one app, which was reported by 2 people out of 500,000. I've been on the store for 15 months. Some of us add features and content to perfectly working apps.
We all love our customers. However, devs can't give free updates forever on an app that most likely cost less than $2. Updates involve work. Work takes time, which is time not being spent making a new app. If we spend all our time making free updates, with no sales to accompany it, we go out of business. That means no updates on anything, ever. We update apps that help us stay in business, or to fulfill promises, so we can make more stuff for you to play with. That's the opposite of screwing people over.
customers shouldn't expect updates unless there is something wrong; or the developer can take suggestions for improvements. either way; users will get an update if one is posted - iTunes has a great mechanism for this. the issue is that the developer wont get an "exposure fix" to possibly make new sales. it is better to spend more time on the development before releasing it to make sure the product is good before it hits the market. this is better than releasing a semi-complete version and then flooding users with updates. i work more on this model than anything else - however, our first apps had lots of updates (mainly getting feedback/suggestions from users) while we learnt how people wanted to use our applications.
As someone who just released my first app, I'm kind of pleased that 2 days later it's still on the first page of the racing category rather than pushed on to the second by loads of revs. I guess I might feel different if I'd just updated but isn't it possible that the spikes people see when they rev might be at least partly due to do with a bunch of people seeing the rev, running the app for the first time in months and good old word-of-mouth kicking in?
No, it's a very immediate spike, that usually only lasts for a day or two max. Word of mouth is a slower process, and much longer lasting.
I think you have not understood me correctly. We will of course still do updates, because we like to play our games ourself and also try to build a good relationship with our customers. What I mean is that now there is no financial benefit at all for doing updates. You have to spend a lot of time for doing the update, but you will not appear in anyones shopping list of release list, so you don't get any additional download. On the other hand you are risking to get bad reviews, especially in countries where less people buy your products. For Cocoto Kart Online v1.2 the first review in US was "doesnt startup on my 3G". That review is shown on top in iTunes and probably hurts our sales. We cannot even help the people who have problems since they are using iTunes or Apple to report problems instead of using our support email. Such things don't really motivate to make updates "just for the fun". It is also the reason why big publishers often don't do any updates - it just doesn't make financial sense. Small developers will still do updates, because they like making games and want to have their games being close to perfect. You will however see some devs stop doing updates when they see that they don't make money at all and need to make new games instead of riding a dead horse.
that would be nice. In the New Releases tab they could make 2 categories - New Games and Updates. New Games would be at the top of of the list followed by updates. This way new game would get full exposure.
I am not too sure if this supposedly new changes (difficult to confirm as like people mentioned the AppStore seems to be behaving kinda odd now) will be good or not. Currently I didn't release my game yet, but a friend of mine did (I help with some coding and promotion). What I have seen is that each time he got his spike of sales was in each day or following days of when he made an update (he made 2 in total). He got his first batch of sales at the initial launch, then sales drop off. Once the first update came in sales spike again then drop off, second update sales spikes again then drop off. So for him update was the only way he will get noticed and get people to buy his game which sadly was in a very crowded categories... Puzzle . I guess for people that have a big marketing/promotion machine like big studuios (EA, GameLoft, etc...) appearing or not in the new release list might not be as important. But for little indie devs this was one of the most simple and effective way to get noticed (beside being featured by Apple). Now we might get another problem, like some of you already mentioned that some devs might simply decide to release Game v1, Game v2, Game v3, etc... so they reappear in the new release list. That would be very bad as your current customer wont be able to update anymore . Will see what's gonna happen.
Everyone just needs to calm down and stop acting like the sky is falling. This is only a rumor, and nothing more.
Whilst I am still following through on my committments to updates because that's the kind of guy I am .... I am considering other options that I wasn't before. This latest change doesn't seem to benefit the consumer, which all of apples changes have before.
This is so common-sensical, I can't imagine why they don't have one already. Mind you, if as another poster surmised (correctly, I think), that the servers would melt with holiday updates due to the upcoming Xmas season, then they would still crash with all the apps trying to get exposure in this new category. What I've gleaned from this thread is that what is good for some developers, is disastrous for others. It all depends on how each dev's personal circumstances. Given that there is nothing that Apple can do to please all, it is a wonder they even try.
We are waiting for our first game to go through the submission process. It seems our game might well be popular, and we are getting a load of suggestions for updates based on our video releases. We also want to add new stuff ourselves... Don't get me wrong the game is complete and tested and in a traditional console we would release and forget about it. And add these features for a sequel. We will be releasing at 1.99USD and I predict this will be the best bargain on the App Store. Going in cheap is good for what I'm going to say below. I think word and mouth is the best marketing tool after release plus if you do manage to get popular, a lot of the online sites will inform people of the new update. Now I'm going to say a dirty word - micro transactions. This is how you get your user base to spend more money. And this is where the developer has to offer something worth paying for. For level packs, this is fine, for new game modes, this is fine. Effectively anything that can be classed as making a sequel. So, for developers it all comes down to been smart from the word go, and investing more time and money making a product that people will actually want, and not some old tired concept seen a million times. As I said before this is a good move by Apple.
Hi, I have to say thank you for this post. You have guaranteed that I would never buy one of your apps. Having such a low opinion of your potential customers is abysmal. Only speaking for myself, I always search for apps. I research all my potential purchases and read most, if not all feedback on the appstore and other sources such as this community. I know people who buy apple products are referred to as isheep but you do not have the right or knowledge to just stick all potential customers into a category of just being mindless. I know I am new to posting here and should ease myself into the community here but just had to speak my mind. Yes, I do have a mind and my own independent thoughts too. David
How exactly do you normally go about this? I am asking honestly, because I can't imagine what I would type into iTunes to search for a fun new game that I've never heard of. For apps it makes more sense I suppose, assuming I already know what sort of thing I want, but if someone has created something uniquely new and cool, I can't really search for that, but I might see it on the New Releases list. That's great that you research an app before you buy it. I do the same, but before you or I can research an app, we have to first FIND IT. For that, many, many people (but not all people), will simply view the top lists of overall games/apps or maybe games/apps in a given category. They also look at the New Releases list to find out what's new. Others, like many members of TA, come to sites like this to find the latest info on what's hot and what's not. We are, however, BY FAR the minority of the iPhone game/app buying public. I think cramzy is just pointing out the way that most people find games/apps. I don't believe it is disrespectful to make an observation about the general behavior of people in a given market. This change, if it occurs, will definitely have a negative impact on those who relied on it to boost their sales. I have my first game update coming out in a few weeks, and I had been imagining a nice boost in sales from getting on the New Releases list, but now I will take other measures to try to get noticed.
Hi, Maybe my post above was a little harsh but my opinion still stands. Craamzy, as a developer needs to be careful on how they express their thoughts when posting to a public forum, such as this one. As for how I search: I go to the appstore, see the front page and read the top apps in the various categories. Often going through specific categories completely, if I am looking for a specific type of app. I read reviews and can almost instantly weed out the BS ones as just that. There are several forums I check out, not going to bore you with the names but they are probably the obvious ones that would come to mind. I check over to appshopper and 148apps for to get an idea of new apps as ell as ones that are discounted or updated. Also have Bargain bin installed on my Touch for browsing much like I do at the above sites. Even doing all that, I have had a few apps that have not worked out. My impulse buys are limited to $0.99 ones nowadays. David
