Hi Guys, I've recently released the trailer for my 1st iOS game, Tobe & Friends Hookshot Escape and was fortunate enough to get some coverage on Touch Arcade. http://toucharcade.com/2012/01/31/tobes-vertical-adventure-spin-off-coming-to-ios/ So after some reading up more on the game's marketing, it does seems like I put it out way too early as the iOS scene is a lot faster than the PC game scene I've previously worked on. So with only a bit more time before my game is out on sales, I thought I try getting some last minute advise from you guys. - How long does approval process takes, and if it take longer for built updates? - When do you send reviewers your trailer, built and press kit? - What is the usual turn around time? - Is it okay to (or should I avoid) request the reviews to be show after the game is launched? - What do you think is the best time of the year to release a game? Some might prefer Dec, while some argue Jan for the industry is quite, and hence easier to grab attention. What do you think? - What do you think is the best time to release updates? - How long before sales drop, and how long later does sales run dry? That seems to be all the questions I can think off for now regarding release and marketing. I think this might be useful to all 1st time developers, so do throw in more questions if you like
I'll do my best to answer as our studio does it. We (obviously) haven't mastered marketing yet as our game release wasn't a "hit". 1) Lately Apple approval takes ~1 week. Sometimes longer (especially if they have issues with your app) 2) We send it out about a week in advance of our release date. We also send a follow-up/reminder the day before. 3) Turn around time for what? Reviews? It varies widely. Some take hours, some days, some weeks. 4) I'd avoid it. Review sites have a lot to write about already. Giving them rules to follow isn't helping your app. Unless you're a big studio with lots of clout. Then do whatever you want 5) I'd avoid any US holiday weeks. And all of December. Otherwise it's all about the same. 6) As soon as they're ready. Updating your app brings it back to the top of 'new' apps giving it a few more eyeballs to look at. 7) This varies depending on the app. Great apps might take months to drop. Ours typically have taken a week or 2 after release. Sales get a little bump, but they rarely last as long as 3 days.
We just wrote an article about this, you might find it useful http://www.fanstudio.co.uk/iphone-game-development/
Speaking of release dates, did the approval date vs release date issue ever get fixed? For a while the App Store was using the approval date for positioning your new release... If you set your release date a few days after the approval date it would already be way down the list when it was actually released. See this thread for more info: http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=101476 Has anyone had first hand experience testing this in the last few months?
