2Lite, or not 2Lite!?

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Socoder -> Off Topic -> 2Lite, or not 2Lite!?
Sat, 08 Jun 2013, 15:25
Jayenkai	Over my past few years of AppStore Sales Techniques Experimentation. I've tried and tested a fair number of different methods for desperately seeking exposure. The most successful of these, so far, has been the original "It's my birthday, so SpikeDislike is free!!!" Thing, which drove thousands to the game, two years ago. But I've often wondered, does having a Lite edition help, or hinder, you app's sales. Does it bring in the willing punters, or just the folk who play the demo then never bother to play anything more beyond that..? Well, I've decided to spin the wheel of chance, and see what happens with SpikeDislike2! Today, the Lite edition has been released. For those keeping track, it's been just over three whole months since the game's original release. As such, if I get a sales spike of anything, at all,, it's going to be noticeable! So, I'll give it a few days, then check back and post some proper numbers, here. Should be fun to watch!?.. Maybe... SpikeDislike2 Lite -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Sun, 09 Jun 2013, 09:08
rockford	I believe that having a Lite version of B'lox! (webOS version) available seriously killed my full version. I had about 15,000 downloads of the Lite version and 106 webOS sales of the full version. iOS has probably brought in more, but I never bother looking at the sales they are so low. Now, I don't know if the demo didn't appeal to people enough or they got the full version "somewhere else"... Either way I believe that I should never have released the free version. I suspect the former and that I gave away too much of the game (12 levels), rather than just whetting appetites. I released Dicey (webOS again) for free and got over 8000 downloads. This would indicate that people are happy to download free stuff, but not willing to put their hands in their pockets to support the format they bought into (they then wondered why the devs left). So Jay, if you do want to release a free/lite version - make sure you don't give too much game away and clearly advertise that there are plenty more extras in the full version.
Sun, 09 Jun 2013, 09:58
Jayenkai	Yeah, I'm seeing mountains more SpikeDislike1 Lite downloads than SpikeDislike1 downloads.. But, at the same time, I'm also seeing more SpikeDislike1 downloads than SpikeDislike2.. So.. Not sure, really. At the minute, SD2 is selling at a rate of around 4 or 5 a week, so any changes that come from this Lite edition will be noticable in sales stats. Stats, so far, are only showing the first few hours, so 7 downloads isn't really all that good of a stat! More, tomorrow!! -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Sun, 09 Jun 2013, 17:37
Stealth	This is the freemium model at its core. This strategy lets you achieve high download rates and greater exposure at the cost of allowing a bunch of people to play free. The number of overall downloads vs the number of sales is your conversion rate. You have to give the user a compelling enough reason to upgrade. You should focus on the conversion rate and work on interesting new features in the upgrade until you get to a spot where you're happy. There's just a lot of games out there distracting people from yours. Are they going to buy your game upgrade or someone else's? -=-=- Quit posting and try Google.
Sun, 09 Jun 2013, 17:55
Jayenkai	-=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Sun, 09 Jun 2013, 19:21
spinal	How about the ye olde 'buy full version' screen at the end of the demo, be it after dying or getting past level 1 or whatever. -=-=- Check out my excellent homepage!
Mon, 10 Jun 2013, 02:08
Jayenkai	I've replaced the credits screen with a "full version" advert type image thing. This pops up under three sets of circumstances. A) When the user click the AGameAWeek logo (probability, 0%!) B) When the user clicks the game's logo (probability, 12%) C) Every time the player taps the ingame GameCenter icon!! (probability, probably probable!) -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Wed, 12 Jun 2013, 17:46
Jayenkai	Well, sales are in, and .. shrugs There was one, last Wednesday, then nothing on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The demo appeared on Sunday, and since then I've had 1 on Sunday, 2 on Monday and 1 on Tuesday. So.. Um.. Minimal, but it is at least something. shrugs For those intrigued, the lite downloads were Sunday 48, Monday 27 and Tuesday 20. A nice sliding downhill plummet.. Weeeee :/ Not everybody likes SpikeDislike!! ... On a somewhat related note, the FULL version of SpikeDislike2 is now available in the Android store!! -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Wed, 12 Jun 2013, 19:02
therevillsgames	With my adventures I had two versions of Pirate Solitaire, one was the full game the other was actually called Pirate TriPeaks. I originally was hoping that people would find Pirate Solitaire after playing TriPeaks, but they didn't. So I added a "Please buy" screen to the end of TriPeaks and it generated heaps of traffic to the Solitaire version. And even to this day it generates around $30 a month for me...
Thu, 13 Jun 2013, 04:00
CodersRule	Jayenkai ... On a somewhat related note, the FULL version of SpikeDislike2 is now available in the Android store!! The lord has responded to my prayers! Right at the start of finals week...