Totally frustrated; Does still worth it for you guys?

[AdscendFehz]

@Apps

Why would that strike you as odd? Their ROI is just not there anymore. Freemium models continue to lose their appeal and large developers are hemorrhaging, example:

Rovio To Cut 260 Jobs As The Angry Birds Franchise Becomes Irrelevant | TechCrunch

Please provide evidence to the contrary to balance the confirmation bias!

Absolutely. Please take a look at Machine Zone & SuperCell. Rovio is not even relevant anymore - I haven’t heard that name in a long time.

[ramzixp]

I think there is a still a place for indie devs in Google Play. We just have to focus on ASO and SEO to build userbase. It’s also important to make our own house ads solutions. It’s must have, if you haven’t any userbase where you can promote your next app/game, buy CPI, do marketing, fight.
Dropping revenue is also true, so we need to use mediation services, etc. I think that Google Play for indie devs have 1-2 years more. Every year it’s harder but no crisis yet. I advice to try also iOS and learn it today, not tomorrow.
IAP should be much better in appstore than in google play.

I don’t see crisis when 5-10k new installs/day in 7-14 days from house ads or CPI, can put your app into ranking(not USA ofcourse but Germany?). Buying these CPI ammount isn’t expensive like on iOS.

[Apps]

@AdscendFehz

Absolutely. Please take a look at Machine Zone & SuperCell. Rovio is not even relevant anymore - I haven’t heard that name in a long time.

Well as far as Rovio, over 10 mil in downloads for Angry Birds 2 on android in the first month is not a bad number. They fail with their freemium model, too aggressive! I’m not trying to be negative as everyone has their own experience but discovery is an issue. Those other 2 are good examples of successful companies. I’m not sure what percentage of their income is from ios but I imagine it is pretty high. I think ios revenue is more than 2x android with a fraction of the devices. Google has no way to control the amount of apps that flood into the store right now and unless you have a substantial amount of money to surge you to the top your app will be lost. That is a fact!

[mmmkkksss]

Yep, every month is worse and worse… Boosting app can be very hard today… I think that there will be still earning for indie devs even after 5 years, but these earnings will be much lower than now. So it will be not very profitable and most of devs will just start to work in companies

[ramzixp]

@Apps

Well as far as Rovio, over 10 mil in downloads for Angry Birds 2 on android in the first month is not a bad number. They fail with their freemium model, too aggressive! I’m not trying to be negative as everyone has their own experience but discovery is an issue. Those other 2 are good examples of successful companies. I’m not sure what percentage of their income is from ios but I imagine it is pretty high. I think ios revenue is more than 2x android with a fraction of the devices. Google has no way to control the amount of apps that flood into the store right now and unless you have a substantial amount of money to surge you to the top your app will be lost. That is a fact!

Actualy, iOS IAP/paid is 10x bigger than Google Play with similar app numbers, even Windows Store what have 6-7x apps less, have similar IAP/PAID results to Google Play. The problem started last year, when they added Google Books, Music, Video to Google Play application. Because of this, our discovery is lower.

[Magnesus]

I find myself looking through new apps and games less and less despite having a new phone. I think ramzixp might be onto something - the clutter caused by Google Books/Music/Video and the way they promote only big apps on the front page now might have caused the most problems to indie devs. Top New Free is hard to find right now - and it was the first thing people checked in the past.

[ramzixp]

@Magnesus

I find myself looking through new apps and games less and less despite having a new phone. I think ramzixp might be onto something - the clutter caused by Google Books/Music/Video and the way they promote only big apps on the front page now might have caused the most problems to indie devs. Top New Free is hard to find right now - and it was the first thing people checked in the past.

So solution is to make …house ads and boost apps yourself, CPI in first stage if someone is started from nothing can be also good. True is making app, uploading to store and watching $$$ is over. Now we needs something more.

[AdscendFehz]

@ramzixp

So solution is to make …house ads and boost apps yourself, CPI in first stage if someone is started from nothing can be also good. True is making app, uploading to store and watching $$$ is over. Now we needs something more.

Exactly. House ads mixed in with effective ad units will go a long way for monetization as well. What we are seeing is not the end of the world - its just what happens as a channel grows. Sophisticated players always win because saturated markets require detailed strategy & planning to succeed.

[Apps]

@AdscendFehz

Exactly. House ads mixed in with effective ad units will go a long way for monetization as well. What we are seeing is not the end of the world - its just what happens as a channel grows. Sophisticated players always win because saturated markets require detailed strategy & planning to work.

thanks for the pep talk, I like it

[AdscendFehz]

@Apps

Well as far as Rovio, over 10 mil in downloads for Angry Birds 2 on android in the first month is not a bad number. They fail with their freemium model, too aggressive! I’m not trying to be negative as everyone has their own experience but discovery is an issue. Those other 2 are good examples of successful companies. I’m not sure what percentage of their income is from ios but I imagine it is pretty high. I think ios revenue is more than 2x android with a fraction of the devices. Google has no way to control the amount of apps that flood into the store right now and unless you have a substantial amount of money to surge you to the top your app will be lost. That is a fact!

Rovio is pushing the same games everyone is tired of. They did a huge burst campaign but it barely worked imo. I agree with ramzixp (again), refining ASO/SEO/marketing strategies will be critical. Again, times will get tough for A LOT of developers who are used to releasing apps without much marketing and making tons of money doing it. The market no longer supports this.

[the-count]

It’s getting harder and harder every year BUT it’s not the end yet. I personally don’t even bother much with ASO that much but concentrate on SEO - more and more people search for things on their mobile phones and if you can rank your app on page 1 in search your all set. It ain’t easy but learn keywords research and SEO optimization for the app and how to build/buy back links - SEO is much cheaper than spending $1 per install and when done right the app will rank on page 1 for month or years. G00gle loves to ranks it’s own products (apps, Youtube, G+ pages etc) and it ain’t as hard as ranking a website

[AdscendFehz]

@the-count

It’s getting harder and harder every year BUT it’s not the end yet. I personally don’t even bother much with ASO that much but concentrate on SEO - more and more people search for things on their mobile phones and if you can rank your app on page 1 in search your all set. It ain’t easy but learn keywords research and SEO optimization for the app and how to build/buy back links - SEO is much cheaper than spending $1 per install and when done right the app will rank on page 1 for month or years. G00gle loves to ranks it’s own products (apps, Youtube, G+ pages etc) and it ain’t as hard as ranking a website

This is the truth Ideal combination is both ASO & SEO of course! SEO is likely going to end up the winner, the app store is not easy to browse as mentioned and really isn’t even close to the versatility of Google Search itself… and I’m still a pretty firm believer that mobile web usage will gain more market share over time.