Five reasons why Google Play is the ultimate soft launch platform

Deciding on which platform to soft launch your mobile game can make or break your whole game. Two major platforms currently are Google Play and iOS App Store. This article tries to express few major differences between the two and why game developers need to take these factors into account when choosing the soft launch platform.

1. Reach

Reach means how big user base the platform has. Reach can be divided into global and local reach. Global reach means the worldwide reach of the platform which is more suitable parameter for global launch. Local reach means the reach of the platform in selected soft-launch area (country).
When comparing two major mobile distribution platforms (aka “app stores”), Google Play reached 1 billion monthly active users on September, 2015 according to Mashable. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get any reliable data of monthly active users of iOS App Store due to Apple’s traditional way of not publishing these figures very often.

Image 1: Mobile OS Marketshare (Dec 2015, NetMarketShare)

However, the market share of smartphone OS sales, according to Kantar Worldpanel, Android leads the market in Europe’s big five markets, USA and in China. Also, when comparing “usage share” of mobile OSes, Android leads the market with 57,29% according to NetMarketShare. When considering these data points, it is very likely that Apple’s iOS App Store has fewer monthly active users on their distribution platform than Google.

2. Submission process

The variable with greatest importance to soft launch platform decision is the speed from submission from developers to being available for end users.

Google Play has tremendous advantage in this regard. In Google Play it is matter of hours when the game or new update is available to the players. In iOS App Store, it takes at least one week from submission for being available to the players due to the heavy review process by Apple.

This allows developers to bring new updates and fixes much more rapidly to end users than in App Store.

Another variable which relates to submission process is the ability to update app store listing elements without updating the binary itself. Google Play allows change app description, screenshots and feature image and promo videos without updating the binary itself. iOS App Store allows the developer to change app description but not keywords or screenshots without updating the binary.
 

3. App Store Optimization

Another important consideration is the possibility to alter and test game’s icon, landing page, keywords and screenshots rapidly and compare different versions to each other.

Image 2: Screenshot depicting Experiments audience selection tool in Google Play Developer Console

Google Play announced great feature called Experiments on May 28th 2015 which allows developers to AB-test graphical as well as textual elements in their app store listing. Graphical elements which can be tested include icon, feature graphic, screenshots and promo video. Textual elements which can be tested include app’s short and long description. After the experiment has run, developers are able to view the results of the test in Google Play Developer Console.
iOS App Store doesn’t include AB-testing abilities currently, so if you want to AB-test fluently your games store listing elements, Google Play is the way to go.

 
4. Paid user acquisition possibilities

As what comes to paid user acquisition possibilities, both platforms have lot of ad networks which offer huge inventories for running your UA campaigns.
But what comes to UA possibilities inside the platform itself, Google Play offers something unique. It allows developers to buy Search Ads which let them display advertisements inside Google Play search results. Google Search ads are excellent because they tap into intent-rich moments in users’ mobile use cycle. Search Ads display both in mobile Google Search results as well as Google Play search results.

Image 3: Google Search Ad on Google mobile search

Image 4: Google Search ad as seen on Google Play Search

The greatest thing is that you can use 3rd party partners such as SensorTower to analyze the best keywords for your title (or your competitor’s) and buy Search Ads from those keywords. What could be better UA strategy, especially in those markets and keywords where competition is still low and prices relatively cheap?
 

5. Desktop-to-mobile conversion

In my experience, one important but surprising factor which most developers don’t understand is the desktop-to-mobile conversion. With desktop-to-mobile I mean the ability to save, install or favorite a mobile game on desktop so that you can play it later on mobile phone. This is important because a lot of time, people may find interesting games while they use desktop computers, but either don’t have time or have limited intent to use their mobile phone at that time. At that time, it is really nice to be able to efficiently save, favorite or install the mobile game on the desktop, without changing the focus to your mobile phone.

Google has really nice advantage to other mobile distribution platform holders with their huge presence on desktop internet. According to NetMarketShare usage monitor, Google’s Chrome browser holds second place in desktop browser market share with 32,33% usage market share. Since a lot of users have Google account, and due to the possibility to sign-in to your Google Account in Chrome, Google makes it really easy to download games from the desktop view of Google Play to your mobile phone. You just first tap “install”, then confirm that you give the rights to the app which it requests and then the download to your mobile phone begins.

Image 5:  Mobile Strike on Google Play desktop browser view

iOS App Store also allows users to download game via desktop, but little bit less efficiently. First, the user has to open up the app in iTunes program in PC (assuming that he has installed that), then download the game to the desktop, and then synch the data to iOS device via USB-connection or through connecting to same Wi-Fi where the desktop is. That’s a lot of steps compared to simple two-step installation process on Google Play desktop.

Sum Up

Above, I have presented five major reasons why Google Play is the ultimate soft-launch platform for mobile games. There are other reasons beyond these - such as revenue per download, payment behaviour etc. - which are different in different platforms. But since actual data on some of these factors is really hard to find, I have excluded them from this analysis.

What do you think? Did I miss something important? Do you disagree me on these findings? Please comment below!

Mechanics of mobile collectible card games - an overview

Today's post deals with the mobile collectible card game (CCG) market and why we believe Permia - Duels will rise to be a winner in the future. In the western markets, the most of the notable mobile CCG:s are either manager CCG:s and so called line mechanic CCG:s. Additionally, the market has some notable games, whose mechanics differ from the main categories,  most important being of course the Hearthstone. Also worth mentioning are the mobile spin offs of the old physical CCG giants Magic the Gathering and Yo-Gi-Oh!. Lately the card mechanics have become popular also when integrated into other games, such as card based sports games.

Manager CCG:s

Image: Rage of Bahamut

Manager games are the most populous group of mobile CCG:s (For example Rage of Bahamut, Heroes Charge, MARVEL War of Heroes and Heroes of Camelot). In manager CCG:s the tactical elements have been stripped completely or are very light in the battles. As a result, the battles are very fast and can often be skipped all together directly to the end result. Such games focus on the collection, card development, deck building, story and/or social elements instead. This works well on mobile, as battles are short and can be easily played anywhere. But the lack of a real tactical skill element also means that the game is essentially the collecting and upgrading system and once that wears out, there is little replay value due the non-existing battle mechanics.

Line mechanic CCG:s

Image: Order & Chaos Duels

In line mechanic games players in turn play units into the battlefield into designated places. The units then fight automatically and if there is no defending unit in the opposing slot, the player takes the damage himself. There exists different variations of the basic system: some games have multiple battle lines, others allow movement of units etc. Some examples of line games include Lies of Astaroth, Tyrant Unleashed and Order & Chaos Duels.

I have newer been a big fan of the line mechanic, as it offers seemingly lot of tactical choices through card special abilities. With a closer look, the mechanics tend to prove rather shallow due to the line system limitations and become repetitive after a while. Even worse, games tend to drag on needlessly long when the battle grid gets filled with creatures and player runs out of tactical choices to implement. The problem is worst with equally good decks and players.

Conguer a base CCG:s

Image: Battle Decks

Conguer a base CCG:s combine card mechanics with a board, where units can be moved. Such games are more popular in PC, but a few examples exists also in mobile  such as Battle Decks, Cabals: Magic & Battle cards. While they offer both strategic and tactical depth, such games are tend to have long battles, which is not optimal as mobile experience.

Physical CCG spin offs

Image: Magic Duels

For example Magic Duels, Yo-Gi-Oh! Duel Generation, Magic 2015. While the physical games have been great successes, they have had difficulties on adapting to the electronic and especially mobile environment. The mechanics are very deep on both strategic and tactical level, but also overly complicated for mobile. Some of the mechanics do not translate well from the physical world to the mobile experience, like the interrupt concept in magic, which makes Magic Duels a sluggish experience, as one needs to wait for possible interrupts all the time. Also the battles take long time.

Hearthstone

Image: Hearthstone

Hearthstone is the biggest electronic CCG in the market today. In essence Hearthstone resembles a
simplified version of Magic the Gathering, where the mechanics have been streamlined and modified to work well in an electronic game. The designers did a good job and the game offers enough strategic and tactical depth to make skill matter while still keeping the game easier to approach compared to the Physical CCG spin offs. In addition to the mechanics, that stand out from the mobile competitors, the monetization model of Hearthstone is rather non-aggressive for a mobile game. The battles take 10 to 30 minutes, which is a bit long in a mobile game though. Also while Hearthstone has social elements, like spectator mode and chat, its lacking  in-game cooperative interaction.

Permia - Duels

Early concept of the new art style.

So how does our Permia -Duels fit to the market? Duels shares many of the strengths that have made Hearthstone the biggest CCG around: The game stands out from the main competitors on the market. Combining depth with simplicity in the mechanical design of the game has proven to be a winning combination. Not too aggressive monetization model will be better in the long run, as players are getting more sensitive to the free-to-play tricks also in the mobile. These give a good basis to start from, but the real strength of Permia - Duels in the mobile are the short battles. While being able to offer lots of strategic and tactical depth, the battles of Permia - Duels typically take less than 3 minutes. This is less than any other CCG:s (aside from the manager games, which lack tactical battles altogether).

Another important aspect of Permia - Duels, that will be added in the upcoming grand update, will be the Guilds and related in-game cooperative integration  to keep players playing for a long time. With the updated visuals and content upgrades of the grand update, Permia - Duels will have all the elements to take over the mobile CCG market. Stay tuned!