In today’s post we will talk about what it takes for apps to make money in the new app market.
I’m sure we all know by now that the landscape of the app market has changed.
Gone are the good old days of uploading and watching the cash race in.
Back in 2007–2008 the app market was still relatively fresh and there was no such thing as “reskinning” at the time and publishing apps to make money was not the sole purpose then. Projects were usually built out of passion for your craft.
The only way to make an app or a game was to either 1) Build it yourself 2) Pay someone to do it for you 3) Work with a friend who knew how to develop.
These were the only options. So this made the barrier of entry pretty high, because 1). If you did not know how to write code, that meant you needed to learn how 2). It takes a lot of time to REALLY learn how to code and become an efficient developer. 3). There were no “drag-n-drop” style of game makers out there.
The only solution was to open up your computer, open up eclipse or xcode and start grinding it out.
The first few games I developed were with an engine in Java called AngEngine which was basically a engine that made it easier to code games be providing API’s and such to make life easier.
AndEngine was big then and was one of the main solutions for building Android games. There was also LibGDX and I used it to develop a few games as well.
With Andengine & Libgdx it was all pure(sometimes banging your head against your keyboard) coding.
I remember setting for hours stuck with bugs and having to compile and debug the game over and over again on my crappy android device(at the time). The emulator was absolutely horrendous back then and genymotion and bluestacks wasn’t around then.
I think you see my point.
The point is…YOU HAD TO PUT IN THE WORK.
The good news was once you put in the work initially, you would reap the rewards on the back-end with a nice passive income stream.(Not always)
Food For Thought: Is passive income truly passive if you put in the amount of work initially that equals the amount of passive income you make afterwords? At what point can you say the income is passive?
Just something to consider. A different perspective.
So these days we often hear and see articles that it is not possible for indie developers to make money with mobile games any longer.
Well, this is not true but not completely false either.
The difference between now and then is that, now being an indie developer is simply not enough.
You must be well-rounded in all aspects of business.
- Programming/Coding
- Marketing/Audience Building(Advertising included)
- SEO/ASO skills
- Economics
And the list goes on.
Let’s break down what it REALLY takes to make money in the app market with mobile games in the new age.
#1 Extreme Work Ethic
This has nothing to do with a skill or any hack or trick that you can try to find online. This is something you and only you can determine.
In today’s market if you do not have a hardcore work ethic, you will either give up early after only publishing 1 game(If you ever get that far) or you will complain and make excuses.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve skipped out on friendly gatherings, dates with attractive females, drinking with friends, and going out to party just to get ahead on a game I was working on or to make sure I was on schedule for a deadline I set for myself.
If you do not have a work ethic you won’t be able to stick at it for the time it requires to make money with mobile games.
Sure, some people get beginners luck and “hit it big” on their first try. But more times than not, people have to hustle and grind even when they fail a few times.
It just shows how bad you want it and what are you willing to do to make sure you get it!
Do you want it bad enough?
Are you really passionate about making mobile games that you will sacrifice pleasurable distractions to build your new game? Or are you only in it for the money?
Because believe it or not, your intent shines through when your game is finished.
I can always play games and tell when a developer is simply trying to make money or when they genuinely care about making games and want to provide the best experience possible.
It shows in the quality of what you have built. You may think no one is paying attention but the world is watching…the universe is watching.
Putting in the time and your best work is not an option anymore…It’s a requirement.
#2 You must have skills in Marketing, Programming/Coding, and Game Design
I mentioned earlier that the barrier to entry were once very high during the early stages of the app market.
Well this is still the case but in a different way.
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Today you do not need to be an expert developer or know how to program to build a game, because there are many tools you can use to make your idea a reality.
On the flip side, there are skills you must have in today’s market or you will have an extremely hard time making any money.
Marketing is important because this will be the skill you use to get your game in front of eyeballs as creatively as possible without spending any advertising dollars.
Marketing skills don’t come over night so it will take time to build up this skill.
The more you read, study it, and pay attention to the marketing world, the faster you will develop this skill.
Programming/Coding doesn’t need much explanation. There are a lot of articles and “app gurus” who say you don’t need ANY coding skills to make money with apps.
Well, they are partially right but this is mainly a catchy marketing slogan.
“Build games and make money with no coding experience!”
Sounds good right?
Well if you are going to be in this market for the long-run I suggest you develop some type of skill in programming. You don’t need to be an expert but at least have the basic fundamental understanding.
Maybe your app empire grows and you need to hire a developer. It’s good to have an idea of what the developer is talking about so they don’t get one past you.
I’ve seen people get ripped of plenty of times just by not having any basic fundamentals of coding/programming.
The next reason is because you will not always be able to build EVERY game with a game builder, especially complex games.
Some things just require code to be written in order to achieve it.
For example, the game I currently have in beta testing right now could not have been made WITHOUT any coding. The game is too complex and has too many integral parts that can’t be “dragged-n-dropped”.
Game design goes without saying. You don’t need to be an expert but go past the library or amazon and check out some books on game design and creativity.
Here are a few good ones I recommend on creativity and game design:
The Art Of Game Design: A Book of Lenses
THE SPARK: Igniting the Creative Fire That Lives Within Us All
Thinkertoys: A handbook of creative thinking techniques
The Art of Game Design is one of the books that helped me through my current game that is in beta. A lot of the concepts and lenses presented in this book, I applied to this game.
I also used the other two books in order to think more creatively about the game and find ways to make it a better experience for my players.
#3. Complete Utilization of Social Media
As cliché as it sounds. Social media is truly a beautiful marketing machine….when it works.
The key to successful social media marketing is either 1). Increasing your games viral ability 2). Building up a large enough audience to give you a good surge in downloads during initial launch.
I personally think you should be focusing on both of these.
For my current game, I increased the chances of my game going viral by adding an invite feature that basically MAKES the user invite a friend at some point during the game.
At some point, if they want to continue playing in the game, they must invite a friend.
This may not make the game go viral but it does trigger organic growth. Letting your users market for you.
But the key to this working is to actually have a fun and engaging game.
The viral loop can be seen in games like Clash of Clans and many other games similar to it.
Building up an audience is not easy and takes work. In a matter of 6 months I’ve managed to build up an instagram account of over 16.2k followers.
This meant posting awesome content DAILY sometimes multiply times a day to make sure the content is there. If the content is not there, you can forget about attracting a large enough following to make social media useful for you.
Your social media account should have content that showcases your games that will engage your users and drive engagement(likes, shares, comments).
Building social media audiences is not easy to do. This is why I will be building a program to help you build audiences and to get the eyeballs for your game that you deserve.
#4. Invest Some Money In User Acquisition
This is a tough pill to swallow but these days getting pure organic growth is very difficult and complex. No one has a proven formula that works every time.
Everyone is online and everyone one who wants an online business is trying to find the secret or trick to attracting the masses.
Truthfully, there is not trick to this. The app market is cluttered with games and apps all trying to achieve the same as you.
Sometimes it takes a little investment on your part to get the ball rolling. You may need to invest in those initial 5,000 downloads in order to boost your game in the charts and start getting organic growth.
Facebook and Instagram are perfect for this. But make sure you know what you are doing before you start running campaigns.
Facebook has tons of data on its users and allows you to use this data to target your customers.
Use this to your advantage.
Once you have acquired users you can then capture them as leads for your other games which can also help to building an audience.
Conclusion
Even though the face of the app market has change DRASTICALLY, there is still money to be made in the market.
In order to obtain any success in the market you must approach it with strategy and have a game plan ready to go.
