Indies speak out on lack of discoverability and claim new OS favours established studios
The App Store in Apple’s newly released iOS 6 is a disaster for developers and users, it has been claimed.
As discussed on the LightWood Games Blog for developers, Chris Newman and a number of other indies said there were a number of problems on the latest OS, particularly concerning the lack of visibility for new apps.
He explained that there was no longer a “sort by release date” option, with tabs for games searches restricted to paid, free and top grossing.
Newman questioned how small developers and studios could become successful and get noticed on the App Store given that exposure was restricted to options which largely listed the same games.
“For a small developer, this is terrible news,” said Newman.
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“Although it’s only for a short period, the 'new release' exposure is extremely valuable. It’s our opportunity to grab people’s attention, build the initial user base and gauge the public’s reaction without needing to spend a fortune on marketing.
“The new system only gives exposure to titles that are already in the charts. How does a new app break through? There is absolutely no way of being discovered unless a user is linked to your app directly, or searches for the app by name.”
Newman also criticised how new research results were displayed, highlighting that users could previously quickly flick through five visible apps per page to find a game or app they were looking for.
This has now however been changed to one game per page, slowing down the search process and preventing discoverability of titles on the store.
"This is a massive distortion of exposure towards the already-successful apps,” he said.
“Those that are top of the search results (we assume, although we don’t know, because they are popular) are placed full screen in a user’s face. To get further down the list requires effort. A lot of effort.”
Newman went on to criticise the lack of space available to show a game’s full title, the lack of support for landscape apps and distorted search options, having been recommended bird puzzle” after searching for “word puzzle”.
A number of other developers also commented in agreement, with one developer Katherine suggesting that whilst there is a “New" section hidden away, the apps listed were in fact months old.
“Someone has just pointed out that if you tap Featured, then Categories, then choose something, it has a "New" section, which is all a lie,” she said.
“The items in there aren't new! In Word Games, Abble Dabble appears 13th and that's not even been updated since March! It's just like Google Play, users will think they're seeing new things, but it's actually just what Apple wants us to see.”
I'm actually one of those indie devs that has been finding it hard to get any attention on the app-store. While we were working on our game we had the choice of either going for steam first or iOS. We chose iOS and I fear that was a huge mistake... and this latest update is just confirming that...
I intend to write something about this in the future when I am 100% sure I've done everything I could and tell prospective indie devs of our experience.
Time will tell but as a lot of veterans in the industry have been saying all year long, the best place for indies is the PC
I tend to search the App Store on a daily basis and sort results by date, this way I am able to keep upto date with new music making apps as they appear. Now previously this has allowed me to find some great titles, that I have often bought them at a fraction of the full price due to a low generous launch price, eg Moog synth for 1 dollar ( full price is now about 30 dollars). Now apple have just taken away the ability for me to search this way I may miss some great apps and loss the launch price deals. GUTTED
I've made an iOS game as an indie myself and it's hardly sold anything. Because people can't find it. The thing to remember is, just plonking an app in the app store and waiting isn't enough. You have to do advertising campaigns outside the store and drive customers there yourself. Which takes money. Which is where the big boys succeed. I'm thinking of becoming a bus driver...
I'm seeing new releases for Paid and Free on both iPhone and iPad at present. The way these are described (below "New" in the "Featured" section) is terrible, but if these stay (and people realise what they are) it's actually better than iOS 5 - you can get a separate list of new releases just for free apps!
https://twitter.com/lightwoodgames/status/251041203229962241/photo/1
be get ready everyone to make your app also available in android and windows mobile.
if secrecy is a concern, then lock up all the tester until the release date.
I've given up on discovering good apps from the App store for quite a while now. In the past you could filter results by stars, but somehow a little update removed this.
Now I'm on IOS6 and I hate the new app store. I've been using the http://appannie.com site for a while now to discover apps that are rapidly gaining in popularity in various countries (lots of good stuff seems to be discovered in Europe first)
You'd think that a company like Apple would be smart enough not to fuck up a good design, now it's Google's chance to win not only developers hearts but also users.
I couldnt agree more with this article.
Our sales have taken a huge turn for the worse in recent weeks, and the (buggy) iOS6 app store is the pinacle of this.
I've always hated Google Play because of its lack of released by sorting - so why was this removed from the iOS6 app store?
Ridiculous that the new algo places a massive weight on free apps. It's no better than Android now. Maps isn't the massive disaster in iOS6 - it's the App Store, the main reason why the iPhone is so popular in the first place.
They've shafted the indies, they've upset the users, it's almost like they're pressing the 'implode' button. 6.0.1 better sort it out.
What makes me REALLY mad is that it was the indies that made the app store what it was, all the big players came along AFTER they saw the little guys like us having some success. Without US, the App Store wouldn't be what it is today, and they seem to have completely forgotten that.
Apple is taking WAY too much of the profits at 30%. They should lower this because that money is needed in advertisement. They cannot justify taking so much of the profit.
I named my eight month project REORDER... well the game is COMPLETELY UNFINDABLE. Reorder is bundled with recorder... and there is absolutely no way to find my game... unless you have an html link.
It is Impossible to even access the game. Its forced me to make a name change... change my graphics and resubmit and wait another two weeks....
www.reordergame.com
Hey that is a good post & a good set of conversations too. Keep sharing, that is good...
apple used the fervor of indies to convince and invite the big fish in. they had no other way to attract that huge business towards them as game publishers didn't give a dime about mac's minuscule userbase not to mention sub par hardware.... apple will of course favour the big companies and play along else they are simply going to abandon the platform if they don't get preferential treatment. soon the indies will find themselve in the same position they were before the app "revolution". the only difference and good thing this time was that some managed to become rich, and that some new studios and concepts came to surface. which is great!
I personally see it as a good thing because it finally made the inherent issue with indies using platforms like the app store as their go-to/end all focus for marketing and to try to gain attention. I wrote a blog entry and my thoughts on this topic here if anyone is interested :) http://www.tascha.ch/fitness/indie-game-marketing-and-the-new-ios-6-app-store-issue/
I released several iOS games and they were lost in the mass quantity of games fairly quickly. So the only way to drive customers to find the games is through advertising, which often most of the indies do not have the budgets to do. Only the big dogs can afford the ad blitz needed to drive users to the games.
I have an iPhone 5 and iPad2 with ios 6. I am a user not a developer. When I do a search I only get 25 results even if it says there is 200 results. Correct me if I am wrong please as neither I or customer service could find a way to see the extra results. Additionally, several of them had the same limitation on their phones as I did. In some cases I have entered the exact name of the app and it doesn't show up. If this is true it will hurt you guys even more so and leaves a bad taste in this user's mouth. If I am wrong let me know please. You guys have more power than I do to change it. Good luck
Discovering apps through the App Store has always been awful. iOS 6 has nothing to do with it. I generally use google to research what apps to buy then I search for that specific app in the store. It's the only way to find apps that are worthwhile.
This is part of normal industry evolution as larger companies put money into platforms that are no-longer-emerging and have become mainstream. While I agree that iOS 6 App Store is less "Discoverable" this should be a message to app developers that marketing is truly a necessary component to product success. Picking the right marketing is the hardest part. IMO the App Store is becoming more and more like Yelp or Opentable - you need reviews and solid user feedback to succeed. I've used services like gnomeescape.com and others to get good user feedback and reviews - it can help organic adoption tremendously.
