Katy Perry Pop flops, everything you need to know about retention, and how to get a job at Space Ape
Another week passes, and here we are again, looking back at what caught your attention amongst the many stories that we threw out for your reading pleasure as we beavered away getting ready for Pocket Gamer Connects London 2015.
Have we mentioned that recently?
Our top story of the week was a look at how to get a job at Space Ape, the UK developer behind strategy title Rival Kingdoms, as it looks to expand its business through 2016.
Next up, our ever popular guest columnist Torulf Jernström gave a comprehensive guide to everything you'll ever need to know about retention, and how to up your numbers.
Thirdly, we saw Seriously's charitable acts pay off big time, as its game Best Fiends generated $3 million in revenue during December 2015 while raising $250,000 for charity.
And finally, Jon took a look at the sorry state of Katy Perry Pop's App Store ranking, while our IAP Inspector gave new CCG BattleHand a good look to see if it was up to snuff.
Take a look through the list and see what you can learn.
#5: Fresh ideas and missteps: the monetisation of BattleHand
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Fresh ideas and missteps: the monetisation of BattleHand »BattleHand has done a good job of attracting our attention here at PocketGamer.biz. It feels a lot like Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, Jon's favourite game ever, and it's made by some people who used to work on Fable, my favourite game ever.
But when we handed it over to our resident In-App Purchase Inspector, Matt, he had a slightly more measured reaction to the game.
Despite being generous with certain rewards and card packs early on, he found the energy system to be far too restrictive to really enjoy the game.
So while he does like what they were going for, Matt says "some missteps prevent the experience from being as player-friendly as it could have been."
#4: Katy Perry versus Kim Kardashian: a study in surprising extremes
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Katy Perry versus Kim Kardashian: a study in surprising extremes »Poor Katy Perry. After the raging success of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, it looked like signing up for a game with Glu would be a guaranteed money maker for just about anyone.
But as Jon points out in his Charticle, the recently released Katy Perry Pop has failed to capture the attention of the mobile gaming world.
There's any number of theories as to why. Kim Kardashian is always in the news while Katy Perry isn't, the release of Perry's game was badly timed, or the mechanics were changed so much that it turned most players away.
"But the bottomline would seem to be that just like the success of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, the scale of Katy Perry Pop's failure is a surprise and something of an enigma," as Jon puts it.
#3: With a record $3M generated in December, Seriously reveals Best Fiends has hit $25M in lifetime sales
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With a record $3M generated in December, Seriously reveals Best Fiends has hit $25M in lifetime sales »Being charitable is a good thing in many ways. It's good for your soul, good for the community, and, if you advertise it right, it's good for getting your name out there.
No one can attest to this better than Best Fiends developer Seriously, who's recent Race Against Slime 2 campaign earned them $3 million in revenue in December 2015, pushing lifetime sales to $25 million.
The campaign saw a variety of YouTube stars teaming up to see who could defeat the most slimes in a short space of time, with the winning team having the prize money donated to the charity of their choice.
In the end, $250,000 of money was raised for charity, which is nice.
#2: Everything you ever wanted to know about retention
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Everything you ever wanted to know about retention »So you've made your game and a bunch of people have downloaded it. Great! But you still need to hang on to these people somehow, so you can continue to monetise them. How do you do that effectively?
If you've been scratching your head over this very question, then fear not. Guest columnist Torulf Jernström has rather helpfully laid out everything you need to know about retention.
He starts by explaining what retention actually is, what's a normal level of retention for a new game, and goes on to offer some suggestions as to how to keep your retention level high.
Amongst other suggestions, he recommends focusing on making your game look as good as possible, saying that "there's a higher chance of featuring when your game looks amazing."
"People who go to your pages on Google Play or the App Store have a higher chance of downloading your game."
#1: How to get a job at UK's 'best indie' Space Ape Games
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How to get a job at UK's 'best indie' Space Ape Games »UK developer Space Ape is going from strength to strength with its strategy games Samurai Siege and Rival Kingdoms, and they're looking to hire 50 new employees over the next 12 months, so there's never been a better time to try and jump into their fold.
To give you a hand in that regard, we asked Space Age's COO and co-founder Simon Hade about their company culture, and what they're looking for from someone who wants to get involved.
"People need to really own their work, love what they do, and have extremely high output," said Hade, who noted that "that can be scary for some people, exhilarating and liberating for others."
"The latter tend to find their way to us."