News that iOS developers are being approached by 'bot farms' firms offering to download apps en masse in order to score them a place in the App Store's top 25 - has only just hit the headlines, but plenty of developers have experience of the practice.
Pocket Gamer has been approached by multiple studios since the story broke, with one anonymous developer telling PG.biz that his outfit signed up to a bot farmer without realising what the service involved.
Analytics the answer
"We've used the service of one of the companies involved," the developer told us via email.
"Back when we ordered we didn't know it' a scam, but the results spoke for themselves.
"We've been on the store almost since the beginning and our apps were downloaded in excess of 15 million times. We know how organic users behave, and it is very clear to us that those aren't real users at all."
The developer in question said, with hindsight, it's especially easy to spot a game that's been bot farmed: in his case, the studio signed up to AppAnnie to track its title.
"We got some 30,000 to 50,000 downloads in US only, while other countries didn't see any increase in downloads," said the source of the studio's own stats.
"We saw no reviews, no ratings from those downloads. Flurry registered no new users - meaning none of the downloads ever lead to the game being opened and ad revenue didn't change."
Well established
Apple has been quick to respond to the current press attention surrounding the bot farms, claiming any studios found guilty of manipulating App Store rankings could lose their membership of the Apple Developer Program.
According to the developer who contacted us, however, it appears the model has been in place for some time.
Initially, studios were offered a top 50 placing for $5,000, but he claims some are now guaranteeing a top 25 spot for the same fee.
"Additionally, they started offering a way to counter the quick drop once the promotion expires," he concluded. "You can now buy packets of 10,000 downloads for $2,000 each."
You can read PG.biz's take on App Store bot farming by clicking here.
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With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.
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