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Applifier: Spending $100,000 a day to hit the top 10 is pointless

The days of buying success are over

Applifier: Spending $100,000 a day to hit the top 10 is pointless

Applifier's VP of business development Mickey Maher has claimed developers can no longer buy their way to the top of the app charts, adding that even spending large amounts of money only delivers very short term success.

Speaking at Pocket Gamer's recent Mobile Mixer in San Francisco – timed to coincide with the Dreamforce conference – Maher said developers need to "focus on sustainable, return-on-interest positive campaigns" instead.

"The days of buying your way to the top of the charts is over," he detailed.

"You can spend $100,000 a day to get into the top ten but it's not likely you're going to stay there. Choose between the top 15-20 leading networks out there to test driving in the highest quality and most relevant users for your game."

Word of mouth

Maher added that developers need to be aware that there is a "high correlation between people that pay, people that want to share, and people that play with friends."

He continued, "Make your game as social as possible, and make it easy for players to share what they're doing in games with friends because you'll attract more players and specifically those that want to pay as a result.

"Lastly, don't ignore word-of-mouth. EEDAR found that up to 70 percent of mobile gamers discover the game through some form of word-of-mouth.

"Games like Rovio's Bad Piggies, Nimble Bit's Nimble Quest, and Konami's forthcoming Casino League are using Everyplay to help players share brag shots and scale with word-of-mouth."


The Mixer panel in session (picture courtesy of Jon Malloy)

Maher's comments formed some of highlights from Pocket Gamer's latest San Francisco Mobile Mixer, where attendees picked up pro tips on how to launch their games amongst cocktails, award winning bites by the GrilledCheezGuy and sultry beats by PlayStation's DJ R3Y.

Also on the panel were – Google's Koh Kim, Konami's John Coligan, Namco Bandai's Tony Colafrancesco, and PapayaMobile's Fernando Pizarro.

Sponsored by Everyplay and PapayaMobile – and also produced by Pocket Gamer's Martine Paris, and staffed by a volunteer squad of gaming professionals – the mixer was the latest in a long line of Pocket Gamer events in San Francisco.

And for our next trick

Indeed, next up is the APPNATION Conference, which touches down in the city between 3-4 December. Pocket Gamer is an official media partner for the event, and you can attend for free with a full access conference passes (a $495 value) when registering with the code AN5PGFC100 here.

At the conference, the Pocket Gamer Masters of Monetization Super Session will feature the wisdom of:

  • Chris Akhavan, president of Publishing, Glu Mobile
  • Jill Schneiderman, VP Games, SGN
  • Vatsal Bhardwaj, general manager, Storm8
  • Becky Ann Hughes, VP marketing & product management, PlayFirst
  • Brett Orlanski, director of business development, WildTangent
  • Mickey Maher, VP business development, Applifier
  • Martine Paris, US events editor, Pocket Gamer

Then, following days of outstanding programming, we'll be spinning into hyperdrive with the wicked Pocket Gamer APPNATION Afterparty thanks to lead sponsor Everyplay and recruiting sponsor PapayaMobile, who are set to giveaway an awesome Go Pro Hero 3 Cam.

For details and to RSVP, click here.

Tech reporter Martine Paris covers trends across mobile, games, AR VR, wearables and IoT, the intersection of emerging tech, music, video and culture, and how to get featured, funded and monetized. You can typically find her at shows with a mic in her hand interviewing industry's leading voices. Follow her @contentnow.