Is it too early to think about iAds?

UtopianGamesUtopianGames Member Posts: 5,692
edited November -1 in Working with GS (Mac)
After lowering the price of 2 games to free on Monday we had 7906 sales and Yesterday we had 23,565 sales and they have charted in top 100s.

Is it too early to think about the $2k iAds and make them free with ads to try and make some money?

Another thought is Bumps (currently waiting for review) the URL forwarding would certainly help if we update the free games with an icon of Bumps.

Thanks in advance.

Darren.

Comments

  • giacomopoppigiacomopoppi Member, PRO Posts: 914
    I think 2000$ is way to much to risk... i would first ask around how much pros re profiting from the iads... and wait and see if the sales continue like that...
    i am just hoping gs change their minds bout the iads and make it for express users too! :D
  • scitunesscitunes Member, Sous Chef Posts: 4,047
    There was a post a while back from TSB about having a lite version with a rule that says when all levels have been played follow url to appstore address for full version. So anyone who likes the free version well enough to play it all the way through will be taken directly to the appstore page for the full version. I think TSB said this doubled his sales. I plan on going pro in the next week or so for this reason as well as iAds. I have now made around 2200 total so far, so I feel like I am not actually risking anything as I will still be in the black.
  • RHRH Member Posts: 1,079
    If the sales continue to increase and you secure a good, steady chart position, then yes.

    Easier said than done though, I don't think i would if it were my money, only because $2000 is a lot for an 18 year old.
  • BarkBarkCoBarkBarkCo Member Posts: 1,400
    @sci, You have a point! But $2000 is still way too much in my opinion if all It want to do is test iAds...Does Gendai have a return policy? ;-)

    However, if they added analytics back as a PRO feature and dropped the price to $599, then I would probably have to jump right on that!
  • UtopianGamesUtopianGames Member Posts: 5,692
    toyboxuk[at]hotmail.com is my personal mail.

    Yes $2k is too much, dam shame.

    Darren.
  • reddotincreddotinc Member Posts: 653
    I'm a firm believer of the saying "You've gotta spend money to make money" :)

    // Red Dot Inc
  • BarkBarkCoBarkBarkCo Member Posts: 1,400
    reddotinc said:
    I'm a firm believer of the saying "You've gotta spend money to make money" :)

    // Red Dot Inc

    That's exactly what Gendai wants you to say...He's a SPY!

    ...kidding

    My problem is this, if I go the way of scitunes and sink all of my profits into a PRO license only to just make another $2000 over the next 12 months, in the end I'm right back where I started...

    @CreativeSolution,
    If it's anything of interest, my email address is <GameSaladUserName>@gmail.com. ;-)
  • StusAppsStusApps Member, PRO Posts: 1,352
    For me it's not neccessarily the $2000 that's putting me off (it is kinda that), but more the thought of apple turning around and saying "no more gamesalad games in the app store". Would gendai give me a refund?

    The more I look into these things the more I see that gamesalad is a 2d game engine written in xcode that interprets our games through xml files. To me that is a code interpreter and, i think, standing a bit on shaky ground. The reason we can't have our source code is because there isn't anything different to have, everyones source is the same just with an images folder and a load of xml files.

    If someone from gendai can tell me I get my money back if I stop being able to publish to the app store then I think I would go for it.
  • reddotincreddotinc Member Posts: 653
    We already have pretty firm confirmation from Gendai that they have a very good relationship with Apple and that Apple aren't going to pull the rug out from underneath them.

    We are investing in it.

    // Red Dot Inc
  • FanStudioUKFanStudioUK Member Posts: 459
    For me $2000 is way too much!

    I would probably pay this money when GS will be stable and won't freeze my system after 10 minutes of work when I forget to quit and reopen the software.

    Until the release of GameSalad v1.0 I won't even dream about spending $2000 to be a PRO!
  • ChunkypixelsChunkypixels Member Posts: 1,114
    Its just bloody annoying waiting to see if/when thats ever going to become a reality.

    Theres still a whole heap of engine & tool improvements that I think are necessary before GameSalad could even begin to be considered a complete, STABLE, working, professional package.

    Its slowly getting there though....
  • scitunesscitunes Member, Sous Chef Posts: 4,047
    Let me be clear. I have made around 2200 withOUT the pro license. I have made 90% of that on one app that went on sale on April 18th and has not been featured at all by apple. For a few weeks I was getting 2000 DLs of the free version of that app every day. If only 1% of those free DLs turn into sales it would give me 20 extra DLs a day of the full version at 1.99 - that adds up quick! Now if you have 3 or 4 quality games out there I would think you could really make the $2000 back quickly with that method. That's not even taking iAds into account.
  • FanStudioUKFanStudioUK Member Posts: 459
    One quick question:

    Is it possible for Apple, once you go to the PRO version of GameSalad, to know if that app was built using GS (once you remove their logo when the app loads)?

    If it's not possible, then no one has to worry what if: "I stop being able to publish to the app store", right? :)
  • BarkBarkCoBarkBarkCo Member Posts: 1,400
    GS is a pretty unique engine, so I think it is very obvious to Apple when they review a GS-made app, regardless of the loading screen...
  • StusAppsStusApps Member, PRO Posts: 1,352
    reddotinc said:
    We already have pretty firm confirmation from Gendai that they have a very good relationship with Apple and that Apple aren't going to pull the rug out from underneath them.

    We are investing in it.

    // Red Dot Inc

    that's cool and all. I would like a refund promise 'just in case'. Then I would do it tomorrow.
  • firemaplegamesfiremaplegames Member Posts: 3,211
    I have the Pro version of GameSalad (which I won in a contest) and I placed iAds in the two LITE versions of my games, Danger Cats! and Stunt Squirrels!.

    So far, over the last two weeks since they went live, I have made 22$.

    15$ is from people actually clicking on the iAd, since I get $1.30 for that...
    (but I cannot imagine who would actually click on the ads?)

    The other $6 or so is from impressions.

    Currently, there is a problem with fill rates. Danger Cats! LITE has been downloaded 4,659 times yet only 253 iAds appeared. Stunt Squirrels! LITE has been downloaded 1,083 times and 97 iAds appeared.

    Every time an iAd appears, I get a sixth of a penny. If somebody actually clicks on one I get $1.30 - which is pretty much the same as a sale of the full version, which is nice.

    Now, I realize that this is not a true test as these are just LITE versions of the games. To do it right you need to make a free full version that people keep playing. My LITE versions only have 5 levels. If you get through the five levels, you are linked to the full version. They are more like advertisements for the full games as opposed to standalone apps.

    A more accurate representation is JamesZeppelin's Doodle Monster game which has over 1,000,000 downloads.

    He makes about 5$ a day with iAds.

    The issue is with the 5% fill rates of the iAds. (As opposed to the 100% fill rate of something like AdMob)

    I'm sure it will continue to get better as time goes on.
  • JamesZeppelinJamesZeppelin Member Posts: 1,927
    Give it a few days and see if sales stick.
    A lot of people get alerts when apps drop prices which causes a spike for a couple days.

    Hopefully your games will climb and stay. It's almost like a second shot at the new release page lol
    They are certainly great games though.
  • leskarleskar Member Posts: 12
    Although I didn't make this app with gamesalad (because it is not a game), I am experiencing a steady increase in iAd revenue. I can't really judge what the average is right now, but yesterday was a $35 day.
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